Phew, it's done

Finished the tea cozy (felted, steeked, buttons and i-cord applied) and gave it to Mom for her birthday. She seems genuinely pleased. (I'll post a finished picture of it later.) It is still too large for her teapot, but does look nice, really. (Glad I felted it down!)

I had her try on the stranded sweater I had been making her, to prove to both of us that it was way too big. Yeah, by about 7". She does want it to be big, but it's ridiculously big. I unraveled it to the start of the stranding and will try again with size 9 needles, and see if I can still get gauge.

The other projects going on are

• iPod cozy. This started out as a project for using up leftover sock yarn, and was to be a cover for purse-sized tissue packs. Then I needed a cozy for my new iPod, which was being protected by a cotton ankle sock. Finished it and it works great. (I still have another ball of that yarn and will make a tissue cozy for it. Unfortunately, Ravelry has no tissue cozies written for sock yarn!)
• Birch from Rowan. I'm definitely getting on to the end, but still have more than 10 sections between stitch markers, so even though they repeats are getting faster as I have fewer stitches, it is not really racing to the end line. No matter; I've finally memorized the pattern and can do it anywhere. Still loving the Smoke-colored Cracksilk Haze.
• Square for a love quilt. Lovely Witt passed away and we're making a love quilt/blanket for his partner. I struggled with it and forgot the wool at home (because I couldn't bear to think about it, I think) and bought a ball of blue-green Cascade 220 Superwash at a Portland yarn store. Found a neat heart-shaped cable pattern in a Melissa Leapman book, but the swatch is already too wide and I lost my place as to which line of the pattern I was on. *sigh*

In other news, I've worn my Swallowtail nearly every day, as despite the warmer-than-usual weather most days, the house is still a bit chilly, and Mom is averse to turning on the heat or making a small fire in her woodstove. I love that the alpaca is so light yet so warm.

Ta-dah!

So I put aside Birch last night, picked up the tea cozy, and zoomed on it. Here it is, draped on my teapot:



What's left to do: wash and block, cut steeks, sew back, put on i-cord loops with buttons for faucet and handle.

I should have known

I recently picked up a project I'd set aside months ago. It's Birch from one of the Rowan mags. I'm still enchanted by the pic in the magazine, and by the Cracksilk Haze in Smoke, a gorgeous medium grey with those enchanting silky highlights.

But my mom's birthday is coming up, and my sister wisely advised me to finish the tea cozy I've started from the Inga hat pattern. If/when I finish, it will be a lovely cozy that Mom will likely love.

The problem is, I can't put Birch down. And I'm not sure I'll have enough time to finish it and the cozy, both. Argh! Blast you, Cracksilk Haze! And you, lace knitting addiction!

How can this be so hard?

I love knitting socks toe-up. It makes so much more sense to my brain.

So I started some socks on vacation with the Turkish cast-on, and went up to 52 stitches (dk weight), and knit along on my merry way. About 2.5" short of the heel, I stopped and went searching for a heel method.

Well, there are so few toe-up sock patterns, and it seems like the majority use short-row heels! I really like the heel-flap heel, so I searched around and ended up on Miriam Felton's blog, and followed her directions for the heel flap, but totally missed Step 2: gusset increases. So once had the heel flap done, I didn't know what to do, and picked up stitches like I normally do for top-down socks. I tried it twice, and they always looked peculiar, with a sort of extra heel at the top of the heel flap, which might work if you have especially large ankle bones that go right in to small ankles.

I finally flipped through "Sensational Socks" (or maybe "More...") last night and she has a GREAT example of toe-up heel-flap socks, all knit in different colors for the different sections. And there, I saw my folly: no gusset increases before the heel flap. I'm so much more used to top-down (as I like patterns and tend to follow them to the letter) gusset decreases that increasing before the flap never occurred to me.

So just now, I looked at the MimKnits link I blogged above and found my error. Back to it tonight.

I also started these on my Knit Picks Options Nickel sock dpns, in size 3 (the largest in that set). They are smooth and sharp (I really stabbed myself in a healing spot while at my sister's, and OMG, that really hurt), but pretty long and stiff. I saw a mention of shorter sock dpns on Ravelry, and remembered I have several sets of Bryspun dpns from when my LYS was closing. I pulled out the 3s, and it is really different. I think I like them better for socks, but am not sure. Also, they go down to 0, which I'll probably have to use for my Trekking. (OMG, people, the set is on sale for $19.99! Snap 'em up!)

