'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.'

It's that Christmas time of year, and now that I have technically, although not officially, graduated with a B.A., I should have plenty of time to knit—right? Wrong! I have been staying with my parents in New York for the past few days, and have never had more than a half hour to myself. I have read one canto of Dante's Divine Comedy (which I had originally intended to finish, in its entirely, before Christmas), and I have knit two rows on Hedera. Two. Half of a repeat, done in the car on the way to the New York Aquarium, until I realized that knitting in the car is not like knitting on the train, and I was going to be ill soon enough if I continued.

I should have had Hedera done by now, really; I even brought an extra ball of yarn with me to start my third pair of socks—something simple, I was thinking, mindless, like a 2x2 or 3x1 rib. I would still really like to have Hedera done before Christmas. Right, sure. Luckily (and much to my dismay), my Christmas presents are going to be virtually non-existent until about a week after Christmas, thanks to Amazon. That is when my books will now be arriving (my mother is not happy), so the rush to finish Dante and run headlong back into the joys of Douglas Adams is no longer there. A shame, but it means Hedera will finally be getting the love she deserves, and I can go back to mindless ribbing just in time for our yearly visit to Pennsylvania.

There will probably not be pictures until I am back in New England anyway, sometime around the end of the month. In the interim, I wish you all the most pleasant of holiday seasons. Cheers,

—J

So much knitting, so little time.

Sock one of the Hedera pair is completed! I am in love with the short row heel, and I think it will be my main technique from now on. The heel flap feels more sturdy, but I tend to wear out socks in the toes, not the heels, so I don't think it will be too much trouble.

The Winter 2006 issue of Knitty is up, and it is beauteous. There are so many interesting and adorable things, most of which I will never have a reason to knit. Eiffel might just replace Tempting II as my first sweater, though—it has more variety through the body, and I wouldn't be altering the pattern at all.

In addition to wanting to start on the Mac Socks soon (Hedera number 2 might wait a bit—second sock syndrome, and all), I'd really like to work on Counterpoint these next few weeks, to break up the socks a bit. Illusion knitting looks interesting, and I have this wonderful vision of piano keys in a deep, toasty brown and warm cream, antique; perfect to go with my new coat, and more subtle than the example scarf. Something soft in a yarn, a touch thinner than worsted weight. In other words, I would like, for once, to knit a scarf I'll actually wear.

The Irish hiking scarf is still sitting around, looking for someone to be gifted to, for that very reason. Acrylic, even blended with 20% wool, makes my skin crawl. Good for people who will forget to handwash; bad for me and my growing adoration for natural fibres.

Finals are over in one week. This means that I graduate soon, and classes will not be getting in the way of my knitting time, at least for a little while (of course, work will). Delicious, isn't it?

—J