I know, I know: “Contessa, make with the photos already!”

I wish the eyelets showed up in the photo as well as they do in person. . .

You can sorta see the unfortunate toe bind-off in this photo.  It’s worse at other angles. . .  Look at the pretty color variation near the toe.  I’m tickled pink with the dye-job. (And everyone groans at my pun. . .  Sorry, friends, sorry!)

Can you guess one of my favorite things about these socks?

(Look at me, I’m already addressing it like it’s a full pair!)  The color variations hidden along the sole!  Eeeeee!  You’ll have to forgive me. . .  If you’ve been peeking in on my blog (or better yet, following my blog) for some time now, you know how rare it is I’m ecstatic over a FO. . .  (Excepting my father’s socks, which made me happy just because they were finally done.)  This FO I’m genuinely thrilled with.

It’s. . .  a strange feeling.  Disconcerting. Even more disconcerting?  I finished this for a friend of a friend:

Models come in all shapes and sizes!

The pattern (from Bernat) dictated the hat be knit flat and then seamed.  Not wanting the unsightly seam (not just for appearance sake but also to help protect baby’s delicate scalp!), I put on my big-girl knitter-panties (which I didn’t even know I had) and attempted a pattern alteration. . .  I kept assuring myself that if it didn’t work, I can frog it and start over as if I never tried something so stupid and brazen.  But. . .  it worked!  It worked so well I got through the whole thing, seamless. . .  And not having to purl a single stitch.  *wild laughter*  Also, the finished product is killer cute.  I hope it exceeds my friend’s expectations, and I hope her friend loves it–and that her baby wears it in good health.

There’s one other baby item to come–that’ll likely be next Friday, if I’m not actively helping my father move.  Happy weekend, one and all! :)

Click the image below to visit Tami’s blog for more FO Friday goodness:

And not that I’m not going to milk every stitch for what it’s worth, every chance I get. :p  Of course, my to-do list has grown, rather suddenly and semi-unexpectedly over the last week.  One unexpected item pops up on this update, the others will be in future WIP Weds updates, as I’m able to do them (I don’t know what the Internet access is going to be like, but believe me, I’m going to try!). . .   Wish me luck!!!  At last, on with the WIP update this week:

Is it a scarf or a table runner?

The ol’ Ravenclaw scarf is coming along quite nicely.  I hit the halfway point sometime between last Wednesday and today.  I’m hoping to have it done by the end of February but with the move and other projects, I might have to extend my EDD to March, or perhaps even April.  That thing is a monster!!  Still not hating it, yet.

Hexisofaseat

I think I’ve got around 24 puffs now.  I haven’t been as diligently working on the puffs as I have on the scarf, but I’m only 3 behind where I think I should be.  Not so bad.  Working through my yellow yarn, I can’t wait until I have enough that I can photograph it looking the way it will when everything is done. . .  Still too many striped puffs.

And now for the wait, what?! portion of this post.  After finishing my father’s sock, I had this random desire to cast on a new one, despite everything (current projects, a really bad SSS with my father’s pair, my sanity, etc.!). . .  And somehow, some yarn I dyed a while ago (I don’t remember much about it except that it involved some Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid, neon pink food coloring, and for whatever reason, I never shared the finished skein) got paired up with the Puppy Love pattern out of the Joy of Sox book. . .  I’ve named it “Atomic Cotton Candy,” and it was incredibly difficult to photograph.  In the matter of a couple days (and around the other projects, taking care of the boy, doing chores, etc.) I managed to get to the point where I’ll be shaping the toe.  Have a look:

Do your eyes hurt? Mine do!

I am semi-ashamed to admit that it took almost down to the toe before I felt comfortable enough with my memory of the pattern before I knitted it without being tethered to the book. :p  The next sock should be easier/faster.  So far?  I love it.  The yarn was 100% Peruvian Wool–I hope it doesn’t agitate my feet too much.  I’d be really bummed if these couldn’t be worn by, you know, humans. ;)

Unfortunately, no update from the hubs this week (though a few more rows did get knitted). . .  He’s been focusing on a Harry Potter related project that may have been a little tiny bit my fault. . .  by coercion.  Um, I mean, gentle asking with lots of “please”s and “thank you”s and “holy crap, that’d be so awesome“s!  :D

I hope everyone’s having a wonderful, and productive week!  Click the image below for more works-in-progress:

They are DONE!!!!!

They are done, photographed poorly, and out of my possession!  I’m hoping to have a photo of them in use perhaps next Friday.  I was pleasantly surprised at how thrilled I was to finish the second sock.  I expected for how much I hated it, finishing would be a non-event or more relief than anything else.  No–it was cause for immense celebration.

I have quite a bit of yarn left over–not enough to make any decently sized project with it, of course, but enough to make little fiddly things.  Things like, well, virtually anything from Mochimochi Land.  So hubs fell in love with the slugs/snails he saw on that site. . .  And knowing I’d knit my father a cactus, thought that one of those would be the perfect complement.

I wish mine looked more. . . sluggy.

The cactus pattern (very simple, btw) came out of the book Funky Knits.  There are plenty of adorable cactus patterns in Ravelry’s pattern database–I may have to make a few of those once my parents are done moving.

