This is Why I'm Keeping Myself from Podcasting

Somehow it never seems all that long since I've blogged until I happen to glance at the date of my last post and the number is almost the same as the one on my desk calendar. I've been thinking about doing a podcast (as far as I know there are no Canadian knitting podcasts. WTF?) but looking at the track record of my knitting blog, I'm thinking that might not be a good idea.

However! There are improvements in the blog coming, namely:

PICTURES!

Yes, people, I finally got a digital camera. *happy twirl* I've been experimenting with it and will probably be doing the Alphabet Meme that some other knitbloggers have been doing, so I have an excuse to post more often.

At left, you see my modified Pine Tree Toe-Up socks, using my bedsheet as a background as it was the only light-coloured thing I had handy for photo-taking at 11:45 pm. Note the flare at the top of the sock from the cast-off; I've yet to find a bind-off for toe-ups that is stretchy, but also non-flaring. I know quite a few people swear by EZ's sewn bind-off, and I should probably try wrapping my head around those diagrams again. The mate to this sock is still on the needles, and I may try it on that one. After all, no one's going to notice when I'm wearing them.

Besides, I should really finish that sock because I kind of need the needles. Need them for some KOIGU, that is. My first Koigu. I feel like there should be a Hallmark card or something for this. Finally I get to use yarn that all the cool knitters are using! All I have to do is get some Trekking XXXXXXXXL and the transformation from nerd knitter to cool kid will be complete!

...Okay, I'm done with the sarcasm. It's just jealousy anyway, of all those knitters who live in a Certain Big City and have access to this stuff at actual yarn stores and to God knows how many SnBs. Seriously, I have to see if one of the LYSs here might start one or figure out how to start one myself, because I keep reading about people who have these great SnB nights and I'm insanely jealous, wah.

Anyway, so yes, I have Koigu. I went on a yarn crawl to Toronto a couple weeks back on one of the frigging hottest and stickiest days of the summer, as it was the only day I could do it for the next month or so, and Koigu was on the List of Things To Look For. Found a colourway I liked at Knitomatic, and I'm nearly at the heel on one sock. So far I'm loving the way the Koigu works up; it really is gorgeous stuff (which it had better be, really for $45 for a pair of socks). Have to get the other PTTU off the needles before I can start the other one, though, which I should do soon, as I don't usually knit one sock at a time. One stays in my purse/tote bag, the other by the TV and I switch them every so often so that the interesting bits are staggered.

Also in the nearing-completion pile is another photogenic work: The Lace Sampler Scarf. Which unfortunately has to be shown in three pieces as even with standing on a chair, I couldn't get all of it in the shot. And for some reason now the picture-adding doohickey on Blogger isn't working, so I'm coding this by hand.

...Okay, I'm copy-and-pasting the code from the first pic and using it for subsequent pics, just changing the URLs and the alignment codes. Like I'm going to reinvent the wheel, when I don't know how to make the wheel in the first place, pshaw!

Anyway, yes, the scarf. It's actually a little further along than in these pictures, by now, as I only have one more short-row corner to do and then the last stretch of the side edging. Luckily in these pictures (and probably in the finished object) you can't really see that with the corners, I am so making it up as I reach each corner. That's the point of a sampler, though, right? Learning experience? :-)

Okay, it was more to show off a woman's skills, though many of them were used as a learning tool as well. Personally I like the samplers with mistakes; we had a number of them at the living history museum I worked at and I always found the ones with misspellings and lines that ran out of room to be more endearing.

Anyway, all I have to do is finish the edging and them block this monster somehow. I've been thinking of getting some of those interlocking playmats--the kind that look like big, square puzzle pieces--so I could do it downstairs in the family room, though it's rather dusty down there. Either that or I could borrow the bed in the spare room, as long as I could be sure no one was going to use it in the interim. Though it shouldn't take too long for this piece to dry: it's laceweight mohair and silk, and it's very thin, light and fluffy as a cloud, but very warm.

As for current and immediate future projects, I have the Koigu socks (photos of those next time) and I really have to do swatching and start on the Satchel (aka the JackBauer Felted Manpurse *shifty*) from Knitty as I'm heading off to New York City in two weeks.

TWO. WEEKS. OMG. This has obviously not sunk in yet.

I wonder if my travelling companions would be put out if I wanted to visit a yarn store or two (or three...or four...)?