Lace--an exercise in patience

I really didn't expect to screw up this fast.

A bunch of us had the lovely and talented ruthee cast on our Super Spirals on Saturday. I'd like to know how the writer of this pattern manages to start a circular beginning on size 10 dpns without shoving a needle through her own eye in frustration. So ruthee gets me started, I knit a bit on Saturday afternoon, but when I take it out on Sunday and compare the hash marks I've made (to count rows) to the knitting, something doesn't feel right. I count stitches on one section and then another, and sure enough, there's a discrepancy. Crap. Because it's lace knitting, I can't quite tell yet what I've done wrong, there's no pattern in the knitting to speak of yet, to the untrained eye. So for grins, I count each section and in true Melanie fashion, the sections range from 9 to 14 stitches. WTF!!! After staring at it for quite a bit of time in bafflement as to how this could've happened and wondering what the hell I'm going to do, I decide to get 'em all back to even--I increase and decrease until I'm back to 10 stitches per section. Then I bury it deep in my bag and do a couple of rows of Tasha.

But I know this won't do. I'm frogging it tonight and buying size 8s. Just don't know if I'll be able to start the darn thing over again without help, which would mean waiting til KB on Thursday or begging ruthee for a smidgen of quality time after work between now and then. I know having the smaller needles will help a bit, but it's definitely going to be that exercise in patience mentioned above.

Tasha is a nice looking bag from Knitty, I just started her ribbed bottom this past weekend. I'm knitting the body in a double strand of Blue Mist Wool Ease, and as the yarn depletes I'll decide where to put the Heather Rose trim; probably at least in the strap and top cable on the body. I have plenty of both, so I think I'll do the whole body in the blue. I'm glad I started it; it's nice to have a new, easy project on the side for when the lace makes me want to stab something with my needles.

I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad, girl.........

If there was one New Year's resolution that the Knitting Bitches came up with for 2006, it was a fiber diet. A bunch of the gang had recently gone through their stashes and experienced a significant "holy crap, where'd all this yarn come from?!" moment. Not having that problem to a great extent yet, I chose not to deprive myself, also because our funds are so sparse that usually whether or not I should buy yarn isn't an issue. Plus we have the Knitalong about to start.

Then I was blog surfing yesterday for Wool-Ease ideas per usual (I'd love to dive into some of that and get it outta the stash), when I come upon Mind of Winter, curse her fuzzy little heart:
5 pucks of Seal Beige Heather for $22 (shipping included). What is it that makes women's brains glaze over at the sight of a good deal? Be it yarn, shoes, purses, we fall victim to the "i deserve this" mindset and whip out the debit card. I haven't even decided yet exactly what I'm doing with the first 5 pucks of White Buffalo that I have (4 turquoise, 1 slate), but my brain immediately rationalizes it--hey, more choices on what to make now! I need a support group.

KB is a support group, big time, they're the best friends I have in this yucky town, but since it perpetuates the addiction, I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and go on a fiber diet now too. It's for my own good. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Just because White Buffalo has gone out of business doesn't mean you're justified in lurking on eBay. There's a helluva lot of yarn out there. Next time I feel the need, and actually have the dough, to buy yarn, I'll put it in a fund for the trip to Kentucky this summer or the trip to Charlotte in October. There's plenty in the stash to knit in the meantime. Be a grownup.

Wah.

On the upside, I think I'm going to knit Tasha from Knitty with my Blue Mist Wool-Ease, using my Rose Heather for the trim.

Couldn't resist...

Much as I would love to participate in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, there's a little thing called "knowing your own limitations." Starting any minute now, the Knitting Bitches of Jax are partaking in a Shawl Knitalong, pulling the pattern for the Super Spiral from "A Gathering of Lace" and driving ourselves insane over it. I've only played with lace up until now, so I know this is a project that's going to need some concentration from me. So I'll be a good little nutjob and confine my projects to light stuff besides the shawl for now (put Cozy away, tackle the occasional bootie...).

