WIPs Wednesday? Alright, I'll play along.

I read a couple (read: many) craft blogs, and a good number of them do a WIPs (Work In Progress) Wednesday, so I've decided this would be a good time for me to do a WIP post. Since last time, I've cast on for a couple new projects.

First, I've cast on a new pair of socks! It's Stephanie van der Linden's On The Aran Isle pattern from her Around the World in Knitted Socks book. In a demonstration of learning from one's mistakes, I'm using a yarn with comparable yardage to what's recommended: Classic Elite's Alpaca Sox. I realize that even though it feels like summer here (90 degrees Fahrenheit today!) and that knitting with an alpaca yarn in this heat & humidity isn't exactly fun, the yarn was in my stash and it's the right weight & yardage. I also like the color and I think they'll be very pretty when they're done.

I'm really enjoying the traveling stitches - they're definitely keeping my interest up. I also like the picot hem at the top of the cuff, although it was very tedious working off the provisional cast on. If I were making these socks for myself, I'd probably add enough stitches for another pattern repeat  on the leg, as they're a little snug going around my heels. I think they'll be fine for Mom's delicate little feet.

For a more summery project, I've cast on Anna & Heidi Pickle's Lazy Daisy baby cardigan. I'm knitting it in Cascade Yarns Cotton Rich DK, which is a nice cotton in some very bright, vibrant, saturated colors. It's a free pattern on the Pickles blog (well, the 3-6 months size is free, you have to pay for bigger sizes). So far, it's been an easy knit. The stitch pattern is simple to memorize, and since it's such a tiny, little sweater, it should knit up pretty quickly. I have a couple friends who are expecting babies this fall, but I'm not sure this sweater will fit next Spring. I may have to hold on to it for someone who has a January or February baby. I'm sure someone I know will be having a baby then.

If I have enough yarn when I've finished the cardigan, I may just try to make the turban. It's almost a little too precious, but seriously, what's cuter than a baby in a turban?

I'm also still working on the Kusha Kusha scarf, but it's not as interesting as the other projects. It's just a whole lot of stockinette stitch on bamboo straights, so not a lot of fun. It's good to have during social knitting, so I might just take it with me to Stitch 'N' Bitch tomorrow night. If it ever looks like I've made any progress on it, I'll take a picture and post it here.

Looks like that's all I have for today. Until next time, friends.

Progress Report

Well, it seems like an age since I posted actual knitting progress, but before I do, I'll write a little about the porch furniture refinishing adventure. One of my friends at the yarn shop asked me, "How's the stripping going?" That got a few laughs from around the room, since everyone pretty much did a double take, then remembered that, as a matter of fact, I was stripping. Stripping porch furniture, anyway.

Good Friday was a day off work for me, and I had a few errands to run, so by mid-afternoon I was ready to apply the citrus-scented stripper. Once I got the chair completely coated, I did a little test scraping, to see how long I should wait. It revealed two colors: blue just below and orange below the blue (in the stamped areas I found white). Exciting! Since I had another errand to run, I left it for a few more hours and checked again, but it still needed to steep.

The next morning, I went at the chair in earnest, scraping away. After about two hours or so, I was able to break out the steel wool, so I could get in the crevices in the stamped area. Many, many steel sheepies have had to go naked for this project, and many more will in future. I think I'll give it one more shot with the stripper, then start on the repaint.

In knitting news, I have pics of the finished Vesper, which I wore on Easter and which my in-laws were gracious enough to coo over. It made me blush a little, but I still loved it! Really, who doesn't love a compliment? After washing and blocking, the yarn softened up beautifully. This is fast becoming my favorite thing I've knit for myself.

I've also made quite a lot of progress on the Kusha Kusha scarf. Mostly I've been working on it during social knitting, as it's just stockinette and I have something like 30 inches more to do before I can change needles sizes. It looks a little rumpled in the photo because I spent a good part of Easter Sunday scrunching it so that my nieces and nephews could see how the stainless steel yarn behaved. They were duly awestruck. I'm not sure that keeps me from being the strange aunt who takes her knitting everywhere, but at least they're acting like they're interested.

I'm not sure whether I've mentioned that I've cast on for Vacation in the Mountains, a Stephanie van der Linden pattern from her book Around the World in Knitted Socks. It's a pretty straightforward pattern, traveling stitches on a reverse stockinette field. Nothing to it. I made all kinds of progress on it Sunday, as it was at least three hours to get to my husband's parents' house for Easter. I'm nearly halfway through the second repeat of the leg chart, so if all goes well, I could be turning the heel this weekend.

I think that's all I've got for now. It's been raining and raining the last few days, so much so that the Ohio River is about 6 feet above flood stage and will probably continue to rise. As of last night, we hadn't seen the floodgates installed in the wall next to our old house, but if we see much more rain, they could be going in. I hope for sun and a little drying out. Until next time, then.