A picture is worth...

It's been a heckuva weekend, so today's entry will have to be short and mainly visual.

Firstly, I have some shots of the completed Secret Garden cardigan:

front

detail of pattern

detail of button and collar

I would have taken a good picture of the back, but I ran out of room on my camcorder card. Perhaps tomorrow.

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Slowly catching up to The Schedule:

(Happy Hallowe'en!)

Hope is renewed

Fafner blanket for baby Muth

I went hunting Wednesday night through Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns for Knitting and rediscovered a pattern for a cushion cover called Fafner. The completed cushion cover is only 15-16" square, but that's with a gauge of 20 sts/4" on 4mm needles. I, on the other hand, am using a heavier worsted weight from my wanna-make-something-with-it-and-get-it-the-heck-outta-here stash (Red Heart Comfort in a cream colour), on 5mm needles. Plus, I'm doubling the height and width of the centre section. With any luck, this will result in at least a 3-foot square blanket. And if not, I'll just add another layer of edging.

Work started last night - I cast on 100 stitches for the centre section and did a few rows of plain reverse stocking stitch.

The only drawback is that I might not have enough of the cream to do the whole blanket. So I'm thinking of doing all the cabling work in some turquoise (or maybe purple) heavy worsted to conserve the cream. We shall see - I have some time to figure this out since I don't get to the first of the cables until 40 rows into the centre section.

But notice the intelligent decision-making skills? How the knitter, already desperately pressed for time, chooses a project with big gauge to produce maximum results in minimum time? Look at me...I'm learning.

Cape Cod for MIL

Tiny perfect underarm gusset:

Notice those few purl stitches in the gusset? That is the beginning of the texture pattern in the gusset! I'm so excited!!! Plus, see that shell motif at the left? That is the fewer-than-two-rows-away-from-being-completed fourth pattern motif. Oh, happy day.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

This is now dry. But I'm waiting until I have natural sunlight streaming into the house before I take pictures.

Long time no comment

I haven't responded yet to any of the comments I received in the last week. So here we go.

In response to my entry about giving The Perfect Gift, jkh said she bowed down to my gifting abilities. Clearly, I forgot to mention in my original post that, although finding that wonderful 'click' with the right gift is very important to me, it doesn't always come easily. :) And some are more difficult than others. My dad, for example, is a notoriously tough person to find good gifts for. I am still completely inspiration-less for him this Christmas, and I have no time to knit him anything. So don't think this stuff comes easily to me. I love it, but it's sometimes tricky.

Susan (who I'm assuming is this Susan) responded to my panic post with good wishes. For which I thank her profusely. :) It's actually not going too too badly right now. She also asked if I was subscribed to Knitty's designer list. The answer is no...but, now that I know of its existence, that isn't a bad idea. (Like I have time in my life for more email, but what the heck.) I do have another not-for-my-book design that I want to do pretty soon...maybe I can submit that, especially if they're putting together an actual book. I am intrigued. I am also severely pressed for time...but I'm intrigued. We shall see.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

Ahhh. Done. Monday saw the completion of the left front edging, the right front edging, the weaving in of all ends, the choosing of a button (gorgeous, and from my own button stash to boot: mother-of-pearl set in a brushed nickel rim...or, if it's totally fake, that's at least what it looks like) and the sewing on of said button. Tuesday evening I soaked it in Eucalan to soften it up and then blocked it. The blocking was a bit of a challenge because the cardigan was way bigger than the blocking measurements said it should be. Oh, well. The child is not going to stop growing, so I'm guaranteed that it will fit her some time...even if that day is years in the future. Anyway, who cares, it's finished. I am revelling.

More and better pictures when the thing is actually dry. Yes, over 24 hours later, it's still pretty damp. Stay tuned.

(And sorry about the electric green. Those are our 'crap towels,' which I put to use for less noble purposes than drying off the bodies of my family.)

