Icarus!

Finally, some decent FO photos (except for the background scenery of course). It's been impossible finding time for daytime photos.

Surprisingly enough, I am getting tons of wear out of this shawl (much more than I had originally thought). The silk makes it both lightweight and very warm for the chilly evenings we've been having as of late. As previously mentioned a few dozen times, I'm in love with this shawl. A 100% satisfaction FO.

Project Specs: Icarus
Yarn: Handmaiden Lace Silk in Bronze
Amount: 1 hank
Left over: 125 yards
Needles: 3.25 mm circs
Completed: July 10 2007
Modifications: None

Aside from plotting Icarus photo-ops, I've also been drooling over the Fall 2007 Interweave knits preview, and made some progress on both MS3 and the toe-up sock. Photos of those to come.

Chain reaction

Here we have...a finished Icarus blocking on the bed (better photos to come this weekend). I bought some blocking wires for the occasion. Although they were a little awkward at first (sticky wet silk and all), they ended up doing a fantastic job of the shawl.

See what I mean. Look at this edging! I'm obsessed. Icarus has definitely exceeded my expectations. I love when that happens. The colour in this picture is more accurate than in the previous one.

And here's what's been keeping me from progressing on MS3 (still only about 2 rows into the third clue). Meet my very first toe-up sock. It's Ann Budd's on-you-toes sock from the summer Interweave. I have no idea what possessed me to start this little guy. I just reached into the stash Friday morning on my way to work, found some Jitterbug and threw the mag into my bag for the commute.

That tricky European cast-on took me more than a few tries, but it was worth in the end. I made a few changes to it, namely I alternated right and left leaning M1s to keep things symmetrical and got rid of the first knit round on the toe since I felt it looked too pointy. Here's where things were Friday evening.

And Saturday afternoon.

Sunday evening.

And lastly, a sad, neglected MS3 just before I finished off the second clue. I've just picked it up again, so hopefully I'll make it through Clue 3 sometime next week. I love the mystery thing but I'm still not sure how I feel about the summer-long project monogamy that comes with it.

I also made my way back to the wheel this weekend, hopefully by the end of next week I'll finally finish the seaside singles I've been working on so I can start plying. Fine spinning is fun but slow...

Eight things

Wow, I managed to make it through my first week as an paid labourer. Hopefully this having a regular job thing will mean that I can settle into a better routine on the blogging front.

Since Sian has tagged me to list off eight random things about myself, I suppose I'll start with that.

1) I am an only child. That meant that as a youngster, I would play board games with myself. Sounds sad but I had fun with it at the time.

2) I only eat one type of food at a time. This is such an extreme subconscious urge that when eating trail mix or another sort of mixed food, I'll eat all of the raisins first, then all of the sunflower seeds, etc until I make it through my portion. As a child, I would eat plain spaghetti and then plain sauce on the side. Even now, unless I force myself to move around the plate a little, I won't do it.

3) I love getting mail. The love extends to all mail that is addressed to me. Even bills make me smile when I open up the mailbox and find them sitting there.

4) When I have something to do that is hanging over like a text book that needs to be read, I'll physically carry it with me at all times. This is true even if I know that I won't have a chance to open it up. It makes me feel better about avoiding it somehow. Case in point. I brought along a business law text to my first date with the other half (he still teases me).

5) I don't really believe in mementos or keeping things that remind me of the past. I don't attach memories to things and generally see the objects that most people treasure as clutter. I was happy to pass off my baby blanket to a younger cousin when the time came.

6) I have an easier time finding things if my house is a disaster than if everything is neatly put away. I can look at a messy floor and point to the piles that things live in. When everything is in it's rightful and logical place I have no idea where to start looking. Since I try to keep a clean house, this is sometimes a problem.

7) Since I refuse to wear a watch and I am terrible at estimating how long it will take me to get somewhere or do something, I am almost always late. In order to compensate I have set every clock in my house to different times so I never really know what time it is. One is over 30 minutes fast and others are only five. This strategy is also less than perfect since I am still late (I've recently started leaving myself ridiculous amounts of time to do things and that has helped).

8) I love alone time. Although I also love spending time with other people, I get really excited when I know that I get an evening to stay at home alone and just be, ya know?

How did the goals from last weekend pan out? Pretty well in fact. Icarus is finished (FO photos to come when I find someone to take some nice ones) and the mystery stole is comfortably through Clue 2 (I'm ignoring the fact that Clue 3 was posted Friday). I'll post an update on that later this week. I've also started yet another pair of socks. I know there are already two other pairs on the go but I promise these ones are different.

The Promise of a Weekend

Things have been unbelievably busy these last few weeks. I've been completing my professional responsibility course. This being the last hoop we have to jump through before the law society trusts us in the real world.

I'm away for the weekend again and on Monday, I start working and officially give up my student status for the first time in my life. A little scary, no?

On the knitting front, I've been slowly plugging away at the thousands of projects (or maybe more like 4) currently on the needles with no real progress to show. Icarus still has another 10 rows to go until she's finished. It WILL get done this weekend while at the cottage (don't laugh).

Way back in the day, I got sucked into the Mystery Stole 3 vortex after reading this on Nicole's blog. Since the start date was looming I went out to buy some suitable yarn last week. Don't look at me like that, there was nothing that would work in the stash. I swear.

Zephyr wool/silk in a colour called Pewter. I love that it's neither grey nor white.

Here's what I've managed to finish so far. Hopefully I'll also get caught up over the weekend since I'm only halfway through Clue 1 and Clue 2 was posted this morning.

So far I sort of like not knowing what the finished product will look like exactly. I also love the pressure of having to keep up with the clues. This should force me to get my act together.

Does anyone else have a series of unrealistic goals to be met this weekend? I can't help but feel that weekends are a type of magical time-warp where I will finally get caught up with everything (you can laugh at this one...I'm laughing too.)