Do you feel lucky?

Apparently lots of folks feel lucky today because it's 7/7/07. While I hope they're right (everyone deserves to be lucky), I don't put a lot of stock in it. I sort of feel lucky every day -- lucky to be alive, lucky to have friends, lucky to have my health, lucky to know how to knit. . . you get the idea. I have to bowl in the finals of the State Games of Oregon this afternoon, so we'll see if I get luckier than usual. The way I've been bowling lately, I need all the luck I can get!

In my last post, I asked you to tell me what you think knitting proficiency looks like. Thanks to those of you who responded!

I think it's sort of hard to rate ourselves as knitters. I mostly consider myself a beginner, but then I'll go somewhere and talk to other knitters and find there are things I can explain to them.

I think Melissa hit the nail on the head when she said, "To me, proficiency in knitting is a learning curve that never ends." Life is like that, too, don't you think? :)

Okay, I promised pictures of WIPs, so here goes!

First, we have the Regia socks, which are almost finished. I should be able to polish them off today at the aforementioned bowling tournament or shortly thereafter. I really like how they've worked up. It's the first time I've used machine-dyed yarn and because I made a note of where I started in the color pattern and started the second one in the same place, the stripes match up almost exactly. I think these will wear very well and be warm, but they're not the softest thing in the world and I'm not sure I'd use this yarn again. I hope my friend likes them. She hikes and I think they'd be great hiking socks.

Second would be the test knit project that I finally finished. It took 113 grams of yarn. I had only received 100 grams, so had to put out the emergency beacon last week for an additional skein so I could finish it. So close! Anyway, it's finished and went to the UPS store today. I have to say it came out very, very cute. Unfortunately, I can't show you right now. Sorry.

Next we have a dishcloth that I started in the lull before the Summer of Socks began, but then forgot to post about. It's been set aside for now in favor of sock and shawl and test knitting, but that's okay as it was really just for cable practice anyway. :)

Finally, we have the "Cindy got a wild hair and had to try something" project. Yes, despite the fact that I already have two pairs of socks on the needles (the Regia ones above and the Mountain Colors ones I posted about before -- which have gotten a little bit of attention, but not much), I just had to cast on for another pair. It's not my fault, really. I mean, I can't really help it if an idea comes to me and won't be denied, can I?

So here you have the beginnings of a new sock. The lace is an adaptation of the lace pattern from the test knit I just did. It doesn't quite fit the stitch count for my standard socks, so I've added a pair of twists on either side of the leg. When the heel separates things, there will be a single twist on either side of the lace as it goes down the gusset and foot. It's a little too early to tell how this is really going to work out, but so far I'm liking the effect. The yarn is ShiBui sock in the color Sock Sky.

I'll let you know if this one flies (yeah, I know, that's punny), or jumps into the frog pond.

Oh, and I'm behind on the Mystery Stole 3 project. I thought I was going to make it through Clue 1 by Friday, but work and the aforementioned wild hair got in the way. I'm on row 90 of Clue 1's 100 rows, though, so I'm close. Clue 2 has 50 rows. I'm hoping I can catch up with that one, although I'm not going to sweat it too much. I can only do what I can do and unfortunately sometimes that means that knitting requiring high levels of concentration gets short shrift. :)

Tomorrow, the PDX Knitting Bloggers are meeting at Knit Purl from 2:00 to 5:00. Should be a good time. Someone please slap my hand if I pick up more than one skein of yarn! (Okay, maybe two skeins of Shi Bui sock.) I'll take my camera and post some pics afterward.

Ciao for now!