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Good work forging ahead on this yesterday...but I fell down again today thanks to many tangles (insert swearing here). However, the very cool part is that I have started the underarm gussets. The patterned underarm gussets. I'm so totally jazzed about doing patterned underarm gussets. (For the moment, I'm ignoring the fact that the gusset pattern doesn't start until about ten rows in - thinking about that would reduce my jazzedness.) This will shortly be picture-worthy again.

Lacy shawl/whatever for baby Muth

It is with a sick heart that I admit here on this blog that I am probably not going to make this in time for the baby's birth. Heck...with all the projects I have planned, I'm not even sure I'll make this in time for the baby's first birthday!

The problem is that the lace is just not as nice as I want it to be. I know, I know, lace always looks like nasty noodles until you block it. I don't think that is my problem. The problem is that I used the wrong lace pattern to punch out the shawl's design motif, and it just looks weird, even when I stretch it out to see what it would look like post-blocking. I think I know what the right design should be, but even then I'm not sure it would look that good.

The problem is that the motif is not one which uses nice, 45-degree angled lines, thus creating a nice smooth edge along the outline of the shapes - which, from all the lace stuff I've looked at and the designs I've come up with that ended up looking like crap, appears to be necessary when working images in lace. So I'm either going to have to: a) do more lace research to come up with a way to do the motif which will actually look good; b) rework the motif so that it has 45-degree angled lines; or c) come up with a totally new motif which does have 45-degree angled lines. Any way you slice it, I have to frog everything I've done so far, redesign my chart, and give up the idea that this will be done before the baby comes.

I care not.

Okay, I do care...but not enough to let it stop me from producing the shawl the way I want it to look. I have a vision, dammit. Woe betide anyone who gets in the way of that.

So instead, this particular baby will be getting something else. I think I'm going to cobble together some celtic-looking cables (possibly of my own creation, possibly lifted from some of Elsbeth Lavold's Viking stuff), and do up a blanket instead. Fast.

Falling short of expectations

My knitting vacation is over. Much was accomplished...but unfortunately, much was not accomplished. I had wanted to:

1. Finish the fair isle romper
2. Block the Stornaway sweater
3. Finish the Secret Garden cardigan
4. Get 4 pattern motifs done on the Cape Cod sweater
5. Get about 70% done on the lacy baby shawl
6. See the Yarn Harlot speak at the Downtown Knit Collective
7. Catch up on my sleep

Reality?

1. Achieved...but only at the expense of other goals
2. Not done - didn't even touch it
3. Not done - although I have started the left front edge
4. Not done - although the 4th pattern motif is in progress
5. Not done - didn't even touch it, and in fact, I'm thinking of frogging and redesigning the whole thing
6. Are you kidding?!? There was a romper to finish! I couldn't afford to lose one moment of knitting time!
7. See #6

Sigh.

Carnival Coat for DD

Yesterday my daughter asked to see "the monsters that aren't scary on the television". (Translation: our Monsters, Inc. DVD.) As we watched, I figured what the heck, DD is fairly well occupied, and I'm in the mood to do some clever fixing. So I brought out this project and fiddled around and created a third buttonhole. It looked great. Then I got DD to try the cardigan on to see how the whole thing fit. It's still too big on her, but the sleeves weren't ridiculously long on her anymore. I figured that by the time she grows into the body, the sleeves will also be more or less the right length, so I decided not to shorten them. And that means that this project is DONE!

front

back (with a cute little hand in the background)
DD might fit into it by the spring. And if not, then next autumn. I'll post a pic when it happens. I'm looking forward to it - the cardigan looks so great with her colouring. Yay!

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Woefully behind schedule. I'm still working on the fourth pattern motif, even though The Schedule dictates that I should be starting the fifth pattern motif today. Ah, well. I'll try to concentrate on this project this week and see how I do.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

After this morning's commute, I'm close to being halfway done on the left front edging. I expect to complete it before the day is out and maybe even get a fair ways into the right front edging. The end is near!

Thirty-two and two-thirty

Panic knitting has prevented blogging for a few days. But all is now well and calm. It's kind of eerie, actually.