I haven't actually done any knitting other than these socks. And I got so much more done over vacation than this week. Darn that work, getting in the way!

Lost my yarn-buyin' mojo

After a serious review of my finances and the Christmas list, I made a vow on November 20 not to buy any more yarn. I kept it, but it was hella hard at first. It seemed like everyone had saved up all sorts of luscious and affordable yarns.

Then, I adjusted. I did buy fiber, but no yarn. (The only exception is some yarn I exchanged at a LYS, for no extra cost.) The pull was still there, but weaker.

I was tried when I got a gift certificate to a yarn store up near my sister. But once I got there, there was no yarn I felt like I just had to have. (It didn't help that the store is a bit upscale and the prices match.) Luckily, this yarn store also supported weavers... and spinners. The fiber room upstairs yielded some beautiful merino/bamboo roving that was calling my name.

Ironically, the above trip was after Christmas. I had forgotten that my vow was to resist buying yarn till after Christmas!

It turned out that I had lost my yarn-buying mojo. My stepsister sent me a GC to an online store I love. I peruse their yarns, and... am not excited, not even for the dyeable yarns. I found a project in my Ravelry queue for which I didn't yet have the yarn, but after I'd put suitable yarns in my shopping cart, I wasn't all that enthused about buying them. I clearly won't get to that project until 2011. I have plenty queued up till then!

My wise sister pointed out the GC won't expire. She says, "Let's just knit what we have."

Sounds good to me.

Choosing contentedness

I haven't had much to post here lately, since I've been working on the same sweater since--I won't even look it up--about April, and messed it up more times than I can tell.

But I have done some things. I started and finished a cute little stocking ornament for an ornament exchange on my April 2000 Playgroup bulletin board (we were in an Expecting Club when we were all due in April):



I also started and finished an ice cream cozy for a good friend who's going through trying times. (She also removes the lid to Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Dasz and throws it away. I know.)



I tried it last night on some Haagen Dasz (I had to make sure it fit! and it was on sale. Coffee, and mint chip). Fit great.

And I did finally finish the sweater from ... well, I love it, so it's not from there. I think I do want to pick up stitches and knit around the collar and v-neck. It wants to fall off my shoulders all the time. But I was afraid I'd hate the color after all that blasted work, and... I adore it. Chilis and chocolate, it's called.



Hem looks a little weird in that photo, and yep, it's big, but I can wear it right now, and did you notice I got the sleeves to match? No mean feat there. By pulling out yarn from the balls to make the long repeats match, I now have like 10 small balls of yarn. And one full ball left. If you make it, you'll probably want to buy as many balls as they say, just to be safe.

I'm finishing up a rolled-brim hat for my son's Y-Kids teacher, my favorite one. And of course, she tells me last night that she was given a box full of knit hats. *sigh*! But I hope she'll like this one very much. It does seem her style and is a lovely teal. No pics yet; soon.

After that, I think I'll finish this tea cozy, after a pattern that's supposed to be a hat and more than half the knitters said it was big. Yep, it's big--much bigger than my teapot. I'm going to try to felt it down and cut steeks to let the handle and spout through. We'll see. I'm pleased with it anyway. It was my first attempt at Alice Starmore-esque stranding. I left the white as a solid and graduated through shades of red, with a splash of accent green, for the rest.



The white is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, and the rest is sticky/itchy Rauma Finullgarn from our LYS that closed.

I also picked up some Patons Soy Wool Stripes at Micheal's and started making cozies for the coffee cups at church. They're quick (crocheted) and really pretty, I think. These are to discourage people from taking two cups, as the coffee is very hot and it's sometimes hard to hold your cup. They can use these and return them afterward. I think I've done four. Here's the first one:



As for the title, I've been wrestling with "I don't knit fast enough!" and trying to get to the point of "however fast I work is good enough, and I love what I knit." I'm even looking forward to picking up set-aside WIPs and finishing them. I have 3 (maybe 4) balls of Cracksilk Haze for a Rowan shawl I've wanted to knit forever. The cast-on is 299 stitches and it's challenging, but I decided if I have to put stitch markers between every 8-stitch repeat, so be it. The grey of the KSH is so gorgeous and the silk adds such a lovely sheen.

And, after I finish the hat, that's IT for the due-on-Christmas knitting.

Unless I make soap for the other Y-Kids teachers and want to wrap them in dishcloths...

