It's being blocked!!!!

One thing that is quickly becoming evident: I will need to improve my knit photography skills. I tried to take a pic of the Malabrigo cable scarf pinned out and blocked, but the photos were simply awful.

And anyway, what is newsworthy is that fact that it *is* being blocked.
I finished at about 5:00 this afternoon, just before I left for my knitting class. It was the perfect length pre-blocking, though a few extra inches won't hurt. I asked Mary whether or not I should even block it, since it was meant to be a narrow scarf, but she thought it would make the cables pop.

In class I started Bean's second mitten. It has been so long since I did the first that I have mostly forgotten what to do, so it will be slow going again. I don't love dpns.

It's killed me.
I know that a never-ending skein of Malabrigo is a good thing to most .. but not me, and not tonight.

Six more inches ... argh!

I'm going to finish my mother's scarf tonight if it kills me.
Send caffeine.

Can't resist a sale ...

I had a little shopping spree today. I know, not the best thing to do a week before Christmas, but I just couldn't pass up the sale. Sakonnet Purls is having a pre-2008 sale, and everything in the store was at least 20% off.

The reason for the sale is interesting in itself ... Rhode Island recently passed legislation that would impose 6% sales tax on yarn and fabric. Until this point, both had been considered tax exempt. What this means for yarn sales in the state remains to be seen, but when neighboring states do not charge sales tax on these items, it might hurt business. Rhode Island is small enough that people can get to a neighboring state in less than 1/2 hour.

So here's what I bought:

7 skeins of Malabrigio to make the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. 2 skeins of Malabrigio for a scarf and hat for myself. 2 sets of Lantern Moon rosewood needles (sizes 7 and 8). The book Hats On by Charlene Schurch (best hat book for all ages that I've found so far). And the best ... the one thing that kept pulling me back to fondle:

100% silk laceweight from Claudia Handpaint, in the Walk in the Woods colorway. This will be a shawl for myself, to wear at my brother's wedding. At least, that's the plan. I need to find the right pattern to do this yarn justice. It's amazing. And it was 20% off. Would you have been able to resist??

I think I'll make it ...

This is the 3rd or 4th project that I've started for my mom, but I think I finally have settled. This is a 2-cable scarf pattern that I got free when I bought Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran at Nancy O Boutique in Ridgefield, CT, a yarn store that I visited in my many travels.

The scarf on display in the shop was made of cashmere, and at the time I had only been knitting for a few weeks -- certainly not long enough to justify a cashmere purchase. So the lovely woman in the shop recommended the Cashmerino Aran, which felt like a dream.

Well, I swatched it up on Monday night, and I just didn't care for it at all. It might have been OK if I had gone down a couple of needle sizes, but I was knitting at Borders with my friend and didn't have other needles with me. And the yarn wasn't nearly as soft knitted up as in the ball.

So I did what any good knitter would do -- I went to the yarn store in search of more yarn. And I found the yarn that I had been reading about for months -- Malabrigo. It felt wonderful, and at $10.50 for over 200 yards, I thought it was a deal. I bought two hanks, and I adore it.

The pattern is great -- I put the printed pattern away after the first 6-row repeat. Because it's narrow, it seems to be working up pretty quickly. I hope to finish it by Sunday night.

As for stocking #1, the duplicate-stitch snowflake is complete, and the foot is seamed -- I just need to finish seaming and add the hanging loop.

Quick, photoless, update (now with photo!)

Stocking #2 is finished!! Completely, including seaming and the attached hanging loop.

Stocking #1: almost half of the snowflake is on .. hope to finish the rest, and seam, tonight.

Photos when both are done, and my living room is decorated, so I can shoot the stockings in their preferred setting -- hanging on the fireplace.

Progress!!

Stocking #1 is nearly complete ... I just have to duplicate stitch the snowflake and then seam it up. I survived Kitchener stitch!

I'm going to hold off finishing it until I finish Stocking #2, just in case I run out of time before Christmas. I think Stocking #1 looks OK without the snowflake, and the duplicate stitch seems that it might be a bit time consuming. So I'll go back to it when I'm done with #2, which is just striped.