So it’s WIP Wednesday already and over the last week I had very little time to knit. Most of my knitting time was on the drive back to MT – Richard drives, I knit. Other than that I’ve only knit one additional hour.

1. Sunrise Circle - no change yet.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – haven’t cast on yet.

3. Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks – The second sock is coming along nicely. I’m 25% finished with the increases before the heel.

4. iPaq Cozy or Mini Purse - in the washing machine right now for more felting.

5. Booga Bag – in the washing machine right now for more felting.

6. Vintage Velvet Scarf – I haven’t yet decided whether to detach and frog the first skein, salvaging the rest or whether the whole thing should be frogged. The chart was challenging for me the first time around, but I am better at reading my stitches and reading a chart now so I’m sure it would go faster. Or maybe I should knit a different scarf with this yarn? I’m considering the Irish Hiking Scarf.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise, I mean I have seen my own stash and documented it on Ravelry, but I need to get busy knitting socks. All socks, all the time. When I was at home in WA I was overwhelmed by the amount of sock yarn I have.

Here’s the most recent photo I have of the sock yarn on it’s shelf from April of last year. After this photo I added 16 skeins of Opal Uni-Solid and 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces that were a gift. It doesn’t look like all that much on the shelf, but according to Ravelry I have enough socks to knit 82.5 pairs!!! (I’m not counting how many more pairs I could knit with the leftovers, besides I might knit something else with the leftovers.)

Now that I have my sock knitting mojo back, knitting a bunch of socks shouldn’t be a problem. Well, unless you figure that a pair of socks takes me an average of 3 weeks to knit.

Here’s to progress – my first adult sized socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters are nearly finished.

I’m already looking forward to the next pair. For my handpainted sock yarns it’s likely to be another of Cat Bordhi’s designs from New Pathways. For my solid sock yarns I’ll probably choose a Nancy Bush pattern from Knitting on the Road or Vintage Socks. There are also patterns I want to knit in Favorite Socks and Socks Socks Socks, as well as a few Internet published patterns. Lots to choose from!

Last week Richard went to Pennsylvania (after driving with me to WA) and I went to Washington. Have you seen Snoqualmie Pass? It’s like a tunnel up there with the snow so high on both sides of the highway. The snow bank was taller than our truck in most places. You could hardly see Lake Kachess.

The weather was wonderful all week. There was some fog in the mornings, but everyday had beautiful blue skies. It was mid-forties during the day and I think it may have even reached 50 degrees.

Once again we lucked out on the timing of our return trip. The weather was clear and dry. The only sprinkles we had were within a few minutes of reaching our house in Montana. I couldn’t resist a picture at one of the rest stops we frequent on I-90. Picnic anyone?

I heard it was nice in Missoula while we were gone. This was evidenced by the complete lack of snow, but that’s over now. Since we got back all it’s done is snow. See:

Ugh. I knew Winter was not over, but I would have liked just another day or two of sunshine before the snow returned!

Since I’m in Washington and using my laptop you get the short and late edition this week.

1. Sunrise Circle – you guessed it, no change yet.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – no change.

3. Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks – The first sock is coming along nicely. I’m past the heel and halfway finished with the foot. With this sockitecture it takes longer to get past the heel, but thats because you’ve already knit a large part of the top of the foot. Even though I’m not that thrilled with the colors, I can’t wait to get started on the second sock.

4. iPaq Cozy or Mini Purse - this won’t change until I get back to Montana.

5. Booga Bag – this won’t change until I get back to Montana.

6. Vintage Velvet Scarf – this won’t change until I get back to Montana.

Other than the projects above, I’m not sure what other knitting related items I will take back to Montana yet. Yarn? Magazines? Books? I need to figure it out soon.

I was working on the Valentine’s Day Socks knit with Fleece Artist Merino in Simply Socks colorway of pink, bright pink, beige, and brown. They were quite appropriate for the holiday. Plus I had a delicious box of chocolates.

This year all I have to show you is the finished 3 AM Cable Hat. I love this hat. I’ll definitely use this pattern again.

Yesterday I felt sick and slept the afternoon away. When I woke up, feeling somewhat better, but not good enough to go ride the horses I *finally* started a new pair of socks.

