Knit bits

Time for another catch-up on current works in progress. The Emperor's Seamless Hybrid is still in the miles-of-stockinette stage. I'm about halfway to the armholes. The sweater is going quickly, but I've allowed myself to become distracted by other projects.

This is a "wooly hat" for Wooly Hat Week; I finally got off my selfish patoot and got some charity knitting on the needles. It's my own pattern (snort; number 8 needles, ninety stitches, k2p2 ribbing for a couple of inches, stockinette for a while, then decrease and bind off, whoopie) out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in a piney green. This is stash yarn from my pre-knitting days, and it's perfect for this project. I still have several balls, so BISS may receive more hats in the coming year. Every week is Wooly Hat Week for BISS.

I also stuck with the Emperor's Crayon Sock this week and have progressed through the heel and the pickup stage. It's a couple of rows into the ankle now. I broke my usual rule (knit the sock without breaking the yarn) in order to make the stripes match up more perfectly, taking out a blue section to do a red and thus keeping the pattern intact.

Those are the ebony needles I bought for myself last October in Denver -- that's when I started the sock, too. The needles are nice -- smooth, light, a little flexible and they become warm in your hands -- but I'm a little scared of breaking them. Incidentally, I get a perfect eight stitches to the inch with these needles and this yarn.

Just for grins and giggles, here's a corner of my office.

I'm showing you the blue carpet, the institutional furniture, and the new green wall. It nearly knocked over one of my colleagues this morning -- the color, I mean. I put up my Demotivators calendar, (I had to -- couldn't remember the date without it) but still can't stand to put a mark on my walls, they're so nice and clean and perfect.

The Joy wheel arrived on Friday so I was able to take it over to R--'s for a Saturday spin after all. It works beautifully, and it's smaller than I remembered it being, from the test spins and the photographs. I kind of like the double treadle -- it's no harder to do than treadling with just one foot (but I'm the kind who can't walk and chew gum so it was a consideration). I discovered that my Traditional bobbins and my Joy bobbins are interchangeable, which they don't tell you when they're selling you stuff. I'm going through my upholstery fabric stash looking for good material for a carry bag.