Back to boring socks

I'm a little winded after the lace-marathon that was Icarus, and have found myself unable to commit to another time-sucking project. I've flitted from one sweater-in-progress to another and can't seem to stay focused. So we're back to boring socks.
Not the most interesting blogging fodder I know.

The Easter Bunny put these in my chou's goody basket. They looked so right among the chocolate bunny and the Easter Cream eggs.


Specs
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweight Bosco, colour # 3574
Needles: 2 mm
Pattern: My boring, generic sock pattern.

You may wonder why coco knits only boring socks. Would it kill me to knit some patterned socks once in a while? It appears that yes, yes it would. Socks are my "zombie-brain" knitting. No matter how ridiculously tired I am, no matter how exciting the hockey game or movie I'm watching is, I can still manage to work on these babies. I could practically knit these in my sleep (and often wish I would, think about how many pairs I could churn out!)

I've knit some fancy socks in the past, and highly resented the fact that I had to drag a pattern around and actually pay attention to what I was doing, or suffer the consequences and have to riiiip when I inevitably screwed up. I made some lovely Embossed Leaves socks last summer but I hardly ever wear them. I get all precious about them and to me, that's the opposite of what socks should be. I wear them on my FEET and walk all over them all day long, for Pete's sake. Isn't it weird to have delicate lacy bits there?

Fini

I'm glad to report that I'm done with Icarus, and can now finally give it to the very patient recipient who has been waiting since January (I had foolishly told her it would take me two months MAX)

This shawl kicked my butt! Not because it's a difficult pattern. It's actually really simple and easy to remember, it's just that it takes forever to get out of the plain knitting and into the lacy part.

But I'm happy with the results. I thought the black would make it a bit too "Victorian mourning veil" but actually, it really shows the simple pattern off.


Specs
Pattern: Icarus shawl by Miriam Felton, from Interweave Knits, Summer 2006
Yarn: 2 skeins of Misti Baby Alpaca Laceweight, in black
Needles: 3mm
Mods: None, this is a very well-written, easy to follow pattern. No need for me to mess with that!


One more item to scratch off of my UFO list.

A sight for very sore eyes

Happy Christmas..... uh.... I mean Easter

Long Easter weekend, woohoo. Time for pretty spring dresses, chocolate pigouts, and sunny bouquets of daffodils. And what did the Easter bunny bring me this year?


Snow. Beautiful, serene, seasonally-inappropriate snow.
Global warming my arse.


The cardinals this morning seemed to be saying WTF???

Sigh... I guess it wasn't too late to knit the hot-water bottle cover after all.

In knitterly news, I got excited today when I realized I was on my last chart for the Icarus shawl. Only 28 rows left. Glory be! 28 rows is nothing! I can put away 28 rows in no time! I've got this beotch licked!

Then I remembered that right now, each row has a whopping 435 stitches. Let's do the math shall we?

28 x 435 = a crap load of stitches.

Oh, and it's more than that, because the shawl grows by four stitches every other row. So I have close to 13 000 stitches left to knit.

Will you excuse me? I need to go crawl under my bed and assume the fetal position for a few hours.


(I didn't even bother trying to take a good picture of this fugly albatross. We hates it.)

So of course, the only sane reaction to this torture is to start a new project. Don't judge me, it's just to take the edge off, ok? What I need is garter heaven. A mindless, chartless, not-black garter-stitch square, in thick Aran wool, on decent-sized needles.


Ahh.... that's better. Can anyone guess what I'm making?
(A hint: apparently this sweater is "EZ" to make.)

Warmmmmmm......

I am always cold. Always. My loved-ones call me Nicold. I think I've already mentioned that I wear hats indoors. I also wrap myself in blankets at the beach. In the summer. I regard air-conditionning as one of the great technological evils of the 20th century. My mother contends that I've got ice-water running in my veins. This is a very bad thing when one lives in one of the coldest cities in the world. But it's a very good thing when one loves wool the way I do.

Which brings me to one of the bargains I picked up at that warehouse sale I was telling you about last time. Among other things, I snagged two deeply discounted balls of Rowan Kid Classic in a creamy café au lait colour, just the right amount to make this:


Specs
Pattern: Hottie by Kim Hargreaves, from Rowan Number 28 (one of my all-time favourite Rowan mags)


Materials: 2 balls of Rowan Kid Classic (76% Lambswool, 26% Kid Mohair, 4% Nylon) in shade # 816.
Mods: I made 2 major changes to the pattern. I skipped the frilly neck edge for a more classic rib. I also knit it in reverse stocking stitch for a more nubbly texture.



This hot-water bottle has not left me all weekend. I just sat around, hugging and petting it like it was my beloved childhood pet. I think my husband was starting to feel neglected and just a little bit jealous. Of the hot-water bottle.

Welcome to my sad, sad life.


(It's not lost on me that while everyone else is blogging about cool summer knits/cotton and linen fibres/daffodils and cherry blossoms, I'm rhapsodizing about a mohair hot-water bottle cover. Seriously, why didn't I knit this in October?)

Not to beleaguer the point, but when I came across this cute but unflattering bit of knitting via this blog , I thought to myself "hmm... could I get away with wearing this to work?". To be fair, I think these belly-warmers look adorable on beanpole japanese models. Needless to say I am not a beanpole japanese model.