Why yes, I am chatty today.

So, this is what almost a whole sleeve looks like:

I understand the concerns. It's freaking huge (and btw, even though I'm using different yarn, I did get gauge). This is also a whole ball of yarn, less the swatch.


Mini J's arm, at its biggest, is about four inches in circumference (which is about the inside circumference of my thumb and index finger. This sleeve, near the top, is about ten (my palm is three inches wide, for a sense of scale). That's a whole lotta ease. More than a toddler needs.

Cast-on edge, trying to look like a sleeve.

(and that is not a trashy magazine underneath my darling perfect niece's sleeve - it's the program for my show. Don't you wish you'd gone to see it?)

I'm going to throw this on waste yarn, cast on for the back and see what happens. If it's nasty, there is going to be some serious algebra and geometry going on.


That's OK, 'cuz I'm a math-type person.


But, I did nearly a whole sleeve in about three hours. That's encouraging, right?

Full steam ahead

I have settled on patterns for the baby sweaters.

Thank goodness, because I was getting really tired of thinking about it.

For Mini B, I am making the Little Star Sweater (shown on the cover) from this book. Imagine though, a "B" instead of the star, and using brown, pink and cream. I think it will work. I am not looking forward to the intarsia, but I love this kid, so I'll suck it up and do it (not my idea - her mother's request).

For Mini J, another pattern from the same book (I cannot find a photo) called "Lacy Sweater" (creative names, no?). It's a reverse stockinette tunic with some lacy details on the sleeves, neckline and hem, as well as a textured flower on the the front. I think the lavender yarn I purchased will suit well. Once I made up my mind, I was desperate to cast on, but perhaps it's just as well I left the yarn at home. There's little enough work going on in this place today (see? blogging? not real work).

Now, I did some digging around, and the reviews on this book are decidedly mixed (I only bought because I saw it on a bargain table for $4.99). There appears to be problems with the sizing, and there is no errata page to be found anywhere.

I figure since I'm substituting yarns anyway, I'll just have to be super-diligent.

Let the Christmas madness begin!

This is what lunch looks like:

Quick post

For lack of a better title. It's bedtime. Making a meal and doing one (1!) load of laundry plays me out.

That's pretty sad.

I did manage to finally wash the swatches, but I'm too lazy to take a picture.

I neglected to take measurements, but there is definitely vertical shrinkage. Horizontal, a little, but not much.

All of the fabrics bloomed and are much softer to the touch. Even the lilac, which I thought was unbearably stiff, is now tolerable. The blue is lovely, and I will be using that yarn again. For sure.

Perhaps tomorrow at work, I will run some calcs and maybe even settle on a pattern.

I will do this at work because the huge time investment I made over the past six weeks has paid off. What took me three weeks in October just took me a day and a half.

I'm pretty chuffed about that. Made all the cursing under my breath worthwhile. Now I'm going to make it a little game - to see how fast I can get it done.

Christmas knitting... let's not talk about it.

The boring rectangle scarf is done. I cast off when nearing the end of the first ball of yarn. The second will become... something else. It can stay in the stash until inspiration strikes.

Right now, the scarf measures 47" un-stretched, just under 60" slightly stretched. I am confident it will grow bigger under blocking, which shall commence tomorrow morning, before I leave for work

I'll take a photo for Ravelry, and that will be end of that.

Although I had brought the Earl Grey socks (mid-way through the second pattern repeat), I couldn't resist, tonight, and cast on 64 stitches with one of my new balls of Opal sock yarn. I knit nearly an inch-and-a-half of ribbing at knit night, and then ripped it all out on the bus home. I had cast on 65 stitches, and had 2 knit stitches side-by-side. My k2tog did not make a pretty fix, and I didn't like it. So, now I have half a row to show for over two hours.

The question is, what pattern shall I use? I was thinking of my usual broken rib, but the subtle (yet NEON) colour changes begs for something more challenging.

A knit night buddy suggested Monkey Socks, or Pomatomus. I thought maybe Jaywalkers would be the way to go. Pomatomus requires 72 stitches, my pattern tells me, so that's out. Ditto for Jaywalkers. I'm not ripping again. Monkey socks would be OK, but I am not excited about that idea. So, broken rib it is, I think. This is an attractive idea, if only because I don't have a pair of broken rib socks - I've given away both pairs I made.

Well, I have about two inches of ribbing to do before I make up my mind. That said, Lombard Street calls for 64 stitches, and I do adore the pattern, having made it twice before. It might be nice without the picot cuff. Or, perhaps a chevron pattern? We shall see. I can search Ravelry tomorrow.

This was one of those nights where I had to force myself to leave the house.

Normally, when I have something going on in the evening, I just work late, and then head wherever I am going. This removes the temptation to bail on whatever commitment I've made.

Tonight, though, I had to get a few groceries (it's amazing how many more groceries one needs when making a lunch every day. Who knew?) and I wanted to do that before knit night. Otherwise, I knew it wouldn't happen. I gulped down my dinner, threw the previously forgotten hat on my head (and I needed it today - it was cold!) and forced myself out the door.

Telling myself to "just show up" and "suck it up" the whole time.

It worked. Knit night was amazing as usual. I can't believe that I'm such a party pooper sometimes.

Rectangles are boring

Especially rectangles that are only one colour.

I am a far better knitter than I was a year ago. I attribute this to knitting far more than I used to. Also, I am challenging myself by trying to make complicated things, occasionally.

Therefore, the red scarf is boring me to tears. It's currently 27.5 inches, and I figured I would cast off between 55 and 60 inches. Blocking would bring it to the 72 inches that is the ideal scarf length, in my opinion.

