I Know It's Been a While...

Sewing station is beginning to take shape.

Swallowtail Shawl...see below!

Some of my excuses for not posting more often:  well, the major one is computer issues. Camera issues too--my trusty little red Nikon camera is acting up. You'll notice that the color on some of these photos is really bad--seems to be an ongoing issue.
I've been taking more pictures with my phone, too, and getting them up onto the blog is, well, I need to take the time to learn how to do that.
So really, I think a lot of it is just recovering from the move and the holidays and the segue into Birthday Season.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The yarn once known as a Swallowtail in progress.

 The sewing machines are out and the cabinet set up. Lots and lots of organizing left to do before I can just sit and sew, though.

Sparkly Kid Silk Haze scarf.

 I decided that I really need to get myself organized and fitted into the new place, and that really no one can do it but me. Thanks to some strenuous effort on the part of Energizer Daughter, I can now park in the garage. It's a start, but there really is still a long way to go! I did get over to the storage unit (another whole story there, a blog post for another day) and found my tub o' WIPs. Which turned out to be TWO tubs. Sigh.

Hauled them all out and dragged them home, then sat down the other night and took a good hard look at them all. Took pictures, too. Going to update the sidebars on the blog and maybe redo them a little. We'll see.

So here's the rundown, in order of the pictures that are posted here. First up is the Swallowtail Shawl. I love the design, love the yarn--it's a wonderful Alpha B in a pretty turquoise. Yes, it's blue, not limey green like the pictures. (Camera issues.) I went ahead and frogged it, even though I had already done a lot of work on it. The repeats were just not lining up right, and I decided that this is a color I'll love better in something else. Or it will make a nice gift. I'm thinking Magrathea.

The fuzzy scarf in the next picture is missing its pattern. I think I know what it's doing, though. It's a deep burgundy color, very pretty, with flecks of silver sparkle.

You'd never know from that picture though! I'm just going to knit to the end of the ball and call it done.

The Hanging Garden is minus its beads. It really is a very pretty design and the yarn has a much more lavender hue to it.

Hanging Ga'rden Scarf.

Obi Shawl in progress.

 This picture makes it look like baby pastels, which it isn't. It even has its own little project bag, also lavender. Hmmm. Maybe I need to tuck a sachet of lavender into the bag too?

Not too much to say about the next few projects. They are all pretty things that I still really want to make, so I'm going to go ahead and do them.

Then we get down to poor Jordan. Deep sigh.

I love the design.

I love the color of the yarn. The yarn itself, well, not so much. It's Euroflax, so kind of stiff and string-like. Also very tricky to knit with.

But I was doing well, was onto the third pattern and it was going to be nice. Even something I could see myself wearing. Then the needles slipped and about 10 or so stitches went rogue.

Dropped and slithered and, well, with yarn overs and K2Tog and SSKs it just wasn't getting back on track.

So off to the frog pond it went. Sigh. I'm not quite ready to give up on it, but the yarn may well be repurposed.

Jordan, in Euroflax. Needles slipped out.

Jordan has been frogged.

Ab Fab throw

Cedar Leaf Shawlette

Fall Acorn scarf

Falling Water scarf

See the color difference in these two pictures? Taken at the same distance and both with flash.

The lag time on the camera is worrying too.

Onward.

The Ab Fab throw is the 7th? one I've made. To say I'm a little "over" the project is an understatement. There are also some other hangups with this project.

It's what I was working on when Himself was in the hospital. Sitting quietly knitting in the corner was a good way to be allowed to stay in his room in ICU, even when the doctors were doing their rounds. I learned a lot that way, but it was also a tense unhappy time and sometimes those emotions get attached to a project.

However, I also worked on it when I did a Relay for Life event with a group of knitter friends. I sat up in a rocking chair and knitted all night.  So that was a good, positive thing.

Now I've got it out again and I'm determined to ge 'er done. It's already pretty long and my current motive is to finish up the yarn. I've got the balls set out on the ottoman in order and I've been chugging through them.

The rest of these are projects that I want to get done soon. Not going to write too much about them, because the laptop is overheating and some of the keys are sticking. I have to pound on the B and the T and my fingers aren't happy about it.

Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to update much more often now that I've broken the logjam again.

Tomorrow we're going wedding dress shopping! I'm looking forward to it--been a long time since we had a wedding in the family! Probably won't be able to post any pictures till the day of the wedding, but we'll see. And no, I'm not volunteering to make all the bridesmaids' dresses.

It's been so long I can't remember the name of this one.

F