Hello, Mojo

I'm not sure what did it, but something lit a fire under me this past weekend and I did a lot of knitting (spinning, too, but we're talking about knitting today). After having make little progress on my First Point of Libra, I whipped through the rest of the gradient strip on Saturday. On Sunday, I wove in all my ends (yes, really! I was being good!) and picked up along the side for the main triangle. I've now done a handful of rows and already really like what I'm seeing.

I know that left edge looks wonky, but that's just the cable of the needle misbehaving. I'm hoping that as there's more weight on it, it'll straighten out a bit, because frankly it was driving me a bit batty when I was knitting back and forth over 35 stitches and it was curling up. I am really into this knit now and frankly would be knitting it nonstop, but I decided that because I have more time to get it done (it doesn't need to be finished until the end of March), I should really concentrate on another project with an earlier deadline.

That project is my second Zeccola Cowl, which I am knitting as part of the knitalong in my Ravelry group. That is supposed to wrap up on March 8, so I really need to get my butt in gear and get it moving. I have added a few repeats since you saw it last, and I'm really happy with the way these two colorways are playing together.

At this point I'm not 100% sure how many repeats I'm going to do. In theory, I could keep working until I ran out of yarn, but as these are rather big skeins (462 yards each), I think I would wind up with a cowl that would be a bit unwieldy. I'd like this version to be about the same length as the original if not a bit shorter (this version is narrower, so I don't quite need the same length). I know I can block a bit extra out of it, so I will keep knitting until it looks like it's a good length and go from there. It would be really great if I could finish this up by the first week in March, as it would be great to wear it and show it off at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, where I'll be taking a class and perhaps wandering through the marketplace a bit.

The really exciting news is that am I officially halfway done with the black socks of doom! I Kitchenered the toe of the first sock last night after dinner. I know black yarn makes for a horrible picture, especially when there's no natural light to be had, but here is your photographic proof that it happened:

I have cast on for the second sock and am hoping that knowing that the end is in sight will make it less of a slog. I certainly hope to make progress on all my projects this weekend, when I'll have a rare four days in a row at home (Rainbow's school is closed Friday and Monday). We have some errands to run and I'm supposed to get my hair cut on Saturday, but it looks like it's going to be a bitterly cold several days -- a perfect excuse to stay inside and knit!