Thank goodness this thing has a deadline, otherwise it would be thrown in the basket and ignored.

Don't get me wrong - I love the colour and the yarn (Patons Classic Merino is comfort yarn to me, always reliable, always the same), and I certainly adore the recipient. I'm just really, really glad now that I'm not doing it in oatmeal. That truly would be a crime.

There is no photo, because it looks the same as yesterday's photo, only longer.

As per my usual routine, I had a few glasses of wine last night. Perhaps a few too many, as I stayed up too late and had a wee bit of a headache today.

I finished reading the book, and it was delightful. I was sorry when it was over, because I wasn't ready for it to be done. There were a couple of phrases that I mean to go back and underline for myself when I need a little pick-me-up. It was a delightful way to spend an afternoon and evening, too much wine or no.

I did a load of laundry, but did not wash the swatches. Grr. I'm sure, if I try really hard, I could find enough dirty laundry in this house to do another load. Perhaps even tonight.

I did not do very much work today. Instead, I spent a whole lot of time looking at the Do's and Don'ts on www.glamour.com. People are very mean, that's all I have to say. Whatever happened to "if you can't say anything nice..." I am also amazed at the number of people who fail to look in the mirror before they leave the house. Now, I am no better, I am sure, but all MY skirts end just above the knee. And well, the ones that don't are never worn to the office.

Beats working when one can't concentrate, however.

The bossman did poke his head into my office today, however, to tell me that he hopes, no matter where my career path may lead me, that I do not lose the attention to detail he is becoming accustomed to and likes very much.

That was very comforting to hear, because I've been concerned that my performance has not been up my (impossibly high) standards, as a result of other demands on my time and the afore-mentioned little too much wine occasionally. Plus, it's just nice to know that one's efforts are appreciated.

I did have to tell him that I am incapable of working without that attention to detail. I've built an excellent professional reputation on it (something of which I am very proud) and it fills a psychological need. I simply can't process an single entry without having a supporting calculation (I have also learned to not rely on memory. Mine is sketchy, at best. I blame the wine).

I have big plans for how I'm going to spend the next two weeks, since I've learned so much over the past six weeks - how transactions are generated, what our parent company expects, and what I can do to make the process better, stronger, more timely. I can hardly believe I've been there three months all ready.

I love my job. I couldn't sleep last night, because I was excited about going to work. That's a nice change from not being able to sleep because I didn't want to go to work.

Leaving the house is a good thing

The days are growing shorter and colder in Winter-peg, and I want to hunker down in the house, sit on the couch, knit and drink wine. Not so different from summer, where I sit outside and drink wine. The difference is, in summer I have energy to do things like... clean the litter box.

So, today I had to meet my brother, sister-in-law and their adorable child at an ungodly early hour (10 AM), in order to return their vehicle to them so they could go home.

I had a master plan, in order to get out of the house. Without a master plan, I am useless.

I was going to buy them breakfast, in my old neighbourhood, and then I would not allow them to drive me home. I would go shopping, buy myself a coffee, and do some knitting in a coffee shop.

It worked! We had a lovely breakfast in a delightful greasy spoon (the food was every bit as good as it was when I ate there every Sunday). Adorable niece was good as gold, charming everyone. I presented two pairs of "welcome to 30" socks.

One for each sister-in-law. Have I mentioned how amazing my sisters-in-law are? I have never been close to my brothers. I left home when they were just kids, so I don't really know them as men. We are totally different. I am flaky, artistic, emotional (so they would say. There's more to me than that). They are rednecks. We love each other, and are extremely loyal, but it's the women they married that have brought us together as a family. Oh - and both my sisters-in-law are accountants. What does that say? Especially since my mom's a book-keeper. Freud would have a field day with us. That is so not the point, however.

Later, I indulged in some retail therapy. I used to do this a lot, but for the most part, I've stopped. However, even newly-thrifty people deserve a treat, now and then.

My purchases were the following:

I have wanted a pair of Blundstones for years. However, such boots never really fit into my nice-skirt-and-ironed-shirt professional wardrobe. Now that I work in construction, can wear jeans to the office and occasionally climb honking big piles of sand, I can justify the $180. I wore them out of the shop, and I am thrilled. My feet will be very happy.

And, even though I do not need more sock yarn, and Christmas is coming, I felt the need to buy bright-coloured sock yarn. For me, unless the socks tell me otherwise. Since I just spent $180 on shoes, and I refuse to go to the mall until February, I need more wool socks to wear inside my new boots. I think, also that knitting grey socks right now has also pushed me towards colour. Lordy, I love me bright colours.

And, this had arrived, so I picked it up (note that the all-ready bent cover is being held down by a box o' wine):I had been drunk, divorced and covered in cat hair long before Crazy Aunt Purl came along. In fact, I have found my path, and love it, thanks very much. However, I still struggle with other things (like getting out of the house and cleaning the litter box, see above), and I wanted to read her book for whatever motivational jewels it may contain. I will never forget this sentence from one of her blog posts "My brand of happy is not sold in a store." How true, and rather ironic, considering the topic of this post.

Anyway, I sat in the coffee shop, knitted for a birthday on Friday and read. I'm halfway throughout the book. I think I'll make the knitting deadline, since this was only about an hour-and-a-half's work;

On second thought, blocking may be a problem. Let's see how my TV watching goes tonight, before I make any promises I can't keep.

The pattern is based on the Queen Bee Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. J requested a scarf to match the oatmeal hat and mitts I made for her last year, but I just can't bring myself to it. A red scarf in the same pattern will have to suffice.

I firmly believe, when it comes to fashion, that one does not want to be too "matchy."

And that says a lot about how I go out the door every morning. But that's a topic for another day. Back to that book now...