Sh!t Howdy my butt

Brrrrrrrrrr! I've been cold all day. Just one of them days when I lust for more handknit socks and Calorimetries. Got the space heater practically underneath my desk chair, at the moment!
But alas, I have so many UFOs on my needles (unfinished objects) right now, that I've come to realize, even to speak it outloud, that they're holding me back. It's a good thing that they're holding me back from cast-on-itis, a condition in which we knitters can't resist casting on (or beginning) a new project. The allure of a snazzy pattern, or the siren song of a new yarn . . . you know.

But they're doing more than that. These particular UFOs are such that I don't want to work on them either. So my knitting is happening in fits and starts and it sputters too much.

Why don't I want to finish them? The two projects I'm thinking of in particular are them two pairs of socks I started and am about half through. Love the yarns. I love the patterns. But they're both full of mistakes, and one of those pair is just a wee bit too small.

The real culprit here is my absolute hatred of frogging projects (ripping out the stitches), and I know I gotta frog them. I won't knit on 'em, 'cause waaaaaay back in the very back of my mind, I know a froggin' is comin'. And I won't cast on for more socks, because, well, I got them two pairs going. So nothing socky is actually happening. Sigh.

So. I've convinced myself that I simply must have a set of knitted coasters, a hanging dish towel, and a dishcloth all in Christmasy colors, and I must have them ready for use by Christmas. The truth? I wanted quickie projects to soothe my ache to knit something, and help me ignore the pile of UFOs. Especially since my coworker's gift scarf got finished. I can go ahead and blog that, since I gave it to her this morning. I think she genuinely liked it (yay!).

Oh, had a nifty idea to share too; I put the scarf in one of those holiday cookie tins, instead of a gift bag. It's now my new favorite way to package handknit gifts (chuckle).

So I finished the mitered hanging towel and the coasters. Had some help with the coasters, but I'll tell ya about that here in a bit. The dishcloth is currently on my needles, it's mindlessness tickling me pink. Ear candy whilst knitting this week has been provided by Lime 'n Violet's latest episode #96, in which Violet tells us about her SAFF day!

But once the holidays are over, I'm gonna have to break down and do that frogging, so I can reclaim the sock-knitting portion of my life. That, and finish the sleeves on that FLS.

So yesterday was a Fertile Turtles knitting group day, and everyone was so silly and full of giggles, that Debra's cookies became suspect. I know I laughed so hard for so long, that body parts were sore afterwards! And mostly it was my inner 12-year old just having a sophomoric good time. Ain't those just the best?

Remember Raeus' combination of yarns from an earlier post? This is what she's started with 'em, using her WeaveIt.








Click on it, so you can really see it!










Mary Beth has officially declared her FLS done! This one goes to her grandmother for the holidays.

And these, um, slippers of hers is either for the abominable snowman or they're to be felted soon.
They scared me just a little.

Angelika, our queen of dishcloths, gave me some of the ones she's knitted while with us, and they're in my kitchen colors, too! Thank you!

Nicole has a little Bunny Tail hat started for her new young 'un.
She had us all laughing, demonstrating on Oliver how people will just come up to her and rub her pregnant belly as if it were a public petting zoo. Oliver's responses and general hamming had Barbara laughing so hard, we feared he may have broke her. Tears squirted, she laughed so hard!

Oh, and then Nicole told me about this band she used to listen to called the Shit Howdy Boys, and was surprised that I hadn't already heard of them. So I went home and googled and did the iTunes search thing, and even looked on Amazon. I think she made them up. Like a west coast version of the Snipe Hunt. If you're unaware of snipe huntin', lemme know - please!

Barb has another baby cardigan in the works; check out the Yarn Haven's photo of her other cardi that we watched grow (right here: clicky, clicky).

That reindeer and beaded neckwarmer should look familiar to y'uns too.


Debra's party Saturday night went very well, with some Turtle spouses getting to meet and mingle. She brought the alien head scarf to work on some more. Yeah, it's holiday-knitting crunch time for a lot of us.

Speaking of holiday knitting, Pam finished another Calorimetry, and . . . .

. . . . .these socks.

Dunno if she saw me lean under the table and get this shot of her Eunice socks. I also dunno if she's been put in my life to inspire or torment me with her sock-knitting-swiftness. Either way, I love her so!

If only I could do socks like her, and sweaters like Carol . . . *sigh*




Speaking of the Sock Queen, this is her newest pair-to-be, Angee. Click on this one too, to really see the semi-solid sultriness of that red. I don't care whether or not 'sultriness' is a word, it's what that yarn is. Rrrowwr!

Yeah, okay, this is one of those toys that when ya squeeze it, like Oliver did repeatedly, it bulges out in a way that's both disturbing and hilarious. I was gonna tell ya what Oliver said at this point, but thought better of it. You just had to be there.





And our dear Oliver, at another point, also said in a wistful way, that he wished he could knit, so he could be doing that with us. Well, ahem. I just happen to be using my Wonder Knitter to crank out all them I-cords for coasters (you coil 'em and then stitch 'em that way), and I just put it into his hands. He took right to it like a suburnite does to Soduko. Like yarn crack. I predict we'll have him knitting with two sticks in no time . . . then he'll be our entertaining Oliver forever more (insert maniacal laughter right about here)!