Butterfly Bog Jacket















The good news is that Baby M's bog jacket is finished! Months after I finished the lion's share of the work, leaving only the piddly little detail stuff to complete, I dug the jacket out of my work bag and just did it. I love how it looks. I love the frilly crocheted "butterfly wings" I added to the ends of the sleeves when I decided I didn't like how they looked plain. I love how the funky buttons add an unexpected splash of bold fuschia to the more earth-toned jacked itself. I love just about every darn thing about this jacket, in fact.

Which brings me to the not-so-good news: I think all those times my mother wished I would have a daughter just like me (and never because I'd done something good, mind you) have finally taken effect.

Baby M absolutely, positively refuses to wear her jacket. She won't even try it on.

DH tried to get me to see reason. "It's summer. It's hot out. Of course she doesn't want to wear a heavy wool jacket." But I know better.

When I was a kid, my mom sewed most of my clothes herself. I had cute little handmade pinafores, which she even took the time to get me to draw on in crayon and then iron the drawings in permanently -- a real mother/daughter project if ever there was one. I had handmade pants, handmade tops, even -- I kid you not -- a hand-crocheted bikini.

Mom made my clothes for many reasons. She was a trained seamstress. She loved playing dress-up with her sole little girl (when she was pregnant with me, she prayed for a girl because the clothes were so much cuter than for boys). Coming from a sewing family, she already had a large supply of fabric in the house. I'm sure it was cheaper to make my clothes (considering she only used fabric she already had) than to buy them new in the stores. But, underneath all of that, I'm sure she also made my clothes as a tangible expression of her love. What more loving thing is there than to clothe your child in a garment of your own making?

It was the zebra pants that did it.

I must have been in the fourth grade. I had worn the cute pinafores and crocheted bikini, but I had also worn the weird, 70's-era bell-bottoms made from gold flowered fabric that must have started its life as some sort of bizarre upholstery. The clothes that fit perfectly and never wore out but always stood out wherever I was and whatever I did. No one else in school wore clothes like I did. No. One. And when one day my mother produced a white pair of pants with great, big zebras printed all over them, I finally blurted out, "Can't I just wear jeans like everybody else?"

And that was how I got my first pair of jeans. And, I'm sure, broke my mother's heart, although I don't remember her showing any upset when I rebelled against the black-and-white bizarro-pants she'd made in all good faith and with all the good intentions in the world.

And now at age two -- two! -- my daughter is making my mother's fondest wish come true. She's refusing to wear the clothing I lovingly made for her with my own two hands.

She didn't even wait for the zebra pants.

You Know You're a Fiber Freak When....















The most use your hand mixer sees in a year is for making twisted cord.

Back on Track

Hooray! I finally did the piddly finishing on my Bubbly curtain -- weaving in the ends, blocking, making the hanging cord -- and now it's finishedfinishedfinished! Not five minutes ago did I hang it in my kitchen window, and boy am I pleased.
















It looks like I've got my knitting mojo back. I've finally finished the sleeves on Baby M's bog jacket and now I just need to sew on the buttons and tack down the collar ends and that will be done, too. I've even been working on my blanket-of-a-thousand-ends. Soon I'm going to pick out some yummy yarn for Little Sibling and start on a MDK baby kimono. I'm all smiles -- so excited to be inspired again!

Back to Work

Well, my wonderful little week off is over -- it was back to work today, and back to aggravation from my immediate supervisor. *sigh* Oh, well. I've been aggravated about it all evening, and I just have to let it go now.

Instead I think I'll post a photo of my sweet little Baby M, looking adorable at "poolside" in her summer sun hat and slightly too-big bathing suit. This is how we spent much of my week off -- me reading "Jane Eyre" by the wading pool, her scooping sand in the sandbox and wandering around the garden barefoot. I can't wait for summer classes to be over so we can do some more of that!

New Toy

My charkha finally arrived! Just in time for Mother's Day, I might add, and I simply love it.

Here's how it looks after a freshly-applied coat of Wood Beams:





























And here you can see the itty-bitty skein of 70% cotton/30% silk singles I spun up as my very first test project:















It's a little tricky to figure out at first. If you don't get it started just right, all the twist runs right up into your main fiber and you wind up with a thick, slubby mess. But when it does work...boy, it's just incredible. Right now I'm doing some more practice with 100% cotton roving my friend L gave me; once I feel like I can reliably make something that's actually worth keeping, I'll get to work on some of the more luxurious short fibers I've been hoarding for the past couple of years. There's a bag of buffalo fluff in my stash just begging to be spun up!

White Men in Business Suits Are Redeemed (Sort of)

That's right, folks, Baby M is going to be a big sister! At just a month over 2, she doesn't quite get what that means yet. We've tried to explain it to her, but most of the conversations go something like this:

Proud Mom & Dad: Guess what? You're going to be a big sister!
Baby M: *vague look of boredom*
PM&D: Are you excited?
Baby M: Chocolate Easter bunny!
PM&D: I know, honey, you want a chocolate Easter bunny. But what do you think about being a big sister?
Baby M: CHOCOLATEEASTERBUNNYCHOCOLATEEASTERBUNNY!

As you can tell, we still have chocolate Easter bunnies left over from April. And Baby M wants 'em. Bad.

Anyhoo. We figure she'll catch on in time, and since she's shown no tendencies to set fires or torture small animals, we figure she's a safe bet for being at least a halfway decent big sister.

For my part, I'm doing my part this time around towards meeting my previous record 65 pound weight gain with Baby M. Not that that's my goal, mind you, but it is what it is. When my mother was pregnant with me, she gained 20 pounds, and I weighed nearly 8 pounds at birth. Why are her genes not helping me here?

No bump photos yet. But a strange thing is happening. This time around, I'm getting bump-y in summer; with Baby M, that part happened in fall, so I was wearing big sweaters and bulky coats that covered me up till spring, when I was at last so ginormous that it would have been plain even to space aliens who had never seen a human being before that I was either pregnant or had swallowed a Volkswagon. This time around, I had to go out and buy preggie T-shirts and preggie capris and I'm just about past the 4 month mark and it's clear I'm PREGNANT. Clear enough that the other day a white guy in a business suit actually offered me his seat on the subway. Who says New Yorkers aren't nice people?

