Busy Holiday - Relatively Speaking

I've been a busy little bee over the past 2 weeks. Having made the decision to stay home for the holidays made for a relaxed, quiet time with family (and a few friends). An uneventful holiday season had the added benefit of allowing a bonus of ample knitting time.


As you can see from the photo, I have been working on a number of projects. First of all, as soon as Amused Revamped was finished, I cast on a blanket for Hockeyman. Having made a blanket last year for Dancing Diva, I was not about to make the same mistake twice of making a twin-sized afghan out of worsted weight yarn.

This time, I opted for Lion Brand Wool-Ease, Thick & Quick, which is working up so fast, my head is spinning. The pattern is my own adaptation of Mason-Dixon's Modern Log Cabin blanket. (Ravelry Link) I am enlarging it enough to cover a twin bed and hope to have it finished in a few weeks.

Because of it's large size and weight, it has become my "recliner project". So, obviously, because we had a hockey tournament up in Hibbing this past week, I needed to find a more portable project for the car trip up and back. I decided to pull out a couple pairs of UFO socks.


Actually, it was decided for me because Hubby's birthday has snuck up on me and it is time to cast on the Hubby's Annual Birthday Socks (HABS). I needed to finish one of the pairs of UFO socks in order to free up a pair of needles to use. The first socks I pulled were the Peppermint Twist socks I started ages ago with yarn I won in a drawing. They are Tofutsie Sock Yarn and I have to admit it is not my favorite yarn to handle. It was a loosely plied yarn, which made it very splitty. It also has a fairly harsh hand. However, I will reserve judgement on whether I'll knit with it again after I've worn and washed them a few times. Some of the most delightful yarns to knit with do NOT wear well and I'd rather have long lasting socks that weren't quite as fun to knit than spend all that time knitting something wonderful to end up throwing them away after a couple wearings.


Knowing that the Peppermint Twist socks wouldn't take that long to finish, I also brought along another pair of UFO socks. I think the yarn is Trekking XXL Sock yarn but I wouldn't bet my first-born child on it. It was an emergency knitting project I picked up at Coldwater Collaborative when I had forgotten my knitting bag at home. Being the obsessive-compulsive knitter that I am, I was unable to go on without something to knit. Hence, another pair of socks was born. However, this little project doesn't have a fancy name yet. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to ideas.

Finally and of course, as soon as the Peppermint Twist socks were off the needles, I had to cast on the HABS. So far, I haven't done much more than start the toes. I need to dig out a knit stitch dictionary and do some hunting for a nice textured pattern.

The yarn is some received through Wool Girl's 2008 Sock Club. It is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock and is 90% superwash merino and 10% nylon. It has the beautiful hand of a nearly all wool yarn and I'm hoping that the nylon will make it a longer wearing sock yarn.

Whew! As if all that knitting time wasn't enough, I also managed to find time to finish a 500 piece puzzle with my hubby and parents AND a 750 piece puzzle all by myself. I still have a 1000 piece puzzle waiting in the wings but will wait to start that one after I finish the Yet To Be Named Socks.

Then again, I do have two more days of holiday vacation before homeschooling starts up again in earnest. And I absolutely love puzzles.

Hmmmmm . . .