i still knit

Truly I do. Every day in fact, which is probably why I don't have time to read quilting books but anyway ...
this is a random knitting update post:

Baudelaire socks - I cannot remember the last time that I didn't look at these. I know that I got over the trauma of the dropped stitches and started on the leg. Ah, that's right - the dilemma of how do I know when I have enough yarn left to complete twelve rows of ribbing (and a bind-off)? My good friend Heidi (who is merchgirl on Ravelry - check out her astounding Laminaria) suggested test knitting a row of ribbing, then frogging it and measuring how much yarn it required. Measure out twelve times as much yarn from the wrong end of the ball (and some more for the bind-off I imagine) and then just knit to that point. Such a good idea, I'll try it someday.

Faux Prussian Stole - I completed one of the five-and-a-half 81-stitch-by-96-row repeats and collapsed from exhaustion. That in itself was such a feat that I have not yet quite recovered enough to start on the next repeat. I did, however, purchase an Addi Nature circular needle (bamboo tips) which I think will hold the yarn better. It was very slippery knitting on the Addi Turbos that I was using.

Diamond mittens - Going well but haven't picked them up for a while. All I have to go on the left mitten is the individual fingers (which get tucked in underneath the mitten top) and the thumb. On the right mitten I have started the ribbing thereby hoping to avoid second mitten syndrome.

So what have I been knitting everyday?? Wallingford! Which is actually a pattern called Wallington but as I go to a knit night in Wallingford on Mondays it was too much to have two such similar words milling around in my brain. Rather than rename the neighbourhood I thought it easier to rename my project (ah, yeah). Besides, I like the word Wallingford better. This is my first adult-sized garment project and I am knitting it from recycled wool. So far I have completed the two sleeves, the back to just beyond the armhole shaping and one front about as far as the waist. This leaves: the rest of the back, the rest of one front, all of the second front, the collar and front bands, the wrist straps and the belt and the wrist and waist casings.

Hmmm, will I make it? I think so. It won't matter too much if the casings are knit from a different yarn as they are on the inside of the garment and I imagine that even a portion of the wrist straps could be in a different yarn too as that portion will always be concealed inside the casing. The belt is a bit more of a challenge in the potential substitute stakes - where the belt would sit inside the casing depends whether I want to wear it buckled up or tied. This is likely to make it more difficult to conceal a portion knit in a different yarn. Regardless, this is all down the track - I have to complete the garment pieces first before I do the finishing (although I predict that I will be seaming with a different yarn: just. in. case.)