Now, you may wonder why I specify that this was a white guy in a business suit. Well, it's because during my last pregnancy, white guys in business suits were the one-and-only group of people never to offer me a seat on the subway. Not. Once. Lots of women gave me their seats. Ditto guys in paint-splattered overalls and work boots who looked like they needed to sit down a whole lot worse than even I did. I was given seats by all sorts of folks, but never, ever a white guy in a business suit. Even more than that...when I was what felt like 15 months pregnant and feeling large enough to occupy an entire subway car all by myself, a middle-aged Wall Street type -- pinstripe suit, wingtips, the works -- actually shoved me out of the way just so he could grab the last seat on the subway, the one I was heading directly for when he bogarted it out from under me. I planted myself directly in front of him and shoved my belly as far into his personal space as I could without toppling into his lap, but he resolutely thumb-poked his Blackberry and refused to so much as glance away until I was safely ensconced in another seat.
Which I had to wait for, thankyouverymuch.

But now, with my bump barely bump-y, by my standards at least, some very nice white guy in a business suit actually offered me his seat on the subway. Moreover, he's the very first person to offer me a seat this pregnancy. How sweet is that?

So, thank you, nameless white guy with the maroon shirt unbuttoned at the collar and charcoal-grey jacket. You've redeemed all the other white guys in business suits who were too selfish or snobby or just plain assholic to do the right -- or at least the kind -- thing.

But I'm still watching out for guys in pinstripes and wingtips.

Explanation

Many thanks for all the well-wishes! No, I haven't thrown myself under a bus for lack of inspiration, though Baby M's bog jacket sits languishing *this close* to completion (I've even been carrying around the two stinkin' buttons I need to sew on in my purse of all places for the past month, kicking myself every time I reach for the car keys that I've been such a slug) and I've done nary a stitch of knitting since before my birthday.

But there's a reason.

Check out the ticker and you'll see what it is.

Uninspired

That's exactly how I've felt these past couple of weeks...uninspired. But I did force myself to sit down tonight and weave up the other sleeve and front of Baby M's birthday bog jacket. I even crocheted the border. Now all I have to do is finish the cuffs, get some cool closures for the front and sew in my little "Made With Love By Mommy" tag and it'll be all finished.

Photos to come.

Meanwhile, send a little inspiration my way. I can certainly use it.

Operator Error

I'm on vacation this week, so you'd think I would be blissfully enjoying my time with Baby M, knitting, blogging and just generally recharging the ol' mental/emotional/spiritual batteries...right?

So, what have I actually been doing?

Stressing about work. I wrote a big, long post about it which I decided to only save as a draft (call me paranoid, but people have been fired for blogging about their jobs) as a way of getting it all out of my head and then hopefully being able to forget about it for the next seven days.

Except my boss contacted me and wants to talk tomorrow morning. So *pffffft* goes my peace of mind and my playing/knitting/blogging plans. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Well...that's not completely true. I did have a blast taking Baby M to her very first movie-theater movie yesterday afternoon. We are lucky enough to have a theater near us that shows second-run films for $2 a person, $1 on Tuesdays. I figured that if Baby M were frightened or bored or just couldn't sit still for that long, it wouldn't break my heart to lose the two dollars and walk out. But she LOVED it! We went to see Happy Feet, the penguin movie, and boy was it cute. Lots of singing, dancing and other onscreen excitement -- plus a kid-sized box of popcorn and cup of iced tea went a long way towards holding her interest. She even made us sit through to the very end of the credits because they showed the various penguins tap-dancing to the music as the credits rolled. I only wish DH had been there instead of at work -- and I'm sure he feels the same way!

So, at least I've been trying to enjoy my time off with Baby M. I haven't gotten much knitting done, and sadly, I haven't been able to get my spiffy new-to-me Auto Knitter circular sock machine to work yet. At least I figured out what the problem is. It looks like during shipping, the yarn carrier (the piece that holds the yarn in the right spot for the needles to grab and knit) got pushed out of alignment, so now the yarn isn't in the right place for it to be knit. And I just can't seem to figure out how to adjust it. At least I finally got my act together and posted a question about it to a sock knitting list, so maybe before I go back to work I'll at least be able to knit, if not an honest-to-goodness sock, then at least a lame little newbie tube.















My spiffy Auto Knitter, ready and waiting for me to stop being such a dumb-ass and figure out how to work it.

Seriously, What's With Twinkle?

So, I swear I was all set to blog about my ultra-cool antique sock-knitting machine (which I still haven't figured out how to work yet) and share gripes about Kaffe Fasset and his designs from hades, but then...

Then, I discovered Twinkle (aka Wenlan Chia) and her book of Big City Knits. The patterns are gorgeous, stunning, to-die-for...and sized to fit women with bust sizes up to 34".

That's right: up to 34".

The last time I had a size 34 bust, I was in elementary school. As for the small sizes...well, I'm sure some woman out there has a 25" bust, and it's very nice that there's an entire book of patterns designed specifically for her, but c'mon, Twinkle...how about the rest of us?

I'm a Big City Girl. I like funky, chunky knitted designs. I can wear the hell outta a cabled sweater-dress, size great-big-bust and all. Just who exactly are you designing for?

So, there's my rant. Move over, Kaffe...you've met your match in Twinkle.

Good God, It's March

And I now have an honest-to-goodness circular sock knitting machine!

I also have a raging headache, an ongoing -- and stress-inducing -- work negotiation, and a (rather unreasonable, I suspect) dislike for every knitting pattern ever designed by Kaffe Fasset.

More on at least some of those later....

Snow Day

Today, DH and I stayed home from work. What was supposed to be a "light dusting" of snow came down hard enough in the middle of the night to blanket roads and close schools by morning, and we just didn't want to risk the hour's drive down to my in-laws' house to drop off Baby M. And so, DH worked from home and I cancelled my class (which I'll have to make up later in the semester) and we all stayed safely home for the day.

The upside is, I got a fair amount of stuff done. I wrote up a paper that's due this Saturday (and which I couldn't quite figure out when I'd have the time to do) and even emailed it to my professor for feedback. I took care of a bunch of work stuff (most of which came as a result of my not being able to make it in to work today, so I'm not necessarily ahead of the game on that one, but oh well). And...

DH and I got to make a snowman with Baby M.

Not any old snowman, mind you. Baby M's first snowman. Ever.

How cool is that?















It looks like Baby M is helpfully adding an almond into Mr. Snowman's crooked grin. In reality, she's swiping almonds for her own nefarious purposes. She gets that from her father.

