Warning: Actual knitting content

I had planned to post this all on Sunday, but with one thing and another, it's Tuesday, and I'm just getting to it now. I woke up Sunday morning to find a note on my bedside table from Younger Daughter, asking if I would make muffins when I woke up. There was even a line for my response (Younger Daughter is nothing if not organized in reaching her goals). She seemed very disappointed that I told her that I would make muffins, rather than using the line provided for my use in answering. I asked if she'd rather I wrote her a response, or got cracking on the muffins. She conceded that she would forgo a reply note in favor of quicker muffin-baking. The coffee, of course, got started first, but then I managed to throw together some blue cornmeal and dried cherry muffins (with buttermilk of course), thanks to the handy-dandy Tassajara bread book, without which life would be a lot less interesting.

As I had finished Gust on Saturday night, I wove the ends in while waiting for the muffins to bake, and looked at the usual heap o' lace that is a pre-blocked scarf.
(The bad light is the result of rainy weather and indoor lighting.) Lace never really looks like much when it's just off the needles, does it?

So, I chucked it into the sink for an hour to let it think about its behavior.
(Note the cup of coffee up there in the right corner. Nothing happens on a weekend morning before coffee. Nothing.) Muffins eaten and scarf thoroughly wet and chastised, I ruthlessly pinned it out and let it dry. The nice thing about silk is how quickly it dries (especially with the ceiling fan on), but there was plenty of time to play a new board game (Ticket to Ride Europe -- a gift from Rick's sister; it turns out to be great fun) with Rick and the girls while casting on for the second violets rising sock. Then I went to unpin the scarf. I have declared myself pleased with it, and wore it yesterday (and yes, I did again plan an entire outfit around one knitted piece) and again today.
I love the colors of this scarf.
And the geometry of the lace pattern makes me very happy. It's incredibly light and folds down to a very small size (ah, silk), but it's nice and warm around my neck, which is perfect for the slightly cool weather we're having. So, to recap. This is the pattern Gust, by Anne, knitted on size 4 Addis, in Ball and Skein Arequipa in the Atlantic colorway. (I can't seem to link to Anne's blog or shop right now, but if you go to www.knitspot.com, you should be able to find it.) I didn't use the whole skein, and am now looking at what's left trying to think of what interesting thing I could do with it. Something will come to me.

Speaking of silk, I also finished spinning and plying the lovely silk that Wanda sent me; I'll post a picture of that next time. I have some ideas for how to use it, but I need to let them ferment just a bit more before I start anything.

I never did get a chance to post any pictures of the knitting I did for the Loopy Swap, and looking back, I realize that I only took one picture of one of the things I sent, alas. But here it is.
These are Anne's zigzag mitts, which I knit in Louet DK weight yarn in a lovely bright red. I was a little worried about the red, but I liked the mitts so much in the solid color when I was done that I had some trouble letting them go in the end. I also ended up knitting a modified zigzag scarf, just one pattern repeat wide, and short enough to wear tucked into a sweater, out of the way. Part of the swap was to include something from where I live, so I packed up Peet's coffee, See's candy, and two Bacon avocados. Californians, did I represent us appropriately? (For those who are keeping track, it was the avocados that caused me to postpone mailing the package until a day after the last of the mailing dates; I wanted to get some from the farmer's market that would be underripe enough to ripen in the box on the way there.)

At this point, I'm well on my way down the leg of the second violets rising sock, which will go to Older Daughter when I'm done (in spite of the fact that they fit me; that child is growing!), and then it's on to the second of Rick's socks. I should get quite a bit of knitting done today, between a faculty meeting, and our on-campus knitting group meeting, and sitting through Younger Daughter's Irish dance lesson. Meanwhile, I'm already starting to contemplate what knitting project I should take with me on our trip over spring break...