Cowling

If you need me for the next week or so, you'll be able to find me knitting cowls -- and likely only knitting cowls. I am determined to finish the two cowls I'm knitting (for my mother and mother-in-law) by next Saturday, when we're having a big family dinner to celebrate Chanukah and Rainbow's birthday. Although really, if I want to present them on Saturday, then I probably need to be done by Friday at the latest so I have time to block them.

My mother-in-law's Biscuit is coming along nicely. I finished up the lace border during my lunch break today, so now I'm into the rib pattern, which is a bit slower but also a bit more mindless because I'm no longer tied to the chart.

The pattern calls for five repeats of the rib pattern, which has a six-round repeat, so that's a total of 30 rounds. I've got one done and the second started, so I think as long as I can keep this at hand and do a round or two here and there over the weekend (plus take it to work again next week if I need to), I should be okay.

The project that worries me more is the two-color handspun brioche cowl I've got on the needles for my mother. While the yarn appears to be getting used up, the knit fabric just doesn't seem to be getting any longer. That's not a real problem per se, but at its present state I think it's a bit on the narrow side for the squishy cowl I'd envisioned.

I did make it to knit night for the first time in several months last night, and I made myself be monogamous with this project, so I was able to get quite a few rounds done. I think if I can continue working on it every evening, I should be okay, but this one might be a bit of a nail-biter.

As if finishing these two projects wasn't ambitious enough, I think I've decided to try to make one more knit present. Last night, while looking for something in the stash room related to my brother's holiday gift (remind me to tell you about that later), I came across about a skein and a half of some dark gray Cascade 220 that I'm pretty sure was leftover from a sweater I knit for the Mister several years back. I'm planning to use it for an Earthen for my brother-in-law, even though I'm not sure if he'll ever be cold enough to ever wear it -- he does run very hot! If not, my sister-in-law can always steal it.

If I get all these projects done, plus the one for my brother, I should be all set for holiday gifts. I'm going to give my father and father-in-law IOU's for socks -- they'll pick what color they want, along with a general idea of style or stitch pattern, and I'll knit them up, probably early in the new year. By the time I get to my winter vacation, I'm really hoping to have plenty of time to do some selfish knitting.