I must say, however, I think it was much cooler for DH and me than for her. She absolutely loves snowmen, and whenever she sees me sitting at the computer, she toddles over and demands, "Snowman picture!" Whereby I google for the jillionth time some low-budget government-sponsored website that has a line drawing of a snowman with a small assortment of items that can be dragged and dropped onto his body. The clincher: he can have arms made of candy canes. That gets Baby M's attention every time.

Sadly, we had no giant candy canes for our snowman's arms. But we did have walnuts for eyes, a Brazil nut for a nose, and a small handful of almonds for a mouth. Baby M's plastic sand rake served as an arm (she refused to part with her plastic shovel to give the snowman a matching appendage), and the very first scarf I ever knit still sits wrapped around our snowman's neck.

I don't think I'd built a snowman since college (and I'm not sure if I'd ever built one before that), so I had a great time. And Baby M was so pooped afterwards that after taking a nice, hot bath to warm her up, she fell sound asleep in my arms and I got to make a nice, big pot of homemade soup for dinner. Now I'm just waiting for DH to sign off from work and for Baby M to wake up from her nap so we can all think about having dinner.

God, I love snow days.

New Project, New Problem

Now that I've finished off three Top-Down Timothy Caps (2 for DH and one for his grandfather) and am stuck on my fitted bog jacket because I've had to order -- and wait for -- more wool, I've decided to start a new project: a Woolly Thoughts "Best of Both Whirls" afghan.

The cool part is that this is what the afghan will look like when it's finished:




















The not-so-cool part is that this is what it looks like now:



















That's right: one square, 44 ends to weave in. Multiply that by the 24 squares needed and that's a soul-sucking one thousand and fifty-six ends to weave in.

Help.

Gong Hay Fat Choi and More

Happy Year of the Golden Fire Pig, everyone!

The Golden Fire Pig in its native land...er, Las Vegas.

What does that mean exactly? Well, for DH, Baby M and me it meant a New Year's Eve stuffing ourselves at the in-laws' house. For the world in general it seems to mean prosperity and fertility, as the family made perfectly clear during dinner by asking, loudly and repeatedly, when we were going to provide Baby M with a sibling. What? Doesn't Elmo count?

But enough about Chinese New Year. I promised some details about Valentine's -- excuse me, Valentime's -- Day presents. (Thank you, AP, for the gentle reminder! *g*)

So...my gift to DH was definitely unromantic, but I must say it was exactly what he wanted:

Behold the belt sander! Now DH can actually sharpen the knives he worked so hard to forge at his last blacksmithing workshop. Nothing says "I love you" like a power tool that can peel flesh from bone like a boiled chicken. DH will be using safety equipment with this one.

But the big "ta-da" is reserved for DH's gift to me:











Behold the book charkha! But not just any book charkha; this, ladies and gents, is a Bosworth book charkha, from the uber-talented Jonathan Bosworth over at Journey Wheel. This is the same charkha that L kindly brought over not once but twice to let me play with. The same charkha that actually allowed me to turn cotton into yarn and not just into frustrating little piles of cotton fluff. It's an absolute marvel of engineering and a delight to spin with. Not only that, but it fits right on my lap so I can use it just about anywhere. Spinning on the couch...? In the car...? On the beach at Waikiki...? (A gal can dream, right??)

Anyway, I was (and still am) delighted. DH's order went in for the March group (Jonathan makes things in batches), so that means I'll have my charkha by May (just in time for Mother's Day). All in all, DH couldn't have been more thoughtful. Who needs the "traditional" gifts of chocolate and jewelry when you can have cool fiber tools?

And last but not least, Elmo made his appearance in Baby M's world. He actually tried to rush things by spontaneously talking while still wrapped up and awating DH's return home from work before being given to Baby M. All of a sudden, that distinct Elmo voice piped up and said, "Hi, Baby M! Let's play!" (Didn't I say earlier that there was something creepily Chucky-ish about this thing?) Baby M's head popped up from her coloring book and, looking slightly perplexed, she asked, "Elmo?" Er...whoops. I scooped up the box and hid it in the bedroom closet until it was time for her to unwrap it.

Let me tell you, it was love at first sight. Elmo sings the alphabet song, tells a story about how he and Baby M go to visit a bear, reminds Baby M of her favorite people (Mommy, Daddy) and foods (edamame, yogurt) and even claims to have the very same favorites. Baby M has been dragging Elmo around the house by one foot for the past four days and shows no signs of lessening in her affections. Honestly, it's some of the best money I've ever spent.

Now all we have to do is write up birthday invitations because...*drumroll, please*...my little girl is about to turn TWO. Egads! Where did the time go? Baby M really, really isn't a baby any more. *sniff*

Maybe DH and I will have to take advantage of this Year of the Golden Fire Pig fertility thing after all....

What a Yarn Wants

The other day, my friend L commented, very insightfully, that wool really wants to be yarn. Introduce the slightest amount of twist, she noted, and it holds itself together like a champ and begs for more. Unlike, say, cotton, which according to L's logic wants to be just about anything but yarn (as I discovered after half an hour's utter frustration at the wheel with some otherwise-lovely cotton roving).

I'm not sure where wool/silk blends stand on the spectrum, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's just a bit more cotton-like in its desires than regular wool. I know this because I spent an ultimately happy couple of hours last night spinning up one of my SP9 pal's earliest gifts to me: a luscious 4 oz braid of Spunky Eclectic merino/silk blend in the "Vineyard" colorway.















It took some playing, I must admit. I had to tweak my Louet's ratio vs uptake for awhile until I reached a happy medium where I could introduce enough twist before the fiber got sucked from my fingers onto the bobbin. But this fiber is a true pleasure to spin. Just look at those colors! I was feeling grey and gloomy and longing for something colorful and vibrant and spring-like to spin, and I don't think I could have asked for a better choice than this. Once I have it all spun up (I've probably spun about an ounce by now), I think I'm going to Navajo-ply it, and then...well, I don't have any plans for the yarn after that, but I'm sure it will make a perfect "pet skein" until it tells me what it wants to be.

And speaking of what wants to be....

As far as I can tell, Crystal Palace cotton chenille yarn wants to be anything but a Mason-Dixon Warshcloth. First, I frogged -- a soul-crushing three times. When I finally got up the gumption to cast on again, I knitted all the way to the second-to-last row when....















That's right, the yarn snapped. Snapped! Of all the nerve. And don't ask me how this could possibly be, but the end disappeared. Completely and totally, as if it never existed to begin with. And so...I can't really finish off the center of the cloth since there's a rogue end somewhere in there just waiting to work its way out. And I absolutely refuse to frog it yet again and reuse the yarn. Clearly, this yarn just Does. Not. Like. Me.

