the mighty momogus

I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to look at my arm. But of course as soon as I made the appointment my arm started feeling better! So I decided to take on some knitting.

Yes, I jumped on the Knitting Olympics bandwagon, even though my arm isn't quite cooperating. This is Peasy by Heidi Kirrmaier. I'm using some violently chartreuse Rowan Felted Tweed that has been marinating in the stash for several years now. It's a fun pattern - top-down and the lace pattern on the front yoke makes the knitting interesting.


I also started these:

These are Ribbon Mittens by Spillyjane. I've wanted to try this pattern and technique for a long time and finally took the plunge (Cascade 220 on a #3 - oy vey). The ribbon technique - technically known as Roositud Inlay Technique - is easy. But look at the chaos inside:

Ack!! After I got this far and saw all these floats and ends I wondered if I could just knit the mitten and embroider the design on. It's not knit in, so I don't think it would look any different. And it would be easier and cleaner. I'm going to try to pull out the design I have so far and then embroider it on as I go. Doesn't help that I chose black for the background, but so be it.

(Blog-slacker alert. I originally started this a week ago and just found it languishing in the "Edit Posts" folder...So sue me.)

Like everyone else in a million-mile range, everyone here had a snow day today. Gus and I went out and explored the snow first thing in the morning and found that it was the perfect snow to build a snowman. This is what our snowmen have looked like in the past:

This morning in about 10 minutes Gus had made this:

Snow Kitty! Waaaah! So cute!! Notice the appropriately vertical quality of this. The snow was delightfully packable.

I made brownies, went back out and shoveled a little, had several snowball fights with the boy and actually knit! These are samples for Totally Twisty Toe-Up Tube Socks, the next Momogus Knits pattern coming down the pike. I'm working on the sleeve of one of the Chestnut Hill Ganseys, but they are still not quite ready. My arm is still not 100%, so I couldn't knit a lot, but I finally felt like I was making some progress. And that felt good.Here it is being modeled by a grumpy almost-10-yr-old:


Close-up of the Totally Twisty rib pattern (worsted weight):


Here it is in sportweight variegated yarn:


The pattern is written for fingering, sport and worsted weight yarns and sizes from baby up to large adult. I LOVE a tube sock because there is no heel. Yippee! And the ribbed pattern makes them fit in a nice way. I will keep you all posted, but I expect to have this pattern out in the next week or so.

Happy Birthday to my funny great husband!!

In the backyard yesterday:

My favorite bird, gallant Mrs. Cardinal, venturing out for some lunch in the middle of the blizzard.

I stayed in and baked bread. My bread-baking is ahem, a work in progress. I can't get the loaves to rise very much, though I sit them on the radiator. I wonder if even that is not warm enough. Yesterday's efforts were very flat and dense. Does anyone out there have any bread-baking hints they can offer?

No knitting to show - my arm is better but not back to 100%. I knit a little bit in the morning and my arm began to throb from the elbow to the tip of my middle finger. Not good! And so frustrating! I am so close to finishing up a half-dozen new Momogus Knits patterns, but can't finish because I can't finish the samples. Urgh. And argh!