A Little Yarn On The Side

But not so much knitting. I did finally buy myself a little reward for finishing 10 WIPs in a row: The Yarn Harlot's latest book, Free Range Knitter . Her writing is so witty and charming that I wish she could rake in the kind of money Danielle Steele or Stephen King does, but I don't suppose the movie rights are worth very much. Any knitter could, of course, appreciate the horror potential of a Hitchcock-esque "The Moths," but I just don't think the general public has that sort of fear of fiber-eating bugs. I did sit down to work on Fleur, and let's see if you can spot the problem: That's right--I started attaching the edging IN THE WRONG PLACE. I started here: thinking a join would be less noticeable at an existing seam. I ripped back the seam--chastising myself for having been so proud of myself for sewing the edging on while knitting it because then I wouldn't only have sewing left to do--then reattached it here: Which is the shoulder seam, whic...

You can blame the lack of knitting on this: About a week ago our furnace started making really strange noises. Being a much newer and more complicated model than either of our old houses--which meant my old just-jiggle-the-wire-trick wasn't going to work, we immediately called a repairman. He found nothing--and the furnace refused to reproduce the strange noises while he was here--so he made a strong push to sell us a water pump that wouldn't solve the problem and left. Yesterday the furnace would come on briefly, then go off, leaving us cold and hopeful. In case it was a gas leak, I shut the thermostat off and called the repairman again. He walked in, flipped on the thermostat, and we had heat. I told him I had turned the thermostat off "just in case" but I don't think he actually believed me. I had him do the winter maintenance on the furnace in case that would help, and he left thinking I probably didn't know "on" from "off." Toda...

(Had to add that little hyphen there to keep me out of the more colorful Google searches.) The left front of the baby sweater is done, which I would be showing you if the battery on my camera weren't dead. Since I've been "organizing" the sewing room, it took a 20-minute search to locate the charger, but I did eventually find it and there will be pictures tomorrow. Dem fischer sin fru actually got a lot of attention last night because it turns out that election returns actually come in very slowly. There were a few dropped stitches in my excitement over the huge voter turnout nationwide, but all in all, I got a few decent rows in. I'm still on clue #1 of course, but Imight finally be halfway through clue 1. I'm not ready to think about those 5 remaining clues just yet. I've been sewing "thank you for letting me stay" gifts for an upcoming trip to see friends on the east coast, which I would also be showing you now. They're Christmas tabl...

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm trying to knit while watching the election results! I think the stress is going to destroy my gauge. Anyone else's dem fischer sin fru end up looking like ramen noodles???

Still completely jazzed about making it to 12 WIPs in a row, rather than picking up Fleur, which really is almost done, I picked up one of the baby sweaters I found languishing in a knitting bag. I can narrow it down to being cast on between 2-5 years ago, but that's as close as I can get. I finished the back last night and started on the left front today. Admittedly, this is not a really great pattern. It's from this book, which has cute pictures but the sweaters area bit awkward and shapeless--things that one would only put on a small child who can't complain. Luckily, that's who I will be giving it to, so I guess that works. This morning I washed and blocked Ruched Magic, but Theo would have none of it. I think he's a fiber snob.

Here it is: Finished WIP #12! The pattern is called Ruched Magic and it's from this magazine: which is Knitter's fall 2002. I'd link to it on Ravelry, but it isn't currently on Ravelry. Ah--there is just something psychological about having finished one dozen projects without casting on anything new. Wait, or was that psychotic? Anyway--that currently leaves 15 WIPs left to go! I'm off to find Theo so we can wash & block the sweater. On to number 13! Blouse? What blouse??

Getting past WIP number 10 has been a lot like losing that last 5 pounds (except that those five pounds are still with me). By the third attempt Theo could no longer stand to watch but after much frogging, a little yarn stretching, and finally having to leave off the overlapping part of the band, the chemo cap is done: It's actually a pretty cute hat, but I'm not even slightly tempted to keep it. For one, it was a pain to make and I'd like to not have it around as a reminder. For another, I have a longish-type face, and I don't look good in hats without brims. In fact, this one makes me look like a pencil. So, it will be donated to a cancer hospital. WIP number 12 is getting close. I found the front, finished one side, and have started on the other. It's sort of a race now to see if I can hold out long enough to finish anything beyond this one before the starteritis bug gets me. I'm hoping for 14, but I could live with 12. Heck, finishing 2 WIPs in a row...