First of all, on Thursday morning I came downstairs to find this at my place on the kitchen table:

Isn't my husband lovely? When my brother and I were kids we never got 'sugar cereal' except on vacation at Myrtle Beach. So every now and then he gets me these variety packs as a special treat for me. :)

Also Thursday morning, my daughter asked me, "Where's your birthday hat?" Upon being told I didn't have one, she said, "I will buy one for you!" Sure enough, she came home from daycare with a red birthday crown made out of construction paper, with "Happy Birthday Mom" written out in sparkles. Gotta love it. :)

DH made homemade pizza for dinner and generally speaking, it was a great day. The only drawback was the RAGING PANIC!!!! I was feeling.

Fair isle romper for baby Marte

This was the source of much panic. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I abandoned my intelligent and relaxing nap/long shower/knit day structure for all-out knitting in order to finish this on time. At 2:30am today, it was finally done. It looks great. It's a design I'm hoping to publish, so I'm not going to post any pictures, but I really wish I could because I'm very happy with it.

This afternoon of course was the baby shower, so the romper was giftwrapped and given to the mummy-to-be. It seemed to be appreciated, and I received compliments from my fellow shower-goers, which was lovely. But I was not the only person to give a knitted gift! One of the other women had made an extremely cute 'teddy bear' romper. It was cream, and it had a hood with bear ears. The mitts and feet had dark brown 'pads', and dark brown was also used to depict the insides of the ears. It was super-sweet and I can't believe I didn't ask her where she got the pattern. However, I know how to get in touch with her online so I'm not really kicking myself all that much.

Tonight I sleep.

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

I started back in on this a little bit tonight, but I've still just barely started pattern motif #4.

Striped socks for moi

A demonstration of how sleepy I am: I knew that part of the journey to today's baby shower would involve a ride on the subway. So, I resolved to take a small and portable knitting project for that leg of the trip: socks. (Easy decision - the project fits in my purse.) I meticulously went around the house gathering needles, yarn and the pattern, and then meticulously packed the yarn and the pattern into my purse. It was only after I'd gotten on the train that I realised the needles were still at home. AUGH!

Now is the time to...PANIC!!!

This Saturday I'm going to a baby shower. The knitted baby gift I am planning to give is not done. It's not even almost done. In fact, it's so far away from being done that...well...let's just say that I'm glad I have the week off.

(We will not discuss the details behind why it is not done. Suffice it to say that the date for the shower kind of snuck up on me. I mean really, how can it be almost October 22 already? Isn't it still August? What's up with that?)

Clearly, I need more time.

But, in the tradition of the 'needs meme' that's floating around Blogland (you Google "[your name] needs" and see what you get), there are other things I need. Some of them are quite amusing. Read on.

Kathleen needs:

1. To come back.
2. Help at work and family.
3. Help with Food, T-Shirts and Sponsors
4. Your name, address & phone number
5. To check her meta tags, page titles, and descriptions.
6. To chill out.
7. To learn her lessons.
8. To make sure she stays away from Civil War era parks.
9. The ability to hire or fire Kathleen.
10. Atheists to be perceived as evil and inferior otherwise people might think we are.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

Still not done, but very, very close. The shoulder and sleeve seams have been sewn, the sleeves have been sewn in, the collar is done, and many ends inside the cardigan have been snipped. Ain't it purty?

All that's left are the edgings, the button sewings, weaving in a few ends, and the blocking. Home stretch.

Fair isle romper for baby Marte

Ah, and now we come to the panic project du jour. (De la semaine, actually, but whatever.) Yesterday it hit me with blinding and horrifying clarity that the baby shower was THIS WEEKEND. With the romper almost barely started. AIEEEEEE!!!

So today I took action. I have decided to try and salvage the fair isle section of the first (screwed-up) version of the back. I placed the stitches right below it on a holder, and then cut and frogged the rest of the back down to the leg join. I am currently working on redoing the back - I think I have about twelve rows to go. Then I'll graft the back to the fair isle portion and save myself a lot of work (and, more importantly, time).

I am hoping fervently to have the back done by this evening. If I reallyreally hustle, I can have both fronts done by the end of tomorrow and then Friday I can focus on the sleeves, neck, and finishing. Yeesh. I'm freaking out just thinking about it.

