During my unexpected hiatus, I wasn’t able to do much knitting although I did finish a pair of Fiber Trends clogs and sent them to my mother for a Christmas gift. Because her feet are a different size from mine, I held off on felting the slippers. I thought she might enjoy the felting process anyway, since she’s always expressed an interest in it.
Imagine her shock when she first opened the package and discovered the HUMUNGOUS slippers. 
She called me shortly afterward and diplomatically asked about their sizing. I assured her that they would shrink dramatically in the wash (at least I hope they will!). She hasn’t yet felted them, but when she does, I’ll make her take some pictures so I can show them off. They were a really fun project and I think I’m going to make a pair for myself.
Here’s a brief status report on some of my other works-in-progress:
This is Audrey, otherwise known as the “evil red sweater.” You may wonder why I’m calling it that. After all, most people rave about how wonderful Calmer is and the pattern is pretty darn simple. I’ll agree that Calmer makes an exceptional fabric. Unfortunately, I have a very difficult time handling the yarn. It’s so silky that it slips through my fingers. I have to maintain an iron grip on it to keep my tension even and that leads to excruciating wrist, elbow and shoulder pain. I’ll be working on this one very slowly so I don’t hurt myself too much.
In addition to that, I made some very stupid mistakes early on and have been trying to compensate for them ever since. Because of those mistakes, I do not feel confident that it will fit as nicely as it should. That has kind of sapped my enthusiasm for the project…but it’s so darn close, I might as well plug away to the end and hope to be pleasantly surprised. If you never hear about this one again, though, it’s because I’ve tossed it down the elevator shaft in the office tower where I work.
This is my Rebecca jacket. In contrast to Audrey, it is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever knit. It hits the perfect balance between complexity and simplicity…when I become bored with stockinette, the pattern throws in some eyelets and a patch of ribbing. When I want to escape back to the comfort of stockinette, lo and behold, there’s another stretch of it for my knitting pleasure. The only drawback is it calls for cotton yarn, which also aggravates my painful arm and shoulder. I’m taking it easy on this one as well.
Here’s something I haven’t showed you yet. It’s the beginning of my Charlotte’s Web Shawl. As many others have mentioned, knitting this is addictive. The colors of Koigu are so beautiful and the lace pattern is fun to work. I have a hard time putting it down! I don’t feel entirely confident in my gauge, since it seems a little on the small side, but I’m not ripping out again. Hopefully blocking will fix that 
Last, but not least, I want to show you all the goodies I picked up at the PurlyGirls First Annual Yarn Swap:
Looking at the photo makes me giddy with excitement about all the new projects I have on my horizon. I also unloaded a lot of yarn and notions, which I’m happy about. Most of it was nice stuff, but I just wasn’t excited about knitting with it anymore. It will be fun to see what some of the PurlyGirls do with that yarn!
You can see some photos of the yarn swap on Jessica’s and the PurlyGirls blogs. It was really fun!
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