These are Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways book. I’ve been wanting to get back to socks for a while, I just couldn’t commit to a pattern and yarn choice until yesterday. The yarn is Knit Picks Essential in Peacock Multi.

This is the expanded edition in which I tell you about the WIP or works-left-unfinished that are still in Washington. I’m going to Washington next week and I intend to bring these items back with me for finishing.

First, the WIPs here in Montana:

1. Sunrise Circle – you guessed it, no change yet.

2. Beige Cable Hat – new this week. As soon as I finished the plain, dark brown hat I cast on for this one. Now that I have a good idea of how many stitches around I need and what depth I need to cover my ears nicely, there is a lot less guesswork in knitting a hat.

This is Valley Yarns Northampton in Fawn, a lovely heathered beige color. I’m using the 3 AM Cable Hat pattern by Smariek (Ravelry). I just love how this yarn knits up. It is worsted weight, but it feels a little bit beefier than Cascade 220. ETA: After last night’s knitting this just needs the ends woven in and it’s done!

3. Dragon Scale Wrap – I read through the instructions and looked at the charts, but I’m not quite ready to start it yet.

Now for the WIPs that I left in Washington.

4. iPaq Cozy or Mini Purse - needs more felting and a button closure. You’ll have to take my word for it that I finished the knitting and started felting it as I don’t have a photo.

5. Booga Bag – needs more felting and the handles attached. A lining might be nice too. You’ll have to take my word for it on this one too – all the knitting is done, felting has been done as best as a front loader can do.

6. Vintage Velvet Scarf – this one has been in time out and I’m still not sure if I’ll bring it back with me or not. The problem is, I didn’t really know how to knit this yarn so the first skein I knit very loosely, then I set it aside. When I came back later I knit it at a normal tension so their is a huge difference between the first and second skeins that were knit. I suspect I need to frog the whole thing, re-skein the yarn to get the ripples out, and start again. At least it should be much easier to knit now that I have so much more experience.

I think that covers it! The only other knitted items I can think of that are not on this list are both headed to the frog pile – the Circular Shrug that doesn’t fit right and the Endpaper Mitts that are too small.

I finished the plain, brown Winter hat on Saturday afternoon. It fits me great with nice coverage over my ears. You’ll have to trust me on the fit until I get a photo of it in use. This is the Seaman’s Cap by Brenda Zuk (Ravelry). It’s a great pattern for a plain hat.

Then, unable to decide for sure what I wanted to knit I started this fun and quick project (photographed on my 10 cm by 10 cm gauge/needle sizing tool):

This is the Mini-Raglan Sweater by Loribird (Ravelry). Since this was my first mini-knit I wanted a simple pattern and Loribird’s mini raglan is the simplest one I’ve seen. I didn’t need to do a cardigan, I didn’t want to seam it up later, and I didn’t want to inset sleeves that were knit separately.

Now I’ve started another Winter hat and I’m reading through the Dragon Scale Wrap pattern in preparation for starting it. More on those as I have progress to show you. 

Yesterday  I already showed you the finished Newfoundland Mitts. Here are my remaining and new WIPs:

1. Sunrise Circle – no change. Somebody kick me.

2. Seaman’s Cap – restarted with needles one size up from what the pattern calls for. I should have known better as I tend to knit tightly.

3. Dragon-Scale Wrap – this is a gift for my Mom’s neighbor’s baby. My Mom bought the magazine, then later asked me about making a baby gift. I thought of this wrap sweater that she really liked in the magazine and suggested it. She sent me the yarn this week.

This is Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo. Despite my recent knitting blahs I am excited to see how this yarn knits up.

(Sorry about the dark, flashed photos. I’m having some issues with my camera and the Winter light. I guess I may have to read the manual because it’s driving me crazy. All I can manage are dark photos or very cold colors.)

After my week of non-knitting, I unenthusiastically decided I should at least finish the second pair of Newfoundland Mitts. Here they are:

I still love the pattern and finishing them was almost instant gratification. Afterwards I immediately re-cast on for the brown Winter hat. Again, not a lot of enthusiasm, just something to do. This should be a quick, mindless knit now that I have needles one size larger.