Don't Tempt Me

I love quilts. There's something wonderful about being able to snuggle down under a quilt in the winter -- all the better if it's handmade. (Like the one from my grandma, blogged here.) Or an awesome one that my aunt is finishing for our wedding gift.

But as much as I love quilts, and would like to know how to do basic sewing, I've never felt the tug of wanting to learn how to quilt. I'd rather just enjoy the finished project.

Until now. Looking at the pictures from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, I am struck by nearly everything in the book. Especially these two:

Color Wheel Quilt

and

Follow-the-Lines Quilt

Many more awesome projects featured over at The Purl Bee.

Now I need to remind myself that I have neither the time nor the space to adopt a quilting habit right now. Maybe someday, but not as long as "grad school" is a part of my life equation. That said, if any quilters want to make me something, I'm an eager recipient. :)

Luckily, I have all sorts of awesome yarn to surround myself with. Check this out - my booty from blogless Katie, who gifted me as part of the Football-Along Swap:

In addition to the yummy candies and other goodies she sent along (including a recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake I've had bookmarked... mindreader!) some awesome yarn. She dyed the yarn herself, FOR ME!, to stripe in Broncos colors. How awesome is that?? I'm sorta sad I already have socks on the needles or I would cast on this weekend. Talk about a great incentive to tear through the socks in progress!

THANKS KATIE!!

Sock Detour

As much as I loved the monogamy of the Phildar sweater, I knew it wouldn't last. I've hit a part in the chart that requires constant vigilance, both to the cables as well as to the stitch count.

The good news is that this signals the start of armhole shaping! And therefore, the nearing of the end of the back! I have to be honest and say that a wee bit of fatigue is starting to set in.

I still love the sweater, and I adore the fabric that it's producing, but the process is starting to get tiresome. And by process, I mean schlepping around all the accoutrements that go with knitting the sweater--chart, row counter, cable needle (I can do most cables without one, but still need one just in case). As much as I wish I could intuit the cable crossings by looking at the pattern, my mind doesn't work that way. It's not so much a grab-and-go sweater.

So when I needed something to work on Friday, as we went to see our last Nationals game at RFK Stadium, I knew it couldn't be the sweater. And socks seemed like just the thing.

These will be for JT--a nice manly shade of Trekking, in a 6x2 rib. I finished the entire foot at the game--it went into extra innings!--but will be putting them aside until I've finished at least the back of the Phildar sweater. I mean, it is starting to feel like fall here--I need to get my cable on!

*****

A non-knitting note: Today I turn 31. It seems like a pretend number--31? Me? Really?--but I have to say I'm more excited about this year ahead than ones in a long time. 30 was a year of decisions and changes--some hard ones, with me choosing to leave the company I'd been with since just after college and pursue a new field and a master's degree all at once. Now that a few months are under my belt, and I'm remembering how to study and be a good student, I couldn't be happier. It was a big leap, but necessary for me to feel good about my direction. And it's no small thing to say that a number of awesome people I've met through knitting helped me think it through and supported me when I needed it most.

One-Knit Pony

One thing I've realized about this whole one-project-at-a-time situation is that it makes for really boring blogging. Especially when there are many days when I can only manage a handful of rows - the progress seems very slow. But then all of a sudden, you look down and realize, hey, I'm less than 2 inches from starting the armhole shaping!

This is the back, by the way, of the Phildar Cabled Crew. The back is taking a LOT longer than the sleeves -- probably because there are 4 more cables involved in every row. I don't really mind - it still is chugging along faster than I anticipated. Plus, it helps that I'm smitten with this little drunken cable sandwiched between the basketweave ones.

And I keep telling myself that I'm going to be fine on yarn. I do believe that, but I don't trust myself. So I need to get through the back to be sure that I have half my yarn leftover for the front and the other sleeve. It's deceptive really -- cables don't look like yarn-hungry monsters, but they are. Ohhh, they are. Kel reminds me that it's because cables get to travel in 3-D, while other garments just involve two dimensions.

She's right - look at all that fantastic depth and 3-Dness! Positively dimensional!

*****

Part of the reason that progress was so great this week: Football! I love football season. To me, it embodies everything that's fun about fall. The air getting cooler (or so I'm told), hunkering down to watch a game with a pot of chili simmering on the stove... of course it was 90 degrees in Washington this weekend, so that was sort of a figment. JT did grill up a pile of meats, so we hunkered down with those.

And this year, in addition to watching my Broncos play, I have something else to keep me entertained -- playing (and commissionering) a Knitters Fantasy Football league, something cooked up by the gals at the Footballalong blog.