High Holydays aka High Horror Days

So, why didn't I take pictures of all the great stuff I've been finishing up? Why didn't I post for 10 days?

The High Holydays.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the biggest days at the synagogue, and tons of planning go into making them work. I'm the entire office staff of my synagogue, so things have been crazy since July. Add the Capital and Endowment Campaign, and it makes for one insane time period.

Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow night, so I'll get a break until Monday. Then I have that week to get everything set up for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur.

In my experience, people who don't work at the shul don't know how tough these days can get. For those of us that work there, it's one crisis after another until you wish you could kill yourself, but then you realize you'd be reanimated to finish your work, so it's not worth it.

Thankfully, my husband bought me a birthday present that got delivered yesterday: Moby Dick. I think I'll try to read a bit of it tonight to calm my nerves before the craziness of tomorrow.

And in knitting news...I finished the baby kimono and almost finished my STR August socks. I just have about 4 inches to go. I didn't decide which shawl to make, but the holidays made the question academic!

Finished, and begun again

I finished the autumny socks, but didn't take a picture before wearing them to work. I'm relatively happy about how they turned out; I used two different lace patterns...they don't quite fit together, but they don't look awful. It was also a good learning experience. If I make socks at that small of a gauge again, I think I'll just make them anklets!

I'm almost done with the Impossibly Cute Baby Kimono, and I hope to get it done this weekend. I feel too guilty to start a shawl until I have that finished.

I also went back to my Silk Slip from KLS and played with the seam allowances. I think I may have solved my problem...pics to follow if I'm right.

I didn't finish the babydoll yet, but I'm not sure why. Ennui, maybe.

I also found out that my younger sister is pregnant.

Plus, it's my birthday on Tuesday.

Life is insane right now!

In lieu of something new

I give you my last two shawls:



and



The first one is the Lace Garland from Shawls and Scarves. It took me a year to knit, mainly because I stopped knitting on it for 8 months! I love it, and I loved blocking it--so magical. It lives with my mother in law. Here's a closeup of the lace:



The second is the Ethereal Fichu from Heartstrings Fiber Arts. I used one skein of Schaefer Anne in an unlabeled colorway. It was an extremely quick knit. It lives with my sister in law--if her cat hasn't destroyed it yet. Here's a (slightly blurry) closeup:



I have too many shawls to decide from as my next project. The only thing I won't be able to do is use any of the Kid Silk Haze that I bought, since I'm so allergic to it. I'm trying to decide between the bee shawl or stole, the garter and lace from Shawls and Scarves slightly modified, a silk scarf from Victorian Lace Today, or just going it alone and making up a triangular pattern. I want something I can finish in a month or two, so that I have time to work on my Children of Hurin Shawl, but I need something light enough to work on when it's still warm outside (which is the reason I'm NOT working on the CoH shawl right now.) Argh...decisions.

I got my STR August shipment on Friday, and I don't know how I feel about it. The colors remind me of Mr. Freeze freezie pops, and the pattern for the cuff is vine lace (which I had a bellyfull of with the Lace Slip from KLS). I'm thinking of modifying the pattern to fit one of the new Cat Bordhi ones, but I'm not sure.

I'm also working on the Impossibly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm using Cotton Flamme from Crystal Palace yarns. It's a really nice slubby cotton, and I'm enjoying working with it. I hope this little kimono works out.

Sockies!

So, I've been working on my autumny socks, but they're just bus knitting. It takes a long time to make a pair of socks that are 10st/inch when you only knit on them 10 minutes a day. Sheesh.

However, I'm happily making socks from Cat Bordhi's book. To wit:



The blue socks are the Coriolis socks:



And the pink ones are the little sky socks:



I am LOVING this book!

Gah

I guess I just give up on the silk slip. I made the cups one size up, and now the thing is too big. I'm not going to chuck it onto the rubbish heap, but I can't work on it any more any time soon. Gah.

In other news, I found out my best friend from high school is having a baby! She just got married, and she got pregnant the first month. I'm so happy for her, but so depressed for myself. Next week will be the anniversary of my last miscarriage.

The good news is that now I have someone to give all the test sockies from the Cat Bordhi book to :)

Almost there...

After redoing the cups on the Silk Slip from KLS, I merely have to sew them to the waistband and I'll be through. Criminy! I'll be happy to let that albatross fall off my neck and into the sea.

Still a few more inches to go on the silk babydoll.

I'm getting 10 st/inch on my autumn rusty socks, which is probably why they're taking so long. I'm finally to the heel turn. I'm also going to wind up the June STR yarn to work on next.

I made the Riverbed baby sock from New Pathways for Sock Knitters...it was so fun! I love trying interesting things. Here's a somewhat cruddy pic of it:



I think I'll make one of each of the test socks and use them for Christmas ornaments. They're just the right size for it.

We finally got a new digital camera, so I'll hopefully be able to take pictures without becoming supremely irritated.

My eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to crafting. Since I'm finally at the point in my life where I have disposable income, I can afford to have multiple projects going at once. This is not necessarily a good thing!

New Pathways for Sock Knitters

Oh my goodness--I just got this book and I'm utterly enthralled. If you enjoy sock knitting, you should get this.

In KLS news, I decided to redo the cups on my silk slip. I guess I'm not actually a B-cup! The babydoll is 4 inches from being done, so I just have to figure out what to make next :)

I have a couple shawls on the needles, but they're just to keep my hand in, not for any special purpose. The CoH shawl is still on hiatus, since its 10 million degrees outside.

Back to my socks!