Title-free and Proud

Today's blog post is brought to you by the few remaining brain cells I have left.

Last night, my good friend Nadia and I headed up to San Francisco to have dinner and drinks with an old friend of mine from New York City. General Leigh and I dated for about 3 seconds, five years ago, and have been good chums ever since, so when his work brings him out to the Bay Area, we make a special effort to get together. We have great fun re-hashing the Good Ol' Days (tm) and swapping ridiculous compliments - the more ridiculous the better, and to the most ludicrous goes the prize. It's always great fun, but I always wake up the next day exhausted. Thus do we begin to show our age.

But the blog roll goes on, and I have a few things to tidy up before I move on to bigger and better things. Or knits. Or whatever. Remember, we're operating on fewer cylinders and less coffee than normal.

First, here is an only slightly accurate photo of the Papa Socks, which I sent up to Alaska on Tuesday:


The blue part is about right, but the brown declined to show up. I have no idea why. Here is a more accurate photo via The Loopy Ewe.

I also finished my Scarf #21 and blocked it in time to wear it out last night!
Scarf with Insert #21 (etc.) from Victorian Lace Today
Schaefer Anne, "Autumn," 560 yds.

And it's only slightly off it's blocking from last night's festivities!

I'm excited to have finished a lace project for ME. There is something about being swathed in lace I've made myself that makes me stand up straighter. It's a lovely feeling.

Speaking of lace, I'm still plugging away on Big Red. I made it to the last page, but I've also finished the final increases to 640 stitches, and it's suddenly taking a LOT longer to finish a round! I'm also slightly concerned about the shedding factor of the Frog Tree Alpaca I'm using. I can't think of anything I'll be able to wear it with that won't also show off the shed fibers once I take it off. This one might have to become a chair shawl, but I love it too much to quit, rip it out, or put it in time out. And there's plenty of time to decide what to do with it after I've finished knitting.

In other news, a big virtual cookie for Brie! You're totally right, I did finish my Infernal Ribbi Cardi! Well, actually Mom finished it for me. When she was here in February for Stitches, she pulled it off the shelf and demanded to know why I hadn't worn it yet. When I answered that it needed a zipper, she stuffed it in her bag and took it home with her to complete. And while I was up at her place a couple of weeks ago, she did indeed finish it for me. It's slightly big all around - it turns out I'm closer to a 36 than I thought, or perhaps closer to a 36 than when I first made the sweater - but I still like it and it's garnered many excellent compliments. I'll take a picture in it one of these days.

I'm thinking seriously about swatching for the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. Or maybe something from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I have a mess of Malabrigo Lace singles that are burning a hole in my stash, and we can't have that, can we?

That's about it for knitting news. We're headed out tonight to drool into our popcorn over Wolverine. Mrowr!