Achoo!

It's windy here. This means my nose is is trying to sneeze the rest of my body off.

In other news, several months ago, the people who live catty-corner to us sold their house. To some mysterious someones who have the yard mowed but have done nothing else. Nothing includes doing something so predictable as moving in. Last week, we found out why. They started cutting down trees. In our fair city, this means one thing - "Remodeling".

After listening to the dreamy sounds of chainsaws all last week, I was quite relieved when the tree-killers left. Then, it came to me in a stunning burst of clarity. I'm going to be living across the street from an effing CONSTRUCTION SITE! Just what I wanted for Christmas.

I don't begrudge the people their add-on - the house is about 1900 square feet (remember, in Texas we don't have basements) which is on the exceedingly small side. They'd just better not have construction people parking in front of my house for months. (OK, maybe there is a bit of grudge as I'm going to have to listen to it.)

No, I'm not on the neighborhood welcoming committee. Why do you ask?

Cate

There once was a sweater named Cate
Who suffered a terrible fate
She sat in a drawer
'Cause her seams were a horror
But now that they're fixed Cate is great


Stopped February 2005.
Finished November 2005.

Seaming ribbon yarn is a miserable thing



ETA: Cate is from the Colinette book La Belle Vita. Knit in Giotto. I think the colorway is Raspberry.

Thankful

Bean came home from preschool yesterday wearing a "necklace" of the thing she is thankful for. To wit:

"I am thankful for Cinderella, and Mommy and Daddy. I am also thankful for all the lions in the whole wide world."

My child rocks.

Daddy is on vacation this week, so today we played Pretty Pretty Princess. I'm thankful for being married to a man who can play Pretty Pretty Princess and honestly have fun doing it. I'm also thankful that we have a babysitter tonight so we can go to dinner and then we get to GO SEE A BAND! Actual live music. Something we used to do all the time and now do almost never. Some friends are playing at a bar not far from out house so...

Further Feral Follies

The back of Nyuck-nyuck (howeverthehell you pronounce it) is supposed to feature the same enlarged fair isle pattern as the front. Now, I'm not too sure that's going to be flattering on me since it will just cut me in half, so I'm just going to put one diamond in the center of the shoulders for some flair and leave the rest of the back plain.

I was kind of hoping I could wear the new vest on T-day, but I have to go to the store, make a pie, and I have not yet cast on for the back of the vest. Also, there is alot of finishing on the vest due to all the ribbing. So, we'll see.

Meanwhile, there has been some more finishing going on. Norma commented on the quantity of FOs in yesterday's post, but most of it was due to lazy picture slacking. Greensleeves was finished a couple of weeks ago and I finished Kepler I think on Thursday of last week. The mitts were quick. So, while yes, it was a bit of fast knitting on Nyuck nyuck, that's about it.

I'm going to go take a nap. Happy Thanksgiving where ever you are. It may be next week before I post again. There is a bit of familial stress regarding the festivities and, to be completely honest, I'd rather sit at home at cook my own damn dinner rather than participate but I guess we'll suck it up and go. At least it's early and we can come home and have fun in our own house.

Warning, there are pictures of me ahead that were taken *before* I'd had a cup of coffee. Plus, My husband somehow seems to think that taking pictures from underneath a subject is somehow flattering.

Kepler

Rowan Summer Tweed

Kepler is a small and a half. I didn't quite get the row gauge, but the sweater fits beautifully. I knit to measure rather than being a slave to the pattern.

I'd love to be able to be a perfectionist knitter and figure out everything ahead of time, etc. But there is a certain headiness to rushing in headlong and saying To Hell With It. Especially when it seems to work out in the end the majority of the time. And, it's not like I'm afraid to rip if I don't like the results.


Greensleeves

The Three-Skein-Kludge (lifted from the OSW)

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Lousy picture, but the back is a tad longer as well. I also changed the seed stitch border to ribbing.







Soooooo, what do you do when you finish two KALs?

Texas Mitts

aka Gardening Mittens by Louisa Harding.

Impressions.