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Got a few more rows done on this today. I haven't reached my centimetre quota for the day yet, but I have other knitting priorities to attend to.

The Santa Syndrome

There is something about giving the right gift to someone which just gives me a terrific high.

When you get that combination of exactly the right gift idea for exactly the right person, and for a fantastic price to boot - it's just awesome. And when I search for 'exactly the right gift idea', I'm not just looking for something that I know the recipient will really like or appreciate or get a lot of use out of. I'm also (ideally) looking for something which fits the current circumstances of their lives, their cultural background, something like that. It's especially great if the idea is something which would be particularly good coming from me, because it makes reference to a personal joke between us, or is something that they know very few people but me can understand the value of, or something else that makes the gift extra-appropriate when I'm the giver. Or there could be some other reason which makes something a fantastic gift idea.

The big high happens when all these criteria come together to make The Perfect Fit. That's what really gets me going and makes me sooo excited (in a ohboyohboyohboy, hopping-up-and-down, puppy dog kind of way) about seeing the recipient's reaction when they open their gift. DH says he doesn't know anyone else as good as me at thinking of gift ideas for people (thank you, my dear!), and that this joy in and drive to find The Perfect Fit is probably why.

Often when I'm browsing through pattern books, my eyes will suddenly lock on something. I will be seized by a sudden vision, crystal-clear: a) I must make this and b) [name of someone I know] must have it. Quite often I will also instantly know what colour(s) I want to knit it in and even what fibre content the yarn should have. When all that happens, it's because I have found The Perfect Fit, and something has just clicked, and I get all excited, and poor DH (my official sounding board) doesn't hear the end of it. Knitted gifts are especially good Perfect Fit gifts because not only do they give joy to the recipient, but I get to have hours and hours of glorious fun doing all the knitting.

What is my point with all this blather?

Well, it explains a lot. It's why I dithered forever on the Stacy's Sweater/Henry VII/Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover debacle, because I had to keep changing my mind until I got that 'click'. It's why I got so jazzed when I decided to make this sweater out of red, because I realised I would be combining the Celtic cables of the father's heritage with the good-luck Chinese red of the mother's heritage into one beautiful gift for their baby. It's why I went nuts trying to find the right shade of lilac for this year's Christmas gift for my MIL. It's probably why I go to ridiculous lengths to fix most knitting errors. And it's why I drive myself into a frenzy of panic knitting as deadlines approach. It's that need to hand off the perfect gift to the perfect person on the perfect occasion. That joy of giving. That quest for the expression of delight on the recipient's face, and the warm feeling that spreads inside me when that happens.

I am an atheist. I don't believe in God, I don't believe in Satan, I have very strong suspicions that there is no afterlife, all that. (I am certainly spiritual, but I believe that spirituality comes from us and the energies we have, not a higher power.) But...I. Love. Christmas. It is one big giving-fest, and I am so onside with that concept. Yeah, I get a lot of great stuff myself, but at some point in my life it honestly became much more about what I could give to people than what I could get for myself.

When the day comes that my little girl asks me if there really is a Santa Claus, I am going to tell her, emphatically, YES. Whenever a person gets happiness from a gift, and the giver gets happiness from the giving, that's the real Santa Claus, right there in your heart.

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Coming along nicely:

Just eight more rows and the third pattern motif will be done - which means I'll be back on track with The Schedule.

The Schedule is marginally pleased

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

In my last blog entry I forgot to mention anything about how I had started back on this project after many months of neglect. But it's true - I'm back to concentrating on this so that it can be finished in time for Christmas. In order to succeed at this, I must accomplish about a centimetre a day while I'm working on the body. This is very tough to do - not only are there are a lot of stitches per round, but the fact that I'm combining four strands (of what is essentially just thread) as I go generates further complications: slower knitting to make sure I knit through all four strands in each stitch; gentle coaxing of more yarn out of the skeins instead of rapid yanking; and fairly frequent breaks to do some untangling.

