I'm gonna be busy.

Before I launch into the reasons why I'm going to be busy, I have a finished set of mittens that need their proper glory time: my brother's squarish mitts are all finished up and officially gifted to him.

These were kind of weird to knit. I could only find 3 size 5 DPN's, so I knit the gloves (both of them!) on the three size 5's and a size 4. They fit, but it's irking me. That and I somehow didn't match the shaping at the top of one mitt, so it's slightly bigger than the other. The tops are square instead of rounded. I think I'm going to just say they were "architecturally inspired" rather than pointing out the fact that I am rather lazy. You won't tell, right?

My crescendo socks are really uninteresting to look at. It's just more of the same (mostly). I got caught up in something else (you'll see later) but you can barely see the tiny beginnings of phase two of the sock.

I'm changing up the texture in the middle a bit by replacing what were previously knit stitches with purl stitches. I hope it looks the way I want it to.

For Christmas, Nathan's parents gave me a gift certificate to Michael's. So my mom and I were out shopping a couple of days ago, and we stopped in at the store to spend it (I already knew what I wanted). I picked up 8 balls of Lion Brand Wool Ease, 3 balls of Bernat Soy Natural blends, 2 balls of Patons Classic Wool Merino, a new set of size 8 straight needles (one of my others snapped), a painter's paintbrush roll (perfect for needle storage) and a nice little basket.

Yee-haw. I'm planning to give shedir another shot with the soy yarn, and make a pair of these knee-high slipper/sock things out of the Patons Wool. The Wool Ease, though, is the thing that is holding me back from further sock designing. I've been lusting after (my own) version of the cable luxe tunic for some time now. The yarn snob in me was telling me to blow the whole gift certificate on 100% woolly goodness, but the practical college student in me was telling me to get something I could throw in the washing machine with the rest of my clothes. Practical college student won. Yarn snob is currently pouting in the corner, huddled under a mountain of natural fibers.

The wool ease is 80% acrylic and 20% wool, and it's the yarn the pattern calls for (the pattern is lion brand). It's actually kind of fun to work with. The acrylic isn't bothering me so much. That teeny bit of wool it has in it makes me feel like it will still be properly warm, but will also be practical for my current lifestyle.

I started working on the cable for the yoke of the sweater last night (but decided my brother REALLY needed a second mitten first). Hence, there's not a lot to show. But I'm so excited to see this thing take shape! I have a lot of modifications planned for it. Weirdly, although there are a bajillion cables for the thing, the pattern uses no charts. I'm thinking of charting out the main parts of the body (the part that gets repeated) because I think it would help to make my modifications easier. I don't want that flare at the waist, and probably less flare in the arms as well. I tend to like my clothes to be a little bit more fitted, and if this works the way I hope it will, I think it'll be a winner.

Next up in the exciting things department is news from the spinning front. My Mom bought me a newbie's spinning book with zillions of illustrations for both spindle spinning and wheel spinning.

There's tidbits about the history of spinning, pages devoted entirely to learning about different kinds of fibers, and sections on preparation, dying, plying, EVERYTHING. This is very useful, because a friend of the family just sheared their alpacas, and they have 3 bags of raw (unwashed) alpaca they are willing to part with. I'm definitely going to need to read that washing section a hundred times. I know alpaca probably isn't the best thing for me to learn to spin on, but if it's free...I don't think it could hurt, could it? We'll see.

Lastly, tomorrow I (weather permitting) hop in my car and drive back over to the region where I attend school. I had a really nice visit with my family and I'm actually kind of sad to have to go. Cross your fingers it isn't snowing and treacherous at the top of the mountain I have to drive over. It's supposed to be sunny, but you never know. Wish me luck, and if I don't blog tomorrow, have a safe and happy new year!