May-June WIPs

Readers, I led you to believe that I haven't been knitting.  Truth is, I just haven't been knitting tonsandtons.  And I'm a wee bit ashamed to admit, I haven't finished any WIPs.


Let me catch you up.


It never fails.  I write up a plan for myself, and I follow it for a while, then I inevitably hit a point where I need to rebel and go rogue.  Every so often, I just want to start something new.

Hehehe...


So a few weeks ago, my college roomie and I planned a movie/crafty night.  It's what we did when we lived together: we'd pop in a favorite movie, one we'd seen so many times we didn't actually need to watch it, then we'd grab whatever item we were crafting on at the time and get to work, side-by-side in the living room of our little apartment.


This time, though, was a little tricky.  You see, she lives in Texas, and I'm up here in Connecticut ... so instead, we coordinated via text, each popped in The Last Unicorn, synchronized DVD players, and had our movie/crafty night thousands of miles apart.  


We are living in a very exciting time, where anything is possible.  


The only reason we didn't full-on video conference with Skype was the inevitable echo effect produced by the sound of the movie in each background, just out of sync.


So what did I work on during TLU?  Well, I only partially broke my 2012 plan for knitting.  I am very far behind on my sock goal, but instead of finishing a pair that's already started, I cast on a new pair.


I used Mirasol Hacho (you may recall it was one of my sweet sale acquisitions at Village Wool earlier this year):

It's so pretty fresh off the ball winder!


The yarn was lovely to work with - soft but sturdy, with a very tight spin, and the colorway produces interesting striping:

But here's my quandary: I'm drawing a blank on what to name the socks.  It's a basic sock pattern (derived from the patterns in the book Learn to Knit Socks by Edie Eckman; I figured any stitch detail more complex would have detracted from the variegation of the colorway).


I would like to keep with the TLU theme - maybe "Molly Grue" or "Schmendrick, The Last of the Red-Hot Swamis?"  No ... neither of those really suit this sock.  Any ideas?


The other project I've been working on is (gasp!) crochet.


One of my good friends was expecting, so I started crocheting a simple baby blanket, with simple baby yarn (Pound of Love, I think).  True to form, I never finished it, and baby June was born (last year), and I threw in the towel (blanket) and bought a gift for her.


But then, at the end of last year, another of my friends found out she was expecting.  So I picked up the baby blanket (thankfully it is a gender-neutral mint green) and vowed to finish it in time for baby Jackson's arrival.


That didn't happen.  Baby Jackson arrived three weeks early, just before Memorial Day Weekend:

... and I threw in the blanket, again, to buy a gift.  


It worked out ok, though, because Memorial Day weekend was blisteringly hot, and the crocheted blanket probably wouldn't have been as useful as the gauzy blankets I bought for sweet baby Jackson.


(P.S. The mommas I know swear by these swaddling blankets.  They can be used to swaddle, as a nursing cover, as a stroller cover, burp cloth ... and 101 other things.  They also get softer the more you wash them, which is always a bonus.)


Anyway.


Here's the crochet blanket:

Modeled by the ever-reliable Ikea Chair.

Up-close detail.  I think I got this pattern off the back of a skein label.  It's thick but squishy, and super-soft.


Once I finish it (and I WILL finish it!!!) I need to figure out a way to make it unique - maybe a simple brown single crochet border?  I like the color combination of pastel with a rich, chocolate-y brown.  It's been overdone lately, yes, but I'm not tired of it (yet).


So there you have it.  Progress, if not completion.  The old adage holds true: So much knitting, so little time ...


Mrs. Pi