knitballs returns

omigod hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

this is how you greet your friends when you are a 14 year old girl. don't ask me how I know this, but it might have something to do with being trapped behind a group of grade 9 girls who absolutely, 100%, HAVE to walk, at a snail's pace, in a straight line (all 7 of them) across the width of a hallway so that no none else gets to their lunch and everyone is subjected to "omigod, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" and "omigod, you are so funnnnnneeeeee, like, LMAO" and "omigod, i love your paaaaaaaaaaaaaants, but i like mine a whole lot betterrrrrrrrrrr, heee heee." and, ultimately, so that, by the time you do get to your lunch, you'd rather, like, gaaaag.

with that off my chest, i'm pretty happy to finally find the time to get back to writing about some knitting. since i last wrote, i've had Parent/ Teacher Interviews (another rant for another day), The Grade 10 Literacy Test (I won't even go there), meetings about the School Improvement Plan (an interesting kind of boring), various lazy days with my sweetie and, last Tuesday night, a huge fire in a neighbour's house that scared the living daylights out of me (fire is merciless; pray that you never have to find that out).

despite all of the busy-ness, i've actually been doing a lot of knitting and what's kept me from posting is, of all things, having to take the bloody pictures!! i feel like i can no longer post without a pic!! holy stress!

First point of discussion: Bridesmaid #1 is having her second baby and I am knitting the cutest little baby bolero. If my computer wasn't so slow tonight, I'd take the time to create a link, but since it feels like a telegram would be faster, I will just leave it at this: Baby Bolero from Debbie Bliss' "Baby Cashmerino 2" in her cashmerino yarn, soft lilac. This yarn is D-I-V-I-N-E to knit with. Cue the picture:

Okay, the one on the right is supposed to be on the left, but who really cares? It's not finished; i still have to knit the sleeves and the edging. But I'm quite pleased at my progress, particularly since this is something I might previously have considered as difficult.

So, baby knitting aside, I also decided to change my focus with the Handmaiden silk and scrap the Argosy in its entirety. Besides, I really wanted to make a baby blanket with that pattern and so I've already got something else lined up with it. In any case, I really felt that the Handmaiden needed something a little finer, almost, shall I say, feminine...? I didn't feel that the Argosy really allowed the yarn to show what it was capable of, and, besides, since I spent 40 bucks on the freaking yarn, I really wanted something special.

I found the perfect stitch in a little book called "Knit Stitches and Easy Projects" and the pattern is called "Horseshoe Print" (on page 7 of this little gem). And so, despite the fact that it gives me headaches and neck pain, I will perservere because this is what it looks like with only a few inches complete:

TA DAHHHHHHHHHHH! I think the pattern is perfect for this yarn and I do believe it will look just gorgeous when it's finished.

Which, if you think about it, is exactly what a silk scarf wrapped around your neck is supposed to look like: Gorgeous!