Knitting news.

Last week was the week of hats. I finished three: a brown one for my brother-in-law, a soft little burgundy one for the young son of friends of ours, and one to use up a random single skein of Berroco Hip-Hop that I wanted to get out of my stash and ended up giving my sister because she thought it was cute. A fourth is almost done, except for weaving in the loose ends and adding braids and a pompom.

I finished the mobius scarf last night, leaving me ready to start some new projects. I plan to do some swatching of Wool of the Andes to see if it will suit the Eris cardigan. I’m hoping to get a lot of work on Mike’s sweater done. And I started the alpaca laceweight stole. The first couple rows were a little touchy, but I think it will get easier from there.

I have much yarn purchasing power at the moment, and I’m trying to decide how best to use it. There are a couple of big projects I’d like to buy yarn for — the aforementioned Eris cardigan, and the Union Square Market Pullover from Interweave Knits Fall ‘05 — but it’s looking more and more like those are going to come from Knit Picks. So, in the meantime, I have $40 or so in credit at Cass St., another $40 or so at Mass. Ave. Knit Shop, and a $50 gift certificate from Webs. I do want some Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted to make some of the Jess Hutchison toys, and would also like to buy something to make a blanket or something for the McKinneys. Sarah has asked for a pretty scarf, and Matt for a nice stocking cap, so I could look for stuff for them. Most of that can come from Webs, I think. Then the rest I can spend on tools (Addi Turbos in the appropriate size for Eris, Eucalan) and just stuff I like. Making sure, of course, that I actually buy enough to be able to actually make something from it. A single skein ain’t gonna cut it.

Maybe you’ve already seen 43 Things. I started my list this morning. Check it out.

I am a boring blogger with a boring blog.

I have this card I bought one time at Paper Source that has on its front a certificate for being a Bad Storyteller. It’s a little harsh, and I haven’t found the right person/situation yet for giving it, and so I see it every time I look in my stationery drawer to find a card for someone. I’m thinking that if I changed the word “Bad” to “Boring,” and “Storyteller” to “Blogger,” I’d have the perfect card to give to myself.

I don’t know why I’m so bad at blogging. Maybe I feel inadequate because the blogs I read (particularly the knitting ones) always seem to have new stuff on them, including pictures. I just never get the pictures going until I have a whole bunch of finished objects, and I never feel like I have something worth posting unless I have a picture. Or maybe I’m just not imagining that people will want to read my bad stories (See! Bad Storyteller!). I don’t know.

If you just got all excited because Stuff and Things and Whatnot finally turned bold in Bloglines, I apologize.

More objects for the finished projects pile!

This fabric softened up considerably in the blocking and got all fleecy. I was a little concerned about the fit — the sweater seemed so darn small — and was pretty laborious about blocking the pieces to the measurements I got from Michelle. After putting it together, though, it turned out beautifully, and fit like a glove.

Having got that done (with hours to spare before Michelle headed back to Omaha after Thanksgiving), it was time to turn to Chaucer’s sweater, which I was able to finish up over the weekend.

It was such a relief to get good feedback on it from Lisa. She actually put Chaucer in it right away; too bad I didn’t have the camera at her house, because he looks really good in it, if I do say so myself. My favorite of the motifs is this dude — he looks the most dog-like and Peruvian of the bunch.

Having finished these two things, I was finally able to start on the mobius scarf from Lisa Myers’ Joy of Knitting. Hooray! I also finished up the cabled hat, but Mike has the camera with him in Delaware, so a picture will have to wait until he gets home.

Just flipping through the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2005 issue, and here’s a couple of links to check back on:

americanbuffaloproducts.com — buffalo down fiber

yarn of the month club — enough each of four yarns to make a 4×4″ swatch for playing with