Hit Refresh

Despite how long it's been since my last post, this finally-finished Vite Cowl is really the only thing I have to show you.  And it's kind of a difficult garment to take good pictures of since wrapping it around my neck obscures the pattern more than I'd realized it would.  But it's very warm & comfy & looks terrific with one of my winter coats so I dig it.  

My excuses for this poor showing in finished objects are as follows:

1. Carpel tunnel.  Yep, I'm gonna play that card again.
2. Work.  Normally I can expect a bit of a lull in this excuse come November before we ramp up for a big finish at the end of the year.  But this year was non-stop!  Not that I'm complaining but I worked straight through December 10th (without a day off after Nov. 25th) then scrambled to finish all things Xmas before I left town on the 20th for the annual trip to NY.
3. Xmas knitting.  Or actually a total lack thereof!  I decided to bypass the Xmas knitting this year & I am so glad I did!  With my work schedule, I pretty much need to start making knitted gifts in January, when I least want to be thinking about Xmas.  I'd even started buying people gifts in April this year so I thought I was ahead!  But when it came right down to it, there were still lots of gifts unaccounted for at too late a stage for knitting.  Plus I've already knitted gifts for many people in my family & Dan's so it was time for a break.  I think I'll revive the tradition this year but I need some inspiration...& some serious lead time!
4. And last but not least, there's been this little distraction:

This is Carter & we brought him home exactly one week ago.  After we lost Isaac in September, Tree got very lonely & needed more companionship than any human can give a cat.  We've been wanting to get her a friend but neither of us had much time to devote to acclimating a new cat over the last few months.  So we forced ourselves to wait until after the holidays & as soon as we returned from NY, we went right out & found this little dude.  Things are always slow for me in January so I've been able to help him get settled in & now he's completely at home.  Tree took a few days to come around but she loves him almost as much as we do now.  And just in time, as I just landed my first gig of the year, which will start in a little over a week.  

With my down time, I've been doing a bunch of knitting & spinning but don't have much to show for it just yet.  I finished my first Mermaid's Lagoon sock & started on the second.  And I've been spinning away at the multi-colored alpaca I spoke of previously, but I'm not even halfway through the fiber yet!  

I also cast on for the Buttony Sweater by Katie Marcus, whose simple but super-cool patterns I just love.  I've also knitted her Razor Cami.  I'm using the rest of the Patons Jet that I bought in Australia in 2008.  I don't have quite enough blue for the whole sweater so I'm doing the trim & possibly the cuffs in green.  It'll be a little clashy...but in a good way.  It's a top-down raglan so I hope to use this project to really learn & understand raglan construction.  I'm at the point where I need to try the sweater on under the arms, which means I need to move it from the needle to a holder.  So naturally, I'm procrastinating on that.  :)

This is the first of what I intend to be many projects geared towards significantly reducing my stash.  I don't have a huge stash but it's overflowing the space I've allocated to it & a lot of it has been just sitting there for quite a while so I either need to use it or trade it.  I have a few uncommon yarns in odd yardage so it's a bit of a challenge, plus I refuse to knit something that I know I won't wear just to get rid of a yarn.  Though I'm not opposed to charity knitting.  I'll keep you abreast of my progress & hope to have some photos to share next time.

Till then, happy new year!