What Next?

What next is the question that several of you lovely readers have asked me, and indeed the question that I have been asking myself in more than one way these last few days. Of course, you all are asking me what I will be knitting next now that the blankie is done.

Indeed, the blankie *is* completely and totally finished. I didn't end up knitting the very last bit of i-cord edging till Saturday afternoon while I was teaching my class at the store. It had occurred to me that some of my students might like a demonstration on applied i-cord, even though it wasn't part of the fair-isle hat class that was ending that day.

And I have to stop right here to brag on my students. They totally rocked! They all got it, they all produced nice hats. One student in particular, who happens to be named Shelley also, even agreed to have her picture taken for the blog - I really love her hat, and she sort-of by accident made it to match the trim on her jacket perfectly. Thanks for sharing, Shelley!



Here are a few of the others in their near-finished states:



All beautiful! All designed by my students themselves. Lovely. And my students were really cool about me finishing that last bit of i-cord while they worked their tubular bind-offs. They were in fact interested in seeing the demonstration, but they also seemed genuinely excited for me that I was finally finishing such a giant project. I - I was practically high on the endorphins. It was fun.

I blocked the blanket Saturday night, and I decided that the best way to do it was by sticking the whole thing into my front-loading washing machine (yes - the same one I use to wash dirty diapers in!!!) and run it through on delicate cycle with the tiniest bit of Eucalan. I smirked a bit when I thought of the horror I might see on some of your faces at the sight, but I can tell you now that all ended well. Even though all the yarns involved are superwash, I didn't put it in the dryer, but laid it out on the queen-sized guest bed, upon which it barely fit. The washing really relaxed it a bit, and it grew somewhat. Which is totally fine. Pictures on Friday, I promise.

We'll get to the what-next of knitting in a moment. But first I have to show you pictures from Sophie's birthday party. It's a bit belated, as Joe's parents and aunt and uncle were out of town on a cruise and just got back last week. We ordered a giant load of Famous Dave's barbecue and had everyone over for dinner. After all the sickness and general stress that's been floating around here the last month or so, I just didn't have it in me to cook a big meal for everyone right now, and I wanted to try and relax and enjoy the party some.



Nobody complained. We had a ton of food - here's a picture of what was left over because I forgot to take a picture before we ate.



I did bake another cake - any excuse to bake a chocolate cake. And Sophie got to blow out candles again. I think my facial expression in this picture is hilarious, and I wish I always looked so young and skinny these days.



Look at that happy face. Okay, look at those happy faces.



I handed Sophie off to her grandfather so that I could eat my cake in peace for just a moment, and they both loved that.



There were presents too...



Unfortunately, the what next to that event was another night of projectile vomiting. It's crazy. She puked Friday night, was fine all day Saturday and all day Sunday, then barfed her dinner just after falling asleep Sunday night. This shit has been going on for a month now. I dragged her in to the doctor's office again today, and the pediatrician checked her out and thinks that she's just gotten back-to-back stomach viruses. There *are* multiple stomach viruses working their way around town right now, and Sophie has apparently been lucky enough to catch them all.

Poor thing. She was fine today, though, and so far tonight knock on wood. I just don't know that I dare ask what next on the family front right now. I need a bit of peace and happy quiet.

On to the knitting front. For the moment, I'm working on a quickie project - something else just for me that I've been desperately wishing for these last few very-cold weeks.



An everyday scarf. My poor neck has been cold, cold cold. I lost the very-nice scarf that I had - a cashmere one that Joe had bought for me a few years ago - last winter, and hadn't found time to replace it. Yes, I know I have that beaded silk/cashmere waiting to be a scarf, and I also have an alpaca-silk lace thing well started. But I needed a nice sturdy something that I wouldn't mind dragging around while I'm schlepping the kids. I don't know if this will be done in time for the next cold-cold spell, or even if we will have subzero temps again this winter, but it will certainly fit the bill.

The yarn is handspun Blue Faced Leister wool by Aisha Celia, and I bought this particular skein at a craft show in December 2005. It's been aging in the stash, waiting for me to find the right project for its loveliness. It's been a little tough because there are 267 yards and no more, so I'm really hoping I can get a wearable scarf out of it. I went for a rather narrow lacy pattern in the hopes of stretching it out. The color is more accurate above, but below you can see the lace pattern a bit better.



I had been thinking of knitting it up in the Argosy pattern, but I started it on Sunday afternoon once the cleaning was all done, and wasn't totally enjoying the process. So I swatched out a Barbara Walker stitch pattern or two and came up with this, which I think may be slightly less attractive than Argosy, but which is much more of a pleasure for me to knit.

I don't think it will take more than a week to get through this ball of yarn, especially since I'm hoping/planning to have some quality knitting time on Friday. After the scarf is done - well I've got several projects screaming at me to work on them. I think it's going to come down to either the other lace scarf or perhaps a sweater - two are in contention. I do also need to make a new hat and glitten set for next fall, but I don't feel quite ready to work on those just yet. I am leaning slightly towards a sweater for now while the weather is cold and a big piece of wool in my lap will feel nice.

For tonight what next involves watching a movie, eating a piece of leftover cake, glancing at my happily finished blankie now and then, and maybe working on that purple scarf for a while before bed.