This week I failed miserably in my centimetre-a-day goal, but I did catch up a tiny bit yesterday on the two-hour drive to the SCA event. I'm now over one-third done pattern motif #3. I'll be concentrating a lot on this project during my 'knitting vacation' this week to give myself a chance to catch up.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

Friday morning, both sleeves looked like this:

Within minutes of starting the Friday commute home, both sleeves were finished:

And that's where I ran out of steam. I had foolishly brought along no backup knitting for when the sleeves got done. I hadn't even brought the body of the cardigan with me so I could start the next stage of sewing things together (which would have meant doing the naughty thing and not blocking them beforehand, but I often ignore details like blocking in my eagerness to finish). Fortunately, I had some extra yarn and needles in my bag, so I practiced combined knitting the rest of the way home instead of going nuts from boredom.

However, this project has kind of stalled, and I'm not going to fulfill this week's goal of finishing the cardigan by tonight. The good news is that I'm not far off since all that's left is the making up, collar, front bands and button sewing. I'll probably start doing that tomorrow.

Christmas socks for DH

I am a sneaky wife. :) Yesterday in plain sight of DH I started the first sock and worked on it brazenly in front of him the whole day and night, and I finished it this morning.

I thought having a different colour at the heel and toe would be nifty. (The real reason, of course, is that I was worried I'd run out of blue yarn.)

The burgundy heel and toe also helped me keep up the ruse that the socks are for me. I told DH that the burgundy will help me tell the socks apart from his blue ones, since otherwise how will we know which are his and which are mine since the two pairs will be so close in size? (Much innocent blinking followed up this statement.) DH has no idea that the socks are for him. In fact, he was simply dee-lighted to see me finish the first sock because he thinks I'm that much closer to finishing the first thing I've ever knitted for myself. Muahahahaha.

The only drawback to this is that he can never see me finishing the second sock, because after that he'll wonder why he never sees me wearing them. So at a certain point I'm going to have to 'go underground' with this knitting.

I did have to do some frogging around the heel of the first sock, though. This is not (and I want to stress not) because I screwed up turning the heel. No. I had to emphasize that point a few times to DH, who told me not to feel bad about screwing up the heel because he understood heels were tricky things. I did not screw up the heel. What happened the first time I had to frog was that I'd realised I'd lost track of my decreases after turning the heel and had messed up too badly to fudge them going forward. (I had lost track of the decreases because I was distracted watching the tournament.) And the second time I had to frog was because I realised I had knitted too long with the burgundy and should have changed back to the blue much earlier. But I did not screw up the turning of the heel itself. (Did not.)

Happy place

The work week is almost over. My knitting vacation has almost begun. Starting Monday, my days will consist of long naps, long showers, and long stretches of knitting. And DH says the weather might be good, which will let him get the heck out of the house to golf so I can have the place all to myself. Ahhhhh. I can hardly wait.

And DH is a genius. (Either that, or I'm an idiot - but why quibble.) Last night as we got into bed, he saw that I was frowning grumpily, and asked me what was wrong. "I don't know what knitting to take to Crown on Saturday," I replied.

("Crown" refers to "Crown Tournament", an SCA event which takes place twice a year in every Kingdom [except for one Kingdom where they hold it three times a year]. The main attraction of this event is a double-elimination, single-combat tournament [using rattan sticks as 'swords'] to determine who's going to be the next King and Queen. Very exciting stuff.)

Naturally, he was taken aback. He knows I have about twenty projects in progress all over the house. How could choosing a project for the day possibly be a problem?

So I explained: I need something that will last the whole day - through the five hours of travel time to and from the event and throughout the tournament, which takes hours. And because I'll be knitting and watching the tournament at the same time, I need a project that doesn't require too much attention. Moreover, with knitting deadlines looming, I should knit something that needs to be completed soon. DH also surmised that it should be something that isn't for him, since we're spending the day together (DD, incidentally, will be at Camp Grandma). All of these criteria together eliminate a lot of my WIPs.

So there was a pause as he realised that I really did have a tricky problem, and then he said, "Socks?"

So.
Freaking.
Brilliant.

