PlazaJen: Passion Knit

I'm listening to Snow Patrol right now, in honor of the weather. Actually, it wasn't horrific driving in this morning - but there is a ton of ice/frozen sleet out there. Plus the fact it's a holiday might have cut down on the number of drivers out there, so I was happy to get to work wreck-less and safe.

The weekend was spent burrowed in. I wore pajamas and hand-knit wool socks all weekend long, venturing out only once, and that was only two steps out the door to put the recycling in its bin. One wayward can fell beyond the bin & skittered into the middle of the driveway, and I called upon my helper dog (Polly) to retrieve it. She thought it was EXCELLENT because it was a can of chicken broth & she made sure to lick it thoroughly before finally picking it up and bringing it to me. That dog loves to fetch! We watched numerous movies, and I knit like a fiend.

Project Updates: I finished the Portland sweater - which I'm wearing today and because they turn the heat way down in the office over the weekend, I am surprised to say I'm still kinda cold. I used the yarn called for in the pattern (Rainbow) & the colorway is the plum combo. I then knit the Lady Detective Hat, in Noro #55, and the only thing I need to call it finished is the buckle that goes on the side. I'll post a picture of the hat when it's done - the pattern is from the book Knit 2 Together. THEN I cast on for the Curiously Clever Clogs, in Crystal Palace's Iceland - colors are hot pink,lime green, and a variegated print that incorporates the pink, green & also purple & orange. There's beading involved, and the beads I ordered had way-too-small holes to navigate a crochet hook through, but I would not be stopped. Instead, I devised a way to get the damn beads on the bulky yarn, and because I'm stubborn, I continued to do this, despite how much I ended up hurting my fingers! Basically, you can take a piece of monofilament, thread it through your loop you're about to knit (or purl), then thread both ends through the bead, slide it down, and then tug like hell until it gets onto the yarn & you have enough room to work the stitch! I ended up giving myself some nice cuts that would give your average papercut a run for its money. I've hit on an alternative method for the second slipper: use needle-nosed pliers to hold and pull the monofilament. I got part of the first slipper done & my hands hurt so much, I had to set them aside. Enter project #4: another pair of socks, in the luscious Trekking colorway #126 - just like the Brach's candy. Funny how knitting with the colorway can make you crave the candy! Two of my knitting pals have theirs done - check out the pics: Kyra's socks here, and Leslie's socks here! I wound the yarn off into equal balls & thought I'd lined them up perfectly with the pattern in the yarn to have them be identical? Wrong-o! But I'm not going to let that stop me. After all, the point isn't matchy-matchy perfection! I'm knitting them using a stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks (again, mind you that you check the errata for the book if you use it as more than a stitch reference), it's the Cloverleaf Eyelet Cable. Gives it just enough of a twist to be interesting, but not too complex. I worked on those during the season premiere of 24 - people, you just do not fuck with Jack Bauer. He can kill a man with his TEETH while handcuffed to a chair. I think he's about to have a very bad day.

That's the scoop, Friday's the big day for the Lasik, and it's also the day it's supposed to warm up enough to melt all this nasty stuff. In the meantime, more knitting, more Jack Bauer (tonight!), and more cold. Stay warm!