Not that I'm taking it personally or anything. *ahem*

And even though Crystal Palace chenille may not like me, DH and Baby M certainly do. More on their most generous Valentine's Day gift to me -- and all our gifts to one another -- next.

Elmo Knows Baby M's Name

At least, he will once DH gets finished programming him.

Yes, that's right, I caved to the Elmo-fest that is toddler pop-culture. When I was a kid (insert cantankerous voiceover here), Valentine's Day meant chocolates. Every year, I got a box for Mom and Dad, they got a box for me, and Dad got a box for Mom. And a card.

But ever since the way-back-when Valentine's Day when I burst into tears at DH's (then Dear Boyfriend) gift of chocolate truffles in a crystal box -- given just as I was terribly depressed about and obsessing over how I'd gained weight -- he's sort of steered clear of chocolates as a gift. And since he doesn't really eat chocolates much himself...well, any box I bought for him would be a de facto box for me. Baby M, who would love nothing more than a whole box of chocolates for herself, is at 22 months still far too young to be given one.

And so...DH is getting something decidedly not made of chocolate, the details of which I won't post on the off chance that he may read this before I manage to give him is present (more on that in a sec). I'm not getting something made of chocolate, either (though I've long given up crying over gifted chocolate truffles...in fact, if there's anyone reading this who happens to be crying over gifted truffles at the moment and wants someone to take the nasty things off your hands, consider me your woman). And after a short discussion about what non-chocolate delight might please Baby M, DH and I settled on an Elmo doll. (The girl excitedly shrieks, "Elmo PJs!!" at bedtime...you think she'll go crazy over a doll? Yeah. Maybe just a bit.)

So yesterday, before the godawful sleet started to fall, I hightailed myself to midtown and checked out the Elmo offerings at Toys R Us. (If, by the way, you've never seen the midtown Toys R Us, you Really. Must. Go. There's a freakin' ferris wheel inside, fergawdsake.)

Did they have Elmos! They had Chicken Dance Elmo, Hokey-Pokey Elmo, Elmos that hummed and sucked their thumbs and did everything except jump right up and high-five a child. And each and every one of them felt like hugging a sock full of batteries. Yuck!

Then I saw this Elmo:

Not only does he do super-cool things like say your child's name (and, it seems, about a hundred other things that you can personalize, like your child's birthday, friends' names, and more), he's nice and soft and plush and not at all like a Terminator skeleton under a saggy muppet skin. I tend to object to toys that "do too much" on the theory that they leave less room for the imagination (I'm a huge fan of wooden blocks and giant empty cardboard boxes and the like), but even I have to admit, this looks pretty freakin' sweet. You can even program the little bugger right in the box, so your darling child can unwrap his or her present and have start talking right off the bat. Is that not the coolest thing? (OK, it also smacks disturbingly of Chucky, but I'm willing to let that go.) Now, all DH has to do is program the darn thing. Which means all we have to do is manage to get home tonight.

Because...it's freakin' sleeting here, people! What is this? We've been having the warmest winter on record and global warming be damned, I've really been enjoying it. Now all of a sudden, we're expected to cope with actual winter? Snow? Sleet? Surely, you jest. We didn't even go home last night. For the second time in just about as many weeks, the whole clan stayed with DH's parents, this time so we wouldn't have to drive on the skating rink that has become our highway system.

On a side note, DH and I did make a foray to Macy's last night in search of work clothes to wear today. When we saw the humongous crowds, we asked, in all innocence, "Why are there so many people here on a Tuesday night?" The salesperson looked at us like we had three heads apiece and said, "It's the night before Valentime's Day." (Is this a particularly New York thing, to say Valentime's Day instead of Valentine's Day?) DH and I laughed and I said, "Oh, we're such an old married couple, we didn't even realize." To which the salesclerk replied, smiling, "Well, I guess if you've been doin' it all year 'round, you don't need to be doin' it on Valentime's Day."

And if the weather doesn't let us make it home for the second night in a row, he'll have been not only clever, but absolutely, positively correct.

Top-Down Timothy Cap Pattern

Excitement! Today I caught a post from a woman asking for submissions of short patterns for her knitting guild's newsletter. I sent in my pattern for the Top-Down Timothy Cap and she said they're going to publish it! I know it's not nearly the big deal of other people getting their patterns published in Knitty, etc, but this will be my very first pattern published anywhere, so I'm just tickled.

Here's the pattern itself, just in case anyone would like to try their hand at it. The usual caveats apply: Feel free to print out the pattern for your personal use, but don't make these hats to sell or otherwise profit off the pattern. If anyone does make one of these, please let me know -- I'd love to see it!

Top-Down Timothy Cap

By Linda Ciano

Size: One size fits most adults

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch in K2P3 ribbing, slightly stretched

Note: This cap is worked with yarn held doubled throughout in the “magic loop” method of using one long circular needle to make a circular item with a smaller circumference than that of the needle itself. A useful tutorial for this method is available at http://www.purlwise.com/2003/12/the_handy_magic.html.

Materials:

• 2 skeins Knitpicks Andean Treasure 100% baby alpaca (50 g/110 yds)
• 32” size 8 circular needle

Abbreviations:

• KFB = knit into the front and the back of the same stitch
• PFB = purl into the front and the back of the same stitch
• PFKB = purl into the front and knit into the back of the same stitch
• KFPB = knit into the front and purl into the back of the same stitch

Pattern:

With yarn doubled, cast on 8 stitches using figure-8 cast on. Place marker at beginning of round.

Round 1: [K1, P1] to end of round (8 stitches)

Round 2: [K1, PFB] to end of round (12 stitches)

Round 3: [KFB, P2] to end of round (16 stitches)

Round 4: [K2, P1, PFB] to end of round (20 stitches)

Round 5: [K2, PFB, P2] to end of round (24 stitches)

Round 6: [K2, P1, PFKB, KFPB, P1] to end of round (32 stitches)

Round 7: [K2, P2] to end of round

Round 8: [K2, P1, PFB] to end of round (40 stitches)

Round 9: [K2, P3] to end of round

Round 10: [K2, PFB, P2] to end of round (48 stitches)

Round 11: [K2, P4] to end of round

Round 12: [K2, P1, PFKB, KFPB, P1] to end of round (64 stitches)

Rounds 13-15: Repeat round 7

Round 16: [K2, P1, PFB] to end of round (80 stitches)

Round 17: [K2, P3] to end of round

Repeat round 17 until cap measures 8” from crown to base or desired length. Bind off loosely in pattern. Block gently if desired.