So the above button, courtesy of JenLa at http://knottygirls.com/jenlablog/index.php is my way of tipping my cap to the Olympians and wishing them the best. And who knows? Maybe I'll enjoy the occasional adult refreshment while working the lace. My knitting with a buzz on has thus far been perfect, and I've never been one to leave well enough alone. However, the horror stories I'm hearing from the crowd about just casting on this sucker will probably keep the knitting to a minimum during beer o'clock.

Asshatin'

No knitting occurred at all this weekend. No A/C in my apartment. 80 degrees in January. I f*cking hate Florida. I'm ready to move to Canada now.

So I changed one or two things here. I like my papasan, but it doesn't really describe me. However, I've had a thing about lighthouses for some time now, so changing the whole title/URL to accommodate the design layout seemed like a neat idea.

Then there's my name. I'm a witch, and some witches choose to take pagan names. I chose one name when I initiated myself, but it didn't feel enough like me, didn't say enough about who I am. Truthfully, my first name (Brynja Beryl Akwesasne) was partly a link to my past; Akwesasne is Mohican for "land where the partridge drum." It was a reminder for me of a childhood home, Above All. We'd hear this basketball sound, and it wasn't Cyril; it was the partridge taking off in the woods. And while that place has been idealized in my head as a good memory, I wasn't comfortable having so much of my past in a name representing my present and future. So I changed it. Still love the name Brynja though...

I am Ember Grace Madrone. Ember because I love the idea of fire still strong enough to stay alive in ashes. Grace in honor of my Nanie; it's her maiden name. She's 94½. Madrone's reason is twofold. She's the heroine in one of my favorite books: Starhawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing. And I love the idea of a tree encompasses more than one type/species. The Pacific Madrone is what's known as a broad-leaf evergreen tree, and when I read up on it, I'd never heard of such a thing—that a tree can be deciduous and coniferous at the same time (well, sort of). I like the multifacetedness of it, like to think it describes me in a way, with my wackiness and my lithium deficiency, and my cravings for knowledge.

I'm a solitary, so the ole name thing doesn't mean much outside of my head. I'm still plain old Melanie J. to the Jax crowd. But blogging allows you to let people in without truly letting them in, if you know what I mean. It's as personal as a journal entry, but as anonymous as you want it to be too. So since there was no knitting this weekend, I give you a little piece of me.

Soft! Soft!

I got to pet KnitPicks Shadow in my color last night at KB: Jewels

Sweet!

Worked on 1 project last night! That's right folks, 1! Though I oughta be working on Cozy for the lace practice...

Need to buy needles, stitch markers, and katcha-katcha this weekend for the KAL.

20 minutes left to work...can't go by fast enough!

Logos abound

Okay...that sort of worked the way I wanted to...

Just trying out the old graphics options. I was adding links and redesigning the ole blog this morning, just for something to do, but even with the nifty lighthouse at top left, I know that graphics make all the difference (see Kimberli's blog for case in point). And since I don't have a digicam, a scanner, or a decent computer system at home, this'll have to do for now.

So please check out my links at the left at your leisure, there's some really interesting stuff. They're places I visit on a fairly regular basis. I'm giving myself til February to start wondering where the hell the $2,000 for the Avon Walk is coming from, so enjoy my nonpushiness while it lasts :)

stop...start....stop....start...start...

It's been a week of false and true knitting starts, as the title would suggest. Waiting for the KAL to start has me at loose ends as to what to work on. We ordered the yarn and books this week and will get them next week. In the meantime there's 5,700 yards of Wool Ease staring me in the face, whispering "knit me..."

To be fair, a third of that's already allotted to Cozy from Knitty; I'm doing it in Heather Rose and the first 8 rows seemed to go ok, which usually means I'm doing something wrong. Then I started a slot scarf in the Wool Ease Thick & Quick, one of those scarves that has a slot for sliding one end through.

