…I’ve been otherwise engaged.

Note to self: newly painted house with nothing on the walls yet makes for lovely photos.

So I finished Manon today, aside from blocking, and it turned out lovely.

You can find all the details you need and more photos on Ravelry: Volkstricken’s Manon

But if you aren’t on Ravelry yet, here is what I have to say:

Next up, I’m thinking about maybe Bianca’s Jacket…

Finally caught a high-speed train off of 1×1 rib island…. (what?)

Better pics soon. I’m so glad I finished this sweater…. just in time for a 58 degree day. Sigh. Well, it’ll be nice and warm next winter!

Also, we bought a house. So, I haven’t been around much. No internet over there yet. And not much knitting…. but lots of painting and the like.

Happy New Year! I feel a bit behind here already, but that’s pretty normal anyway.

Don’t feel like writing much, but the usual New Year Assessment is in order anyway. To simplify:

Current WIPs: 10 (Gak)
Number of those WIPs which will probably not become FOs: 3 or 4
New Projects I’ve Acquired Yarn For: 5!

The holidaze treated me fairly and well, except that I was sick for the past two weeks. I made some happy updates to my knitting paraphenalia, including:

• a swift and ball winder from my mom – what did I ever do before I could wind perfect center-pull cakes so quickly? how did i sleep at night??
• a new knitting/reading chair and light – thanks to some cash my grandparents had given me. doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but let me point out that I live in a basement with bad light and (previously) nowhere to sit except the bed or the floor. this chair is VERY exciting!
• a LOT of new yarn (30+ skeins of various things for sweater projects, plus a 2 pound cone of highland tweed wool)
• … and I am borrowing a knitting machine! It’s a basic Singer LK100, and it knits up worsted and bulky weight yarns. I can only really do stockinette unless I want to start individually manipulating the stitches, but this is a fun starter machine and I have enjoyed the ability to produce fabric in *minutes* flat. I think I’m going to attempt a basic raglan sweater soon.

As far as knitting goes, it’s been going… and going… but not a lot has been getting done. I made a sweater vest for the Boy for Christmas from Cascade 220 Superwash, and seriously messed it up. I’ve never really worked with Superwash before and it behaved really weirdly to me, since I’m used to plain old 100% woolly stuff. It grew so much after washing and lost all of its squish and became more drapey, and I found that it really didn’t survive a trip in the machine very well at all. Blah. I’ll never go back to the stuff. Anyway… the vest was way too long after a wash, and after much consternation I decided to thread some yarn through, snip snip across with the scissors, take out about 3 inches and graft the two parts back together. Which would have worked except after all that…. it ended up too short.

Needless to say, that left me feeling a bit burned (and bummed) out. I ended up eventually passing it on to my little sister, who I think will wear it. I’ll have to take some pics sometime soon.

I did finish one of two convertible Chevalier mittens for a gift! It’s been really warm lately so we’re in no terrible rush to finish, but I love this pattern and I’m excited about making them flappy. I’m also working on a Steelers’ pride dog sweater for a man I used to work with (or for his dog, anyway). And that darn Shawl Collar Tunic, which I am determined to finish as soon as I finish the gifts, which take priority..

Deep, deep in the throes of holiday giftmaking. Most of them will probably not be done by Christmas. But luckily, most people I’m knitting for won’t mind.

I can only share one project right now, a super-long scarf for my sister in law. She is way taller than me and requested something that would still be long after wrapping around her neck, so I hope this fits the bill. (In the photo, it’s wrapped and knotted, so it’s actually quite a bit longer than it looks..)

3 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick’n'Quick on US 17 needles. I’m not crazy about the yarn, but I can’t spend a fortune on my gift knitting and, truthfully, I don’t mind the T&Q every once in awhile. It is definitely cozy. I used a pattern called “Twin Lace Leaf” from Barbara Walker’s “A Treasury of Knitting Patterns”. I’m a little worried that it will curl up over time, but after blocking I’m pretty thrilled with how it looks.

And, I must credit the Boy; after walking around with me at the craft store watching me being all indecisive about everything, he said “Well, Hitchcock would dress her in something big and white.” I wasn’t excited about it at first, but now I’m convinced it will be perfect.

I promise, more to show soon. Soon soon soon.

And there is this:

Who doesn’t love to teach their boyfriend to knit? (And who doesn’t love the thought that maybe, someday, they’ll make you stuff too? Hehe. Not this year, Boy. No worries.)