Woohoo! My computer is finally back up and running and I am elated.

After last week's knitting catastrophe's, I turned to felted bags. Three in one week. With eyelash and other noxious things. AND a Steven Tyler inspired novelty yarn horror of a scarf that is a good 10 feet long for a friend for her birthday. Normally, I'm not much into the mohair and eyelash but I have to admit I had a ball last week and now feel like getting back to the sweaters. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get Picasa downloaded and installed and then you get pictures!!!

Meanwhile, it looks like it's about ready to rain the proverbial cats and dogs. Just in time for Halloween. The only good thing about a possible Halloween rainout - OK two good things 1.) Bean is not quite old enough to grasp the complete concept of Halloween so while it may rain, it won't rain on her parade and 2.) she's been to three Halloween parties in the last week. She woke up this morning and told me she needed to get dressed for the party.

I ripped out the Rowan denim jumper today and started over. It's annoying, but the right thing to do. I'm going to knit on that and the last lonely sleeve of Meddlesome until both are complete and then I'm going back to Lopi and Clapotis.

Lara is going to wait until at least three out of those four are complete.

ARGH!!!!!

It's a bad day in LizWorld. Grace and I have had a permanent falling-out. I finished all the parts and seamed the top half and then put it on over my head and found out there is no point in completing the project because Grace and I do not suit. I knew this was a potential outcome when I began the project given that I am shorter and more curvy than the creator. The seams between the upper and lower fronts hit me in a highly unflattering way that will not improve with any amount of blocking. It wasn't a waste of time though. It was a very quick knit. I learned that I really don't like mohair at all (makes me cough and sneeze) and that light blue might be nice on other people but that the reason I tend to knit most things in reds is because I look vastly better in reds and other bright colors and that pastels and I don't get along too well. I looked in my closet and the only pastel item I own is one light pink tee shirt.

Hallowig has been consigned to the trash can. I screwed up the decreases to where I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on and decided I really didn't want to spend any more time on the project so I threw it away. I'd rather work on Clapotis and Lara. I still think it's a great idea and I will probably knit one for the Bean out of Cotton Ease later on, but this one is cursed. The Red Heart was too squeakly for me anyway. It just gave me the creeps. I'm not a complete yarn snob - see the aforementioned Cotton Ease. But Red Heart Kids is not winning my heart...

I finally cast on for the lower front of Grace. Only 4 more inches to go before the decreases. The candy-like seduction of the Summer Fruit Interlacements and Clapotis made me unfaithful to sweaters over the weekend. I'm making Grace one inch longer so I'm a little concerned about matching the front and the back. Usually, I'm fairly obsessive and count the number of rows I knit until a certain measurement, but with Grace, I've thrown caution to the wind. I've completed the upper fronts so once I hit around 6 inches on the lower front, I'm going to sew up the back and upper fronts and then continue to fit. I like seaming part of a sweater before I finish it anyway. Meddlesome is seamed on the left side and I still have a sleeve to go. Somehow, it makes knitting the last part of a sweater a bit easier because God knows I loathe that last sleeve, that last section of repeats for a shawl, the last bit of anything. It's not that I hate to finish a project, it's more that I am tired of said project and want to bury it for a bit. I can't let myself do that too often because I tend to bury things for years and even decades if I don't watch it.

Yesterday morning, we went to the State Fair of Texas. The Bean had a ball. A local grocery store had an adorable exhibit where the chikdren got to "work" on a farm. The whole process was pretend with paper mache fruits and veggies and fake animals, but it was so fun.. The children got an apron and a basket and then went to fill a bag with feed corn so they could feed the animals along the way. They also had to pick peaches, feed chickens and gather eggs, get wool from sheep, milk a cow, plant seeds and gather veggies and then take all their goods to the store to sell where they were given "money" with which they got to buy a snack and a drink. They concept was to teach them where their food comes from. Bean was a bit too young to get that point, but she loved the whole time. And they had little John Deere tractor tricycles! The children had to put a teeny bale of hay in the trailer part and then pedal around to where they could feed the sheep. I think we had as much fun as she did!