Not much news here

I had planned to take my fuzzy orange Merino Stripes sweater up to my sister's, all knit up and seamed, but my lack of brain cells got in the way of that plan. I have now knit the front approximately seven bajillion times. First, I knit it just fine but didn't carefully strand the wool when I added a new ball, so it had that horrid stripe across the front instead of a careful gradation of colors.

Then, after I ripped back and stranded a new ball in, I put the V-neck way over on one side. Ripped. Did it again. Ripped. Put the v-neck in the middle, knit the full depth of the armscye, held it up to the back, realized I'd knit only 8" before doing the armscye decreases instead of 13.5".

Sighed a lot.

Ripped back again, restarted, carefully centered the v-neck, not too low (I hope), knit up to the end of the v-neck decreases... 3 too many stitches on one side. Sheesh. Did a couple of decreases, knit, knit, knit... "I must be done by now"... lay it over the back, looked good. Thought twice, held both up... nope, at least another inch more.

Finally finished that inch last night, but didn't do the 3-needle bind-off or any seaming.

Seriously, do you blame me?

Disturbing

Good God. What do they do to the poor sheeps' bodies to make them into yarn?

100% sheep yarn

Knitting at Holidays

As opposed to Holiday Knitting, of course--I'm knitting a hat for G's aftercare teacher and that is IT this year.

No, knitting at holidays. We're going up to my sister's this Thanksgiving, and I have to plan out what to take and work on. I hope to have my orange sweater done (holy cow did you realize it's NEXT WEEK? Good thing all I have to do is finish the V-neck, 3-needl3-bindoff the front to the back, sew the sleeves in, and sew the underarm/side seams!), so I'll bring that.

I also want to bring the grey FI sweater for my mom. I decided not to make it as a gift or even as a surprise. I want her to be involved, and to be able to say, after I do the waistband, 'Oh, that pattern doesn't appeal to me' so I can just rip back 4 rows and start over. It's also in a bulky yarn, so it should go quite quickly. It being a pullover (no steeks, no buttonbands, no buttonholds, no buttons) helps, too.

I also want to finish and bring (or vice versa) the FI tea cozy I've started. It is huge (as most folks found the pattern to be), but I'm hoping it'll felt right down to a good size. Or maybe she has a really big teapot.

Beyond that? Oh, I'm absolutely itching to start something new. (Whoah, big surprise, eh?) I'd love to start my Philosopher's Wool sweater, but I need to do more thinking on shape on that one. I was going to give it waist shaping, but then I realized that lots of folks in colder areas than this find their sweaters too hot to wear most places. This is due mostly to their method of weaving in the floats on every stitch. I could skip that, but I'm afraid that doing too much shaping will still cause it to have too much insulating properties. Also, I've heard the yarn changes after you wash it, so bummer! that I've already wound several colors into a ball, as now I have to re-skein it to prepare it for a bit of a bath.

In other fiber news, my beginning spinning class met for the first time last Sunday. It was great. I learned the long draw, over the fold. It is so much easier to learn this stuff firsthand than from a book or website. And so gratifying when you finally get. it. I had been worried that I would be too advanced for the class, having learned once (ha!) and spun off and on for over a year. The great news was that everyone else had at least spun on a spindle, so the learning curve was much easier all around. Yay! The teacher gave us Blue-faced Leicester to spin, which I'd been given a hank of before and found it harder than hell to spin (6" staple!), but spinning over the fold makes that long staple a benefit rather than a struggle. Our "homework" is to spin the rest of the 4 oz she had given us. Whee, homework that is fun!

Speaking of school, I went in on Monday and taught 10 third-graders, including my son, how to dye wool. The teacher allowed G to pick 9 others to dye with, and he chose all the boys! Agh, the pandemonium at times. But no one died or was strangled with wool, and they all seemed pleased with the colors going into the steamer. G said they rinsed and hung them yesterday and his was a very bright orange (should be, he used up almost all the orange dye liquid!). I had brought some backup Kool-aid packets, and mixed up second amounts of all colors, but they all got theirs dyed in the end, barely before the bell rang. Friday, the girls. We'll see how different. Wish I could find more colors of Kool-aid; the two huge stores in our city each have the same 5 flavors (including our behemoth $afe way).

Next, we'll knit!

I'm having a tough day

I just cried in the office's shower. Life is kicking me in the ass and the head today.

