FO and WIP (or, knitting abbreviations are fun!)

First, the finished object (FO). I finished up on Little J's mittens. I wound up frogging (not abbreviation, but definitely a knitting term) and re-knitting the palm of the mittens two or three times, to make sure that I would have enough black for both mittens. The yarn is leftovers from the sweater I'm making for the boy.

Little J didn't want me to take a picture of him, so, he's hiding behind his new mittens.

The first work-in-progress (WIP) is Little J's stripey sweater. Body and sleeves are knitted, sleeves and shoulder seams are sewn together, now I need to sew the sleeves into the body, and knit the collar. Yay!

And, for a WIP that I have a picture of:

I'm starting on a pair of mittens for me. It's the Heather's Mittens pattern from SpillyJane, done in two knitpicks fingering weight yarns. It's hard to see right now, but there will be three-leaved clovers steming up the mittens. For a minute,I was horrifided that I would need to rip all of these stitches out and start over, because I had this idea to do a mitten thumb with a gusset, but after thinking on it, I decided to do the thumb as written in the pattern. What a relief! I was so happy, I knit three more rows yesterday! I'm knitting the colorwork with a strand of yarn in each hand, and while it requires co-ordination and good lighting, it is oddly hypnotic. Perhaps because it does require concentration, I have no attention left for anything going on around me.

Oh, other WIPs? I don't know...poor Clessidra is languishing again, and I really need to finish up Big J's companion cube before he has to leave.

February Reading

When I'm actually knitting a project I don't read as much. Some, but not as much. But lately, I haven't had anything pressing on the needles (the amount of ends to work in on Little J's sweater is quite daunting) and I've wound up borrowing a few books from the library.

The one that's  caused me to lose sleep, because I have to keep reading to find out what happens next, is a series by Brandon Sanderson, "The Mistborn Trilogy". The books are Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages.

It's an epic quest to save the world. The story is set in an alien landscape, but there's hints that in the past it was more Earth-like. The magic is quite unique, with three different systems, that lead to some unique creatures. The non-human species, although mentioned in the first two books, are much more important in the last one.

It's excellent writing, and i loved the books. The author has a few other novels, including "The Alloy of Law", that I read a few weeks back. That one has the same magic system, but is a little more technologically advanced. Further into the future, I think.

I've finished them now, so, time for another trip to the library!

I've fallen in a black hole

And I'm past the event horizon, too. The accumulated weight of my current knitting projects have sucked me in, and there's no end in sight.

Is there anything more depressing than the sight of millons of yarn ends to work in? I've finished knitting all the pieces for Little J's stripey sweater, so now I'm weaving in the ends (of all those d'mned stripes!) before I sewing it up, and then knit the collar. For which collar, I need a little bit of black, just 2 rows worth. I wish I would have realized that before I used the one and only ball of black yarn for a pair of mittens for Little J...I think I may have enough. Or, if I don't, there won't be any black on the collar, after all.

Poor Clessidra is languishing again. Stuck in a basket, waiting for me to measure her, and then sit down and think about what to do for the next stocking. So is my Print-of-the-Wave scarf, and that's been in time-out even longer than Clessidra. I tried casting on for the pair of mittens for me, but I decided I needed to start over, so there's not even a smidge of a beginning now, although I really really want to make those mittens (I told myself I can work on them seriously when the stripey sweater is done, done, done.)

And for car knitting, and wait-to-pick-up-kids-from-school-knitting, is a pair of mittens for Little J. Doesn't it seem a bit strange, I'm knitting mittens in the middle of the warmest winter we've had in a long time? And then, Christmas presents from the grandparents in Thailand came yesterday. They sent scarfs! lol! They're mostly handmade, and I think their aunt/cousin Yu made them. I guess they were worried the little kids would be cold....

The year is going by, and it's the first day of February. I don't want the days to go by so fast. Soon it will be the 28th, and Big J will be leaving on an airplane, to be stationed overseas. We're rushing around, trying to get ready, and I feel depressed and totally unprepared.

hmm. I think I'll finish up the mittens today. At least I'll complete something.