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How many blog posts am I allowed to title "not dead"? Life is a struggle right now and I just can't take the time to blog often, nor read blogs much. My bloglines list grows to over 3000 unread posts, and I apologize for not being a great commenter on your blogs lately.

In my usual "too busy to write" fashion, I'll post a bunch of pictures here of stuff I've completed lately, mostly little stuff, with the details but not a ton of commentary. Sorry again.

First we have the first completed socks of 2008, I call them my Foxy Charades. I think they just might be my favorite socks ever! This was my first time using Cherry Tree Hill yarn, and I love it. I had trouble with the yarn pooling when I tried it with the River Rapids pattern last summer, but it behaved amazingly well with the Charade pattern. No pooling at all, it's this type of variegation that I absolutely love. The colors are great, too. And I really like this pattern. Easy but looks great. These were my Ravelry:Sockdown socks for December 2007, in which the requirement was any top-down sock. Or intarsia. Um, yeah, in the midst of crazy Christmas knitting, I'll skip the intarsia socks, thanks.

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I always love to see variegateds in stockinette:

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Pattern: Charade, by Sandra Park
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino, in Foxy Lady
Needles: US0/2mm for cuff, US1/2.25mm for the rest
Dates: 12/23/2007 - 1/7/2008
Notes: I don't think I made any modifications at all to the pattern. Amazing!

Next up I have some fingerless gloves/mittens (glittens?) for my kids. Despite the fact that we live in San Diego, it's cold in the mornings and there is often frost covering the park we pass on the walk to school. I have been wanting to try a pair of those convertible mittens, with the mitten flap that you can flip up or down depending on whether you want your fingers out. How better to test a pattern than on kid stuff, so I cast on using some leftover black Cotton Fleece from the Purdue baby set from last summer. It was only used for the stripes, so I had plenty to spare. I started out with the Knucks pattern from Knitty, since I knew it was a decent fingerless glove pattern, and then added a mitten flap with the directions from the Urban Necessity pattern.

As soon as I got the first knuck done, both boys were clamoring for that one to be "theirs." The knucks are the same for both of them, but C's mittens are longer than J's for his bigger hands. In the end, I got both pairs done, and they've been wearing them happily most mornings for the walk to school. A success, I declare! Done again, I wouldn't use Cotton Fleece. The cotton just doesn't hold the ribbing well enough, so the mitten flap part on the palm of the hand is sort of floppy. I think I'd attach more of the mitten flap to the glove, wrapping it around the sides of the hand a little more. As written, half of the mitten flap stitches are connected to the glove, and half are the part that goes around the palm. I think next time I'll add a few more connected stitches to each side. And after seeing J's at one of C's recent soccer games, a mom ordered a pair for each of her kids and herself, so there definitely will be a next time!!! I just got some Knit Picks Swish to make them out of, and hope to start today.

Anyway, here are some shots of the ones for my boys. First, the knucks before the mitten cap was added:

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And here's how you pick up the stitches for the mitten cap:

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And here they are done!

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Open:

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Closed:

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Pattern: Fingerless gloves are Knucks, by Pamela Grossman, from Knitty. Mitten caps are added per the instructions for Urban Necessity Gloves, by Colleen Michele Meagher, from MagKnits.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, in Cavern
Needles: US5/3.75mm
Notes: See above, not much more to add

J has also grown out of his pirate cap from last year, so he needed a new one. I opted for a fast and simple beanie, in his choice of Simply Soft colors in my stash. He picked green, and he's happy with it:

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Pattern: London Beanie, by Mark Thrailkill
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, in Dark Sage and Black, and some mystery white acrylic from my stash.
Needles: US5/3.75mm
Notes: This is barely big enough for him. I hope it'll last the winter. Go bigger next time!

I have more, but they'll have to wait, no more time today. I hope you've all had a great weekend!