ok, so I’m about a week behind in posting this…
I finished the tank for my nieces last weekend while I was at their house.

more pics in the gallery

on the WIPs front:
* progress is being made on the HP scarf - 1/2 a yellow stripe and then one last marroon stripe and it will be finished. theoretically.
* Eli’s hat is more or less finished - just need to finish weaving the ends in. I had issues with the pompom - the first one came out super tiny and rather sparse. I discovered my fringe-making tool does well for pompoms too, though the first one I made came out a bit sparse (but workable) - I just made a second one and put them side by side. I don’t think you can tell.

in non-knitting news, I went to see Celtic Tiger in Milwaukee with my sister. we had fun. Saturday/Sunday a bunch of friends that I used to work with got together for a craft night in Racine - I sewed a satin binding onto a fleece remnant-bin-find to make a blanket for my sister (or one of her kids) and worked on Eli’s hat. I didn’t get to do much LYS-hopping though. I did poke into Ben Franklin in Oconomowoc - they carry some Classic Elite yarns and some other line that you don’t find in the box stores (as well as the typical box store brands). I also saw the latest Harry Potter movie - I caught a matinee on Friday - it wasn’t too crowded, which was nice.

random knitting-related thought… Kashka was playing with the knit mouse tonight - without me having to dip it in catnip. which means I don’t have to attempt surgery to insert catnip into it. :)

so the other day, in a state of clearing out some clutter (and after spending hours Monday am trying to detangle one), I decided to take the yarn acquired from the Target knitting kits (namely, from the Wine Cozy pattern) off of the retched triangle bobbin things and wind it. so I’ve got nice ‘fresh’ memories of how this yarn feels and looks in my head. I’m wandering thru Michael’s today and come upon a knit up sample of Bernat Frenzy - I swear, it’s got to be the same yarn. the fiber content is the same, and the blue & purple colors look pretty darn exact to that which sits in my stash. good to know if I decide I like it.

I have a feeling that most of those Target kits are using Bernat-family yarns (since the cotton baby kit yarn matched up so well with the Sugar n Cream, and the boa scarf kits look identical to the Boa yarn). now, if only I could figure out what yarns they’re using in the legwarmers kits that are currently on the shelves… (maybe they’ll go on clearance soon so I can get one. wishful thinking…)

in other news, I received my free ball of Bernat Disco today - I got the copper/brown color. thank goodness. that turquoise was kind of scary. haven’t a clue what I’ll do with it yet (though they did include a few patterns)

cuz I need another project…
I’ve been inputting my stash into a spreadsheet (created by Trillian over at the knittyboards - I think her blog is in the links over there - Katydid Knits. the spreadsheet templates can be found there.)

so I’m borrowing Weekend Knitting from the library, decided I like a few patterns, but not enough to buy the book. (if only I could perma-borrow it. sadly, it’s due in three days time…) decided I like the fluffly lace camisole, and hey, look at that, it uses Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze. well, I don’t have Haze, but I do have some lovely Spray (same thing, only varigated, from what I can tell) that Darleen sent me. Yay, a project chosen from stash! now, (potential) problem is, I think the size I’d need will require 3 balls. I wonder if the dye lot will matter much? (I have color 573, dye lot 4562, if anyone has a ball floating about they’d be willing to sell/swap)

in other news, I have been working on various WIPs - the tank is almost finished! and only a stripe and a half to finish dh’s HP scarf (until he decides it’s too short). huzzah! and I had a good shopping weekend last week - lots of yarn sales at the LYS’s - I got some great deals (and saw a few other bloggers/knittyheads as well.) more to come later.

I finished Amelia’s hat last night. will post more details and photos tomorrow. (the camera batteries died). so, I cast on for BIL’s hat. I’m making Tychus from knitty in 4 colors - I made it to the second color and decided it was going to be more yarn than I’d want to deal with right now, so we’ll continue tomorrow.

in WIPs news…
there is some progress being made!
* dh’s HP scarf now has 15 stripes. I made it thru about 1/3 of the yellow stripe on the commute today.
* the niece’s tank top finally has the crochet edging added. I picked up the stitches for the ruffle, and realized I’m confused by my copy of the end of the instructions, so I’m waiting for the library to tell me it’s in so I can double check it and finish it.
* the sock class has ended. and so has any progress on the sock. I made it thru the short row heel and haven’t touched it since. I’m not too happy with how the heel looks, so it’s being procrastinated on. ah, well. we’ll finish it soon, and then we’ll have to worry about second-sock-syndrome.

I think that’s the extent of progress.

in HolSP news… yes, I believe my Amazon wishlist is up to date (at least as far as what I’ve bought. there’s probably a few things that could be added… too bad I can’t add knitpicks yarns to it… or any yarns for that matter…). and I’ve been shopping. Three of the LYS are having sales this weekend, so I’m hoping I might find some deals there to add to the SP gifting. otherwise, I think all my SP shopping is done. I just need to get something into the mail now.

oh, and while out SP shopping the other night, I stumbled upon glitter needles at JoAnn’s! I had to buy them (as well as some of the knitting witch ’spooky hollow’ decor - they were 70% off! how could I resist?)