In fiber news, I couldn't resist the siren call of the Interlacements merino worsted that came Thursday and have completed Clapotis through one straight row. This stuff is like knitting with candy. I chose a color called Summer Fruit (does that mean that Clapotis is really Clafoutis?). Orange, pink, red, violet and a really dark purple. And boy is it soft. I can't believe it's all wool.

But back to Grace today. I still want to finish her by tomorrow. I'm going to finish Meddlesome and at least the yoke of the Lopi before I let myself cast on for Lara. I don't mind having 4 or 5 projects going because I don't always feel like working on the same project night after night. But I draw the limit at over 6. I know some people a reading this and saying , "FIVE?!?!?! You're nuts". My problem is that I will get bored and then I just knit as a race to the finish without really enjoying it. And if I make a mistake, I tend to just keep going so I can finish. If I have other projects, it's easier for me to correct the mistake and then put the project down for a bit until we are back on speaking terms. Meddlesome was Irksome a couple of weeks ago and by the time I finish Grace, it will have been downgraded back to Medley and I'll enjoy reworking the whole sleeve. OK, maybe tolerate is a better word but at least I won't be shoving it in the back of the closet until next year!

First of all, a big thank you to Annie for my first RAOK!!! She sent me two downloads from Audible.com. How cool is that? I think I'll get a couple of children's classics so the Bean and I can listen to them in the car. I'm getting a bit tired of Ralph's World.

The good news: I finished Chamomile in time for my Pitch game last night.

The bad news: I had food poisoning and would not have been able to go.

The good news: Pitch was moved to next Wednesday!!! I may even get Hallowig finished by then.

Hallowig and I have had a major parting of the ways. I finished Chamomile and decided to move on to Grace from Knitty. She's a fast knit. I should finish her this weekend barring another down day like yesterday. You know it's bad when you are too sick to even think about knitting.

My yarn for Clapotis came today! So that will be next after Grace. The re-do of the sleeve for the Meddlesome Sweater has been put on the back burner.

It sure seems like I'm knitting alot of things at once. I'm sort of a startaholic. Fortunately, I'm also a finish-aholic. I think I may be the only person in the world who actually enjoys seaming. To me, it's sort of magic. You have these funky little sweater pieces and suddenly, BOOM, it's a sweater! I wore Chamomile to my LYS on Monday and one woman who works there paid me the extremely high compliment of asking how much harder it was to figure out the slightly goofy ribbing pattern for knitting in the round. I didn't knit any of it in the round! She may have just been trying to make my day, but it worked.

Food poisoning is not fun.

Chamomile is complete!!! Yay. I decided not to knit the eyelet rows for the leather thong and just leave it open. With the moss stitch border, there is still plenty of space for a thong. Pictures soon. The rest of today is going to be spent doing killdisk on this computer and reloading everything because the system is eating itself. It's a combination of a virus that was suppodely removed and the system being 6 years old. Windows XP here I come.

I frogged Hallowig back to the point where I messed up and this time made a different mistake. Meh. I got my SSk and K2tog reversed. I'm not frogging it again. I'll just have funky curves on the decreases.

I also cast on for the last sleeve of Chamomile and completed the moss stitch ribbing and the first set of increases.

I'm most excited because I dug out the Lopi sweater I started for my mother about 10 years ago. I started my MBA while working full time and for that period of 3 1/2 years, I didn't knit. The sweater was abandoned. In the middle of a row, no less. So I figured out where I stopped and worked about 5 rows on it yesterday. If I work a few rows a day, I should have the yoke completed in a week or two. Then I get to cut the steeks and make up the button band. I'm in no hurry - it won't be cold enough here to wear a Lopi sweater ever. OK, maybe not until January. Texas isn't known for its snow, unless you live in the Panhandle.