Now Is the Winter of My Discontent

I am sick. Again. Someone just kill me now, please.

Actually, I'm feeling somewhat better at the moment, which is why I'm taking the opportunity to kvetch write. I don't know what exactly hit me, but it hit hard. Both DH and I felt so ill last night that we didn't even bother coming home after work; instead, the whole family -- Baby M and doggie included -- stayed overnight with DH's parents, and they are graciously keeping Baby M with them again today and tonight so DH and I can get some rest. I'm a little nervous as this is the first time she's ever staying overnight without me, but if there's anywhere she'll be comfortable and taken care of and loved it's there. Besides, I was in no shape to take care of her myself for much of the day, and an evening's additional rest coupled with a good night's sleep might just see me rid of this cursed cold once and for all.

BUT...I'm not here just to complain. (No, seriously, I'm not. Stop that laughing.) I'm also here to give a huge THANK YOU to my SP9 pal, who finally revealed herself this past week.

Joni M, you ROCK!

Here's what Joni sent in her reveal package:


There are two braids of spinning fiber, the one on the right being 4 oz of superwash merino from Spunky Eclectic and the one on the left being 4 oz of BFL wool top from Hello Yarn. But the bestest stuff of all came from Joni's own shop, Union Center Knits. It's kind of hard to tell by my craptastic photo, but Joni sent along an assortment of wonderful little goodies: beaded stitch markers with -- can you believe it? -- little jingle bells on the ends (too, too cute for words!), pretty paper "Handmade By..." hanging tags for packages, a felted autumn-leaf pin, a Union Center Knits button, and two -- count 'em, two -- skeins of hand-dyed (by Joni herself) Whatnot Sock Yarn. Joni, you have completely and thoroughly spoiled me these past 3 months, and I really can't thank you enough. I hope you'll check in on my blog every now and again to see what all your fibers and yarns have been spun and knitted up into. I'll be posting photos, I promise....

And finally, my very first self-designed hat: the Top-Down Timothy Cap.





























Named for DH, the first (and so far, only) recipient, the Timothy Cap is pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I used the leftover alpaca from FIL's balaclava and took my design cues from Barbara Walker's book Knitting from the Top Down. It incorporates a couple of neat little features like a figure-8 cast on to prevent that annoying little hole at the hat top and wheel-like spoked increases for a streamlined, symmetrical look. It kinda reminds me of the caps that skateboarders wear (wore? do kids still skateboard? and do they wear caps? I am so out of the loop...), but it works perfectly with alpaca and forms a close-fitting, warm, comfy cap. Gratuitous Baby M comment: "Daddy hat! I like it!" (At 22 months old, the child is a genius, pure and simple. So says her completely unbiased mother.) Now I'm just waiting for some more alpaca to arrive from knitpicks so I can make one for myself, a second for DH and one for DH's grandfather as a birthday gift. And while I was using my February "free day" to order yarn for more hats, I took the opportunity to order some luscious alpaca to make myself the Cable and Lace Poncho from Just Wraps. Mmmmm...cable and lace poncho in Winterberry alpaca... *drool*....

Hmmmm...maybe I'm not quite as discontented as I thought.

Bubble, Bubble, Not Much Trouble

Today I finished Bubbly -- yippee! Check 'er out:















Now I get to use my Christmas gift from DH -- a lace blocking kit from Knitpicks -- to get Bubbly all nice and in shape for hanging in the window. The only thing left to make is the twisted cord for hanging...oh, yeah -- and the second Bubbly for the other window in the bathroom!

In other news, my replacement roving (to replace the not-so-clean Cotswold curls) is on its way to me and it looks spectacular:




















Are those colors not to die (dye?? -- see how clever I am?? *ahem*) for? You can't see it in this photo, but there are also some deep greens and other autumn colors in there. I'm going to use the Sheep Shed Studio method of fleeceweaving, which involves making raised "pebbles" with the roving. While I don't hope to turn out something as nice as this


















on the first try, I hope I can at least come somewhat close.

Now the question is, what should I start knitting to keep myself occupied on the subway now that Bubbly is done?

Insert Clever Title Here

Well, the first week of the new semester is history. I'm not terribly thrilled with how it went. Mind you, I should be ecstatic. Compared to last semester, when I wound up near tears by 5pm the first day due to lack of teachers, lack of classroom space and a surplus of students, this semester has been a piece of cake. And yet...teachers' noses are out of joint, rightly and also through no fault of my own, over having to make last-minute adjustments in teaching level (an ever-present threat at the beginning of every semester), and I'm annoyed at myself for not communicating the changes better (the poor communication part being entirely my fault, unfortunately...*sigh*). I'm also not looking forward to an upcoming labor-negotiation-type thing my colleagues and I will have to do with upper management. It's just added stress I don't need right about now. I wonder how many Pepperidge Farm cookies one person can eat before causing irreversible brain damage. I may just have to try and find out.

Anyhoo...how's life in your little corner of the world going?

Me, when I'm stressed, I eat. There's a shock, I know. But I've been trying to keep my hands busy enough that they can't get too much junk food to my mouth, and here's one of the results:

I give you Bubbly...or, rather, Bub, as this is just about exactly half a Bubbly curtain. And as I just sat up with DH until 2am as he played his video game, it's significantly longer now than in the photo; one more of the repeat sections should see it finished and ready to block and hang. Woo-hoo! Go, me!

On the other hand, here's what my weaving looks like these days:

See the nicely prepared warp, all ready for my first fleecewoven rug?

See the 7 pounds of Cotswold curls, all ready to be woven into a gorgeous tapestry of fall colors?

See the chunks of hay and chaff and other assorted crap I should really have paid more attention to before I started weaving?

Let's just say 2 hours, 3 inches of wasted warp and $17.20 in return shipping later, the Cotswold curls are winging their way back to from whence they came and I'm breaking my yarn diet in the morning to replace them with nice, clean roving. And since I'll be using my January "free day," I may well just go nuts and order yarn for both my Wooly Thoughts afghans (not, mind you, that they'll go on the needles any time soon...I just like the feeling of being able to pluck a ready-made "kit" out of the stash any time I want to, and putting pattern together with all the yarn gives me the kit effect without the often exorbitant kit price). Oh, and sock yarn. Gotta get sock yarn. Because it doesn't count, you know. (My thanks to whoever came up with that rule. I've knit exactly one sock in my entire life but I have a veritable bushel of sock yarn because it doesn't count as part of the stash...and, you know, sock yarn makes lovely shawls, among other things. Just sayin'.)

