Oh, Friends, it's been a minute, hasn't it? I keep meaning to write, thinking about writing, and then I don't. Ugh. I could give you a whole litany of excuses, but in the end, it doesn't matter how often I post. If anyone reads, okay. If no one reads, that's okay too.
In my absence from this blog, I have actually finished a few projects. It seems like the Spring wasn't especially productive from a knitting standpoint, but that may just have been because I was so busy at work. Anyway, first up are my Zirkel socks, which Ravelry tells me I finished near the end of February. February! I've actually posted since then, but not about these socks. There was a glimpse of the beginning of them in this post, but since then, nothing. I feel a whole lot better about stranded knitting now that I've completed these socks. Because of how the first sock used the yarn, I had to knit the second sock with the colors reversed, ending up with a positive/negative thing going on. Each time I look at them I can't decide which version I like better, though I think I usually end up liking the white toe-and-cuff one better than the green one. Ah, well.
I've also finally finished my Hanami stole. I'd set it down over the winter without really thinking about it much. It might've been because I was feeling a little stuck about how I would do the beadwork on the "petal" section. It might've been because the table I like to sit at while I work on it is on my back deck, and outdoors in winter is no place to work on beaded blush-pink lace. Once it started being warm enough (and not so windy), I picked right up where I left off and finished it pretty quickly. The beading is beautifully subtle and I can't wait to see how it behaves is a low-light situation. I think it will be gorgeous. Now I just need the occasion.
Lastly, I completed another pair of socks, Feminine Lace, another Stephanie van der Linden pattern. I'd been wanting to knit these socks for awhile, since I bought her book, Around the World in Knitted Socks. I had the perfect yarn for them in my stash, Cascade Heritage Silk in black, so the socks would turn out very much like the example on the page. Once I got going on them, I kind of lost my excitement for them because the stitch pattern was very similar to the Lotus socks I've made twice before, most recently winning a blue ribbon at the Fair. So it was a bit of a slog to get through them, but the consolation was that my mom really wanted them, and since she has small feet, I was able to finish them a little sooner than if I'd made them for myself.
Well, that's all I think I can stand to bore you with tonight. Next time, and I hope I can manage it sooner than two months from now, I'll have an update about the two projects I currently have on the needles: a Cypri shawl and a pair of Euclid socks.
Until next time, Friends.
