In which there is no knitting content

Wow.

It's been a LONG time. A long time, I say.

I am probably going to gut the blog layout very shortly and see what happens. I don't know if I'll start posting again consistently, really, though.

I can't believe it's March already--February and January have flown by.

2011, well, 2011 was, to quote "Darlin', Christmas is Comin'"

...so it's been a long year/Every new day brings one more tear/till there's nothing left to cry/My, my, how time flies/like little children hiding their eyes/to make it disappear...

I'm back in Nerd Wars, on Team UU. I was in Nerd Wars for part of 2011, and then I, well, gave up for a bit and abandoned Ravelry. 2011 and even the beginning of 2012 have been pretty emotionally crazy times. Plans have been made hastily, laid aside, and even gone all awry. I even went to Michigan several times since I blogged last.

...

Sometimes it's just really hard to climb back up.

I have been running with C25K, which has helped a little, and I think the lace I've been doing (bobbin and tatted) has helped some too.

I may have spoken too soon with the title, although it's actually crocheted, as I just published a page with a baby hat pattern. Since I make baby hats for donation usually, it isn't very well sized and I don't yet have a good photo.

I have gotten into my Spring Try ALL THE THINGS! mode again, perhaps with slightly less disastrous results, and some actually forays into different crafts. My bobbin lace grounds sampler has gone acceptably I think. Brussels ground and square hole ground, which were worked in the opposite order, were the most difficult to tension properly, and I'm still not quite sure I understand Maiden ground.

...

Still, many new starts to you, reader.

A preview of Nerd Wars dissertation...

Largely because I need the photos on the internet to post them on Ravelry, you get to see my Nerd Wars dissertation swatching! But those of you who are not privy to my dissertation proposal will have to wait to know what they are.

Four pieces...

Wow...

In case you haven't heard, Remnants on Ravelry is gone.

I'm kind of flabbergasted. Whilst I wasn't necessarily really, really active there, I did make a significant minority of my posts there (the others were divided among various groups).

I understand how it was a nightmare to mod. I'm just definitely going to miss it.

In happier news, I'm signed up for Team Enterprise (Team UU and Team TARDIS were actually my first picks) in the Nerd Wars, and I joined the Starfleet Fiber Arts Corps, and am contemplating joining the AMKG Guild Wars. Though I wonder what it was that instigated three events starting at the same time, and whether this is sort of a nerdy off-year replacement for the Ravelympics?

And I completed a very warm, very fluffy, very green Cloud Bolero in Suri Dream (which is also being discontinued) as possibly my first sweater for IntSweMoDo.

A One Project Phase

Well, Laminaria is finished.

So is a pair of Fargyles.

So is a Citron.

The latter two were quick projects, completed on two consecutive weekends, about four or five days of knitting a piece, the first two November weekends.

But the project monogamy doesn't last with me. No, not at all.

I started, inspired by IntSweMoDoDe, a Honeycomb vest, and have finished most of the back, but...

A top I am knitting "by the seat of my pants" (as Meg Swansen says in A Gathering of Lace of her daughter's wedding shawl) to wear to a Christmas party has intruded.

Also, I've pulled out some old sock projects that have never been finished, inspired by the chance sighting of the bag containing the other ball of Kaffe Fasette Regia.

Let's hope I can get my act together and not have so many unfinished projects on the needles by the time I head off to college next fall!

Oh, yes, and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you in the US!

Well, Hello There!

Oh, yes, I'm still around.
Did you think I'd forgotten that I had a blog?
Er... well, not exactly.

In any case, I'm posting largely to celebrate the fact that I have reached the 2/3 mark on my half-hex Laminaria.

I got the yarn about thirteen months ago, (as part of a shipment that pretty much established a laceweight stash. My stash otherwise is largely sock yarn...) and planned all along that Juniper Heather Shadow, three skeins, would become a half-hex version of Laminaria, which is one of my favorite shawl patterns. In fact, it is probably going to be perpetually in my queue, I'm just that fond of the blossom and star stitch combo. I've made it thrice, so far, although the third rendition is being bound off, and another exploded Lam is in progress.

And of course, as I reported last post... some three months past!--I started a KAL on Ravelry... well, everyone was supposed to start Aeolian in September. 'Tis October, and I am still finishing Laminaria. In justice, the potentially inadvisable half-hexing scheme ensured that I have approximately 1,000 stitches at this ultimate point!

The last bits of the edging have been a bit of a wrestle with Murphy's Law--do I have enough yarn? Do I have enough yarn? Sure I do--Are you sure you have enough yarn? You are double-stranding for the bindoff! Do I have enough yarn... I think so...

I have mused in previous posts about things I would like to make... I clearly dream big.

Well, right now, once I finish Laminaria, I suppose I'm going to cast on for Honeycomb, and once I finish my mini exploded Lam, I'll be switching out with the #6 tips and casting on for a Citron in Patons Lace...

I also have an exploded Aeolian on the needles, one that I don't mind the beading so terribly on.

Not to mention innumerable socks, and three lace projects that are... let me say... hibernating, and one that has been decidedly abandoned.

Oh, and I haven't mentioned that I discovered both the Laris Designs group and the IntSweMoDo group (The International Sweater-a-Month Dodecathlon), and thus I have been stalking beautiful gloves and sweaters... I think you know where this is going...

I am downright plagued by the fecundity of my inspiration!

As an aside, I would like to mention that the medium I've been writing a lot for lately has formatting such that there's line spacing between paragraphs vs. indentation, and it looks like that's almost automatic now for me... weird!

In any case, I actually held yarn in my hands earlier, considering a purchase for the Poet Pullover...

I do wish I could catch the apocryphal Finish-itis rather than being constantly plagued with its pestilent cousin Start-itis! I desperately need to.