SOCKS! Not only are they something I can work on while watching something else. Not only are they something I need to do ASAP (one of my Christmas presents to DH is a pair of socks - but he doesn't know that, he'll just think I'm making socks ASAP for myself - his feet are only one inch longer than mine, I'm sure he won't notice). Not only will they last me the whole day (because if I finish one pair of socks, I can just start on another pair). But also, they are completely period and will not look the least bit out of place at a medieval event! SOCKS!

It was also lovely to receive jkh's congratulations in the comments on the Stornaway sweater. It wasn't unlike doing socks...just...bigger. Way bigger. Yeah. :) And your comparison of learning a new knitting method to learning a new typing method is a good one. However, rest assured that I am not using the new method on any of my projects yet. First of all, I still look pretty awkward with it, so I'm a bit shy about 'taking it public' right now. But more importantly, my stitches with the new method aren't consistent enough yet to use it on 'real knitting', and the gauge I'm getting with the new method is probably a bit different from the gauge I get normally. So for the moment, I'm just using the new method with practice yarn.

Unfortunately, I've been a bad girl this week and haven't done any practicing since the weekend. Maybe tomorrow on the car ride! I'm certainly looking forward to mastering this thing, because not only does the throwing take more energy, as you say, but more importantly (for me, anyway), it takes more time.

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

I have caught up to The Schedule! Two pattern motifs are done and I'm working on the third. Unfortunately I am nowhere near finished the third motif, which The Schedule wants me to do by the end of Sunday. But for now, at least, I can say that I'm on track. Pictures will come when there is more visible progress compared to the last time I posted a picture.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

This is bee-yew-tifully on schedule. After this morning's commute, I am very close to finishing up the sleeves. After that, it's just sewing, edging, making the collar, and blocking. Okay, there's also the small matter of finding a button which works with the cardigan and sewing it on. But I'm very hopeful that The Perfect Button can be found in my (kind of meagre) button stash. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that.

Square one

I admit it. Ever since I saw a woman knitting much faster than me a few weeks ago, I've been worried (read: slightly obsessed) about my knitting speed. I mean, imagine...how much more stress-free would I be if I could accomplish projects in a fraction of the time they take now? Or, more realistically, how many more projects could I get done every year if my knitting speed got ramped up significantly? It boggles the mind.

So I finally bit the bullet and really started looking into moving from the 'throwing' method of knitting to the 'picking' method. I looked at the videos for Continental knitting at knittinghelp.com (a fantastic resource, BTW). I also looked at the combination knitting method at Annie Modesitt's website.

Result: I've been practicing the combined knitting method all weekend. I cannot tell you how damn awkward my hands and fingers feel. I sure have new-found respect for new knitters, lemme tell ya - I mean, I remember how awkward I felt when I started knitting way back when, but actually experiencing it all over again brings new meaning to the crappiness of the process.

Frankly, I'm working on total faith that this will get easier, smoother and faster. I keep experimenting with ways to hold the yarn so that I don't completely feel like a fish out of water. This morning I think I may have hit upon a good way. It's kind of weird, and involves wrapping the yarn around my wrist a little bit, but I am a firm believer in the 'who cares how ugly it is if it works for you and you're producing knitting' philosophy.

On the plus side, I can easily see how this method is going to speed things up for me. Almost right out of the gate I was able to average a little over two seconds per stitch, which I think is pretty damn good time for a beginner. So I continue to practice and hope that I'll get better. I've also recommended the method to my mom, who is a crocheter. The movements you use in 'picking' seem more crochet-compatible to me, so I figure she might hate knitting less if she did it this way. Also, I've recommended it to my husband, who is far too new a knitter to have gotten used to the throwing method yet. (But if he attains high speed before I do as we both learn combined knitting, I may have to kill him.)

Stay tuned.

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

I just finished it. Hear that? I JUST FINISHED IT!!!

It looks so good, it almost doesn't need to be blocked. However, although the body spreads out very nicely on its own, the sleeves are really rumply, width-wise, and really do need to be blocked so that the patterns are visible. I'm thinking more of the spray-and-pin or damp-towel-on-top sort of blocking for this rather than the full soak - I don't think it needs the total immersion.