Friday, the yarn was purchased for this. Which, I think, fits with the new Norwegian Knits-Along. OK, it's actually Swedish and it's Poetry In Stitches, but I want to knit it anyway. I've discovered that the key relationship between me and KALs is to start the project and then see if there is a KAL that fits it. Nevermind the fact that I don't know how to pronounce Nykvarn, that it's a guy's vest, and that I purchased Nature Wool rather than Nature Wool Chunky because I'd like to be able to wear the damn thing more than twice a year (unlike Lara which is Too Darn Hot).

Here's where I am.

My husband has been walking around all weekend talking about my "feral sweater". No, I am not making this up. I had to speak slowly and clearly at which point the lightbulb went off over his head and he finally Got It. I know I'm from Texas, but my accent is not even close to being that bad. Sheesh!

Baby, it's cold outside.

OK, it's really only 54 but, considering it was 74 this time yesterday, I'm having trouble adjusting.

I completed Kepler but, as I would like to post a picture of a garment with me actually inhabiting it, pictures will have to wait. It's still pink.

I also completed one of the Texas Mittens (aka the Gardening Mittens). Fun to knit. Off to knit the other one. Yes, I probably could manage to take a picture of my hand by myself but, when the weather blew in so did a massive allergy attack. I'm a bit bumfuzzled by too much Benedryl so I think I'll lay around with Bean and watch Schoolhouse Rock and knit "glubs".

Under the weather

In a literal sense. We woke up to a balmy 75F. It's now 61. The temperature has fallen two degrees since I sat down at my desk a minute or so ago. The low is supposed to be 36. We've (obviously) already had the high. This is typical Texas weather but it always stank when I was working because I'd forget to look at the forecast and it would be nice when I left for work. I'd walk out to my car after work and about get frostbite because I wouldn't have a jacket (or, commonly, because I'd left my "emergency jacket" in the car). On one hand, it's going to be sweater weather so "Yay"! On the other hand, could we at least have some fall? Because this will last a couple of days and then it's back to the high 60s.

Kepler is almost kemplete. Just need to seam one side and then attack the pesky neck. I'm having the card group to my house tomorrow, so I have some motivation for a new sweater.




Gardening Mittens from Louisa Harding.

Love the pattern, but it's meant for someone with much longer hands and fingers. I left out the last two rows on the thumb and it's still going to be too long, so I'm going to rip it back another two rows and repeat the bind-off.

I'm also reducing the remaining length of the hand by half.

Sake does not improve your knitting

Yesterday night, I started the Gardening Mittens in the new Louisa Harding accessories book (allowing me to join the Warm Hands KAL with no pain). I'm doing them in the same color of Impression as The Bean's hat rather than the recommended Kimono Angora. I'm not a bunny fan.

Kepler seaming and collaring was further derailed by sushi.

Never complain about running into a group of cardiologists (who have just come in from Japan) at your favorite sushi bar. Your culinary experience will be richly rewarded and your bill will not reflect that experience.

Derailed

I managed to pick up the stitches for the second sleeve of Kepler yesterday, but that's about it. My husband had a late meeting at work (because management really endears people by scheduling meetings at 5.30pm on Friday), so the Bean and I went to my parent's house for dinner. We are getting ready to leave and I am looking forward to a long evening of knitting when J. calls me and tells me that his clients are taking him to dinner at a very swanky steakhouse. And I'm invited. My mother immediately talked Bean into spending the night at their house. I went home, did a quick change, packed a bag for the Bean and we popped back by to drop that off and went out for steak. We weren't even seated until 9pm. On the one hand, that stinks for everyone else. Lucky for me, that meant that by the time dinner was served at 10pm, I was ready for a snack ;>

One of the guys was asking me about Texas wine and I told him that there is one winery that is producing some amazing stuff. Becker. Lo and behold, the wine list has the exact wine I was raving about so they ordered a bottle. Everyone was really shocked at the quality of the wine - it beat out the Super Tuscan and Chateau Margeaux that were also ordered. All in all, it was a fun night and now we are on our way to pick up Bean.

And then I get to partake in a bit of personal improvement that I've been needing for a while - glasses.

I Wanna Be Sedated

I may have put the matches away a tad early. Although the Summer Tweed appeared to be fine as I knit the individual pieces, the final product is looking like it would have benefited from some wool content. Ah well, I had the yarn in stash and I'm less than thrilled with the color as well so it'll be a good knocking around sweater. And give me the excuse to buy wool with which to knit another one!

