Just Keep Knitting...

No new projects to report... er, yet. But I'm cranking along on the ones I posted in my last venture. I've completed one of the fingerless mitts for Shelby. Considering she needs them for this coming Saturday night, the second is coming along well and I expect to be done with them by Tuesday. (Okay, really, by Monday, but I need to wash and block, so it'll be Tuesday before I can give them to her.) The Pep Band will be at the Midnight Madness rally at the university, but that's held in the old basketball court so I doubt she'll be cold. OTOH, the hockey team has their first game on Saturday, so I want Shelby to have them handy if she needs them. (It's an exhibition game, but I don't care. Hockey is hockey and I CAN'T wait to have my butt in my season seat... )

The Dimple Shale Lace Scarf is coming along slowly. I figure if I do a couple pattern repeats every day, I might be done by Christmas. But I'm not worried about that one. I'll probably keep it for myself since I have presents lined up for everyone else. (hmmm... a present for one of the girls? Maybe. That's a thought I should probably write down or I'll lose it entirely. )

The Textured Argyle is almost done on the first cuff. I think I have about 4 rows left until I can start the st st for the heel, but I'm also thinking about how to decrease this baby. I'm working the pattern in 72 sts. Let's be real. I normally use 52-56 sts for my socks. I did more on the cuff for this one because I don't want the pattern to stretch around my calf. I want it to lay flat and show the beauty of a pattern I actually figured out for myself. (YES!!!! Finally, right yarn for the pattern!) But I'll have to decrease before I get into the heel or these socks will end up sized for Mark. There's 9 pattern repeats, so, in the last row before I do my usual 5 rows of st st before I start the heel, I'm going to decrease one stitch in each pattern (in the purled sections so it's less noticeable). That will bring me down to 63 sts. I'm thinking of st st the next row and then another 3 or 5 sts decrease to bring the stitch count down to 58 or 60 sts and then work the heel. I haven't decided yet on that one, but I'm leaning more towards 58 sts total. It'll still a bit larger than my usual 52-56 sts, but I'm also using a slightly smaller needle, so I surely don't want it to end up too small.

If I'd had half a brain, I probably would have cast on 64 sts instead of 72 for 8 repeats instead of 9. But the day I cast on for the socks was one of those days where not a coherent thought passed through my mind between the time I woke up and the time I went to sleep. It didn't even dawn on me until about two days ago that I cast on too many sts from the start. I'll try it on once I turn the heel and, if it's really too big, I can always frog. I'm getting used to the sound of frogs singing around my needles...

I'm waiting for the sun to come out so I can get some pictures of what I'm working on. Every time I've done something inside the house, the pics turn out way too dark. So I want to try outside with the natural sunlight and it might help with showing the true colors as well as picking up the light/shadow to show the Textured Argyle and the variation in texture. I learned this one from my wonderfully warm alpaca shawl. It's a three-ply yarn with each ply in a different color (dark, med, light all in the natural animal colors), so I kept the pattern a very simple basketweave of knit and purl. Unfortunately, between the variation in color and the small varitation in texture, I couldn't get a decent picture that showed anything more than a big rectangular blob... The biggest part was probably because I was trying to take the pic inside. Being surrounded by trees, I don't have a lot of natural light streaming in my oversized windows. And being a Cape Cod, I should definitely have more lamps in my rooms... So now I'm going to try photographing outside with natural sunlight and see if that solves my color/texture problems.

Anyway, I'll try to be back tomorrow. I have to post the ideas for the Christmas shawls I'll be making this year. Since the recipients don't spend much time online --one doesn't even own a computer and I can pretty much guarantee that the other doesn't even know I have a blog, let alone read it -- I won't be spoiling any surprises by making this announcement.

Have a wonderful Saturday! I've got my fingers crossed that the sun comes out. I'm almost positive it will make an appearance since there's no hope of rain anytime soon.