I have been quiet for the last two weeks — it’s been a bit crazy around here! Between work, odd jobs I do for spare change, gardening, French class, pottery, and knitting on commissions, the only spare moment I seem to have is for sleep! However, before I get to studying French tonight, I decided I should let you know how things have been going around here.

First of all, I have a lot of finished things to announce!

1.) WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?

My dalek is done! He was finished in a bit of a marathon, not long after I posted in the in-progress picture. He stands 14 inches tall, and his name is Earl Grey. These pictures aren’t completely honest in how he looks. I’ve added some duplicate stitching around the grates so they look like grates. Sometime next month he will be going on a photo-shoot with me, and you’ll get to see more pictures.

2.) The turquoise sweater is done!

This is really exciting. This marks my very first knitted garment with a pattern that is completely my own from start to finish. I’ve been doing this in sewing for a while, and it feels wonderful to know I am at the point I can do this in my knitting. It was an experiment in bravery, geometry, and sheer nerve – I was using a discontinued yarn that would have been difficult to get more of! Luckily, I finished the sweater with yarn to spare.

3.) Speaking of knitting garments that are completely my own pattern – My yarn for my Phoenix Jacket has arrived! I will start swatching soon!

4.) And speaking of commissions: I have been working steadily on the shawl commission (Pine and Ivy Shawl by Anne Hanson, in Zephyr Laceweight). Sadly, I’ve been working on it steadily SO MUCH that I’m over halfway done without any pictures. It’s too dark now to take pictures this evening, so I have a feeling the only pictures I -will- have are of the finished thing! It’s got an August deadline, so I need to hustle!

5.) The machine knitting is going along swimmingly. I have had a kit for a blanket that involves intarsia (picture knitting) and intarsia is not something I particularly enjoy. So while my love for the blanket (depicting squares of sheep surrounding a square with a fence, all surrounded by border collies on the border ) has never wavered, my enthusiasm for the project has. Not any longer! After a little practice with the intarsia keyplate and some scrap yarn, I have started my first project for the knitting machine! It’s a bit ambitious, yes, but the squares are only 40 sts by 56 rows. Getting it done in small chunks is really the best way to go!

Here’s sheep #1:

And sheep #2:

I also have a lot of pottery to take pictures of, but that will have to be for next time. It’s all still packed and out in the car! Most of it will be selling on etsy, so if you want first dibs, keep checking in! It’ll be up as soon as I can get the pictures uploaded.

I’ve gotten much further on my sweater commission, but I’m precariously teetering on the edge of running out of yarn. I’m about 2 inches away from binding off the neck and getting ready to pick up the edges for the ribbing on the fronts, then the neck, and I’ve only got 3 skeins to do it with. It doesn’t bode well!

It looks small, but it will grow with blocking. Check out the sleeves! I’ve never seen or made sleeves this shape before. I’ve done raglan, but not with such deep armholes. It should be very comfortable!

I also have a lot of ends to weave in!

Yesterday being the 4th of July, I got a lot of knitting in. I managed an entire skein on the sweater, and I also finished a skein of yarn on another project I’m working on. This one is entirely selfish, but I love it. I love it a little too much! I got through a skein of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky (the body color) in 2 days — which is remarkable, because I’m working tightly on size 10 needles, and anything larger than a 9 tends to cramp my hands.

Can you tell what it is? I’ll give you a hint. He’ll be holding a whisk and a plunger when I’m done with him.

Also knitting related, I was given an early birthday present yesterday as well! My aunt (grandmother’s sister… sister-in-law??) has upgraded to a new knitting machine. So what should she do with the old one? Hmmmm — easy answer for that! Meet my new room-mate.

I’ve tried it out a little bit, but apparently I need elastic thread. So while I’m waiting to pick that up, my new friend is going to have to sit idly by. It needs a cover — what better than to knit the cover on the machine itself? That’s my first project for it. Am I terribly obsessed to want to use my Doctor Who Scarf scraps? I don’t think so…

And there’s one more thing I want to tell you about! It was a fairly slow day on Saturday when I was working, and my boss brought in her spinning wheel (a Schacht Ladybug). She was kind enough to let me try it! It took a while to get used to having to use my feet and hands together, but once I got going I think I did pretty well. She gave me scrap fiber and a “play bobbin” — the pink/purple single is my handiwork:

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July! Mine was productive, to say the least!