Some friends finally had their baby a few days ago. Congrats to them! And now the important bit – I can finally post my FO pictures of the baby blanket I made. 😉 Let’s get the cat-free picture out of the way first, shall we? (Please ignore the odd lighting effects – it was sunny and neither my camera nor I had any idea how to deal with that unexpected event.)

This is a variant of the Artful Afghan I made a few months ago. I knit this all in stockinette (instead of a combination of stockinette and reverse stockinette) with a garter stitch border. The stripes are wider than the original Artful, since I was using KnitPicks Swish Worsted left over from the Pinwheel Sweater I knit in 2007 and just knitting until I ran out of each color. (The colors are, from the center, Ballerina, Bubblegum, Red Pepper, Fired Brick, Bordeaux, Wisteria, and Navy Blue.) Many thanks to Jeanne who contributed a vital skein of Navy Blue!

“Hmm. These colors seem hauntingly familiar, but I just can’t put my paw on why…” -Chaos

“Hey! May! This is mine. Go find your own stripey floor covering.” -Chaos

“You’re not the boss of me, big kitty! Bring it on!” -Mayhem

Sorry ’bout that.

Not that you’d know it, but I have actually finished knitting a decent-sized project… too bad I can’t blog about it yet. Hopefully soon. Darn gift knitting anyway.

On Sunday, I started knitting the sock below from Meilenweit Sunset, color 8706. It’s not quite what I thought it would be, but I like it.

So did Chaos.

“Hee hee! She was keeping an eye out for May and didn’t notice me until it was too late!” -Chaos

“Hmph. By the time I arrived, there was nothing to enhance with my snickity-snick teeth.” -Mayhem

The Tequila Sunrise Socks are done! First a cat-free picture, for those of you who actually want to see the knitting.

While it is a bit of a pain to separate the two strands of yarn in the Knit Picks Sock Blanks (the blanks are knit double-stranded), you sure do get nice matchy-matchy.

“I thought there would be treats.” -Chaos

“Alas, my toys don’t match these socks as well as I thought they would.” -Mayhem

“Nope. Those aren’t treats. Sigh.” -Chaos

“I don’t know how Mom can call these socks matchy-matchy. Sigh.” -Mayhem

The previously intended recipients (you can probably guess who you are) of this now abandoned (so lurid!) baby blanket will be pleased that I eventually came to my senses.

“Since May ran away in horror, let me just clip this end for you…” -Chaos

Many, many thanks to everyone who left a comment for Delurking Day! It was great fun to hear from those of you I “know” as well as those of you new to me.

It won’t surprise anyone to discover that my knitting accomplishments were fewer than my reading accomplishments, for a total of 44.5 projects. 🙂

14 pairs of socks
1.5 afghans (since Jeanne and I each knit half of the afghan for my neighbor, Carol)
1 pair mittens
1 large and 1 small notebook cover
1 string bag (need to make straps shorter, alas)
1 dodecahedron
1 java jacket
approximately 24 bibs

What I really need to do? Pull out my shaped cardi and finish weaving in the ends! However, Jeanne can atest to the fact that there are a shocking number of ends, due to Mayhem’s snickity-snick teeth (bad kitty) and to knitting with seconds. I should also finish my scrunchable scarf, which may or may not be nearly done – it’s been on extended hiatus while I decide whether to start a new ball of yarn or simply finish it.

“I know what my favorite project of the year was.” -Chaos

“It was that spiffy cat bed Mom made just for me!” -Chaos

“But I haven’t seen it for a long time… I wonder where it is?” -Chaos

Can someone help Marina up over there? Anyone have some smelling salts? Thanks! 😉

Back in August, I dyed Tequila Sunrise stripey yarn from some KnitPicks sock blanks that the ever-gracious Deb gifted to me. (And it’s Deb’s birthday today, so head on over and wish her a good one, eh?) After knitting the lovely and intricate (and non-stripey) Beryl Tendrils, I was in the mood for a plain, mindless toe-up sock. Enter the Tequila Sunrise Socks.

“We warned you that this was a cat crossing, Mom. Too busy to stop or worry about the safety of your sock.” -Chaos

“Yeah! What the big kitty said!” -Mayhem

“Wait, these look like they might be stripey socks…” -Mayhem

“Hmm… and they match my favorite mouse, too. Promising.” -Mayhem

At last I have finished the Tendrils Ribs Socks that I’ve been test knitting for Mary Lou! I will definitely be knitting these again – this is a gorgeous stitch pattern and Mary Lou’s pattern was very easy to follow for this novice top-down sock knitter.

I did run out of the Original STR Beryl on the first sock (slightly darker sock on the right below) and I switched to some semisolid Koigu to finish the toe. However, the second skein had more yardage in it, so I ripped out the first toe and basically knit the toes of both socks from each end of the longer skein until I ran out of STR, then switched to the Koigu.

Here’s some stitch pattern detail:

“Not truly stripey. That’s all I’m saying.” -Mayhem

After my crazy working forty hours in three days last week, I’ve spent very little time on my computer and my Google Reader and email reply backlog reflects that! Hopefully I’ll get caught up soon…

I hope everyone had a much healthier break than did I! I made it through our family Christmas Eve celebration, but then a very evil cold took me out for the next few days. We’ll see how long I make it at work today…

Anyway! Now that the top secret knitting has been gifted, I can finally post about it. I knitted the Lion Brand Artful Afghan for my brother and SIL’s cabin. (Please note that these pictures were taken before washing, when the ripply edges vanished.)

“Stripey!” -Mayhem

“What is this stuff?! This is my favorite yarn ever! I love this!” -Chaos

Yes, ’tis true – turns out Chaos’ favorite yarn is Wool-Ease. (Jeanne has suggested that I use the leftovers to knit an afghan for him.) Let’s just say that knitting an afghan with a stitch count of 748 for the last round is much more challenging when a 15-pound cat insists that he must be on your lap wrapped in the afghan as you knit.

“If I hide under it, you can’t see me and you’ll know it’s mine.” -Chaos

“Um, everything ok under there, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“Go away! Mine!” -Chaos