a lot of catching up

There's been so much knitting and knitting related activities around here lately that are exciting!

~ Tuesday I had jury duty and I underestimated my knitting speed. I purposefully left the foot of a sock for that day and I finished it before we broke for lunch (I didn't bring any other knitting with me because I knew I'd be going home for lunch - I live about a mile from the courthouse). I was glad I brought a book to finish out the time! I swapped those socks out for another pair to work on after lunch.

As the subject states, yesterday, I blocked. A lot.
1. I had blocked a hat, fingerless mitts, and a pair of socks over the weekend, so I finished those up first (getting them de-furred, care cards printed out and wrapped up!).
2. I blocked a scarf (which thankfully dried very quickly - yay lace!).
3. I made an executive decision to try blocking my February Lady cardigan bigger (it's lace, so I'm fairly confident it will block to the size I want). I'll check on it later today and if it didn't work, I'll have to rip out the bind off and about 12 rows of garter stitch and then add in a few more of the lace repeats. Not a huge deal, but a minor pain.
4. I had started a blanket for William ages ago with some yarn from a scrapped project. Well, I decided quite a while ago that I'd have to axe that because the yarn would cost a small fortune. I took advantage of a sale online and bought (much less expensive) replacement yarn a couple weeks ago. The blanket is comprised of small striped mitered squares. I also happened to have some throw pillows that need recovering (I've been unable to find a fabric that is what I want), so after I bought that yarn I, stupidly, realized I could knit covers for the pillows and better yet - I could use the squares I already knit for some of them! So, yesterday I blocked one of the larger put-together squares (four mitered squares seamed together) to the dimensions I'll need for the pillow. I might have to add a border around the edge. It will take some fiddling, but that's to be dealt with after the hols. I just wanted to get the panel blocked so I knew what I would be dealing with.
5. I got those jury duty socks blocking too.

~ Since I allegedly finished my cardigan, I cast on another cardigan I've wanted to start for awhile (I promised myself I wouldn't cast on for it until I finished February Lady) - a short-sleeved dressier cardigan.

~ Stefanie Japel was selling some hand-dyed bamboo yarn scarf kits through her blog and etsy shop. I missed the first round completely. I missed the second round completely. I caught the third round and jumped on it. The kit arrived in the mail already yesterday and it is FABULOUS. I don't normally buy things like this because I generally can't afford them/can justify the cost, but this couldn't be missed. I'm SO excited to be able to knit these scarves after the hols.

~ The yarn for the last-minute gift idea I had for Jim arrived yesterday too, so I cast that on too. It's a hat, so it will be a quick knit, but then I have to do duplicate stitching, which hopefully won't take that long.

Then I'm done with Christmas knitting (with the exception of a pair of socks I'm working on, which won't have to be done until Jan. 1 and don't actually *have* to be completed - the recipient already has a hat and mitts I'm giving her. I can mail her the socks if needed, but I'm pretty sure I'll get them done (btw, Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn is fabulous! I bought a few skeins a while back, but this is the first time I've knit with it and omg. I love it.)

Phew!