A Little Yarn On The Side

Through tenacity, dedication, and bribery, I have finished 9 1/2 swoopies: 2 1/2 swoopies left. This was on my list as the knitting project to finish for June, but that would be a lot of swoopies in 2 days. I'm just not sure even a box full of merino would be sufficient bribery for that sort of torture.... Hibiscus for Hope progressed all the way to the short-row heel, which looks fabulous until Unstretched, it's about an inch too long for my insanely-pale foot. Some frogging will be occurring this evening. Luckily, it's so far off that I think I can eliminate an entire pattern repeat, which would mean the least amount of frogging and pattern editing. Or I can find a woman with feet 2 inches longer than mine.....

Things you can blame on Ramon a: * The Lady's Circular Cape being totally ignored this week * My total lack of blogging because I'm completely enamored with her pattern I am test knitting * That everyone is going to be getting socks instead of the lace scarves I had intended * That I now REALLY want to buy one of Cat Bordhi's sock books--which I can't have because we're still in the middle of the 90 day spending ban * I am going to stay up WAY too late tonight knitting, making the 5:00 AM wake up call for the gym an even more hideous experience than usual. To be honest, I think I had become a little bit bored by socks and have only made the last few pairs because they were mindless and portable. I haven't purchased any sock yarn in probably a YEAR, so my sock yarn stash has dwindled to yarn for 11 pairs of socks (from a high of 23), making it quite possibly the most "reasonable" part of my stash. I have been using the same toe-up pattern because I do...

Ramona has asked me to test knit a pattern she has written as a way to help raise money for a good friend. I'd like to think I would have agreed to help with such a great cause even if it didn't give me a whopping good excuse to avoid the swoopies for a few days, but let's just say that it might have helped her cause a bit . In Knitting Land (unlike the Real World), good deeds are generally rewarded. Not only do I get to help someone who is helping a friend, getting a pair of great socks, getting away from the swoopies, I learned a fabulous new cast on for toe-up socks. Look at this: OK, it might be really hard to see this, but you can't see the cast on AT ALL. I generally only make toe-up socks, but the pattern I have been using leaves a really rough line across the toe. I love this cast on! There is a video of it here , though I will admit that I cannot make it through the entire video. I am not really a "cutesy" person, so when Cat pretends that the...

I still haven't found where I stashed the in-progress top to Andy's Christmas pjs that I tucked away in November because I ran out of material. I think I might be able to piece together sleeves--after all, it isn't like he's going out in public in the things--but I don't know where I hid it! Normally, I am the one who has the really good memory and the organizational skills, so this is doubly embarrassing. I have even cleaned the sewing room! (By cleaned I don't mean to imply that you can actually see much of the floor yet, but it is better .) Who gives someone half a pair of pajamas????? There are only 2 places I would have hidden something from Andy--my clothes closet or the sewing room. The former he wouldn't really ever have a reason to be in and the latter he'd be too afraid to. So that narrows down the options considerably and yet, here we are 7 months later still without a pajama top. If I can ever figure out what it is, that is a darn goo...

I think I've had a swoopy overdose--I've started dreaming of mohair. So today was declared Sewing Saturday. I had planned to make some summer clothes for Andy, but got waylaid by some very lovely flannel for pajamas for Andy. Which would be so appropriate right now as it was over 90 degrees today. Theo was his normal overly-excited self: and I am very proud to say that I caught this mistake before I actually cut out the material: Note to self : Stacking pieces of material right-side up enables you to cut out exact duplicates of pattern pieces--not mirror images. At least if I can't stop myself from making mistakes, I am learning to double-check myself. Tonight we have: Finished pajama bottoms! And even more exciting: this time I have enough material to finish a matching top!!! Now if I just don't stash this away & forget where I put it, all will be good! (Full story her e)

Last night the Stealth Project got all the attention, largely because the skein was so close to the end that I was able to post the 57th ball used from the stash late last night. I was going to wait until morning, but I was so excited that I finally got out of bed to update the tally! Obviously, not buying yarn for extended periods of time is bad for one's sanity. I spent a little time with the Lady's Circular Cape, but didn't make it very far on swoopy number 9 before I was just too exhausted to stay up any longer. It turns out that it might not be the swoopies themselves that cause a problem. I caught Theo playing with the mohair, and a few seconds later I was not aware that mohair was powerful sleep aid. That could explain some of the problems with the shawl. Either that or the edging just goes on forever...

That should make me feel better--like I'm not being singled out by life--but it doesn't. Even when I can't knit, I like to know that knitting in general is going on, even if I can't be part of it. Like it's some big cosmic merino thing. I have decided--we don't need a Knit In Public Day (June 14). We need a world-wide knitting holiday!!!! Start recruiting folks. We need voters!!!