Finished the Finishing

Casmere socks are done. They turned out pretty quickly and pretty well. Mom's feet are smaller than mine so I think they'll fit even better. I'm ahead of schedule for February birthday.

The baseball sweater is finished. It fits D so well. This is a May birthday for nephew #3. A lot of finishing! But Lucy Neatby was in my ear and my stitches were made happy. The kitchen is a mess and the husband is a bit grumpy. He said I wouldn't have to change much to make him one. Hint. I made the sleeves extra long (my nephews look like they haven't finished growing). So for D I'd make them normal.
And here I am invoking spring with a bright, swirly baby blanket. This is for June. It's probably the best picture I'll get because as it grows, it folds back on itself like a sack. I'll have to move up circulars in a while. I wonder where I put my other 3's?

This is the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket from knitlist. The author is Genia Planck. I couldn't get the beginning with her notes, so I went to EZ's Emily Ocker's circular beginning in the back of Knitter's Almanac. It's really just a crochet beginning of 5 stitches. I used to crochet a lot, so I'm comfortable with that, except this Butterfly Mercerized Cotton is very slippery. I also attribute my crochet experienced to my ability to knit continental. That and I'm ambidextrous.

So I have some easy two-long-rows knitting to tuck into when I begin my studies. I still have a jaywalker sock that I carry around and underappreciate.
Yesterday, when I needed to give my hand a rest, I went through all my newly organized Interweave Knits magazines and set up the next two nephew sweaters. The Cascade 220 will work perfectly with the Braided Blues from Fall 2005. This nephew is a bit slighter, so probably a medium with long sleeves would do OK. I'm taking back 5 balls of Phildar which will start me on yet another sweater.
In finishing, I can look forward.

New Beginnings, New Endings.

Mt. Cheam (She-AM) is our local dormant volcano. She is a little sister to Mt. Baker and Mt. St. Helen's. Every day we look to her to see if she is wearing her snow mantle and if her companion, Ladypeak, is dressed like her. When I was little, she was never without snow. Now she loses her snow in the summer eventhough her peak is 6,500 ft. I have climbed her twice.
On New Year's Day I walked around the 5 km block for the first time in many months. My foot injury is healing and I wanted to make a symbolic move forward. I was lucky enough to listen to Cast-On during the walk. Brenda Dayne spoke of "starting as you mean to go". I have taken this literally on the right foot forward.

Today I am making curtains. The TV room downstairs still isn't finished. These curtains are meant to add a theatre-like decor and to separate another room to use as a guest room. I have had to harangue the gang, but the sofa bed is in there and the curtain rod is ready to be hung. Carly is not impressed and chooses to leave her dog hair on everything in protest.
My poor sewing machine is neglected. I treat it like I do the stallion we used to have, with a fair dose of respect and trepidation. It is smarter than me and makes things look easy. But it is noisy and has moving parts and I am always astounded that anything I sew ever turns out.
Finally, January grey skies have settled in. I made my favourite: biscuits. Just from the Joy of Cooking, but they turned out really well. Especially with local honey and hot tea. I'm reading a wonderful Laurie R. King book that is intended to bridge her two mystery series. The first is the Bee Keeper's Apprentice. The bee keeper is the retired Sherlock Holmes and these are stories of his further exploits (with a wife!!). Holmes are the first stories I read when I graduated from Winnie the Pooh. I have always been under his spell. King's second series is set in modern day SanFransisco (one of my favourite cities). I bought the first one, A Grave Talent in an Oxfam shop on Byres Rd. in Glasgow and it kept me happy all the way home on the plane. I wasn't prepared to test the British airport security with knitting needles.

I also had time to listen to an Anne Perry novel on tape while I sewed and knit and puttered. It is a great comfort when the kids are home and I have time to myself, but my house is chaos.

We've been watching Ken Burns' The War. D. loves his WW2 history and I bought him the 6 DVD set for Xmas. This explains how I am on the second sleeve of a large sweater and in danger of injuring my right hand. It's a good thing I have reading to divert me from knitting. Soon it will be all studying.