the entrelac continues... i've finished 51 rows, and the end is in sight. it looks less like a potholder or a wall hanging and more like a scarf these days, which i take as a good sign.

the pictures are from earlier today, so they are a few rows shy of the current progress.





in other news, i was a bad, bad christmas shopper yesterday. i, uhh, found a LYS and well... my stash needs christmas presents too, right? it's a nice little shop called Knit Wits located in Greensburg, PA (near Westmoreland mall). i picked up some goodies that i needed (size 6 dpns, yarn needles, some yummy sport weight olive green Blue Sky alpaca for the stripes in my roommates' fingerless gloves that he requested and bought the main color alpaca) some goodies that i didn't technically need, but really wanted (sheep shaped measuring tape, nancy bush's knitting vintage socks, and louisa hardings natural knits for babies and moms), and some things that were blatant stash additions (debbie bliss cashmerino aran, which i made my very first sweater out of, and for which i will always have a soft spot)

i'm turning to the knitting blogosphere because i know that no one else could possibly understand the plight of the average knitter 5 days before Christmas (especially if... say, that knitter undertook to knit an entrelac scarf on size 4 needles for the most important boy in her life about a week and a half ago - mid law school finals).

i have been knitting with reckless abandon for the past several days straight. i will finish this scarf. i will be victorious. i will even try to sleep every night between now and then. when he unwraps it, i will smile demurely as i lie through my teeth and tell him that it is "not a big deal".

i just finished my 37th row (1 row of squares = 1 inch). that leaves... 26 more rows to go, according to the pattern. since it takes me just about an hour to finish one row of squares... well, let's not think about this too hard, shall we?

the good news is that... well, forgive me for tooting my own horn here, but... it is really a beautiful scarf. the colors work wonderfully together. the entrelac is interesting without being overwhelming. the yarn is wonderfully soft, and should do a good job keeping any neck toasty warm.

i believe with all of my heart that he will like it. i also believe with all my heart that he will never understand how much of myself i put into this scarf. i am actually reasonably okay with that. i know - i know how much of myself went into the scarf. it is kind of my own little secret.

(pictures coming later)

i'm not dead.... i'm just in finals.

having said that, i let myself have a bout of craftiness yesterday/today to celebrate having not died in my first two finals.

you can tell that it must be finals time, because i am clearly delusional. i found myself in the LYS last night looking for the perfect yarn for a gift for my quasi-boyfriend. yeah, i'm knitting something for someone who i feel compelled to use the term "quasi" when defining our status. i'm obviously insane.
on the other hand, i feel completely in over my head in the relationship in general, so the gift-giving might as well follow suit.

take a look-sy:

Now, astute readers will note several things.
(1) holy crap, janet is doing fair isle knitting. the mitten is "practice" - i learned this morning. i'm gonna frog it, because, despite getting the hang of it fairly quickly, i misunderstood the pattern for how to deal with the chart for the thumb gusset and it isn't quite right. i'm not going to lie, i feel a bit awkward holding 4 needles and two colors of yarn all at one time. i had to sit in total silence and concentrate good and hard. but it's not so bad once you get the hang of it. so, manly mittens, here we come.
(2) entrelac? janet is knitting entrelac??? yeah, i taught myself last night. i love it. except for the annoying picking up stitches constantly, it's damn easy, too.
(3) the really insane part: perhaps you can't tell from the picture above... but, well, that entrelac blob needs to eventually amass itself into a scarf. those are size 4 needles. and this is a christmas gift. yes, i decided to knit a scarf on size 4s with less than 3 weeks (not to mention 3 more finals) until christmas. i think that it's better if i not tell you how long it took to knit thoses 3.5 sections. so, for those keeping track, that's 2 new knitting skills, tiny gauge, 16 days until Christmas, and the possibility of envoking some form of the boyfriend-sweater-curse.

for those who are interested, the yarn is Karabella aurora 4 in colorways 8170 (dark blue) and 17 (bright blue)