However, I'm going to check this off as 'complete' anyway, because hey let's face it, when it comes right down to it, this sucker is done. Yippee!

Post-blocking photos (including one of my husband modelling the sweater, since he and BIL are of comparable sizes) to come.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

I finished the body of the cardigan on Saturday:

Then I began the sleeves. I am doing the intelligent thing and am knitting both sleeves simultaneously. This means it takes longer to see sleeve progress, but the advantage is that there will be no Second Sleeve Letdown, which I despise. The sleeves currently look like this:

Nothing exciting yet, I've still got about 30 rows to go until the cap shaping, but hey, progress is progress.

Lost time

Even just a cursory glance at The Schedule reveals that I'm woefully behind. This is the week of October 3rd. I am currently supposed to be working on finishing the second pattern repeat on MIL's Cape Cod sweater, and finishing off the body of the Secret Garden cardigan for my niece. Also by now, I'm supposed to have accomplished the following:

• Completed fair isle baby romper
• Completed Stornaway sweater
• Half the body of the Secret Garden cardigan

Reality?

I haven't touched Cape Cod in months, the romper (once I frog back to eliminate my grievous design error) is barely started, and the Stornaway sweater is still missing a completed second sleeve.

On the plus side, the Secret Garden cardigan is right on track.

Knitting vacation. Knitting vacation. Knitting vacation. All will be solved. Knitting vacation.

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

I am actually maintaining a hope that I will finish the sleeve this week. I also actually think this might be a realistic goal. I mean heck, why not? There are just 18 rows left in the sleeve shaping, plus about 36 rows after that without shaping, a decrease row, and then 25 ribbed cuff rows. Eighty rows in three days. Why not?

Same old, same old - but better

Ankle still hurts, but is much improved. I'm back at work.

PonChew

Hooray, Chewie is returned! (Although missing the hat - and I can't find the green pump that was left behind, either.) He was on my desk this morning, lying atop a printed note in Ransom font:

Next time Chewie may not be so lucky

Better keep an eye on him

(Cue ominous music)

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

I'm back to carrying around the full cone of yarn for this project. Yes yes, I know, it's silly to carry all that weight when I don't have to, especially with a bum ankle. But this morning I decided that with just half a sleeve left to go, winding another skein wasn't worth the hassle. So I just stuffed the whole cone in my bag. Easy.

And hey, did you catch that? "Just half a sleeve left to go"? Yes, I've reached the halfway point of sleeve #2. This means I'm now only one week behind schedule instead of two.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

This continues to move forward very well. In fact, in just one day at home - not even spending all my time knitting, since DD was home sick from daycare - I made big progress.

Both fronts of the yoke are finished, and I'm working on the back. This bodes very well indeed for how much Schedule catch-up I'll be able to accomplish on my knitting vacation later this month.

Everyone's against me

What does it say about a knitter's approach to projects when she's reading aloud to her husband various excerpts from a certain recently-published book about knitting, and upon uttering the word 'Startitis', said husband immediately dissolves into helpless, teary laughter, even before the knitter gets a chance to read the actual definition of the word?

I think it means I must be something of a knitting dilettante. I was only a little bit mollified when my (still gasping) husband attempted to appease me by saying, "No no, honey! I'm laughing at me just as much as at you! Don't you know how many half-finished projects I have around the house?

But I am convinced in my heart of hearts that he is still laughing at me a little bit, on the inside.

Although perhaps it is not my husband, but the universe at large, which is laughing at me. Yesterday morning I twisted my ankle going down the stairs to my train. It hurt like a sonofa...well. Suffice it to say that it hurt. After the stars stopped swimming in front of my eyes, I managed to hobble (with my dignity marginally intact) the rest of the way down the staircase to catch my train.

