Dusting off my travelling shoes

It’s just one week before I leave for an 11-day cruise in the southern Carribbean with my husband and mother-in-law.  I’m at that point where excitement has started to give way to anxiety (Are our cats going to be okay without us for 2 weeks?  Will I be able to sleep okay in our room on the boat?  Am I going to get horribly sunburnt the first day…or seasick the whole time?).  I know that by this time next week, on a plane flying over the States on my way to Ft. Lauderdale, I’ll be back to excitement again, but I’m not quite there yet. So I’m dissipating my nervous energy by knitting!  It’s a long post, so all the details and pictures are after the jump.

My post-Christmas proliferation of WIPs has not really subsided yet, but I’m slowly working back towards having just 3 or 4 active projects.  I’ve finished both the baby hat for charity and the gorgeous shawl I posted about back in January.  The thing I adore about the shawl (which I ended up knitting, frogging completely, and knitting again to make a slightly larger shawlette…but it still took about 4-5 days’ work in total) is the way it’s so…square, despite being a triangular shawl.  I kind of imagined it would have some sort of wacky construction techniques to achieve that, but in fact it’s knit just the same as the other triangular shawls I’ve knit!  The yarn is scrumptious, too, hand-dyed by Johanna at Ever Improving Me.  It’s very soft, but has just a little bit of shine to complement the princessly colours.

I’ve been making lots of progress on my Ivy cardigan.  I’ve finished the back and left side – will be bringing this one along with me on the cruise.  It’s lots of stockinette, so it’s good for knitting and chatting.  In fact, I knit the bulk of the left front a couple weekends ago while hanging out with my pregnant friend A, intermittently helping her figure out her first pair of socks.

I’ve also been working on my 11 in 11.  The baby hat is one project; I’ve been plugging away at my big blanket (though I think I need to buy a fourth(!!!) circular needle – every time I pick it up, I have to spend a few minutes putting stitches back on the 3 I have currently); and I’m also working on a sweet sweater for my future sproglet(s) from the pattern Presto Chango.  I bought this yarn some time ago – it was on sale at the LYS and I didn’t have a pattern in mind, but I bought a variegated yellow/red/green, and matching plain skeins of yellow & green in this cotton-elastic-nylon blend.  It sat in my stash, not right for dishcloths because of the nylon but awfully funky for anything else…I think kid clothing is the perfect use for it!  I’m not sure if I will have enough yarn to do as I initially planned and have 3 interchangeable fronts (yellow, green, and multicolour), but whatever, it’s going to be super cute.  I love the pattern and want to knit a few more in larger sizes (this is the smallest, 6mos).

I’ve been working on a couple of things specifically for the trip, too.  I started knitting a Japanese Feather & Fan Shawl from handspun(?) hand-dyed silk from Knotty By Nature, but it just wasn’t “resolving” into a pattern the way I hoped.  I think even my smallest pair of shawl-ready needles (2.5mm) are too large for this pattern in this yarn – I have high hopes for it at a later date in a slightly heavier laceweight, but I found this combo was just looking messy so I will be frogging it forthwith.  It was supposed to be my fancy out-to-dinner shawl, since I don’t care what my mother-in-law says, I am not wearing my Christmas shawl in February.  Guess I will have to make do with the Strange Bird I just finished, or maybe I’ll bring my wedding shawl as well.

I also sewed up a couple of leftover pansies to make an eye-catching luggage identifier for my MIL.  She found a panda luggage tag for G.  That left me…so I crocheted this super cute amigurumi kokeshi doll!  She’s kind of big, especially considering I used lighter yarn and a smaller hook than the pattern called for, but that will just make her easier to pick out on the luggage carousel.  I may add some flowers to her dress later, but I found that the crochet was hurting my wrist a bit so it may not be until I get home.

Phew, that’s a lot.  I’m also working on some bits & pieces for Suzuha, but nothing exciting yet, just a basic skirt.  Her wig is settling in a bit and I finally got her fairy legs & wings on a few days ago, but no pics yet. As soon as I’ve got all the basic clothing items so she’s no longer sitting around with a bare resin bottom, I’m excited to start designing Japan street fashion inspired clothes for her – I’m thinking an oversized sweater with cables and kitty ear hood, maybe a bubble skirt, and of course mismatched leg & arm warmers.  Which means she needs shoes.  Hmm, shopping…!