I finally finished the Cathedral socks. They turned out pretty well, I think.

They’ve taken an incredibly long time for a pair of socks. The only thing I can say for myself is that it’s been a tough 6 months here, and I’m happy they’re finished at all. But anyway.

I did make two Swiffer sleeves. These ones are crocheted, and went incredibly quickly. Two in two days, which isn’t bad for most people. For me right now, it’s pretty damned good. It’s even helped me solve a dilemma that’s been eating away at me for years now. I’ll write more about that later; suffice it to say that I’ve found what I’m making some people for Xmas this year.

I’m still picking away at the sweater. Next week (on our Family Anniversary, no less) will make 1 year since I’ve started. I need to start looking around for something to put on the sweater. There’s enough room on the top and bottom for a short quote – I think there could be two separate ones, or I could do something that goes around the sweater from front to back and around again.

A couple of weeks ago, I started on some felted clogs for my nieces in MN. I really love this Felted Clogs pattern; it works up really quickly, there’s minimal sewing (which has caused problems for me in the past with the seams felting weirdly), and they always are well received. Somewhere in the house there’s a huge clog waiting to be felted. There’s one sitting in the living room, waiting expectantly for its mate to turn up. This seems to happen a lot here. As soon as they’re both reunited, I’ll take a picture before they hit the washer to be fulled.

I also sewed School Girl’s costume for her historical American presentation. I just love Simplicity costume patterns, especially if you don’t need historical accuracy and/or can sacrifice a little authenticity for a hell of a lot of speed and ease. I think it turned out pretty well. School Girl even thought it was comfortable to wear, which is saying something. In fact, it went so well I started to make something for myself for this spring. I haven’t sewn something like that in a very, very long time. So far it’s going together okay. As long as I don’t feel rushed or have to have it finished by a deadline, I think it’ll be okay. The pattern I’m using is Parfait from Colette Patterns.

There is a spinning thing that I’m working on, but I’ll save that for another post. Enjoy your Giant Chocolate Bunny Day tomorrow.

For example, there are the mitten/gloves I’ve been making for School Girl. I finished actually knitting them on her birthday, which is what I was shooting for. However, that’s not the end for these. There is a lot of color work here, both with Fair Isle/stranded knitting and duplicate stitch embroidery. The faces on the fingers are done, and one of the four faces on the mitten cap is done. These are all unblocked, with only the ends of the mitten cap woven in.

Notice anything about the fingers of the right hand yet? No? Here’s a closer look:

Yeah. Rock on, baby girl! She didn’t notice it right away, thank goodness. After I finish the mitten caps, I get to weave in eleventy billion yarn ends – and hope that she can still fit them onto her hands when I’m finished.

My depression also lifted enough to scour some wool yesterday. I’ve only got 1+ more pounds of the CVM to finish washing; roughly one more kitchen sink full. It looks beautiful once it’s finally clean; it should dye up very nicely, and if the weather holds out I could have at least one skein finished and dry by the end of the week. Maybe.

What I loved the best about this morning:

• Seeing the Obama kids up there on the platform with the rest of their family. Just lovely.
• Joe Biden being his goofy self. Like him or hate him, he’s a real person.
• Yo-Yo Ma.
• Obama mentioned non-believers! And gave a shout out to science! It’s sad, but it made me cry to hear both of those said out loud. And not as a means of attack, but as a means of inclusion and welcome.
• Just getting to see the Rev. Joseph Lowery. A figure from my US History book come to eloquent life.

It also give me great pleasure to add the official White House blog to ye olde blogroll over there. The White House home page has been changed over already and looks beautiful. Now to go work on something that I’ve been putting off until today – I might post it on Flickr when it’s finished.

From now on, I can actually write the word President without quotation marks, without any sort of snark whatsoever. It feels really good.

That would be Baroque sock #1. Leg? Done. Heel? Done. Gusset? Done and done. Just working my way down the foot. Someday I might even start sock #2.

I’m 1/3 of the way finished with the last row of bats on my Bat Shawl. This would be my first shawl w/an actual knitted-on edging, and I’m a little nervous. Consequently, I’ve been dragging this out far longer than necessary. Not excited about picking up 300+ edge stitches…

Just when I’m ready to sew up the FSM, I cannot find the brand new package of tapestry needles I bought just for the occasion. I know they’re somewhere in the house. They are. But they’re hiding, for some bizarre reason.

I also did a new chart for my Leather Pride Scarf. If anybody’s interested, I’ll put it up on The Spinning Goth, beside the rest of the pattern.

Because I don’t have enough to do in my day, I ordered a holiday pattern from Subversive Cross Stitch. There’s a surprise for you if you order between now and December 31, 2008. What looks to be a very nice, time-consuming surprise. Bet you can’t guess which holiday design I’m making…

Since that picture was taken, I’ve gotten another…oh, half-dozen rows or so in, so I’ve completed one full chart repeat and begun the second. I never realized cabling without a needle would be so exciting. Seriously. I think I’m enjoying it enough to try it with a bigger project next time, maybe an Irish Hiking Scarf or something.

I’ve also started a fancy yarn holder, which I’d like to adapt for holding a mini high-whorl spindle and a wee bit of fiber. Looking at the finished size of it, there would most likely be room for only a wee bit of fiber, even with my Bosworth inside. But I’ve crammed more stuff into smaller spaces, so we’ll see. I’d show you a picture, but right now I just have a few rounds started. I’m sure you’ve all seen flattish white discs before, so I’ll spare you that one.

Last week, we went up to our favorite fiber shop and picked up some toy-making supplies. Those aren’t started yet, as something seems to have happened to my Official Toy-Making hook. It’s got to be here somewhere…