D is for...

DONE!

My first ever completed adult-sized sweater.









(Note - my hair is wet, not greasy, and yes, I should have been standing up straight but I wasn't.)

Four Seasons Eyelet Cardigan, from Classic Elite City Park
Less than 16 full skeins of Classic Elite Four Seasons, 70% cotton/30% wool, in Blueberry
Knitpicks Options needles, mostly 4mm (US6), though I think I blew it and used a 7 for the back)
Started in September, 07; finished February 08
Buttons from Grandma's Spinning Wheel.

I love this cardigan, and I can't wait until it gets hot so I can wear it (in the office, where the AC is in the control of a horde of menopausal, hot-flashing women). When the Bug saw it yesterday, he said, "Wow, look at THAT!" Kinda made my whole day.

So. Very. Close.

Seams are sewn, buttons are installed.



I LOVE these buttons. (Click to embiggen.) It's a good thing, too, since they are sterling silver and were stupidly expensive (for buttons), but I think they look wonderful on the sweater and I couldn't be happier.

Except for one little thing.



Surgery is scheduled for this afternoon.

And a few Bug and sky pictures, because I have been remiss in my duties to tell you that my kid is the cutest ever.



Honkshu.



Neon frosting on face courtesy of Daddy.



Watching Mama with her sweater? BOR.ING.



Late sunset on eclipse day last week.

Ice on the car

and greenery on the ground.



Can you see the eensy leaves? It was darn cold (for here) when I took that picture, but the tiny leaves are so happy. It's almost spring planting season 'round these parts.

And courtesy of KMKat:

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100% Punctuation: 100% Vocabulary: 100% Spelling: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Thay dint tell me wich wurd I spelt rong.

Yesterday I went for knit night and starting the seaming of my cardigan. Given the amount of chatter that went on, I only got the two shoulder seams done, and I was happy to get that much finished. Maybe tonight I will get a sleeve set in.

And also, HOORAY! Today is the first day in WEEKS that I have been able to breathe through at least one nostril on a consistent basis! This of course means that I am due for a big fat head cold in, oh, about a week. Sigh.

ETA: remember Ceige (scroll to the bottom), the recipient of your knitterly mojo? She took a knitting class last night and this morning I received the following text: "I keep wanting to pull my knitting out of my bag to practice but I need to finish my school work first. I think I'm in trouble." WOOHOO!

B is for Bleargh.

Don't you think that should be a town name in Ireland somewhere?
No, alas, it is just bleargh. We skipped the Disneyland trip in favor of recovering from double-pneumonia (DH), processing a lovely head cold (me) and being a giant poop (the Bug). There was as little movement as possible, though it IS hard to rest when one's son thinks one is a jungle gym (or worse, in DH's case, that his lap is a trampoline. I guess Bug will be an only child now.)
The rest of the weekend was spent alternately keeping the child out of the bag of rice - nothing says fun times like broadcasting rice throughout the house - and knitting. I finished the pieces of the eyelet cardigan and sortof blocked them, and I started on the first of the Year of the Hat hats. It is actually coming out quite nicely in the yarn I posted last week. I just have the decreases left to do and all will be well until I have to think about pattern and yarn for February's hat. I think I will start seaming my cardigan tonight - it got darn chilly out there, and rainy to boot, and my ONE cardigan (store bought! oh the shame) is falling apart. Too bad I don't have one more day of weekend - I could probably have it mostly done if I did.
Sadly, no pictures since I spent my days lying about, drinking tea and Airborne and using copious tissues, and listening to the DH cough. It's true, B is also for Bad Bad Blogger. Mebbe tomorrow there will be enough light for some pictures.

PS - I also signed up for Sock Madness 2! Jo, are you ready?

Monday Monday, can't trust that day.

