The Knitting Bug, it bit me.

*Just a wee note before I go see my rock star husband and friends.*

When last we spoke, I was thrilled beyond belief with my Lace Ribbon Scarf, diligently and happily knitting away and anticipating a finished object in the near future. I had hopes of it being done this weekend, and although that was a long shot, it would be far more attainable had I kept knitting on it. I posted that last entry, and not an hour later, cast on these babies:

Pretty, no? These are the NHM #7 mittens from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition, in Regia 4 ply sock yarn. Selbuvotter is a great book, lovely patterns and history, and I have been waiting for the right time to knit some mittens from this book. Since I now have my own place and can scatter WIPs wherever I feel like, I cast them on last weekend and cranked out the left hand mitten you see here in about a day. It’s almost finished, but it is languishing in the same basket as the Lace Ribbon Scarf because of this:

It’s the Rambling Rose Cardigan from Interweave Knits Winter 2006. I’ve wanted to knit this since the pattern was first published, and I’ve had the yarn (Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted in Cranberry Fog and Victorian Pink, thanksforasking) for nearly two years, but you know how it goes. I hadn’t done a project with honest to goodness intarsia before and those scallops at the bottom edges nearly took the wind out of my sails for this project. It was a bit much to bite off for a newbie like me, but after ripping out the works three times I finally managed to get the scallops clean and presentable. See those yarn ends peeking out there? I’m already dreading weaving those it. So far I’m happy with it, and the right front has grown considerably since I took this photo earlier this afternoon.

And before I run off to rock out and decompress from a stressful week, I promised to share my new apartment with you. This is just one wall, but it’s the most complete section decorating-wise so far.

In the spirit of being a good hostess, I’ll give you the grand tour. This is the south end of my studio apartment. I took this while standing in my closet doorway, if that helps with gauging the size of this place. Here you see my Tony Orlando exposed pipes and furnace, my amazing new (vintage) love seat, the enormous fork and spoon, my various owls, and the drop leaf table I bought with the sofa. This was taken after a cleaning spree, most of the time one leaf of the table is propped up with the laptop on it and one of my three WIP’s laying on the sofa. Why are the walls blue? I have no idea, I moved in and they were this color. I don’t have the will to paint, and it doesn’t clash with my color scheme or the plans I have for the future, so it can stay. Next week, I’ll hopefully have some curtains up, because while the blinds are functional, they leave a little to be desired in the way of decor. So that’s one wall of my palace.