I tried to start a potato chip scarf twice with no luck; THAt was frustrating. It's supposed to be with LB Homespun on size 10 circulars. The pattern is something like K1, yo, * on 1 row, and then purl the next row. The first time I was purling the yarnovers and the tension got ridiculous. The 2nd time I dropped the yarnovers and realized that couldn't be right because you'd be keeping the same number of stitches, not doubling them as the pattern suggests. It got frogged again last night, until I can find different needles to work with.

So I started baby stuff in the interim. Given my knitting limitations still, I can't be worried too much about how everybody until the KB sun is going to be knitting baby blankets for Terra. Besides, I haven't tried one yet and I found a really pretty pattern. I also started a fresh baby hat and will do at least booties to match. Thought about trying the sweater in that pattern batch, but I don't have the right size needles for it, and I've got enough dough going toward knitting already this month. I ordered the book "A Gathering of Lace" and 4 skeins of Knit Picks Shadow for the Super Spiral Shawl we're doing for the KAL. Can't wait to get the book; I want to study up on the necessary stitches so that if I come across something when I'm knitting at home, I don't end up doing it wrong and frogging painfully come Thursdays.

Looking forward to KB tonight...

Scatty knitting

Can't decide on projects lately...thank goodness the KBers are doing it for me on one project. We're doing a shawl knitalong from one of the patterns in A Gathering of Lace...VERY pretty shawl, should be interesting. My other projects though, feel kind of hodge-podgy. Haven't touched Cozy. Pulled out Red Heart shawl UFO and been hitting 4 rows a night on it. Started a super easy scarf, one of those ones with the slot for putting one end through, with the Wool Ease Thick & Quick that Dana gave me. Frogged the alpaca. Needles were too small, it was bothering me. Thinking of starting something with that teal mohairy stuff that Teresa gave me a while back, just no idea what. Ought to start a baby blanket.

Definitely at loose ends this week.

And I forget, what does POT mean?

Buried in acrylic

I need to stop nagging ruthee about her non-blogging...i'm only managing once a week at present. Silly holidays got me behind.

Why do I choose projects with yarn that I hate? The White Buffalo was a delightful exception, but now I'm trying to plow through 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun for a shawl for my mom's birthday, and while I love the feel of Homespun and its wash-and-wear durability, I am SO friggin' sick of knitting on it. Could also be because for time-saving sake, I went with straight garter stitch--you can SO get away with that with Homespun--so I'm bored out of my skull.

And I'm completely (FINALLY, the Knitting Bitches would say) over working with yarns that are majority acrylic, or some other manmade, petroleum-based fur. Too stretchy, you work it too much and it squeaks, and did I mention too stretchy? I'm trying to start the Cozy pattern with the Heather Rose Wool Ease, and I can already see I'm going to be frogging it and looking for a better lace pattern. Cozy's easy enough to get the hang of, but it's an involved pattern and a real bitch to look at and tell if you're doing it right, for a beginner. I must be ornery today too, damn moon being in Aries, because I think I want to switch to the dark blue because it's winter (in normal states) and the Rose is irritating me, but I chose the Rose so that I'd actually be able to see the lace pattern once I got going...there's no pleasing me.

Encore's nice too, used that on the hat and booties, and I'm glad I have some more to play with for the baby blankets and whatnot. Starting in February, the KBers are doing a Shawl Knitalong, ordering yarn from Knit Picks and working off a common pattern from the book "A Gathering of Lace." It's a really beautiful, spiral patterned shawl, and I decided I'm going to go in on that. It'll be nice to create something pretty and have instant help along the way.

