For Natasha: WIP Wednesday

Late this afternoon in lab, Natasha came over to my desk, put her hands on her hips, and said, “You have not updated your blog in a week. I had a few minutes this afternoon, and I thought it would be fun to catch up on your blog, but there was nothing new. You need to post again.”

I hear and obey. I’m 15 years older than Natasha and almost twice as big (she’s very thin), but she’s a graduate student in the final throes of her Ph. D. research. I know not to poke a cornered creature with a stick; I’ll leave that to the full professors on her thesis committee. So, here are some WIPs for Natasha and you.

First up we have the Landscape shawl which is almost 130 stitches across (enroute to 308 stitces with one new stitch per row). I calculated that I’m about 17% done. And in the photo, you can see that I’ve just started the third chevron which is stockinette stitch. I was glad I counted right and the YO at the base of this section is in the middle of the seed stitch triangle.

Second, a new WIP, a Christmas WIP for M’s Dad: a diagonal rib scarf in Misti Alpaca chunky:

M’s Dad had major back surgery two weeks ago, and his very experienced surgeon said his Lumbar 5 vertebra was the weirdest he had ever seen. Apparently, it was missing a part. So, I figure the guy could use a super-soft scarf in a nice, manly dark red. The color is richer in person. Some of the fibers actually look black, but it is very subtle. And I should mention that his dad is doing super well. He had a couple of morphine hallucinations while in the hospital (like seeing his sister and brother-in-law in the potted plant we had delivered). But they are all gone, and he is now doing a lot of walking. They live out in the woods of Illinois, so I hope the scarf will help keep him warm on his treks.

Third up we have another Christmas knit, this time for M’s Grandma. She needs socks to wear with her Birks (the only shoes that make her toes happy). I found out about this today. Currently, I am assuming she has the same size foot as her daughter, as I have knit a pair of socks for M’s mom. This is the oblique rib from Sensational Knitted Socks (8-stitch repeat) in Fleece Artist Merino, colorway Lily Pond:

The cream colored cotton fleece sweater has suffered a cruel gauge mishap, even though I knit two different gauge swatches. It shall not be completed as it would be far too large to wear under a fitted jacket, which was my intention. Mistress Gauge and I are not speaking currently. I feel she is a fickle bitch in breach of contract. Both swatches were washed and blocked in addition to being practically 5 x 5 inch squares. This long holiday weekend I would like to swatch for the Charcoal Brocade jacket, and Mistress Gauge better behave. Because if she does not, I’m just going to knit scarves and shawls from my new copy of Victorian Lace Today, and we all know we don’t need Mistress Gauge’s permission to do that.

Am I threatening Mistress Gauge?!

Let’s just say that the berry colored Sea Silk has shipped.