Where Does The Time Go?!

So, I haven't really written here in a while. I would say the main catalyst for this was when I broke my left hand back in... February? It's easy to forget once you've healed up and started taking twice-daily calcium supplements. Well, the short version is that I was running over to my register in order to take care of a customer, and I whacked my hand against the counter-top. This is an ordinary occurence - inanimate objects tend to get in the way of my path of energy, heh - but this time it was significantly harder and I could swear I felt a crack. The pain was excrutiating. I managed to get in to see my doctor that day and had an x-ray, and lo and behold... yes, it was broken. I saw an orthopaedic specialist and got all splinted up for the next month. I managed to hold it together and work with one hand, but knitting was nigh impossible. It was especially frustrating as I was getting really into lace and had just placed special orders at work for "Arctic Lace" by Donna Druchunas and "Victorian Lace Today" by Jane Sowerby. After I had successfully healed up it took me a little while to get back into knitting and I have all but abandoned my Ravelry profile since there weren't any projects to enter in. I hope to rediscover the fun of Ravelry, but I at least have been tackling small projects and getting back into Properly Obsessed With Pointy Sticks Mode.

Here's what I've been working on:

- The Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from "Knit 2 Together" by Mel Clark and Tracy Ullmann. I showed the photos to a co-worker and she loved it immediately. She wanted something light but warm to accompany the dress she wants to wear to a wedding later in the year. I spent about a month practicing the lace pattern before I bought a skein of the Blue Sky Alpaca Silk and swatched up properly. Oh my STARS. That yarn is so super soft and so beautiful! It was a joy to knit with and produced a beautiful fabric. However, I'm looking at trying a cotton blend for now (understandable; the alpaca silk is quite expensive). The slight skein I bought was definitely not a waste, though!

- the Foliage hat from knitty.com. I had a lovely ball of Lamb's Pride bulky in a vareigated pink, and it was just right for this hat. Unfortunately, I misplaced the right-sized circular needle for it (I have since found it and put it in a safe place!) so when I got to that point in the pattern, I sighed and undid my knitting. I ended up knitting a plain beanie with about 2" of ribbing at the bottom, on DPNs. It only took a couple of hours over the course of a weekend, and at the time (a couple of weeks ago) it was totally appropriate because the weather was playing up and going from warm to cold at the, well, drop of a hat. Now it's warm again and we're gearing up for summer. At least I'll have something cute to wear when fall rolls around again.

- Socks! On my birthday yarn binge (see the yarn bought in the two previous points!) I also got some On Your Toes in the Carousel colorway (pictured). Until I started knitting with it (last Tuesday) I didn't realise that it was self-striping/patterning. It's amazing and so soft! Last night I finished the first sock and cast on right away for the second. I stayed up until about four in the morning (they were showing the entirity of "Grindhouse" on Starz... knitting + schlock horror = awesome) and got halfway through the heelflap!! I would be even further along if I hadn't caused myself some problems with decreases and increases (I was trying not to have slouchy socks; when I went to increase back for the ankle and foot, my increase caused holes, so I ripped back to fix it. Added about an hour of finagling to my progress, argh). I rented a couple of promising looking titles yesterday ("Cherry Falls", "Terror Tract") so I'm confident that I will at least be done up to gusset decreasing by the time I have to go to bed tonight!

I actually have some plain sock yarn I bought from KnitPicks in order to dye myself with Kool Aid. I hope to get some of that done really soon so I can make yet more pretty socks. My goal for 2008 is to get as close to perfecting my sock knitting as humanly possible!