At this rate, I may need to change my Stashalong plan from "number of months, with 1 free day per month" to "number of finished items," as in "don't buy any more freakin' yarn until you actually finish up a few projects and make room for new stuff in the ol' stasheroo." Although as a woman with a large house, a tolerant husband and an independent cash flow, I've been wondering lately just why exactly I feel the need to be on a yarn diet at all.

Oh, yeah. Freezer full of yarn. That's why.

First in '07

Hard as it is for me to believe, I've only now completed my first knit of 2007. I guess when you start out knitting curtains and jackets, progress is bound to be slow! So it's a good thing I dropped my other knitting to whip up a balaclava for FIL in Alpaca with a Twist sportweight. Doubled on size 9s it went super-fast and is cushy, squooshy and warm, warm, warm! Here it is, modeled obligingly by DH:




















I also received my Sheep Shed Studio order, the one I placed back at the veeeery end of Decemer, about 10 minutes before I started my yarn diet (aka Stashalong). In addition to some lovely sock yarns, hand-dyes and Brown Sheep skeins, I also received six luscious pounds of Cottswold curls for rug-making. Carol at the Sheep Shed does an amazing dye job, and she sent bags full of the most beautiful fall colors, in addition to a few pounds of natural whites and greys. I couldn't wait; I got started warping up the RH tonight, and hopefully will have the warp mostly (all?) finished by the end of the weekend.

Can I mention once again how very good weaving is for stashbusting?? I burned through two spools of rug warp and still didn't make it all the way across my 32" 8 dpi heddle. I can't wait to actually get weaving on this one. The colors are so gorgeous and the fiber so unique -- so completely different from any other weaving I've done -- that I'm really looking forward to this.

Mmmmmm...fleece rugs, knitted curtains and a fitted bog jacket to get all wrapped up and cozy in. What more could a fiber-lovin' gal ask for?

By Special Request

So, I was paid a very nice compliment today by my FIL. He noticed the knitted balaclava I'd given DH for Christmas and commented on how nice and warm it looked. DH mentioned that it's convenient because now he doesn't have to wear a scarf (plus he likes the funny looks people give him when he wears it on the streets of NYC! *vbg*). The upshot is that FIL now wants a balaclava just like DH has.

Currently, I don't have a "for others" project going; ever since I frogged the Mason-Dixon Warshrag for the third freakin' time I've been concentrating on my Bubbly curtain and my fitted bog jacket. So, I'm free to start his balaclava any time. I'm thinking sooner rather than later; it's been a fairly warm winter thus far, and if I wait much longer spring might just set in and the poor man would get no use out of it at all. I think I'll use the grey sportweight alpaca -- it's soft as a cloud but not very springy, which should actually work nicely for a balaclava, which a person really wouldn't want clinging to the face. Maybe tomorrow instead of lugging Bubbly on the subway with me I'll tote my smallest KIPer bag instead and get started....

Successes and Setbacks

The past couple of days have been a mixed bag of things gone right and things gone very, very wrong.

On the plus side, I have some new, gorgeous skeins of yarn to enjoy. There's my second Kool-Aid dye attempt, shown below, which ended up nicer than I thought it would and which I have a feeling will knit up even nicer still. I'll have to pick a very special project for that one -- maybe something for Baby M.





























And there's the skein of overplied mystery wool that I dyed green (kiwi-watermelon) and yellow (lemonade) only to discover that combination came out most bland; this gave me the opportunity to try some microwave dyeing. I laid the wet skein on some plastic wrap, sprinkled Kool-Aid powder directly where I wanted it, wrapped the skein up and microwaved it for 2 minute increments until the powder was absorbed. Another fun technique, and the resulting reds, maroons and browns really livened up that dull skein!

Finally, there's the nice grey Big Bale wool skein that I spun up on my newly-restored Country Craftsman, or CeeCee as I've taken to calling her. I don't usually name inanimate objects, but this one just seemed to cry out for a name, and CeeCee was a perfect fit. I'm working on a second skein, which is coming along more slowly if only because my singles are coming out more even and with fewer huge lumps and bumps to take up space on the bobbin. DH may just get his cap out of homespun yet.

And now for the bad news....

After completing the knitting on my Fitted Bog Jacket all the way up to the underarms -- a full 66 ridges/132 rows -- I had to frog all the way back to the waist decreases, nearly 40 ridges/80 rows! What gets me is it wasn't even a problem with my knitting. I followed my pattern precisely, my count was right...it was just that the darn thing was too wide across the bust even though it fit nicely across my hips. While there's only an inch difference between my bust and hip measurements, I forgot to take into consideration that I was making this jacket to wear over jeans with bulky waistbands. What was a comfortable yet stylish fit across the hips and waist was a dowdy, frumpy, shapeless sack across the chest. There was nothing to be done but pull back...and back...and back. I've re-done my calculations and started knitting back up again, but it was certainly disheartening. At least in the frogging I realized an unrelated error I'd made when inserting the phoney seams and can avoid it in the reknitting. So, I suppose, there's lemonade to be made out of lemons after all.

Hmmm.... It seems I've been listening to too much Anne of Green Gables on the iPod. Lemonade from lemons, indeed.

TAG -- You're It!

OK, so I've been tagged and now need to write up 6 weird things about myself. Personally, I prefer to think of them as "six things to love about me," or maybe "six things that make me me," but you be the judge.

1. I have to put my shoes, socks, pants and underwear on left foot/leg first. Arm stuff doesn't matter, but with legs and feet it's all about the left.
2. One of my favorite breakfast foods is uncooked oatmeal, peanut butter, honey and (cold) water all mixed up together. I discovered this combo when I was out of museli (which is, let's face it, basically raw oats and nuts) one morning but had raw oats and peanut butter on hand.
3. The roof of my house is covered in solar panels. (I wonder if this is a weird thing about me since I'm the one who put them there or if it's a weird thing about my house. Hmmm....)
4. I can write with both hands simultaneously, backwards with the right and forward with the left. It's not neat, but it's legible.
5. I can do that spin-flip thing with a ballpoint pen around my fingers. I learned this in 12th grade when, in an attempt to get me to stop talking in class and pay attention, my math teacher made me sit with all the Chinese kids who had just come to the country and couldn't speak English. But boy, could they flip pens!
   
6. I hate soda, coffee and beer.

And now, for the benefit of those I'm about to go off and tag...

