Knit through all things

It's been a rough couple of weeks, for various reasons - somehow even reading has seemed to require too much of the wrong kind of brainpower - so I have been knitting.  (I have also been spinning, but haven't taken any pictures of that yet.  Soon.)

In keeping with the plan of moving ahead with projects long-planned but not-yet-executed, I cast on for a pair of socks for Rick.  These are the Blunnie Socks, from last year's Rockin' Sock Club.  And they are knitted* on size zero needles (take that, size 15s!).  I don't have any pictures yet, but the first one is moving along fairly rapidly, and I am about halfway through the gusset. 

I also dithered for some time about the best way to use my precious three skeins of HazelKnits Entice (colorway Violeta), purchased at Sock Summit.  You know how easy it is to get crazy about finding the absolute perfect way to use up yarn that you really love?  It was threatening to get that way, until I finally talked myself down by reminding myself that there is more beautiful yarn out there in the world, and that getting attached is unhealthy (I swear, knitting up luxury yarn is excellent practice in non-attachment).  I decided on Poplar and Elm (silencing the monkey brain that wondered whether a wrap style is a mistake, since Rick isn't fond of them, blah blah blah), and cast on.

I am one sleeve in, and loving every minute of this knit.

This yarn is absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious.  So soft and squishy and happy.  It also took well to the ripping and reknitting I did (twice) at the start of the sleeve.  I decided that I was too impatient to knit an actual gauge swatch, but that I would knit the sleeves first, as a reasonable approximation thereof.  I cast on with the suggested size 5s, but after an inch or so, thought that things seemed too big.  So I ripped and went down to size 4s.  But after four inches or so, it was clear that 4s were going to be too small (and I'm knitting a size which is on the small side in any case, so a bit big is much better than a lot small), so I ripped that and went back to the size 5s.  And did all of this ripping make me cranky?  No, indeed it did not.  Because did I mention that the yarn is amazing?  And that I'm working with my lovely Signature needles, gifts of my beloved SIL?  And that I am NOT working on size 15 needles?  I'm in my happy space.

Yesterday, I also taught a silk hankie class at my LYS - always great fun.  I went in with some mawata that I'd stashed away for my next class, but when I got there, found that a new shipment of hankies had come in from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks.  And there, right in the middle of the pile, was the perfect colorway to go with my newly-finished purple scarf.  So I snagged that one and used it to demonstrate technique during class (casting on my own pair of mitts in the process).  I finished the first one last night, and the second one today, and I am pleased as punch.  I have long been wanting a pair of mitts for myself, so this is a real treat.

Nice, no?  The colorway is Cabernet, and I am just delighted with them.  The pattern is one I put together for the class, and it seems to do the trick, while leaving plenty of scope for play for students who want to add a little somethin' somethin'.  I also picked up another mawata in a colorway (I think it's Lagoon?) that will go with the second one of these scarves that I'm knitting (although this Cabernet one should go with both of them when worn together).  But I'll probably hold off on knitting those until the scarf is done - a sort of bribe, as it were.

Classes start this week, so it's off to the races for me.  

*I saw a letter in the recent issue of The Knitter from someone who expressed her vast annoyance that the magazine had recently taken on the habit ("appalling" was implied) of using "knitted" as the past tense of "knit", when everyone ("cretin" was implied) knows that the correct past tense of "knit" is "knit".  In keeping with this prescriptivism, I would like to point out that the above usage is not the past tense (in fact, I do often use "knit" as the past tense of "knit", although I now have an overpowering urge to do otherwise, in as Uhmurrikan a way as I can manage), but is in fact the past participial form of the verb "knit", since that is a passive up there.  I contend that the past participle of "knit" is "knitted" and will defend my stance against all comers.**  Hmph.

**Don't you love grammatical curmudgeonliness and chest-beating?  Can't you sense the dripping sarcasm?