Alright, I admit, the way I had been descending the stairs was probably best described as 'careening', but that's no reason for the universe to make walking awkward - if not impossible - for a while. (Although I must say that it could have been worse - I barely managed to catch the banister to stop myself from falling ass over teakettle all the way down the steps so spectacularly as to rival Scarlett O'Hara's famous miscarriage-inducing plunge. However, the triumph of having avoided numerous bone breaks is mitigated by the fact that my ability to make my train even after injury and slow painful hobbling meant that I didn't need to be careening at top speed down the stairs in the first place. Waaaah.)

Throughout the day, all my co-workers remarked on my pathetic limp, and by last night the ankle hurt a lot. So much so that I have borrowed a cane so I can hobble around. I am not at work today - DH forbade me, since my commute involves a bit of walking. The good news is that the ankle does feel a lot better.

PonChew

Still no photo. Alas, there now may never be a photo. I came into work yesterday morning (what was it with yesterday morning?) to discover Chewie gone from his place on top of my filing cabinet. I checked around the sides of the cabinet in case he had merely fallen down - no dice. I checked my desk - nope. I checked with my co-workers - they were as clueless as I. Unless one of my colleagues is lying, Chewie has simply vanished, the place where he was marked only by a solitary, lonely green pump. (How very Cinderella.) My co-workers suspect kidnapping and think it would be neat to post 'Have you seen this Wookie?' signs around the office. I am more suspicious - I suspect outright theft. Sadly, there is no way we could report this to Security and be taken seriously. "Well, it was a 5" tall Chewbacca action figurine, dressed in a kicky poncho, feather hat, lurid striped tie, green handbag, and one green shoe." Yeah, that'll get a manhunt started.

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

In and among the various chores, socializing and napping done this past weekend, I did get a decent amount done on sleeve #2. The halfway point is now within my grasp. I am certainly half done the shaping portion of the sleeve. And, as always, working on a sleeve from the armscye on down means that once I really get going, it's like a stone rolling downhill - the increasingly shorter rows make it seem like I'm gathering momentum, and it's very heartening.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

I brought this to work yesterday. I realise that The Schedule would have been more pleased if I'd brought something that more desperately needed to be worked on, but while packing for the day, I took a look at the ball I'm using for the Stornaway sweater. It was very small. I therefore concluded that there was a risk I could run out before I got home. Since I didn't have time before departure to wind more, I instead took a project for which I did have enough yarn for a day's work. Result: What with yesterday's commutes and today's bedrest, I have begun the yoke. It looks great.

Still alive

It's been quite a week. DH was away in Ohio on course for most of it, leaving me to handle everything myself. Blogging, unsurprisingly, kept getting shunted to the list of low priorities. Can I just say that my respect for single parents just rises higher and higher every time DH has to go away. How they pull it all together by themselves day after day is just beyond me.

PonChew

I finished the fringe at lunch on Friday, and tadah! Chewie is now beautifully accessorized for the colder fall weather. My colleagues thought it was a hoot. And there's another piece of good news - I came in on Friday morning to discover Chewie's lost pumps on my keyboard. My co-worker had found them, so Chewie's ensemble is now complete! There is, sadly, no photo, as I am reluctant to bring my camcorder all the way to work for one silly shot, but I'm going to ask one of my coworkers with a Treo (with a camera in it) if he minds humouring me.

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

The sleeve is still nowhere near completion. Sadly, the trend I had going of slowly catching up to The Schedule with this project has fallen in the pooper. I have not even finished last week's goal of finishing half the second sleeve. (I estimate the sleeve is only about 25% done, actually.) But we shall see what can be accomplished today.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

This is bee-yew-tifully on schedule. I was supposed to have half of the body done by the end of today, and I believe I accomplished this by Thursday. It looks really nice. The following photo was taken earlier in the week - the cardigan is a bit bigger now, but this will still give you a good idea of how it's coming along:

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

Alright, I admit it. The reason the poor Stornaway sweater is so far behind schedule is that on Friday night, I took advantage of the last evening of DH's absence and plowed forward on this.

Bottom ribbing is now done and you can see right at the top of the work there that the first row of cabling (plus a little bit) has been accomplished. I am now on ball #2 and am freaking out just a little that there may not be enough yarn.

It struck me on Friday that this is going to be an increasingly difficult project to hide. I may have to get creative.