rowan subscription gift appreciation week

after a very dramatic start to the week, weatherwise, things have calmed and cooled down considerably and this morning just before i left for work i took this pic:

the first snow

this is how much daylight we get at 8:50am. it is pitch black by 4pm now. winter solstice is just over a month away; the next three months are going to be hard, not just for me, but also for you poor people having to endure my crap flash photos for what will seem like an eternity.

anyway, this is supposed to be a short little post because my wrist is all funny again and really should be rested, but i am in a good mood after a visit to the gym and a very long and very hot shower so i thought i'd share my crazy knitting plan for the next six weeks with you. if you take a look at my wip list in the sidebar, there are some projects in there that i have been silent about for the last few months. my goal, then, is to finish them off before the end of the year, so that i can face 2006 with a fairly clean slate. what do you think? can i do it?

specifically, i am going to try and finish the bottom four projects on the list:

my phildar cardi in silver grey baby cashmerino - the two sleeves are ready, and i'm past the sleeve shaping on the back piece, so all that remains are the two front pieces and the infinite amount of ribbed bands, plus all the seaming and that damn zipper, of course;

the rainbow tank that i just couldn't finish before my holiday - i just need to finish the garter stitch waist band and attach it;

the vintage velvet scarf i'm making for jacqueline - i seem to remember i've done two or three pattern repeats, that should only leave about fifty;

and finally my ene - haven't touched this since i was on holiday in september. still 265 stitches on the needles. ouch.

we'll see how this works out. i'm not convinced it's going to happen, particularly not today when purling is painful for my wrist. the log cabin socks in cork, with their dense fabric, are quite hard on the hands, so i've decided to let them rest for a while. i need an all knit project!


this is what i mean by crap flash photos

this is the start of the herringbone gloves, sorry, i mean glove of herringbone, a free pattern from this japanese knitting site. winnie is currently knitting up a fine specimen, and i swear i saw someone else i know mention these on her blog a few days ago, but i can't for the life of me remember who it was. anyone?

my japanese is, well, it's not there at all, so i ran the pattern through a free translator and got a very funny result that i am trying to interpret. fortunately the graphs and charts are quite clear so it just might work out. i am using some purple and orange rowanspun 4ply from yet another rowan subscription gift - remember that kaffe fasset intarsia pillow kit? - and should have enough yarn for three pairs of gloves. if i finish a single one i will be impressed with myself.