Don't get me wrong. This will be a nice sweater. But, if I have a lesson learned to impart to y'all, it's that Rowan Summer Tweed works really well for the designs in the Summer Tweed booklet and not as well for anything else. The seaming will get you on Kepler. A yarn with some stretch would have made fitting the pieces together a snap.

It was a close thing.

A very close thing.

But, I did, indeed, finish the *^@$&%@$#* sleeve bands for Kepler. All I have left is some stockinette and that nasty applied I-cord and I'm done. Oh, and seaming. But I lurve me some seaming so that is the part I look forward to!



Still Life of a Weekend.
That's a huge bucket of mix for frozen Cosmopolitans (and some damn nice bourbon that snuck it's way into the photo).Those Cosmos taste like a lickered up Slurpee. I won the bucket playing Bunco. As the worst Bunco player that night, I won the booze. Not an unhappy moment but I paid for it by having to play Bunco in the first place. Nuff said about me and Bunco.


Back to Kepler. I'll be dipping into the Cosmos during Survivor tonight.

Lobotomy

The Ramones song of the day!

I've been in a grumpy mood for about the last week. (No, it's not PMS.) I think it's just a fall thing. The weather is still pretty warm (80s) and I have to have the air conditioning on at night because I've been having some pretty major hot flashes. Which might account for the grumpiness ;>

I have knit. Namely, a One Skein Wonder that turned into the Three-Skein-Kludge (TSK). I extended the sleeves to elbow length, knit the back a bit longer, and changed the edging from moss stitch to 2x2 ribbing. Knit from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in my favorite chartruese.

Now I am going to get back to Kepler. Because the Knitting Gods are NOT PLEASED. I have started about three other versions of Purple People Eater because I am obsessed with knitting artic-ready clothing despite the very real fact that it's going to hit 90F today. None of them took. Today, it hit me. I keep straying from Kepler to knit other things and most of those other things are turning out very badly.

Sparkle Socks? Too small.
PPE? No love.
River? Have to tink a few rows.
Even the TSK is a bit on the tight side in the sleeves. Not so much I can't wear it, but definitely about as small as I can take.

Ahem.

So, I am going to do my damnedest to knit only on Kepler until she's done. I have one sleeve band, two sleeves, and the finishing. Not that much. I'm going to try to get the sleeve band completed today. That leaves two simple stockinette sleeves which shouldn't take too long. Finishing will be sort of a bitch because I loathe applied I-cord, but I'll get over it.

I have to finish Kepler or I'm doomed to a life of crappy knits.

Busy.

Very.

The Bye-Bye Sweater

Purple People Eater is no more. PPE was a bulky zippered cardigan with deep ribbing knit from Muench Naturwolle. I was about two inches from finishing the final sleeve. Now, it's bye-bye.

I wasn't feeling the love.

I designed the pattern correctly.

I seamed all of the sweater minus that final sleeve to check fit. Perfect. It would have been a very nice sweater. And I would have never worn it. Something was bugging me about the sweater. I think, at the end of the day, a short person has to be extremely careful about bulky yarns. Otherwise, you look like a fireplug.

I checked my gauge to see what other patterns might be available. 11 1/2 sts over 4 inches. Hmmm. I looked at Josephine from the Fall Knitty. The gauge is off a bit, but I think I could make it work given that it's an oversized sweater. I don't have quite enough yarn, but remember the short. I can easily delete a few inches from the length. But all those cables. And the woman modeling the sweater seems to be on the taller and thinner side. I'm on the short and average side. Not sure those cables are going to do a damn thing for me.

How about Blackberry? The cutaway style looks great on me. I can omit the bobbles (loathe bobbles - great on children but not for me) and I end up with bulky cables on my skinniest part (arms) and a figure-flattering sweater everywhere else. Plus, given that it's not that cold in Texas and this is warm-as-hell yarn, there isn't so much coverage for the sweater that a grand mal hot flash is going to take me out the second I put the sweater on! We have a winner!

What did I do this weekend? A hat. That fits! If you knit any of the hat patterns in the Louisa Harding accessories book, keep in mind that the hats are teeny. Good thing I didn't knit it for me.