Wait a Second, Isn't This a Knitting Blog?

I should either post some knitting photos, or start, um, peeing around my stash to mark my territory.*

I've not had the most productive summer for knitting. It's been so bloody hot here that I spend my evenings sweating on the couch and squinting up at the thermostat. I keep hoping to bring the numbers down through sheer force of will. During the week that we painted the bedroom, I have a photo of my "remote" thermometre showing that it had cooled off to 21C outside but was still 30C inside at 11pm. It was disgusting. You want to see it?

Shocking, eh?

Last week, however, I was very productive at the cottage as it was much cooler there and swimming really whets my appetite for yarn! I managed to knit up a bunch of Wendy Gross' Little Monster Bears:

I was intending to finish these in time for our party on the weekend, but time ran out on me. Instead, I'm going to give them away as presents this year; My niece, R, has already claimed the hot pink one. (I'm not really sure what they're doing in this photo, it's a little creepy.)

Here are the pre-bear beans dryland training for their upcoming swim meet in the washing machine:

Next project! When the Ninja's Mr. Munchkin chose, from her stash, a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk as my birthday gift, (did I mention how much I love that kid?), I knew I had to knit something nice for myself. I knew I wanted lace, but I wanted there to be less "air" and more fabric. After cruising Ravelry for a while, I settled on The Shetland Triangle:

I've been calling it Shetland Skies because it reminds me of the skies at the cottage where I started making it. I'm knitting this on 3.5mm needles and am crossing my fingers that I have enough yarn to make it as large as I would like it to be.

I've also been working on Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. I've stalled in my progress as I struggle with the eternal question: Will this be too big for me? Will this be too small? Why didn't I swatch?

(The colour is called Lapis and the photo is not at all representative of the way it looks in real life. In fact, none of the pictures in this post accurately represent the colours of the projects. I took them all after supper tonight and they really just don't do these jewel tones justice.)

I've yet to finish a sweater for myself. My Imogen is 15 rows from completion, and there it sits. Yargh! I think I need a kick in the pants.

I hope this suffices as a knitting entry for this blog. I've got a long weekend staring me in the face right now. Both Mr. Happy's mom and Pippin are staying with us this weekend, so I suspect there will be lots of walks (for Pippin) and lots of treats, (uh, for all of us). The only thing that Pippin won't be getting is a front row seat to the fireworks this weekend. He absolutely hates them.


*we had a party on the weekend and I thought I might have to mark my territory when all the knitters were standing next in the dining room eyeing the cabinet that holds the majority of my yarn stash.