And off topic, I've officially started planning and training (well, in my way) for the Avon Walk! I got the 2006 handbook and T-shirt this week, have been watching what I eat, doing yoga in the evenings to get to know my body, and making lists to prepare. I won't start fundraising hardcore til at least February, because it feels kind of funny when I just got done begging for Autism, but I'm not scared about my money goal yet. Ask me again around August :)

Warm fuzzies

Knitting for other people can be trying if you're not a deadline person. But I just got a nice dose of gratitude from a non-knitter and boy, did it feel good! My coworker Shawna is about 5 weeks away from her first daughter. I've always had a thing for this girl; she's a luminous beauty with a smile that lights up a room. So I decide to try my hand at something new, a simple hat and booties from an old Creative Knitting magazine. These projects work up really fast, and I'm delighted by that instant gratification feel that you just don't get from a poncho or a throw. I mean, a booty with concentration is a 2-evening job, and once you get decreasing on the hat, it's like, holy crap, it's a hat! I got her some onesies from her registry too, wrapped everything and gave it to her today. She was so delighted! Showed the hat and booties off to everyone around us. Makes me glad I have 2 more babies to knit for, because I can't wait to tackle some more booties. I want to find that Zoe Mellor book that has like, 50 variations on a bootie pattern...maybe I'll check ILL for it.

Finally got moving again on Mom's shawl, and just started (like 1 row in) on Cozy from Knitty. Also thinking of doing the shawl knit-a-long, now that I've seen a better pic...it's a beautiful nautilus pattern from the book, A Gathering of Lace.

Resolutions

I do love a good holiday as much as the next gal, but with Christmas, it's SUCH a relief when it's past. Even though I'm back at the snore that we call work and the house is an ever-loving mess, it's a relief to be back to normal.

Decided to do Mom's shawl in 2 or 3 panels because I just don't have it in me to rip out an entire skein's worth of work, which is what I'd have to do if I decided to fix it and follow the pattern. It'll probably come out a little wonky, but it'll work up rather fast. I also want to start Cozy by Knitty in that rose-colored Wool Ease, a baby blanket with the off-white Encore, and more baby booties for the potential critters in my life. Finished the hat and booties for Shawna's baby; I'll buy a little something from her Target registry to round out the gift, and then I can focus on Terra and Kara.

Alexa got the poncho and claims to like it :) Still deciding what to do with the White Buffalo I purchased...I have 4 pucks of turquoise (gorgeous!!) and one puck of slate that'll make a nice border on something. I'm thinking Cape May from Knitty, but I don't like or trust the ribbon closure at the neck; would want to create something sturdier.

Knitting? What knitting?

Well, that's not entirely accurate, I did finish that one bootie. Already talked about it though, didn't I?

Well, the silly holiday season has me hopping. Not sure I picked up needles all weekend, we were too busy figuring out holiday purchases and such. I'm looking forward to driving up there Thursday, may actually get some needle time in.

Haven't heard from Alexa, which means a) mr. poncho hasn't arrived yet thanks to the good ole holiday postal backups, b) it has arrived and she's as crazed as I am with the holiday and family excrement to email, I mean, heck, a toddler and a baby are hard enough to juggle without the biggest honkin' holiday of the year staring us in the face, or c) it's arrived, it's far uglier than she expected, and she needs to purchase a new thesaurus before writing to spare my feelings. Not too paranoid, am I?

I'm such a dolt sometimes. I increased the needle size on Mom's shawl, because I just couldn't deal with the concept of working on 10½s after months of working on 13s, but do I decrease the number of cast-on stitches to compensate? Of course not, which explains why the first skein's worth looks so honkin' big! I'm thinking of binding off and knitting it in panels instead. We'll see.....

Baby stuff's cool!

So I think I've mentioned this before, but anyone who whines about how long and drawn out knitting can be, hasn't tried baby stuff.

I've made a hat and one bootie from this fairly simple pattern from an old issue of Creative Knitting, and it's got me so jazzed, I may have to make the sweater in the pattern too. I can't make it to Shawna's baby shower, because I'll be at a follow-up dental appointment with Les, but my guilt doesn't stick around because this first batch of baby stuff is for her critter, Baylee.

I'm so tickled that I pulled off that bootie. It almost has the shape of a mini Ugg, except there's basketweave at the top of the little shaft. And they turn out so quickly! The bootie was only a little more than a 2-evening knit for me, and the same thing for the hat--once you start decreasing, it's a snap! I want to buy that 50 Booties to Knit book by Zoe Mellor... the delusions of aptitude again.