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

And So It Begins....

Today was my first day back at work since the beginning of December, and I must say I wish I had more time at home. Funny...after a few months home on maternity leave I was bored silly and couldn't wait to get back to work; now all I can think of is how I'd like more time here with Baby M. 'Nuff said.

I did get to try out my nifty new iPod today on the subway. I discovered several things.

First, I do love audio books. I knew this already, but it was nice to find that even on a crowded, noisy subway I could still really, really enjoy hearing Anne of Green Gables read aloud. And yet, I also discovered that I'm just a bit put off by listening to my iPod in the subway. I feel like it puts a barrier between me and those around me (and it does -- how often do people just strike up conversations with those wearing earbuds?), and I'm not sure I quite like that. I mean, I've had lots of pleasant conversations on the subway and train...and while I enjoy listening to audiobooks, I also enjoy pleasant conversations. How much will I be missing by plugging in and tuning out?

I also discovered that I am not exactly handy when it comes to juggling an iPod. I thought it would be much more convenient and easy to use than a bulky CD player, but I am just not nimble enough for an iPod. I always forget which thingy to press to get it to start up or shut down (whatever happened to buttons labeled "on" and "off"?); I can never stop it at a moment's notice; I constantly careen past the track I want to play and then have to fumble back and forth till I hit upon the right one by chance. I am slowly becoming my parents; pretty soon I'll have to have Baby M program all my electronic gizmos for me the way I used to have to set the VCR for my mom and dad.

At least I got some knitting done today: a few rows of Bubbly. It's coming along slowly, but it is coming along. I think that will be my subway knitting for awhile.

My bog jacket is looking good. I'm nearly at the underarm, and the waist shaping is clearly visible. I cannot tell you how proud of myself I am! I think I'll knit on that this weekend and see if I can get to any of the colorwork before work starts in full swing next week.

And, last but certainly not least, I spoke with a woman last night about a circular sock machine. She's a restorer, the machine is an antique, and from the photos she sent, it looks to be in excellent condition. I'm almost afraid to find out how much it costs.

Strike that; I am afraid to find out how much it costs. But I will anyway. At least that's technology that I can understand.

Still Going...And Going...And Going....

You'd think I'd never have another chance to spin, knit or dye again. Oh, wait a sec...work starts again next week (with a single day in the office this Wednesday, too) and I'm going to be so up to my ears that I might just not get another chance to do any creating at all, if not ever then at least for a looooong time.

So. In the spirit of grabbing opportunity when it presents itself, I did a little housekeeping and finally got my be-you-tiful spindle collection out in the open where everyone can see them (and where I can grab one on a whim and spin -- maybe if I see them more I'll use them more).

Note the predominence of Bossies and, as a distant second, Goldings. I love both types of spindle dearly and am certain to add more of both in the future. I'm still a tad scared of my Goldings since the Swan Lake incident (let's just say the "drop" in "drop spindle" should not be taken literally...ask me how I know), but no doubt with them on display I'll be too tempted to let them rest on the shelf for long. I even got caught up in finish-itis (the lesser-known and certainly more welcome cousin of start-itis) and not only finished up a little silk fiber sample but plied it with the carbonized bamboo that L gave me the other day (which, in my spinning frenzy of these past few days, I had already spindled up on one of my Bossies). Will wonders never cease?

I also crock-pot dyed another skein of Knitpicks dye-your-own merino, which sits cooling in its dye bath as I write. No photos yet because it all looks like a muddy mess in there. I'm looking forward to pulling it out tomorrow and seeing how it all turns out.

Lest you think I succumbed to sloth in only completing the above projects today, I also knitted a teensy bit on my Bubbly curtain and a teensy bit more than that on my bog jacket, the former while IV was visiting and the latter as DH was driving us all over to Barnes & Noble, where I spent a gift card (that I received from my master's program, no less -- who knew they gave gifts??) on the fantabulous Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques. I'm so tired of pattern books; I want knitting books that help me design my own things, and this one fits the bill nicely. Wanna know which cast-on works best with which bind-off? This book tells you. Wanna know the difference in stretch between a large and a small picot edging? You're covered.

I. So. Love. This. Book.

I even worked in a few more spins on my love-it-love-it-love-it Country Craftsman, also while IV was visiting. And I took down the dried Sunset Fire skein, twisted it up nicely, petted it for awhile and showed it off to DH (who is very good about acting impressed and interested even though he'd rather be smithing) before putting it away (if "on the dining room table" can be considered "away").

The did-nots: Well, I didn't skein up the plied big bale wool that I spun on the CC. There's always tomorrow for that. I didn't take down the dyed heathered fiber -- that's still hanging, dry, in the guest bathroom. Again, there's always tomorrow. I didn't dye the other grey heathered fiber, though I did buy more Kool-Aid and I'm thinking that grey will be done in shades of green (kiwi-watermelon), yellow (lemonade) and maybe light orange (mango).

Not bad. DH and I even managed to take down the last of the Christmas decorations and put them all away, haul the tree outside, vacuum up the forest of dropped needles and generally put the living room back in some semblance of order.

If only I didn't have to go back to work I could really get some stuff done!

Success!

The past three days have been unbelievable from a fiber-perspective. I feel so very fiber-inspired and fiber-motivated (fiberspired? fibervated?)....

It started with my yarn dyeing-in-a-crockpot experiment. I liked that so well I went right on to crockpot-dyeing some light grey mystery fiber.















That nearly turned into a disaster as I let impatience take hold and instead of carefully unwinding the large roll of very thin roving I plopped it into the dyebath as-is...only to decide this was less than wise and then try to unwind it -- sopping wet and full of dye -- as it sat in said bath. I tried to photograph my hands but the incredible shade of Kool-Aid red simply would not show up in anywhere near all its glory on my camera. I managed to pull apart enough of the roving that everything got at least a touch of dye on it.















Tomorrow it's back to the supermarket to load up on other Kool-Aid colors to dye the other roll of grey mystery roving and then maybe blend them together. Of course, I now see the need for a drum carder. *sigh* And just when I thought I'd gotten every bit of fiber equipment I could possibly want. *wink*

Speaking of equipment...my BIG success has been finally getting my Country Craftsman spinning wheel up and running. Woo-hoo!!















