Broken twigs

Branching out has been relegated to the frog pond for now. I got screwed up and don't feel like tackling it again just yet.

I finished the elephant in time for the baby shower, and it was cute. Pictures will come eventually. I'm a lazy picture-uploader.

I bought yarn to make a Mondrian blanket (I'm also a lazy link-finder right now), but, because I liked the colors best, I bought Lion Brand Vanna's Choice, which is acrylic. After doing part of two rows, I determined that acrylic won't work for this blanket. The stitch is too tight (it's only single crochet throughout) and it feels plasticky. I'm going to have to find some inexpensive cotton or super wash wool for this project. I think I'll try either Swish or Shine from KnitPicks. Or Comfy might be nice, too. I petted some a friend's Comfy recently, and it was very nice. The problem might be finding the right colors. I need white, and I'm not seeing white in any of these yarns. I'm between real projects right now and feeling antsy.

I also tried to do this stuffed dodecahedron using Berroco Sox, but that yarn and a small crochet hook aren't really friends. Too splitty. So, I'll stick the sock yarn away for a while until I'm brave enough to actually try socks.

Lace

I've successfully completed two row of the lace pattern on Branching Out, and oh, am I loving doing this scarf! This is so much fun! I'm loving the challenge of learning new stitches and watching the pattern reveal itself. So great!

I'm resigning myself to the fact that, yes, after all my reluctance, I do think I enjoy knitting more than crochet...

Finished!

I finished my super secret project, and I'll post pictures sometime next week. Yay for making deadlines!

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the elephant, which, unfortunately, seems to be a bit wonky. Assuming it's presentable when I finish, it's going to be a baby shower gift for a coworker.

I got my yarn order, and that Ella Rae Bamboo Silk is sooooo soft. I've cast on frogged twice now Branching Out from Knitty.com and am pleasantly surprised by how easy it is. I can now ssk, yo, and k2tog. Go me! Of course, I keep screwing up and having to frog, but what's a knitting project that's never been frogged, huh? I think my problem is with counting. I'll think I'm following the pattern and then suddenly run out of stitches. But I did manage to fix a dropped yo, which is quite impressive, even if it was before I frogged for the 2nd time.

The dodecahedron I'm going to crochet with the Berroco Sox may prove too tedious, and I may just have to attempt socks with that yarn instead. It's just so thin and the crochet starts out big and then decreases instead of the opposite, which is what I'm used to. I'm not sure how to join a chain of 25ish stitches without it twisting. Trial and error, I guess. Socks are sorta calling my name now, though, since I thought of it... I could always by more Berroco Sox... yeah...

Yarn order!

I haven't yet become a true yarn addict, but my habit is definitely taking hold. Books are my crack, though... Anyway, I saw this pattern for this really funky dodecahedron in someone's Ravelry queue earlier this week (http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/celestine_crochet/celestine_crochet.html) and had to buy the yarn for it. I just had to. And of course, since I was already placing an order, and WEBS was having a sale, and I might as well get more for the same shipping price (you know the drill here, right?) I ordered 2 balls of Ella Rae silk bamboo and am going to attempt to make Branching Out from knitty.com. This will be my first foray from pretty straightforward knitting and purling, but it's a challenge. I'm so excited because the yarn is shipping today, so I'll have it next week! Yay!

(I'm sorry that I can't post cool pictures and links, but I'm posting via e-mail and am not sure how much formatting I can actually manage...)