It is Monday. It is A Monday. So far, things aren't too terribly awful, but DH got a little news on the job front that was actually not so good. It was the job we wanted, but they changed the location from Denver (YAY) to Houston (NOWAY). The whole state of Texas repels me like maggots. I know there are people who love it, but I am not one of those. Sigh.
Knitting has been happening, but photography hasn't. A friend at work just had a baby, which I have known was coming for about six months now. When did I start the sweater? Why, last week, of course. I'm doing Devan from Knitty, in handpaint from MCY. I got it on eBay last year, but don't see it now. Anyway, it's adorable manly colors, ranging from navy and dark brown to a lovely muted gold. DH saw it and said, "Why didn't you make me socks like that?!" Sigh. I have two fronts done, and a tiny bit of the back. I'm a little concerned because the contrast yarn is a tad thicker, but I think the gauge is close enough that the pieces will still fit. If not, reknitting the back of a baby sweater, even on 2.5mm needles, isn't a killer.
I have also started the second sleeve of the eyelet cardigan. It would be going much quicker if I had been paying attention, but last night I had to rip most of it back and reknit what I'd done. (Stupid increases and stitch count anyway.) I haven't fixed the cap of the first sleeve - I think I might wait until I get to the cap on the second sleeve and fix them both together.
Not much else has happened, knitting-wise. The Cheshire Cat stole is still sitting, waiting to be ripped and restarted on larger needles. The socks sit, like they always do when something bigger/better/with a deadline comes along. I still have ideas about finishing Faina to wear at Christmas when we visit the inlaws. If I finish Cheshire Cat before we leave I'll finish Faina in the car. If not, well, it's anyone's guess.
To make up for the lack of photos, let's see if I can find a good Bug pic.



Daddy makes a comfy pillow.

A day late and a dollar short

Well, I have a slightly better outlook on the job situation now. Nothing has really happened, but we came up with a plan that will ultimately get us where we want to be, even if it's a little later than we'd hoped. Thanks for the commiseration.
I am still not sleeping well. Last night I was exhausted and went to bed at about 8:30, after blocking my cardigan pieces.



Laying there in the dark, my mind refused to settle down and I suddenly figured out what the sleeve cap instructions were SUPPOSED to say to make the measurements on the diagram correct. Sigh. The way I did the caps made them almost fit, so I think if I rip them and fix them according to the new, revised instructions, they'll probably be fine. I'm glad I left a long tail. (On an only slightly related note, is there such thing as a right-leaning decrease on the purl side?)

The Bug has no problems sleeping.

Sigh. Again.

I have finished the sleeve. I am not entirely sure it will fit the armscye. It lines up pretty well against the unblocked back and front of the cardigan, but I am still unsure. I plan to block all three pieces tonight and sew them together to try it on for fit before I knit the next two pieces. I'd rather rip one sleeve cap than two, you know.
Still no news on the job front for DH. He's been doing a little temporary work, which should keep us floating until we hear something from one of the million jobs he's applied for, but the stress is getting to me. I don't do uncertainty well, nor do I wait well. Zen I am not. We got so excited about the idea of moving to Colorado that the waiting has been even more of a downer than usual. I have wanted to live in CO for years but always felt trapped by my job, the house, etc. The idea that it could be a possibility was intoxicating, and now I think I'm hungover. Oh well. It will happen or not, but something will change soon. In addition to that, there are Big Things happening at my job today, and my group was not included on the announcement. We are all hoping that was just an oversight and that IT just missed something. GAH!
In an effort to distract you from the fact that I am boring and a serious downer, I present Mama's Little Flirt.

Whoa, Nelly!

