It suddenly occurs to me that knitting isn't that much different from assembling a piece of Ikea furniture: both activities require that pieces be joined together according to a specific set of instructions in hopes of producing the desired finished object.  Just how easy or torturous this process ends up being largely depends on your level of competency.  Of course, a general lack of confidence has never really stopped any of us from getting in over our heads.  At least it's easier to throw a knitting project in the back of a closet than it is to try to hide the parts of a disassembled piece of furniture.

So the knitting is done on Boo the Bat.  I'm pleased with how the body turned out, although the feet were pretty tricky -- picking up stitches is not easy when working on such a small scale.  Overall this pattern is well written and easy to follow.  The only modification I made was to the wings: I decided to slip a stitch at the beginning of each row as per the suggestion of KnittersInaTwist.  This modification seemed to give the wings some nice definition around the edges.  So, Boo's just sitting here waiting patiently for me to assemble the rest of his body parts.  I still need to block the wings and the ears, though, so it will be a couple of days before Boo can be officially finished.  Hopefully he can withstand the snide comments from my husband about his resemblance to a certain South Park character.

The second Little Pumpkins sock is now on the needles.  I worked my way through the cuff this weekend and I'm getting ready to start the first repeat of the leg.  I'm thinking that it should (hopefully) go pretty quickly now that I know what I'm doing.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get side-tracked.

The Pink Peapod has crawled its way out of the UFO pile.  The original intended recipient has long since grown out of both the sweater and the hat so I'm re-designating the set as a gift for my friend Becca's six-month old daughter, Nora.  The last sleeve has been seamed and set into the body of the sweater.  All that's really left to do with this project is to sew on the buttons and give it press before putting it in the mail.  I'm kind of bummed that I won't get to see her reaction to the set -- I hear she's a big fan of pink -- so I'm counting on her parents to take some great pictures (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll get some use out of it over the next few months).  Scratch one project off the list =)

Stay tuned for news on my projects for Ravelympics 2010.

Sad, but true. I just realized that everything I'm working on this week has an autumnal/ Halloween theme. It kind of threw me a bit given that it's January and there's snow on the ground. Sigh.
My main project, the Little Pumpkins socks, is finally moving along after spending a good portion of the Fall in the knitting bag. I'm a good way through the foot of the first sock so I should be able to get through the toe decreases and the finishing within the next few days (please disregard the recent post on my Ravelry project page where I boldly state that the first sock will be done by the end of the weekend -- by this time I should know better!).

I was initially worried about the fit of this sock, but so far so good. I did eliminate one of the pattern repeats in the leg because 1) I don't generally like wearing socks that are too long, and 2) I was seriously worried about cutting off the circulation in my legs. The springy nature of the yarn is helping with the overall elasticity of the sock, but it doesn't really show off the seed stitch portions of the pattern to advantage. Ultimately, though, this project is really more about the color than anything else. It was a no brainer that these socks had to be knit in orange -- hey, we're dealing with pumpkins here -- but it really did take a while to find the 'right' orange. I still absolutely love the color of this Creatively Dyed yarn. I tend to prefer colors that are subtle and slightly muted, so this is a significant departure from my comfort zone. There's just something about the vibrancy of this color and the slightly heathered undertones that draws me in. Now, I probably wouldn't ever knit a large project in a color this vibrant, but it's kind of fun to experiment with color in smaller projects. I'll have to do more of that in 2010.
The next project in the works is Boo the Bat by Anna Hrachovec (aka mochimochiland on Ravelry). I guess I should come clean and say that I've been stalking this pattern for weeks. I wish I could say that I have a fascination with rodents, and flying ones at that, or that I was desperately trying to use up some of the yarn remnants from past projects that are scattered all over my desk. In truth, Boo is just too darn cute not to be knitted up several times over. I see him and his friends adorning my cube at work -- that should be interesting. If you're not familiar with Anna's knitted toy designs I recommend checking her out because her work is amazing. Don't be surprised if you find yourself sucked into the world that is Mochimochi Land.