It's not cold enough down here yet. It'll go 60s/40s H/L for a week, and then it'll rain and the humidity will shoot up and make me grumpy. They got ice in Atlanta, but I'm not getting my hopes up that our area of SC will see anything substantial over Christmas. Wouldn't mind wearing my wool tho', haven't had to yet this season, which makes me quite glad I got that fleece coat from my cousin Niki. If you're into vintage and vintagesque clothing, check out her selection at http://www.classiccloset.com.

Ahhh...new projects.....

The poncho is safely in the mail, well, hopefully, considering it's the holiday season, and thoughts can then turn to all the other crap I'd love to be knitting...

Anyone who thinks that crocheting is better because it's faster, needs to try their hand at knitting a baby hat. Those little suckers should be in the dictionary under "instant gratification." Granted I think the brim was tricky at first, because it was my first try at a basketweave not looking like crap, but once I hit the point of decrease and got my hands on some DPNs, it was finished in like, 1 hour tops!

And that's sweet, because now I have 3 babies to knit stuff for...my coworker Shawna, my knitting pal Terra, and my sis-in-law Kara! That one took some time to wrap my head around...I was out of my head with jealousy, and it's hard to work through those emotions when the 1-more-year-moratorium-on-procreation is entirely your own doing. I want to be healthy, we're in lousy shape financially, so I figured signing up for the Avon walk was a good way to fundraise for an excellent cause and getting into baby shape at the same time. I ache to have a child, but I know we'll be better off and happier for the wait.

Soo...plunge into knitting projects! Try to knit Mom's shawl in the next 2 weeks. Start a baby blanket for Shawna (she's first in line) and maybe some booties, if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong on knitting in the front and back of a stitch. I want to teach myself some lacework too, maybe that diamond pattern shawl that Lion Brand has, but without the Homespun, just seems to me that knitting lace in Homespun would be an exercise in frustration. Knock off some of the Wool Ease Sportweight projects I've been wanting to do too.

And then next week.....::grin::

Done!

As in mailed! Sent it off yesterday via USPS parcel post with $100 worth of insurance just for grins, and some prayers that it arrives at Alexa's unscathed. The holiday season at the U.S. Postal Service tends to fetch up images like the commercial with the kid who bagging groceries by slam-dunking the watermelon on top of the eggs, and then bubblewrapping the coffee. While I sort of agree with that notion, it still makes me nervous, like not being able to personally deliver the stuff to A., while at the same time certainly not wanting to be there when she opens it...I mean, what if it's completely not what she had in mind? ACK! No thank you, I'll be over in this corner playing with the girls while simultaneously keeping my hands over my ears and singing LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!!

So I busy myself with new projects, like Mom's shawl, which I really don't know if I can get done by Christmas, and the 3 babies I get to knit for now. Shawna, a coworker, is such a luminous beauty, I have a crush on her. She's due to have a girl in February. Terra follows with her girl in March. And then there's Kara, my unmarried sister-in-law, who I'm insanely jealous of and have no right to be because I know by waiting, Les and I'll be better prepared and happier in the long run. She, on the other hand, will be lucky to still have her partner around by the time she gives birth. He has 2 of his own from Marriage #1 that he can't afford. Still, finding out she was pregnant has stirred such blackness inside me, that I just have to recognize it and move on, move closer to my goals of better financial stability and physical fitness.

Seriously though, DAMMIT!

Done!

It's a poncho! Well, honestly, it has the look of a serape, but it's all stitched together. The Vneck is still a little big, so I cinched it at the bottom just a bit, but just with a bit of White Buffalo, no knots, so it could be undone in a snap. She could always put a ribbon there to cinch it a bit, but since it's an honest Vneck, too much cinching would look funny. I'm still planning to make a triangle for her to block into the Vneck if desired.

