A Little Yarn On The Side

My time this weekend is still being mostly consumed by those stupid tomatoes which seem to magically replenish themselves each night, but there have been occasional craft-related breaks. I finally washed and blocked Andy's sweater, without the help of Theo, who is now on strike for a bigger by-line, fame having completely gone to his head, and I found some sparkly red ribbon that looks much better with the gift bags-- even if it doesn't photograph very well. Then I spent a little time with the baby aran sweater, which will eventually be a gift for some close friends when they have their first child. They aren't actually expecting yet, but I find it best to get a jump on these things. I also assembled some wire shelving in the sewing room hoping that if I look organized I might actually be organized. It's a long shot, I grant you, but I find optimism much more inviting than realism. I have magic tomatoes, so anything is possible--at least in my world.

I've been canning like a maniac this week--the last of the tomatoes, both green and red--so knitting time has been pretty limited. I needed a simple project to pick up and work on for a few minutes, and not being able to cast on a plain sock, I started the sleeves of "Ruched Magic" by Lily Chin. The back has been finished for a year or so, the front is half finished & ran into a problem that will require a little frogging & more attention than I have right now, but the sleeves are a delightfully simple K1, P1 rib with regularly scheduled increases. Theo is not helping me today, being a bit in disgrace. We had snow last night, and rather than going outside at night and possibly getting his paws wet, he decided to wake the humans up at 1:30 to keep him company. These might be part of the problem: My all-too-sexy slipper socks with google eyes. Theo seems to consider them as invaders, or perhaps younger siblings: Maybe we'll all play a little nicer once we...

There are still some ends to weave in and it needs to be washed and blocked, but IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! The collar is a little shorter than the pattern calls for because I ran out of yarn, but I think it actually looks fine this way, and Andy loves it, so I will be leaving it as it is. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm actually pretty proud of myself for selecting this one early during the WIP marathon. It wasn't one of those just-missing-sleeves WIPs that finish rather quickly. It started here: That's the back of the sweater. So it was probably the least-far-along of the entire pile of WIPs, being about 5% completed. Of course NOW I'm going to be looking for one of those projects that just needs sleeves--let's not be stupid. I think there's even a baby sweater just in need of a few seams and a neckband, and that pair of socks..... 10 WIPS IN A ROW!!!! 10 WIPS IN A ROW!!!! 10 WIPS IN A ROW!!!! 10 WIPS IN A ROW!!!!!

Last night I finished knitting the collar (which is a little shorter than called for as I completely ran out of yarn, but it shouldn't really matter--I did add an extra row in the red to help compensate. I was NOT postponing this to order more yarn, though I can now say that they really weren't kidding about that extra 4 yards....) So now I just have to finish the seams--after first finding some yarn to do the seams with as I REALLY ran out of yarn--and WIP number 10 in a row will be done done done done done done DONE!!! I get so excited about these things..

Actually, I think part of it belongs to Theo, who was a bit of a ham before the notoriety. Now there will be no living with him. It was given to me by Daniele , who keeps a very entertaining blog herself, so this is actually quite flattering. The rules are that it is my turn to nominate 4 blogs I enjoy. Tough one, as I follow more than 4, but I've thought about this for a day and I'm awarding: No Blog Rachel : Always entertaining, but perhaps a little prone to random acts of zucchini. :) Rachel (another one): Besides having fabulous taste in yarn, she obviously enjoys life and writes about enjoying it. Susie : who graciously allows me to explore England vicariously and who is currently trying to survive until Halloween before turning the heat on--an idea I can truly appreciate & possibly copy. and Jennifer , our WIP hero. How could you not love knitted bats? Go see them at her blog--they are just too funny and all her own designs. Now, the rules for accepting their...

I can now put this away because the second sleeve is now DONE!!!!!! (Thank you RobinH - competitive sleeving really did help. You don't have a dem fisher sin fru laying around unfinished, do you?) Now it's on to the neck ribbing and the seams!

....and there are bell peppers dehydrating, jalapeno and Anaheim peppers roasted and transferred to the freezer, our breakfast meusli is mixed and chilling in the fridge (I'm having a "channeling Martha" kind of weekend), and now I have: The sleeve a British mystery from the library and Theo, who really finds knitting dull and boring until the washing & blocking process. RobinH is catching up to me in the sleeve category, so it's competitive sleeving time!!! (I'm really not this much of a child--I just play one on the internet) And just so you don't all think I have done nothing at all with my weekend, the Christmas gift bags are done and washed and just waiting for me to find better drawstring material than the gold ribbon. Black ribbon maybe? 2 more fabric yards to the tally!!! (And very good eye RobinH! Those were indeed the Fruity Pebbles socks. Don't they just make you want to get on a sugar high and watch Saturday morning cartoons?)