This is the wheel that my friend IV gave me...the wheel she refused to take any money for because she had had such bad luck with it and had cursed the woman who had sold it to her so very much as a result that she didn't want to risk bad karma by selling it to someone else. Once I promised not to curse her if I couldn't get it to work, it was all mine. I finally got myself in gear and bought the necessary replacement parts from the last known maker of the CC (naturally the wheel is out of production), only to find that even with the parts, the wheel would barely rotate. I thought it might need oil, but again didn't get myself in gear until L paid a visit and recommended that I soak the leathers in oil overnight. Well, bless my little 3-in-1 oilcan but it worked. I soaked those leathers and oiled every other moving part on that wheel and now it spins like a charm. It seems to want to spin up bulky yarn, which is rather ironic since the bobbins are miniscule compared with the bobbins on my Louet, a wheel that only seems to want to spin up fine yarns, but that's okay by me.














I had a great time today spinning up two bobbins full on the CC and then plying them into a bulky, thick-and-thin yarn on the Louet. Tomorrow I'll have to skein and soak it, then hang it to dry...and take photos, of course. I might even wind up knitting this up into DH's skullcap (finally).

L also turned my eye toward yet another new piece of fiber equipment: a charkha. This is an Indian-style spinning wheel specifically designed for spinning very short-staple-length fibers like cotton. Gandhi used a charkha (and even made it a requirement for all members of his cabinet to spend at least half an hour a day spinning). Well, L let me try out her Bosworth Book Charkha, and boy did I like it. I mean a lot. To the point where I might have to seriously consider getting one for myself. Yet another thing to add to the (*gulp* growing) list.

Last but certainly not least, I've been knitting. That plain-Jane garter stitch sure is addictive, especially on my fitted bog jacket. Much as I think to myself that I should be switching off every once in awhile to that Bubbly curtain, I just get pulled right back into the bog. Tonight I finished off a few more ridges while watching romance blossom between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr and Mrs Smith. Nothing like a mindless action flick for cranking out some knitting. And some fiber-equipment-buying plans.

Splindarella's Top Fiber Equipment Wanna-Buys:

1. a charkha
2. a drum carder
3. a circular sock machine
4. a Golding spinning wheel (this, my fantasy "when I win the lottery" wanna buy)
5. a Journey Wheel

Splindarella's Employment Goals for 2007:

1. Find a job that pays beaucoup bucks for very little work so I have enough money to buy my fiber toys and enough time to play with them all.
   

Inspired!

You never know where inspiration will find you. Today it was waiting for me over at Jeremy's blog in the form of a mini-tutorial on crock-pot dyeing. I've had Kool-Aid and dyeing yarn on hand for months but had just never gotten up the gumption to go ahead and try it. Then this morning I caught Jeremy's post and bam! I pulled out the crock pot and cooked me up some yarn.















I used 100 grams/880 yards of Knitpicks dye-your-own merino. Here it is soaking, pre-dye.















I wanted graduated shades of deep red through light orange, so I used Kool-Aid in (left to right/light to dark) Mango, Orange, Cherry and Tropical Punch. After soaking the yarn, I sprinkled the Kool-Aid directly on top in the order shown above.















Here's how it looked right after I added the dyes.















And here's how it looked after about 3 hours in the crockpot when all the dye had been absorbed. As you can see, the reds migrated quite a bit. When I first pulled the yarn out, I thought I would have very little orange to show for my efforts.




















I shouldn't have worried! While the reds migrated across the surface of the dye pot, the oranges worked on the underside of the skein. Some came out very light (that's where the mango came into play, I believe) while others were more vibrant. Nothing was left pure white, which is exactly what I was going for; the skein moves from nearly yellow to deep red (I wish I could have gotten a shot that shows off the colors better). I think I'll call it Sunset Fire.

Currently in the crock pot: some light grey heathered wool (fiber this time, not yarn) that I'm trying to dye straight red, possibly with some variegation light to dark. I don't know how this will turn out -- if it's too much of a matted mess I may wind up felting it instead of spinning -- but boy, is this fun! Thanks, Jeremy, for being my inspiration today!

Photos At Last!

So, I've finally gotten off my lazy ass and taken some photos. Here's a shot of my fitted bog jacket. It doesn't look like much just yet, but watch out -- this is going to be gorgeous when finished!


And here's my Bubbly curtain...so pretty I plan to make 2 more, one for each window in the bathroom (this one will go in the kitchen).



Not pictured: the Mason-Dixon Warshrag I had to frog three freakin' times because I'm a total dolt and clearly cannot be trusted with a simple pattern. The warshrag was going to be my "knitting for loved ones" project (which I think I'll rename "knitting for others" to also cover knitting for a cause, knitting for swap partners, etc), but to avoid any potential unpleasantness (such as having to stab myself in the eye with a dpn if I manage to screw this up yet again), it might just have to wait. Besides, Bubbly and Bog are keeping me nicely busy, even if they're not quite as portable as a chenille warshrag would be.

At least they won't land me in the hospital...the Knitting Goddess willing, that is.

Taking the Plunge

Tonight I cast on for my Fitted Bog Jacket. I absolutely love the Manos del Uruguay yarn! I love its thick-and-thin texture; I love how it forms a randomly rippled edge; I just plain love everything about this yarn, especially how very quickly it knits up on my Addi Turbo size 9s in comparison, say, to the way the Euroflax sport weight Bubbly curtain seems to take forever on my size 5 Options (but I do love the Options, as well as the curtain, though progress is slow and I am impatient). It feels very decadent to be making such a significant project for myself, if that makes sense. I mean, a jacket! And out of nice -- very nice -- wool, not junky acrylic. My days of wasting time knitting good patterns out of junky acrylic are over. If it's worth knitting, it's worth knitting in something real.

No photos because I'm lazy, and because the inch and a half I currently have on the needles is completely unrecognizable as a jacket (or as much of anything, in fact). But I'll post some soon, I promise, along with photos of the curtain (which is definitely recognizable at this point...my lack of photos here is definitely due to laziness).

In other news: I am committing to a 3 month stashalong beginning today. I haven't managed to post to the Stashalong blog yet because of the switchover, but I'm counting from today nonetheless. Of course, joining the stashalong meant that last night at around 10pm I placed an order with Carol Lee over at the Sheep Shed Studio. I'd been meaning to buy enough Cotswold curls from her to make a rug anyway, so adding in a few (or a lot of) skeins of yarn just made sense...you know, with shipping and all...cheaper to buy more at once and send it, yada yada...

OK, I'll just admit it: If I'm going to go on a yarn diet, I'm damn well going to binge before taking the plunge. At least I won't have to worry about running out of wool now for a good long time. And if I do...I suppose there is always the acrylic.