The stitching together of it was interesting, and I remembered very quickly why I'd originally wanted to do it all in one piece. Was trying to sew it together with the White Buffalo, and the blasted stuff kept pulling apart! So I dug into my stash and stitched it together with a double strand of a really light beige (I think it was one Wool Ease and one Encore), and was very happy with the result, because it felt much more secure. Then naturally you could see the beige in spots, and while it probably blended fine, that wasn't good enough for me, so I went over it the next night with the White Buffalo. So it looks a bit hodge-podge to the critical eye, but you certainly can't notice the difference when looking at the wearer.

I'm going to try my darnedest to mail it Saturday, but I'm not sure I have a box big enough for everything...may have to scour the hallways here at work.

One week to go!

Man, I'm a slow knitter! I can't believe it's taken me 2 months to create 1 poncho. In my defense, I am still the sole breadwinner in our happy home, with Samhain activities, the Autism walk, and lord knows what else competing for my attention in those 2 months. But still...

But it's truly hit the home stretch, no more stalling. Thanksgiving was one long, relaxing knit fest...well, most of Thursday was taken up with me cooking...side dishes turned out a little strange, but the apple pie kicked ass! Then Friday through Sunday were spent on my butt, watching flicks, doing laundry, tidying a tiny bit, and knitting, not in that order. Last night, I finished the back (ok, almost finished, need to measure and probably throw 2 or 3 more rows in); tonight I'll sew them together. That'll be a neat trick, I'm a little concerned with how to create an unnoticeable, but incredibly strong seam with 6-ply unspun. I guess I'll just lay them back to back, wrong sides out, and stitch 'em together, and if it'll take 2 layers of stitches, even better. Tomorrow, I'm going to handwash it in the tub and find SOMEPLACE to lay it flat that doesn't smell like smoke...I'm pretty confident that it hasn't retained much odor, but I don't want to take any chances, will probably Febreeze it before it goes in the box. Thursday, I'm bringing it to Knitting Bitches to show it off and take some piccies, and Friday I'll mail it out. And start Mom's Yule prayer shawl the minute I leave the post office :)

Mom's the ONLY one getting knitted stuff for Yule; I just can't fit anyone/anything else in realistically. Maybe I'll make a list of stuff I would've liked to make people for Yule, and consider those birthday projects; but we're just too close to the dreaded holiday to make myself nuts over it. Plenty of other stuff to do that with...new recipes I'd like to try, budgeting for the next year so we can actually move out of Jax next November, getting Les back in school--I'd love to get him into classes next summer, get some of the remedial stuff out of the way, and our income certainly ought to be worthy of some financial aid, plus federal grants...what else? TRAINING!!! I haven't started eating smart or exercising yet; needed to get past this holiday, which is a crock, because now that we're past Thanksgiving, what'll my excuse be now, Christmas? No way! I just have to keep reminding myself of how out of shape I was in 2002, how lucky I was that the walk was cancelled after 1 day. Strained ankle notwithstanding, my body was one big throb that night. I don't have any trouble with determination at all, but my body needs to be in the necessary shape to make this walk a realistic venture. Waiting until my handbook and t-shirt come in, or until I can afford a cheap stopwatch and pedometer...well, those are just bullshit stalling tactics that won't help me at all come next October if I haven't dropped about 50 pounds. I'm not even looking to lose all the weight for this, but getting down to 2 bills would be a wise move.
Ok, less talk, more action. And since I'm at work, more editing!

I swear, I'm in the home stretch!

My anal retention set me back a day tops, but I'm still in the game. I discovered a goof Monday night about 3 inches too late. I was a goof that could've been passable probably, a single stripe in the border where I purled straight across that would've showed as a single groove amidst the garter stitching on the bottom right side of the poncho, facing out. Probably happened when I was at the park on Sunday with the gang; I spent the whole time there just relaxing, staring at Draken and Zoe to the point of stalkerism (Draken's 4, Zoe's 3--BEAUTIFUL kids), and knitting with about 2/3rds of my brain on the project.