This morning was G's IEP meeting. Partway through, I thought, "I'm going to be sad after this," because I had that feeling coming over me. I realized that it wasn't so much the content of the meeting (more on that in a sec), but like the first meeting, it is just hard to sit there and talk for nearly an hour about my son's shortcomings. I have to be firm and strident about them if I want him to get help, which is a bit change from being upbeat and optimistic way I usually approach them.

And yes, I was sad afterward. What added to that was that he doesn't have an IEP, and won't for the foreseeable future. Ironically, he improved so much over the summer that the aggressive and unsocial behavior we saw so clearly last Spring is nearly gone--so much so that he doesn't qualify for help under Special Ed.

Bittersweet, eh?

My kid is doing so well overall that the help I wanted for his remaining social-skills challenges is just not going to happen, at least not through the school. They ever so earnestly encouraged me to turn back to Kaiser for the social-skills group they have there. And here's another kick in the gut: that group meets 3:30-5:30 on Mondays. Ah. "What do parents do who work?" I asked. "Um, they leave early from work," she replied. Nice. That's 3 hours of every week I'd have to make up in some way. Thanks for the non-support, Kaiser.

I inquired further, and Kaiser does offer a support group for kids with Asperger's Syndrome on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30 (and as I write this, I'm wondering when those kids get to eat)... and that completely conflicts with G's martial arts. Well, he's been wanting to quit soon anyhow. Wish granted! Crud.

The IEP meeting ended with just me and the school psychologist, who had me in tears with a story of a boy who's now in college and "still has his quirks" (ah, thanks for that) but had challenges like G and got a lot better. The mother had said, "How can I send him out in the world? Who will love him like I love him?"

Sigh.

Her report was littered with phrases that, to me, highlighted his ongoing social-skills deficits: "little eye contact," "wouldn't walk with me in the hallway, but walked in front of me," "scowled when I came to pick him up for the testing," and the like. I was asked in the meeting what my concerns were. I'd thought about this ahead of time, and said that my concerns hadn't changed from the first meeting--I wanted him to have help/support with his social skills and some sort of special treatment in the case of expulsionable or suspensionable behavior. I was offered a 504 plan, which is the ugly stepsister of the IEP, but it's all I'll get.

And more bittersweetness: I should be happy he doesn't qualify for an IEP. The criteria for qualifying for an IEP under autism are pretty extreme:

(g) A pupil exhibits any combination of the following autistic-like behaviors, to include but not limited to:

(1) An inability to use oral language for appropriate communication.

(2) A history of extreme withdrawal or relating to people inappropriately and continued impairment in social interaction from infancy through early childhood.

(3) An obsession to maintain sameness.

(4) Extreme preoccupation with objects or inappropriate use of objects or both.

(5) Extreme resistance to controls.

(6) Displays peculiar motoric mannerisms and motility patterns.

(7) Self-stimulating, ritualistic behavior.

See? Bittersweet.

So I wandered out, teary and spent. Carted away the yogurts and pastries I'd picked up (I'd brought croissants and some other things to the first meeting, too, as it's a 7:30AM meeting and I do appreciate these folks taking time out of their days to get this done--and yes, I know it's their job, but 7:30am!!).

On the way back home to drop off my hockey gear that I'd been too lazy to unload the night before, I went past my polling place. (I already voted by absentee ballot.) But I was so, SO pleased to see five people on the sidewalks with signs saying "No on 8." I honked, did the thumbs up, honked again... and then did a U-turn at the next light, going back and double-parking so I could run across the street and give them the rest of the pastries from the meeting. They were so appreciative and I was babbling about how important it was to have this presence and got all teary (affected, I'm sure, by the morning's events) and they both gave me hugs! The guy was all smiles especially. Bless them and their hard work.

Back at work, I couldn't concentrate much. Futzed around with little things until it was time to change for swim class. Went to swim class with zero energy and sore muscles from last night's stick time. By the time we were done with some serious warm-ups, my shoulder, which had been sore and tight, was completely fine. Then the teacher drops the bomb: we're swimming the mile today. Well, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish in less than the full 50-minute class time, but that still meant swimming nonstop till we got to the end, with the teacher recording how far we did get (48 laps, maybe 1250 yds for me; she counts 66 laps as a mile). I was feeling so proud of my accomplishment as I got out of the pool and just barely heard the beginning-swimming teacher say, "Now, what's going on here?" and as I turned my head, the lifeguard dove in and brought up an unconscious girl. (The beginning swimming class works out in their 3' pool most of the time and moves over to the big pool, shallowest depth 6', later in the semester. Today was that day.)