Hallowig is complete!!! I made an error in the decrease rows so it's slighty wonky. I've already bound off so I'm trying to decide between my innate sense that hand-knitted things deserve the effort to make them right and the knowledge that this is sort of a joke item and it really won't matter that much. I'll probably fix it - it's only going to take and hour or so.

I'm very glad I knitted this pattern because I learned how to cast on in the middle of a project and how to do a three-needle bind-off. It was less intimidating to learn on Hallowig because I wasn't learning on $50 worth of sweater.

I think I'll go ahead and knit a 3/4 size for the Bean. I think I have plenty of yarn leftover. Then we'll see about fixing mine. But first, back to the sleeves for Chamomile!

Hallowig is thumping along nicely today. I've cast on the bangs. I need to have this one completed for a party next Wednesday. I'm also going to try it on the Bean and see if I can shrink the pattern to fit her. I figure it will be somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the adult size. If I have time, I may knit one for Hubster as well. I told him I was going to knit him some hair for the winter (he's bald).

Pictures will start emerging as soon as I figure out how to post them. I have the software; I just need an hour or so to sit down and actually do it. Probably tonight.

I'm also trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. Roast chicken is probably the winner. Preheat your oven to 450F. (If you don't preheat, your skin won't be all nice and brown and crispy.) Put your chicken on a pan and smear some olive oil on the outside of the bird and then salt and pepper. Put fresh or dried herbs (herbs de provence are nice) under the skin if desired. Put half a lemon in the breast cavity. Roast for 1 hour or until the leg joint wiggles easily. Very simple. Very yummy.

And sleeve one of Chamomile is finished!!!

I've been knitting alot over the past few months. I've been knitting off and on for the past 15 years. Note that I place "off" before "on". At some point this spring, it became on again with a vengance. I happened upon Knitty and then MagKnits and realized that, in my time away, things have changed.

So what am I working on currently? Well, I'm a bit of a startaholic. I tend to keep a number of projects going simply because I get bored quickly. I do bits and pieces and then end up with a ton of project finished at once and have to begin the process all over again. Hopefully, I'm working into a trend of having several projects at different stages of completion. This way, once I finish one project, I'm not also finishing three others!

The List:

Hallowig!
Chamomile from the Rowan Summer Tweed book in a pale, springy green (just in time for winter!)
A basic v-neck sweater in Berroco Medley - pattern cribbed from a few places with a few adjustments of my own.
A Rowan denim pinafore for my two-year-old from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Little Cherubs (the cherub part is sometimes debatable but it's a cute jumper-style dress)
Butterfly from Jane Ellison's Noro Knits 2 in Kureyon #124

In the queue:
Lara in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in red
Cate from La Bella Vita in Colinette Giotto

I should finish the first sleeve of Chamomile today and will hopefully finish the second sleeve by Wednesday.

I started sewing up the Medley v-neck last night and realized that one sleeve was two inches longer than the other. The yarn is really hard to frog so I ended up having to frog the whole damn thing. I'm almost out of yarn on this one, so it will be interesting to see what I come up with to finish the neckline. Probably just some single crochet.

The denim pinafore is a sad story. I finished one side and realized, with horror, that the needles in the size 6 bag were actually size 4 needles. I'm still debating whether to frog the whole thing and start over or just to make the same mistake on the other side. My gauge is oddly close to the mark and The Bean is very small for her age so I know it would fit. On the other hand, it's not right and I should fix it. Because I'll know. Ick.

I am loving Butterfly. I had a hard time deciding on the color and ended up knitting the left front in two different colors. 124 it is. That yarn and the yarn for Lara are on order but I've got most of the left front done!

Hallowig is fun to work on. I cast on for the bangs last night and will hopefully finish this week. Yes, I want to finish three projects this week. That means 2 1/2 sleeves, sewing up 1 1/2 sweaters (medley is sewn up to the blasted left sleeve and side), and making the crown of Hallowig. This week will show that I'm either delusional, or a much faster knitter than I think I am.