So I hemmed and hawed, kicked myself, asked Les's opinion and received a fairly male response (what mistake?), thought about asking Alexa, and then determination kicked in and I frogged down to the goof. Reknit last night almost up to where I starting frogging, and it's all I plan to do tonight in between making about 4 loaves of bread (some white for us, wheat and french for the party). This week is busy and requires some careful planning--I have a half day Friday, then Mom's picking me up so we can go down to Orlando for the Autism walk. We hang with Meara that night, the walk is Saturday morning, and then I convinced Mom to drive back that day because Meara won't even be there (she's going to a wedding in Ocala) and I want to attend the dinner party that Lynn is throwing Saturday night. Knitting under the stars near her fire ring, good food and friends...I'm actually glad that Les's teeth surgery will keep us here at least through next year, because the crowd I've found is really special.

Some prayers for my sis-in-law's fortitude in the coming weeks...my bro is finally home from the Army to help her, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. She had to restrain Hunter earlier this week before school because he wouldn't get dressed and was being incorrigible, an unfortunate fact with autism regardless of upbringing. So she thinks he's under control, takes him out of the restraints and he kicks out, hitting her hand. She figured it was just bruised, turned out she fractured her thumb.

I have trouble imagining what she goes through on a daily basis, because if one of my kids were challenged, at least I'd be going through it with Les. Doesn't excuse the fact that we don't see enough of Hunter, but he's been so out of control the past couple of months with med detox and transition, that it'd be hard to do anything outside of routine with him anyway. There, assuaged my guilt for one more day...

Nose to the woolen grindstone

When I get quiet, it usually means I'm slackin', and this blog was no exception. But in my defense, it was much needed. White Buffalo makes for cramped hands and sore fingers, and I really should've built this sucker with slightly larger needles, but live and learn. So between Girls Day to Play on Saturday with Mom and relaxing on Sunday, no wool entered my hands. Last night however, I tackled mr. poncho with renewed vigor and got the border done and the body color started. If I work my tail off, which is my intention, I could be sewing the 2 pieces together and blocking it by the weekend. It doesn't really need to be blocked, but I'm giving it a really good washing once it's done. I don't trust it to dry cleaners, and I don't really smell any smokiness—I'm keeping the finished piece in the closet until I need it. But still, I'm making sure it's acceptable before it gets shipped.

Need to ask Alexa how she wants me to do the seam...I can do it with the body color yarn or with the contrasting yarn. Might look good in a criss-cross pattern with the contrasting yarn...might also look lame. Uncertain. Also need to ask my girls about what's a good, solid stitch to use for a seam that'll be holding the weight that this one will. I see the words "mattress stitch" on a lot of stuff, but not sure what it is.

The rest of the White Buffalo arrived! I now have 4 GORGEOUS pucks of turquoise to have my way with :) Also got one ball of a forest heather alpaca that is going to be a scarf for Les hopefully for Yule.

Home stretch!

Well, hopefully anyway...delusions of aptitude again :) Can probably finish the border and start the back body color tonight. Thinking ahead to whether I wash it before or after I stitch the 2 pieces together. Gotta ask her if she'd like the contrasting color on the shoulder seams. Thinking of knitting a triangular piece for covering the Vneck, but have no bloomin' idea how I'd attach big buttons to hold it...may do the triangle and leave the rest to her. Washing and blocking it all in one piece will be heavy as heck, but at least then it has the chance to form itself evenly, I think. That wooden coffee table would be perfect for laying it out when it's done.

KB tonight, yay! No ruthee, wah! Under the weather :( I'm feeling pretty good lately, but holding off the real training until I get my book and t-shirt in...did I mention that? I signed up for the Charlotte Avon Walk 2006!

Yarn Forward hasn't emailed me yet on the 2nd batch, may check their site and send them an inquiry. Damn holidays...am thinking that those mohair/wool blend balls that Teresa gave me would look good on Meara. Now just gotta figure out what to make. That's on top of Mom's prayer shawl and Les's scarf if the alpaca ever comes in, and what was that I promised myself about not going nutty about knitting for the holidays?