One of our classmates was sent to the blue Emergency calling box to call 911 and we waited anxiously until the girl threw up and started breathing. I dressed slowly, hoping to wait until the ambulance arrived before leaving so that it would feel "OK." By the time I left, easily 10 minutes later, the ambulance still hadn't arrived. The campus security guard/cop was really fairly useless. He got the lock off of the big gate so the ambulance could get in, but gave up on opening the gate almost immediately ("It's rusted"). My teacher strode over and, with the help of a P.E. coach standing outside the gate, got the gate open with a little extra muscle.

While I was driving out of the lot, I saw an ambulance take the exit off of 880. If that was destined for Laney, wow. It probably took all of 15 minutes or more to get there. That's pretty scary.

Seeing that girl being brought out of the water unconscious made me feel like all my values are screwy, you know? I was so proud of doing better than 2/3 of a mile... while she was potentially losing her life.

I cried in the car at a stoplight on the way back, feeling emotionally ground under a heel. Then, as I drove into Alameda, spotted a "Yes on 8" sign (the first I've seen in Alameda), and then another, with a guy setting them up. Honked angrily and gave him the thumbs down. I couldn't get my window down in time to yell. Ugh.

After my shower, I found the Alameda Police non-emergency number and reported the signs being put up on public property. There were other signs for causes I support, but I'd rather see them all come down than tolerate one Yes on H8 sign. Families first, my ass.

A few done, a few gone, and (oops) a few started

Let's see. I've recently finished a 100% washable wool blanket for our minister's darling son in the 4 colors of Mission Falls 1824 Wool that I had on hand. I pretty much knit till I ran out, and did a seed-stitch edging of the remaining three colors. Turned out kind of dark/muted, but I liked it. Given to the minister (wife was home, sick, with son) on Sunday.

Saturday, I put two of my knit things (plus a fabric book) in the silent auction. Ugh. I'm done with that. The shawl, made from Great Adirondack 50/50 silk/wool yarn, went for $15, and the cowl, of Louisa Harding Grace silk/wool, for $20 (and that was a pity bid from my friend on my silent-auction committee). Both for far less than the yarn alone cost. Next year, a plate of brownies.

Well, I didn't think the Grace was a good color for me, and I had lost my liking for the G.A. yarn, so it's good that they're gone. (shrug)

I'm plodding along on the Shedir, in the repeat section. I just don't tend to pick it up. But I'd like to be done with it. The intended recipient keeps showing up to church in these bulky hats; it'd be nice to give her this more delicate options.

I had a hard time picking a project to bring along to two events recently, as Shedir requires a chart, as does Eli's Christmas Stocking, and the division for the v-neck for the Bell Sleeve Pullover wasn't done yet and was too much to bring for a simple project. I finally settled on the fronts of "The Very Thought of Him" (no link available), as they're mistake rib and pretty easy to do without looking, as long as you get the first stitch right. It worked well, after I started one ball for one side--I had tons of yarn barf and wound up the extras and then started. All this at a workshop for my son's school, on school safety. His teacher glanced at me a few times, so I asked her if it was bothering her, and she said No, it was fascinating that I was knitting without looking!

I also had the Chevron Scarf with me, at least at the Sunday-evening meeting, but the directions I'd scrawled down just didn't make sense (turns I'd read too fast, and they were wrong). I got it started at home later that night and I've done about 5" of it so far. I do like it, but my yarn choices are a bit unusual. Pics soon.

I got a shipment from Knitivity recently, of "Graffiti" and a Yuletide Affinity kit for the above-mentioned stocking. (I'd started one in Knit Picks Palette, which I adore, but not for this; the original greens are shudder bad and the reds are very pinky. I'd planned to shade through the colors in the stocking and see how it went, but when I got the Affinity kit, I tossed the Palette one aside and started a new one. I'm working on 2s but the fingering is marked "light fingering" with reason--it is very light. I may switch to 1s for more substance.

I had decided to knit NOTHING for Christmas presents this year, but I realized that one of G's aftercare workers would love a handknit scarf or hat, so I think I'll do that one thing and nothing else. I mean it.

And I just figured out what to get for G's teacher for Christmas, phew!

