Just a quick progress update.

Guess what I'm still working on? Yup, that's right, Manda's Peak Island Hood Scarf. Yes, still. But I feel like I'm making some progress. I took some pictures just to show yes I am working on it!

I've got through the hood increases. Now I'm working on the length of the hood before doing the decreases and finishing the body.

I can tell it's going to be seriously warm and cozy. My Mom liked it and said "Oh you can make me one when you're finished!". Ha. Yeah, I laughed. I'm never doing an all seed stitch project ever again. I could perhaps see doing this one in straight garter stitch and just following the method for the hood increases. That would make it go by a lot faster. But now I've learned my lesson about seed stitch.

I've also picked up my poor neglected sock that I started before Christmas. I turned the heel and I am now decreasing the gusset. I'm only working on it when I can't handle the thought of another row in seed stitch, just as a monotony breaker.

I'm still loving how colorful this yarn is for a brown and can't wait to wear these socks.

So there you go! Sorry for not having much to update about, but I don't want to keep boring you guys with all the whining about seed stitch. I did want to post though so you wouldn't think I had ditched this blog for the food blog (seems as though my meals have been way more interesting than my knitting lately).

Thrope!

So I finally managed to slough through the 28inches of seed stitch for Manda's scarf and have made it to the hood increases. It's amazing how a simple little change in a pattern like increasing every other row just suddenly makes a pattern interesting again. It definitely reminded me why I haven't bothered to knit myself any scarves yet. They. Just. Take. So. Damn. Long. AGGG! But it does look nice and it feels nice and I think it will turn out just swell once it's finished!

So in the meantime, to keep myself knitting and sane I started working on a Thorpe hat for my friend Mike since I promised him an ear flat hat ages ago and never got around to it thanks to Christmas knitting. A few thoughts 1.) WTF? Cast on 4 stitches and put them on 4 different needles?! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I couldn't keep them straight and needles kept slipping out all willy nilly. I had to just knit the first two rounds on one needle then divide and start knitting in the round. 2.) I definitely prefer working from the bottom up instead of top down for that very reason. I've got a stupid looking hole at the top of my hat that I'll have to sew up now. 3.) At least it's working up quickly.

I wound up two more balls of yarn on my swift from Kevin. Still no ball winder though. It's not bad as long as I'm doing worsted weight or heavier, but the fingering weight hank I wound took FOR-EV-ER. Stupid Joann's needs to get their website working already.

Sorry no pictures this time around! Maybe after I get some more progress made on the scarf or the Thorpe! I at least wanted to start the new year off with a blog before I got too lazy.