August is nearly gone!?

I can't believe it's almost the end of August already.

I am making decent progress on getting WIPs/UFOs finished.

I have managed to almost finish the lopi cardigan.

I would be finished except I'm still looking for buttons. Part of the issue is I don't know what kind of buttons I'm looking for, this is both better and worse than KNOWING what you want. I can't just go look for a button (and probably not find it) I have to look for something I like and then think about it for THIS sweater. Of course even if I do find something I like then I also have to hope they have 6 of them. I found some I thought would work in the 'button box' (I love my button box, I wish I'd taken the ones of my grandmother's I was offered - what the heck was I thinking!?). Unfortunately there were only 4 of them.

While I'm looking for buttons I've also been working on the duplicate stitch for these socks.

I have turned one heel, but I thought I'd focus on getting the duplicate stitch done before I focus on finishing the feet. The designer recommends doing the duplicate stitch as you finish each band. This really is a great idea. But I don't mind the duplicate stitch (as much as I will complain about it) it's certainly better than weaving the ends in on color work.

I don't know if I mentioned these socks recently (or ever) but they are Hogwarts sock by Ann Kingstone. I am making the largest size (they are children's socks, no adult sizing) and they are going to fit me. I'm so very excited. I had expected that I would finish them and then start looking for a worthy kid. (I guess I'm the worthy kid?)

My mother and I are going to Annie Modisett's knitting retreat the end of September. It should be a great time. I think we are both really looking forward to it. I've never attended one of Annie's classes (other than knitting camp (Meg Swansen) I've never attended any knitting classes that I recall) before but she and I have corresponded via email a few times and she sounds like a fun person.

Funny Quote

A friend wrote this and every time I see it I laugh. We've all been there.

Gauge swatches are lying liars from Liarsville, who all shop at FlamingPants.com.

August comes in with a bang!

I am trying to focus on finishing UFOs/WIPs in August. So far I have done a great job. I have finished this sweater for my mother:

It's a Philosopher's Wool kit she bought and I started this while I was at her house over Winter holidays. Making all the color decisions made this both fun and taxing. I also mixed the pattern rows from two or three different sweater patterns from their book Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. This book is fabulous and I really love their yarn. I'm glad it's done, it fits her beautifully and she likes it a lot.

I also finished these socks:

I started them in March. The pattern is Vellamo. The yarn is something I bought as a sock of the month kit, I started the socks and didn't care for the pattern so I frogged them and then the yarn languished in my stash for a long time. I had thought I should knit one in reverse (after seeing how much yarn was left after the first sock) but I forged ahead and ran out of yarn about halfway up the leg on the second sock. I managed to find some leftovers in my stash that was very close to the same color and proper weight. It does vary a little but not a lot and I'm happy with the socks and will certainly wear them.

I would post more links - but I find so many things on Ravelry and I don't want to post links on my blog that people can't reach.

This certainly should help my destash numbers, except she and I are going to do a knit along and so we bought new yarn this weekend. It's not here yet and I'm going to not add it to my totals until it shows up.