Getting projects done

I realized Saturday that while starting another project for our church auction was out of the question (the auction being Saturday and the deadline for items being Wednesday), I actually had to push myself to get the Pashmina Cowl completely done that night. It only had 2" left to do before the purl row (and 5 st st rows after that, plus a bind-off), so I got to it and finished it. I decided to do the k2tog, put the stitch back on the left needle, repeat to the end bindoff. It wasn't stretchy at first, but when I loosened my knitting, it was very stretchy and not picot-ish, which I've had happen for other bind-offs (such as Mom's Schrapnel Socks). I wove in the ends for it, and the Shetland Triangle, put them on hangers, and took photos.





Then I took a good look at my remaining projects, and although I really want to throw myself into finishing the Bell Sleeved Pullover, I really need to get the latest Shedir done. I worked hard on it last night and got through row 40, which is about halfway done.

On finishing, mistakes, and roadblocks

I have just started yet another project, but one which is a stashbuster and has an end date. It does, however, up my WIPs to 12.

Twelve.

Good number for the days of Christmas; bad number for WIPs. I tried to push myself to finish one or two before I started, but got hung up. One feltable project is liable to bleed, so I have to get together a load of dog towels to wash with it. The other one, argh, has a mistake: the long strip with a slit in the middle has a TWIST on one side that I have to snip and fix.

So, whaddya do? Cast on another project that is full of hope and promise and will never get screwed up. Right.

I seem to be hitting roadblocks left and right. My "Inga Hat," which I'm making to be a tea cozy with changing shades of red, looks great, but is so fuhreakin' huge. I considered abandoning the pattern and making it shorter, but I just can't handle that kind of mental gymnastics. So I may try to felt it down afterward. Argh.

Well, onward and upward.

Moving slowly forward

I have had a bit of a problem with Creeping Startitis, as projects call to me, "I'll be quick! I'll make you happy! No midproject snafus with me! C'mon, you know you'll love me!" But at least they were from stash:

I started a Pashmina Cowl from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool, four balls of which I bought in 2007 during my huge visit to WEBS. I had no plans but knew I couldn't leave behind this gleaming ruby yarn. Now that it's marinated in my stash for a while, I know that there were no projects calling to me for this yarn. Since my church's Halloween fundraiser auction is coming up, I decided to make the cowl out of this delicious yarn on spec, hoping someone will be excited enough to bid on it.

I also started a Log Cabin Blanket for my minister's baby out of Mission Falls 1824 Wool, which I adore. Soft as anything, machine washable, and great colors. I had four balls of, well, let's say "manly colors," and thought they'd make a handsome blanket for this handsome boy. It really was great fun. I thought I might hate it because of picking up the stitches, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I think part of it is that picking up stitches in garter stitch is easier, and perhaps, too, I got better at it as I went along. Hey, maybe this is training for Faina Letoutchaia's Forest Path Stole! My library got The Best of Interweave Knits and I'm so happy to have access to this pattern.

I have been knitting on The Very Thought of Him periodically, but it's still slow going on the fronts (two at once). And then I'll have the sleeves... maybe by next fall!

I've been thinking of picking up the Bell Sleeve Pullover and once and for all tackling the bust darts I want to add to it. I bought little hair clips at Target last weekend for the sole purpose of clipping together the pieces of sweaters for trying on. (Hey, I could also use them for simulating bust darts, come to think of it.)

I've had to set aside the Windowpane Socks because the tiny needles were irritating my tennis elbow, which is finally improving, phew. Of course, now I'm absolutely itching to knit socks.

The top-down Shedir is working quite well. I brought it to an autism presentation last week and found an error in my sketched-out pattern, but fixing it was very straightforward. I really need to get it done; we haven't seen Barbara at church for a month now. :(

I'm hoping to finish the baby blanket in the next few days (I'm doing a seed-stitch border with the remains of the balls of yarn) and give it to them, and continue the momentum with finishing other projects. Go, go, go!

All set for Stitch 'n' Pitch

I just bought our tickets to the local Stitch 'n' Pitch game, which will be on September 14. The Oakland A's will play... baseball. (Texas something. Lone Stars?)

The wonderful gal at my newly discovered LYS (11 miles away as the crow flies, 15.4 miles if the crow drives a Subaru station wagon) has discovered that we are definitely getting goody bags. This was a big selling point at home.

