I bought the Harlot's book as a birthday present to myself, and I lovelovelove it. When I read on page 4 about how she had started a 5'x8' afghan (see Monk-in-the-Desert Afghan) I had to try not to laugh out loud in Borders. When she mentions something about how bobbles are evil (see Mom's Christmas Wrap) I was home so I could say "AMEN!" out loud. It's a fantastic book and if you haven't read her blog, do so immediately. Seriously. My feelings won't be hurt at all. You'll be back.
Speaking of Mom's wrap, it seems that after 5 balls of yarn it is 24" long. That is fantastically wonderful. Looks like I'm going to get 8' out of 20 balls rather than 25, which will save me 30 hours of knitting time (and $35 if I get the yarn back to the store in exchange for some of the Euroflax Linen I need for my aunt's wrap.) Huzzah!

You'd think I'd learn. After the book, after the toll-free number, after the fact that I haven't been to a knitting group in weeks because I'm working so much, you'd think I'd understand that 4 wraps may not be in my future before xmas. Five if you count Fletching, which I would really, really, really like to take to Peru with me. Sigh. So when I got home yesterday and saw the box from Elann on the doorstep, my excitement was tinged with dread. Grandma's Cathedral Window Wrap wasn't just an idea anymore. It was a pattern and yarn and it was in my house. I got out the pattern to see what needle it wants and wouldn't you know it - the same needle that Fletching is on. Now, I could go out and get a new needle (but I love Addis and damn they aren't cheap) but this is better. Now I have to finish Fletching. And I did a whole row. And then...

I knit half a mitten. A mitten with no purpose, no intent, a mitten that was the last thing I needed to be knitting last night. But the yarn, a Malabrigo that Knitorious just got in and that Sandy pressed into my hands as soon as I walked into the store and therefore had to come home with me (it's a common law yarn thing) and that didn't like any of the three pattern stitches I tried it with the night before, had been whispering to me "I want to be mittens. I want to be Summer Sky Mittens with a plain stockinette to show off my pretty, pretty colors." And so it was done. Well, 1/4 done. Like Mom's wrap. And Fletching. And the Checkerboard hat.
What hat, you ask? My first try with double knitting. The inside is nice and tight at the gaps between dpns, but see the outside? Hmf. So it's been on the coffee table in plain sight for weeks now. I was hoping that the tension would sort of even out and the gaps would come together a little. Believe it or not, they did...some. (Yes, I can move stitches across the dps so this doesn't happen, and I usually do that, but in this case I was afraid of getting confused over the pattern and the two sets of stitches going on. I've realized that it's because of a color change combined with the gap that the tension is so bad, but why is it fine on the inside?) I'm really torn as to whether I should frog the whole thing and start over. I'm not a Type A, but it's meant for charity and I don't want to give away junk. So there it sits. 1/4 done.
But you know what's 1/2 done? The Irish Hiking Scarf. Yep! I was desperate for a non-gift-and-suitable-for-family-viewing project last weekend when I was celebrating my b-day, and this scarf came out after a too-long absence. I screwed it up for six rows because I forgot how many stitches were supposed to be in the edging, but after I redid that it went really smoothly. Now I miss working on that too. But have you ever felt Malabrigo? Really? You must. It's worth abandoning other projects for. At least until you get a whole mitten. We'll see about two.