Must...Finish...Knitting

Over the last 2 weeks I've had to feverishly complete a bunch of knitting! First, I had to finish that one baby sweater for a Christening, which I blogged about. Then I realized that I had yet another Christening to go to the week after---for twins, girls. Okie, dokie! Two more sweaters! Here they are:

Then I wanted to make a present for a faculty member who was leaving my department. He worked here for 4 years in an auxiliary position (which is little better than adjunct) and, believe me, he was the most overworked, underpaid teacher in our department, and arguably, the entire University. Nice guy, and a damn good professor. Well, lucky for him, he got a nice, tenure-track position in London at Imperial College. I hated to see him go, but he's going to be better off. So anyway, I wanted to make him something.

Guys, I think, are difficult to knit for. Because a lot of knitting always ends up looking feminine to me. Or, it ends up looking like something only your significant other or your dad would wear out of sympathy for the hours upon hours you spent slaving over it. With that in mind, I decided on a scarf because a) I only had about 5 days to do it, and b) I knew that a scarf was the only thing I had knit enough times to guarantee that the end result would be worthy of giving as a gift! Not the time to experiment on a sweater, you know?

So I cannibalized that blasted poncho, which I knew from the get-go I'd never finish. The yarn was Lion Brand Kool Wool. Nice yarn. I loved it. Good combination: 50% wool, 50% acrylic. It was so easy to work with. Too bad the asshats at Lion Brand discontinued it! So I managed to take a picture of the very beginnings of the scarf. It's just a simple garter-stitch scarf in charcoal gray with a red and a black stripe running thought it. The "pattern" I devised was:

Cast on 22 stitches on size 10 1/2 needles
1. knit 20 rows in gray
2. knit 5 rows in red
3. knit 5 rows in black
4. repeat steps 1, 2, and 3
5. knit 50 rows in gray
6. repeat steps 2 and 3
7. repeat steps 1, 2, 3, and 5
8. repeat steps 2 and 3
9. repeat steps 1, 2, and 3
10. knit 20 rows in gray
bind off

This ended up being about 7 inches wide and 54 inches long. I didn't put any fringe on it, either.

I think the weight and look of this yarn make it perfect for knitting up a masculine-looking scarf:

Now he's from Australia. And his dad is a SHEEP FARMER. And apparently his mom can knit like 14 cabled, intarsia, fair-isle sweaters a day or something. And he LOVED the scarf. I was so happy---and relieved! I might try to e-mail him and ask him for a picture of him wearing the scarf. That would be cool.

So somehow, in the midst of 2 Christenings, being in my friend's wedding, and being addicted to CRACK, I managed to complete 3 baby sweaters and the scarf in about 2 weeks time.

I did start on that market bag, too. I have about half of the bottom square done. Once I get it onto the circular needles and start to make progress up the sides, I'll take a picture!