"You know, I bought us tickets to a baseball game."
"No. I don't want to go."
"It's called Stitch 'n' Pitch, knitting and baseball, isn't that cute?"
"So it's like knitting baseball?"
"Um, kinda."
"Cool. As long as it's not the A's."
"Um... it is the A's. But they'll have goody bags."
"Oh, OK."

Should be fun! Even if baseball is deadly boring to me most of the time. I hear they sell large beers. And we can take transit there. Plus knitting? Sold!

219.

Oh, good God. I have just updated my stash photos again, and now have 219 yarns in my stash list on Ravelry. That's 219 types of yarn, not 219 balls. Holy cow. (654 total balls. Holy cowherd.)

I think I'd better get knitting!

Fortunately, the back of the purple "summer" sweater is finally going well. I'm within 2 rows of casting off for the neck shaping. And then I can move on with my life--perhaps with a pair of fronts!

The Windowpane socks are ready for heel-turning, which I may do during G's martial arts class tonight, after I've done a bit of shopping (TJ's is close by).

I'm still a little overwhelmed by the stash thing. My Ravelympics task was to organize my stash, which I have been doing, and taking photos and entering info is a big step toward that end (oh, I just realized I have many more balls of the Finullgarn downstairs, uncataloged. sigh. It's going to be great for stranded knitting, but it is a little defeating to consider!).

I do need to get all the sock yarn together in one place. It's now in at least three. (And yes, I have even more sock yarn than I thought I did. Can't wait for Ravelry to allow subsections of yarn, so I can sequester off the sock yarn and really know how much I have. I had never even entered in the Trekking skeins I have. And some "Hot Socks" that came from I know not where.)

But I am enjoying my projects currently (as they are currently behaving), and seeing a little teeny light at the end of the tunnel. And, as always, itching to cast on still more projects...

Serenity NOW!

Finally finished the back of the purple cardigan, up to the neck shaping--and it was as the Yarn Harlot has said, you knit and knit and knit and you measure and have made zero progress. Then you knit and knit, and you've actually shot past your goal. Well, I didn't shoot past it, but I did make it, and set out to do the decreases for the neck shaping.

Too many stitches. Damn. When I ripped back to make the back shorter, I bound off 8 stitches on each side (God forbid I look at the pattern to double-check) and continued on my merry way.

Small consolation: I should have bound off 11 on each side, and when I redo the top half of the back for the third time, at least it should go faster, as it will be on fewer stitches. (Yes, my math whizzes, 6 whole fewer stitches, but hey, it should go faster, right?)

I have already started ripping. I really want this cardigan to be done!

Here's to being transported

I just started the Windowpane Socks from the latest IK--not that I always pick out a project from the latest magazine and just cast on, but that the needle size & gauge matched the yarn I wanted to knit with, a chocolate-brown Opal 4-ply. The pattern calls for a solid and a variegated yarn, and when I spotted it, I thought of a mainly-orange-toned yarn I'd been given in a swap a bit back. When I got the yarn, I kinda cringed and stuffed it into my sock-yarn box.

But now that I'm knitting with the two, I'm enchanted, absolutely transported. The pattern itself is very simple (and could be more exciting, I think), but it really works so far.

I'm knitting them on two 2.5mm circulars instead of the dpns I was given at Christmas. I think I like it better, at least for stranded knitting.

But I'm looking forward to the solid-color heel!

When you can't knit

I have a hard time with my limited knitting time as it is. Makes me jealous, if just a little, of those who have jobs where they wait for the phone to ring, and kind of get paid to knit. I always want to get more done, more things knit, more things started and finished.

But now, with my lovely lateral epicondylitis, I'm even more fidgety. I knit two rows night-before-last before quitting due to that prickly feeling in my elbow. Dang it.

Maybe I can put my time to designing mom's round-necked pullover on paper instead.

sulk.

Shut up Shut up SHUT UP

Someone just posted on Ravelry that WEBS (not linked on purpose!) is having their summer sale right now. I did not need that!

Thank the goddesses who knit, there wasn't any yarn there that particularly tempted me. I had to laugh at their offering Dive' Zenith at a low price--lovely, soft yarn, great stitch definition, if you can get past the @#*$&ing splittiness. (Good thing I love my sister very. very. much.)

Between that, and the Duffster tempting me with her STR Mediumweight "Fire on the Mountain," how'm I supposed to pay off my sink this month? (And they only charge like $2 to ship STR from Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Damn them!)

Trying very hard...