A knitting update

Today I thought I'd try to round up the projects I have on the needles (actively on the needles) for a quick report.  We have mostly recovered from our trip, plus Rick's immediate follow-on trip to Minneapolis.  (As an aside, it's been chilly enough here with this recent Canadian storm that we have snow on our local mountains, and when Rick got off the plane on Friday night, he said it was colder here than it was there.  Today it's sunny as can be, and still hasn't reached 60 yet.  No wonder I can't seem to grasp the fact that we're already well into April!)

First, an FO that I didn't get to show off before leaving for Yosemite (but which I wore quite a bit while there; I didn't even block it first - still haven't, in fact).  It's my second Babushka.

That color isn't quite right - it's a bit darker than that.  In fact, it goes unexpectedly well with the Selbu tam, which was a nice surprise, as (like most knitters, I suspect) I rarely have matching sets of anything.  My first version of this scarf has been, without a doubt, probably the most-worn single piece of knitting I've ever done. The combination of the yarn, the shape of the scarf, and the stitch patterns make this incredibly wearable.  It's simple without being boring, and sooooo soft and warm (hooray for cashmere, silk, and seed stitch).  It folds up into the tiniest package, so it's easy to toss into a bag, just in case its needed.  And I'm hoping that this blue will go with just about anything, in the way that denim does.

To recap, this is the Babushka scarf, knitted on size 5 needles, out of Jade Sapphire Silk/Cashmere 2-ply.  The only two unfortunate aspects of this scarf are these: the pattern can't be purchased on Ravelry, and it takes a bit more than one skein of the Jade Sapphire to knit one.  This means that I now have two mostly-skeins of this yarn (one in green and one in blue) as leftovers; I must find something to do with them.  How I do suffer for my art.

On the needles I have the mitered blanket that I posted about last time.  I've started the second square.  This is my soothing knitting; I know how the squares go together now, so it's very mindless.  I appreciate having at least one of those projects on the go at all times for when I need to go to a meeting without charts, or at the end of a long day when my brain is more mush than neuron.  Another project like that is the Daybreak Shawl that I started some time ago (long enough ago that Ellen started and finished hers since then - sorry, Ellen!).

I'm finally on the stripes now (I had to knit the first plain section twice because I didn't read the pattern carefully enough, which I suppose should say something about my terminal and ongoing state of distraction), which makes it move along much more briskly, since I am so very entertained by the changing colors of the lighter section (which I suppose should also say something about my state of mind).  This is the yarn from the first Rockin' Sock Club kit of the year.  The patterns for that kit were really wonderful, but it occurred to me that I was much less likely to wear a pair of colorwork socks knitted from mediumweight yarn than I was to wear this scarf, and as I truly adore these colors together, this seemed like a much better option.  So, to recap: STR mediumweight sock yarn, size five needles, Daybreak pattern.  Very nice.

I also have a pair of socks OTN.  I actually didn't for quite some time, which was kind of weird-feeling, to be honest.  But having finished spinning up some sock yarn, I finally wound it up and cast on for the Rivendell socks that I've been eyeing for a while.  I'm through the first chart on the first leg.

That's handspun (4 oz of superwash BFL, a three-ply worsted-spun yarn), knitted on size one needles, in the Rivendell pattern.  These are coming along slowly but steadily, and I'm very happy with the way the yarn is knitting up.  I'm also glad to be using my handspun as I spin it, even though it means that I'm spinning less than I'd like.

There it is.  The plan for today is to get Younger Daughter packed up and ready to go for her big trip to NYC on Wednesday for a Montessori Model UN convention (eek!), do all the laundry (how does it accumulate so rapidly), and then to settle down with my knitting to watch Paris-Roubaix this afternoon (cobblestone and bikes, hooray!).  Wish me luck!