¡Yo la tengo!

oh yes, i (finally) got it!

and i don't really know why short row heels have eluded me for so long, because it was so easy! no more heel flaps for me (unless i suddenly snap and decide i miss them or something. that, as they say, ain't likely.)

also, Yo La Tengo!

i (finally) got to see them this past Wednesday night. they were so good it hurt--literally (and this is coming from someone who's been at many a Sonic Youth and Nihilist Spasm Band show.) ah, so noisy and LOUD and amazing! "Sugarcube" live was downright transcendental. haven't had a moment like that in a long time.

and because it's easily one of the funniest (if not the funniest) videos i've ever seen, here's "Sugarcube." you need to see this.

Everything but...

...a mitten. yes, i am still keen on the Sea Mineral mittens--if only the yarn would get here! it should arrive soemtime this week. as such, it will only complicate matters.

i've been attempting to tie up some loose ends (read: finish the things that can be realistically be finished before commencement of new complicated project,) but it hasn't been working very well. the project i'm closest to finishing is the first of the Checks and Charms mittens. i actually picked it up the other day and knit another inch or two on the freaking thing before it made me very, very angry (the reasons for which may have something to do with how Jane never bothered learning how to knit different colours with different hands and how she has no patience for tangled working yarns.) did i mention i'm about an inch from the finger decreases and i simply can not make myself finish this mitten?! i don't even want to think about the camouflaged thumb--so elegant! so annoying to work!! somehow, i don't think these sentiments that i'm having are boding well for a prospective Latvian mitten. c'mon, yarn, any day now...

ok, how about a picture of something that i have managed to complete (relatively) recently:

it's the first of the Queen of Cups socks. it really didn't take that long to work through; those large lace repeats really eat up the inches. which is why i'm not too concerned that, at present, the second sock looks like this:

it'll get there, i know it will. all i have to do is pick it up a little more often that i have been lately.

this might have something to do with the Queen-of-Cups neglect:

yes, a new sock on metal needles. i loathe metal needles. i had purposefully tied up my bamboo dpns with the second Queen of Cups sock to prevent such activity. i was nearly convinced that it was working until i saw these and was suddenly inspired to do away with that errant ball of blue superwash and the bits of koigu hanging around in my snagglin' box. these will be short summer socks, what you see here is a 5" sock leg waiting for a properly worked short row heel (i'm getting it this time, i swear!) in a striking break with tradition, the second sock will mirror this one--this will be a first for my crazy springtime sock experiments.

and just because it's been a while, here's a current picture of Birch:

the third repeat is done; the rows are getting shorter and faster to work. the pattern is near second nature to me now! i must remember to pick it up every now and then to get it down to an even more manageable size. did i mention that when i actually do i look like i've been snuggling a duck egg blue-coloured goat?

To plan a mitten.

mitten planning is officially in the Early Stages. basically i'm trying to get the mitten's decoration to tell a story that makes some kind of sense (to me, if not anyone else.) the colours can be tweaked as i go; they're fun to play with and besides, i have a general idea. i'm also not too concerned about gauge--the number of stitches in the motifs will tell me whether i should use US 0's or bump it up to US 1's.

so after sifting through endless mittens and motifs and more mittens and more motifs i've done some piecing together and (while still mostly ignoring numbers at this point) have come up with two directions that the mitten can take:

1. the crazy-go-nuts all-out Jane-does-it-up-right Latvian influenced extravaganza (borders! patterns! hyphens!!) or

2. the slightly more sedate, much less tweaked (but you probably won't see much difference, really,) most likely more Latvian option.

here, this might make more sense. have a look at my knitting notebook:



ok, first off, ignore the colours. that's the palette from my last post at the top left. option no. 1 is the more-organized looking sequence of patterns on the right hand page, and option no. 2 is the similar looking sequence on the opposite side. don't feel bad if they look more or less the same (one might note that no 2. has more negative space, but who's counting?) as for actually choosing between the two...yep, i'm undecided. i figure that one will grow on me sooner or later. now i'm just hoping that i'll be able to crunch those numbers into submission--messing with spaces and hiding odd stitches in the join ought to do it. fingers crossed!

(s)Mitten!

it's early April and i have an overwhelming urge to knit intricate colourwork mittens. i blame this palette,



which has been stuck in my head for days now. yes, these will be Latvian mittens, the exact pattern of which is yet to be determined. this time i might even make it to the second mitten!

the yarn is knitpicks Palette (clockwise, from upper left) in Sunlight, Sky, Mist, White and Fog. it's hard to beat that kind of yardage and price for a quick colour fix. now to puzzle out the motif...