Poco a Poco

Finishing is...well, it's seeming kinda slow. The DNA scarf wasn't even halfway done at the beginning of February and now I've got almost 4/6 repeats of the DNA pattern before I start the center ribbing. I'm thinking about doing the Chromosome cap to match it, but I haven't settled on a gloves/mittens pattern yet. I want to knit a chullo, something with llamas and butterflies, maybe a greek key, in "Dear Gods, my eyes!" colors, but Kadollan is right. The chullo is just not going to go with the DNA scarf in the way that I want it to.
I've finished one and a half repeats of the center panel of the Daily Llama, the socks are still on hold, and the BSJ is pretty close to done. It's my at work knitting, so it's kinda slow going. I only work on it while I've got something loading or I need a break to stave off raster burn. I think I'm going to walk in today. It's meant to be in the 70's this afternoon and it's 47*F now, which is close enough to my 50*F threshold. I really need to get my legs moving again. I'm going to be running after butterflies at 4,000m (that's over 13k feet up), so I can't really afford to have weak legs. Altitude meds didn't help last time, so I'm just going to not take them. I still have my emergency antibiotics, and I'll be taking some tylenol and something for my stomach. Fifteen hours of flying is stressful for the stomach. Another thing I don't look forward to is the lack of sleep. Movement wakes me up, which makes it hard to sleep next to another person and to sleep on a moving vehicle. I thought that perhaps I could sleep in a plane, but a plane is a moving vehicle and the best I can do is shut my eyes for a bit.
I'm still kind of in denial about the whole trip and feeling a bit like Bilbo Baggins. I don't particularly want an adventure, but it seems I'm going to have one anyway. It's a little too exciting. None of it will be real until I'm on the plane. I do have my equipment, though. My very own net that's mine. That's kind of exciting.

Good things

So, I just gave Shelby (my postal carrier) his fingerless mitts. The cat had stolen them and hid them in the livingroom, but I finally found them and delivered them post-haste to the intended recipient. "I can't believe you made me something!" he said. Of course I made him something. I'm very thankful for the way in which he handles my mail. He needed them, too. It's 27*F (-3*C) outside today and dude needs something to keep his hands warm and his fingers free. It matches his uniform, too. It's made with Bernat Alpaca in grey with a blue trim.
He gave me a hug.
So, since it is February for Finishing (as I mentioned before), here are some of my UFOs:

First there's the DNA scarf, pictured here next to an unfinished book. I can read a little before I stop processing words into ideas and then I have to put it down. With the scarf, it's cabling, so I have to pay attention to get anything done. I've been working on it in the mornings and I'm very nearly done witht the third pattern repeat. It's knit in Knit Pick's Palette in Red, double stranded. I'm going to do a hat and gloves or mittens to go with, but I haven't decided on the pattern yet.

Then there's the Daily Llama. Again, it's cabling and I have to sit and pay attention to it as I've mentioned before. The color's a little off in this picture, but the cabling shows up pretty well.
I'm liking this one so far and I like cabling. I just wish I had more time to sit and do it (and actual cable needles). I swore off lace while I'm in grad school, but failed to mention anything about cables. I suppose I have created a niche for complex knitting in my brain that must be filled with something at all times. Lace goes out, so cabling comes in.


Then there are socks. I've set these aside for the latter half of the month when I'll be out of the country so that I have something small for airplane knitting that won't take much time or brain. The ones on the left were cast on on Jan. 31st so I'd have them started before February and the ones on the right are knitted for the January Pants KAL/CAL.

Lastly, there's the BSJ.
I'm not sure about the colors. It's right on the border between cute and questionable, but since returning were as tedious as go o'er, it's getting finished. I'm definitely making the pattern again, if for no other reason than because people are going to continue to have babies.



I've decided that when I make an Etsy shop, it will be called "Classify" and my slogan is "A diversity of handmade goods." So here's the first thing I made to go in said hypothetical Etsy shop. It's a wee notions bag with a zipper, made from yarn leftover from my weaving project. Speaking of which, I need to have of more fleece so I can have of more yarn so I can weave more. My tapestry skills are not that great and I much prefer weaving on my big loom, but the former takes far less yarn than the latter.
I love my woven robe thing. It's wicked warm and I love it I love it I love it.

February is for Finishing

It's that time of year again, to count your UFOs and take note of which need to be flung, frogged, or finished in the month of February. I tend to be conservative, as knitters go, in starting projects. Some people who read this blog (I'm looking at you, kadollan) find my lack of UFOs disturbing, but I find that it is a healthy level of unfinished stuff for me.
I have two projects that take up a fair amount of neural RAM, the daily llama and the DNA scarf. Both are cabling and both require that I sit down and pay attention to what I'm doing. I have two socks, one of which was cast on last night in preparation for my trip to Chile in the middle of February. I also have the Baby Surprise Jacket, which is kind of in the middle range of complexity. I will have pictures at some point for each of these.
Anyhow, that's five things. I've decided that for the first half of February, I'll focus on finishing the cabled projects and for the second half, I'll work on the socks. I'll definitely finish the socks and may not finish the cabled projects, but hope to at least get a little farther along. I've been working on the BSJ at work during knit breaks so that my eyeballs don't explode from looking at a computer screen too long. I'm not certain about the colors, so we'll have to see how it turns out.