LOTS of knitting going on!

I'm definitely in a phase where I do not want to do anything but knit. It's not a bad thing, really, though I'm making myself stop for a few hours now because my hands are starting to hurt and I know I should at least look at my homework tonight if I don't want to spend the whole weekend on it (whether that knowledge will translate into action remains to be seen). I've gotten so much done this week, though!

Mainly I've been going crazy on my cardigan. That first sleeve took me 2 weeks to knit, mostly because I wasn't spending time on it each day. That is definitely no longer the case, as evidenced by the fact that the 2nd sleeve took me about 2 days and was completed just minutes ago. So now I have the "basic shrug" part done & need to create the bolero. Here's the shrug just a few minutes ago:



Isn't it lovely? This yarn is so pretty, though I have a sinking feeling that it's going to pill like crazy. Whatever. Those few rows of seed stitch are the spine of the sweater and the cuffs are also 2x2 seed. I reluctantly made them shorter than the pattern recommended, due to my fear of running out of yarn, but now I'm starting to think they're cute that way! And even with the short cuffs, the sleeves are plenty long.

I'm very nervous about making the bolero part. Ravelers seem pretty divided; some love it & some hate it. There are a lot of complaints about too much fabric in the back, where it does nothing but bunch up & look horrible. I wish I knew more about garment construction so I could modify it to avoid that, but...I don't. So for now I'm planning to follow the pattern and if I hate it I can always rip back.

Also, I started on that hat. After all my whining about needles it turned out I had a pair of circs that are perfect for just plain knitting in the round, if not for Magic Loop. Here it is so far:



Mmmmm, Malabrigo!!! There are no words that could truly express my love for this yarn! I was meaning to follow my friend Yoli's modifications to make the hat a bit smaller, but honestly (and I think largely because I've done most of the work in public) I keep forgetting where I'm at in the pattern and cabling at odd and uneven intervals. Oops? I guess I'm just going to keep doing that, more or less making up my own cable pattern, and if I like it that'll be awesome. If I don't, I'll get to rip back & knit with the beautiful Malabrigo all over again. Either way I win!

The time that I haven't spent on knitting I've spent on (what else?) Ravelry. That site should probably come with a warning label. Until recently I had just about no interst in groups but now I can't seem to stop joining them & reading posts. It's probably all down hill from here, folks...

Also I've been cooking & baking a bit, but I'll save that for another post. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!