New Knits for Monday - T's Version

It's been a busy week here at Chez T's. Soccer started, my honey was away for work, my Dad's birthday and of course Mother's day.

But I've been lucky enough to finish a couple of items and move on to new things (literally).

I completed my March STR socks.

I wasn't loving the pattern for March, so I decided to go with some Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks a la Cat Bordhi.








They are, in a word, lovely. Perhaps my loveliest socks. They fit perfectly, they are a gorgeous shade and they make my happy.

So, I'll be making more of these crazy socks. While you're knitting them, you cannot believe how the sock structure is going to work and then you make it through the heel and think "Wow. That Cat Bordhi is one crazy cat".






I also finished my Picovoli.






I love how a finished product comes together with the blocking.






It truly makes all the difference. The colors in this top scream "T". I look forward to getting a chance to wear it.

















Now I move on to my "things", and await my May STR shipment....what colors will May bring?

Make Work Projects

Make Work Project #1:
The men in my husband's family have this springtime ritual. The go outside with their shovels and they "spread snow". It's a labor intensive process involving moving snow from one part of the yard (that gets less sunlight) to another (one that gets more sunlight). He always comes in sweaty and exhausted. "Oh I think one or two more days and it should all be done," he tells me. Wow, as opposed to the 3 or 4 days it would have taken without the spreading snow maneuver. Good thing you spent hours out there working on it. And all of them do it. They like to discuss snow spreading techniques at family functions. They like to comment on one another's finished products. To me, the snow is gonna melt no matter what. It's a fact. It will get warm and it will melt, snow spreading or otherwise.....


Make Work Project #2
Well, these 2 make work for me all the time....



Make Work Project #3

I'm not actually sure if this is a make work project or not, you can decide and let me know.

My Picovoli is basically done. As it is knit in the round, there are no seams to sew up (sooo nice). Just the picot edging needs to be finished - this ones involved sewing down live stitches. Supposedly this leads to a less bulky edge (and it seems to be the case). It is time consuming, but I'm following what Lucy Neatby taught us - just do one bit of finishing a night. That way it doesn't seem too daunting or picky to deal with.

So it's going pretty go, if a little bit slow. The only problem is the sleeves. They are flaring out in a very unattractive way. I went down a needle size to try and stop this from happening (as suggested in a thread in Ravelry). This doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.
















My options are this: keep going on sleeve #2 and not worry too much about it OR rip out sleeve #1 and redo it, going down a needle size AND decreasing by a few stitches. I think it sounds like a little bit of a make work project, but I'm not sure. Will it make a difference or not??

Help me, oh smart knitting people....you're my only hope.....

Sure signs

I have chosen to live in a place where winter takes a firm hold for endless months. I have chosen this, so I feel I cannot complain (at least, not too much). If it was unbearable, I could move. But I don't. I continue to live here, along with many other sturdy and strong, winter-hardy people. We hunker down for long months, succumbing to a horrible infliction known as "cabin fever". Then when you think you cannot take one more day....certain sightings occur.

Boys on bikes.

Plants. Green plants. Not dead brown ones.

Non-woolen knits popping up here and there.

(This is my Picovoli in a beautiful linen/cotton blend - more on that next time).

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Breathe in that air while you can, cause heck, it could snow again next week (or later today for that matter).