Unfortunately, my father wasn’t as amused as I would have liked–he’d just discovered one of his orchids has an incurable virus.  It’s the first time in years (and years and years) of growing and keeping orchids, and it’s communicable (to other plants, I mean). . .  thanks to little buggies like our friend, the slug.  Poor timing, though I noticed it wasn’t removed before I left their place.  We’ll see if it’s still there the next time I go visit. ;)  At least he adored the socks, despite the imperfections.  I promised him a better pair sometime in the future.

Anyone else have knit or crochet gifts that totally fell flat when they were given?  No?  Just me?  :p

Click the image below to see other finished object Friday posts!

Now, upon request, I’m sharing a few photos of my father’s orchids (mostly flowers, because that’s what I’ve always loved photographing).  Flowers behind the cut!  Click any photo for much larger version.  He has a vast variety of them.  Someday I’ll get photos of many, many more.

Didn’t get any knitting done yesterday, but I made some decent progress this week–mostly on my Ravenclaw scarf.

Ignoring the dorky stitches just above the grey stripes on the portion of the scarf sitting on top there (the yarn was a little weird in that one spot, otherwise wonderful), I feel like I’ve done a lot on this project in relatively little time.  It doesn’t seem to look like much in this photo but when I’m working on it, it’s draped over my lap and down my leg and it’s nearly reaching the floor now.  Monster scarf!

Because I’ve spent more time on that scarf, the hexipuffs are getting rather hexineglected.  The solid yellow ones are all new since last Wednesday. :)

And in case anyone wanted verification of my insanity, look above.  That was me, last week, during the power outage I mentioned on Friday’s post.  If you click the photo for its larger version, you should be able to see my father’s sock in my hands.  I finished the entire cuff that way.  I know this isn’t Twitter, but let’s just say: #crazy !!!

Lastly, a little update about hubby’s knitting!

Since last week, he finished the first green stripe and an entire grey one!  He’s plugging along on it like a real trooper! :D

That’s it for me this Wednesday!  Hope you’re all having a great week!  Click the image below to see more works in progress.

Yesterday, we experienced what appear to be now monthly power outages (the prior one was literally a month and a day prior to yesterday’s), to make things super-exciting around here.  The December outage lasted only about five hours, whereas this one was closer to twenty.  Not feeling optimistic about what is left in the fridge, and was really worried about our leopard gecko without her heat lamp–going into what I read was supposed to be a night in the 30s.  (Thankfully the temp in our apartment dropped only to the low 60s, and I thought to put in a tupperware container filled with hot water. . .  this morning we found her on top of it.)  :)

We went out and about during the day–took Contini to the pet store, went to World Market, where I discovered Kit Kat Chunky Hazelnut Cream (an adequate replacement for sex, ladies, if you can get your hands on it). . .  braved the absolutely screwed up traffic blocking our community because the light one block north of us was out–on a typically rush-hour traffic-jammed street. . .  No clue why there was no police direction when SCE knew we wouldn’t have power back until the early morning hours.

In the evening, we came home and entertained Contini by flashlight.  It’s really hard for a three-year-old to comprehend power-outages.  He kept trying the light switches (he wasn’t the only one, though Earl and I did so on impulse) and kept asking for the television, and games on my computer (which require an internet connection we didn’t have).  As for me, I did the unthinkable: I knit a sock cuff by flashlight.

We kept wondering what could have caused an outage like that.  The moderate temperatures in the low 70s?  The cloudless blue sky?  Winds registering as “calm”?  All I could find at fault was “failed components,” whatever that means.  I can only imagine how bad our service might be if we had “real weather.”

Anyway.  Power’s back.  Time for a finished object or two!

Bookscarves!

I quickly whipped up these two bookscarves earlier in the week so that hubs and I could read the same library book at the same time.  His is the Slyherin scarf, mine’s the Gryffindor scarf (which I affectionately nicknamed the Ronald McDonald House scarf).  He and I were both sorted into Ravenclaw by several online assessments (these are critical things to know, people!!!) but I wanted to make sure we knew whose spot was whose. . .  I called this photo “Slythindor.”  Maybe it’s “Gryffindin.”  I don’t know, I like blending words. :p

And now, the award for the best library score known to man:

I found that in the childrens library.  (Sure, it’s intended for ages 11 and up. . .  But that didn’t stop me from reading it to my toddler. . .  and to myself.)  Big mistake.  ”The Black Cat” really disturbed me. . .  And while Contini didn’t understand what was really going on (thankfully), it didn’t stop him from saying stuff that contributed to my being disturbed by the story.  Ahh, Edgar Allan Poe: disturbing people since the 1800s.
SUPER bummed the book didn’t include “Annabel Lee” or  ”The Raven.”  I rather felt that poetry would have lent itself beautifully to that kind of book.  The illustrations are a creepy kind of fabulous.

So having spent my day yesterday working on a sock, I have some catching up to do on my daily Ravenclaw stripes and hexipuffs. . .  How are you spending your Friday?  (After clicking the image below to visit other finished object blog updates, I mean!) ;)