Last week when I posted that I'd finished one front of my cardigan in a weekend, BigAlice said I was a speedy knitter. So, why did it take me a whole week of steady knitting to NOT finish one sleeve? I have never made a sweater using the traditional construction before, so I thought the sleeves went faster than the body. Now I know why people talk about sleeve island.
Anyway, in spite of some funky instructions on the sleeve cap, I hope to finish it tonight. (Tell me, if your gauge is stated to be 28 rows/4 inches, and there are 25 rows in the sleeve cap, how do they think it's going to come out to be 5.25 inches tall?) This weekend was beautiful, with crisp mornings and breezy cool days that I love about fall in the southwest. I was wishing I'd finished it already so I could wear it in the mornings and evenings. This week we're supposed to be back to the mid to high 90s during the day, though, so I still have some time. Sigh.
I would have some pictures for you, but the Bug's newest obsession is blocking me from using my computer. My desk is in the living room, and any time I sit down to read emails or blogs (or download photos), there's a little Bug on my leg saying, "Airplane? Airplane?" Sometime last week I got the brilliant idea to find videos of airplanes taking off and landing and let him watch them while we cooked dinner. It worked SO well that now he climbs up in my chair and asks for airplanes every ten minutes or so. I didn't get much computer time this weekend at all.
In lieu of knitting pictures, I have a Bug photo. Our friends C and J have a son Bug's age - we met at a class at the Birth Center here. At S's birthday, Bug discovered this cool tunnel they have, and we could hardly get him out of it. They decided Bug needed one for HIS birthday a few weeks ago. (It's wed and lello.) It flattens like a sunshade , but he cries when we try to put it away.



ETA: Thanks for all the good thoughts about DH's job situation. He had his phone interview on Friday and got a definite maybe. We're hoping he gets a call today or tomorrow for a face-to-face interview with the partners, who'll be in our town this week. It wasn't the answer we were both hoping for, but the job is still in play. More good wishes would be appreciated at this time!

Aaaahhh, weekend

I needed it. I'm still pretty stressed out, but I got to chat with some friends, have some downtime, and knit a whole lot, and I feel better. DH's job search is still ongoing, but we have hopes that a few resumes he put out will bear some fruit. Or a paycheck, that would be even better. We are making plans for the future and I'm pretty excited about them.
I still feel overwhelmed and restless. I always feel that way this time of year - after so many years of school, I feel like I should be learning new things, going new places, and meeting new people. I realized the other day that I've lived in Tucson longer than I've lived any other place in my whole life, and I'm kinda over it. Couple that with job stress and money stress and I'm just wishing I could drive away and start over somewhere. You know, with The Bug and DH. I always enjoyed the fall weather in southern Arizona, until I started reading all these knitting blogs from you New Englanders and others, and now I'm unsatisfied. I want colors, and crisp air, and frost on the flowers in the mornings.
On the knitting front, I have made progress on the eyelet sweater. Yesterday I knit compulsively on it. It was bizarre - I was actually bored and restless, but I couldn't put it down.



Here is the back, and the front I finished this morning. I had to rip a few rows at the top to get the armscye to match the back, but it lined up pretty well, especially given that this is my first sweater. (Well, I've knit kids' sweaters, but those were knit from the button band around.) The front is roughly four days' work - two evenings, one full Saturday, and a tiny bit this morning. Compare that to four days' work (evenings only) on the Cheshire Cat stole:



Holy cow that's a crappy picture. Oh well, I'm too lazy to take another. Taken Friday after I cast on for the front of the eyelet sweater. (This was the comparison photo I was trying to describe last post.)
Anyway, I can tell I'm going to have to put in some serious time on the stole to have a chance of finishing it before Christmas.

Since my gauge is off on the cardigan (which, happily, allows me to knit the largest size and have it fit my extra large measurements), I think the pattern is wrong in places (notably the neck shaping for the fronts and the numbers to bind off at the shoulder, so far) and I'm messing with the armscyes, I think I will knit a sleeve next to see how they'll fit. I do wish there was some spreadsheet somewhere that would calculate the sleeve caps based on the armscye measurements (you know, a FREE spreadsheet) but in all my searching I only found visual aids that required graph paper and manual counting. I might try that, or I might just try to fudge.
Mmmmm, fudge.
Oh yeah, and go look at these. Y'all, that's sugar.

Where did my summer go? Why isn't fall here yet?

Yup, that's me. Always complaining. Summer goes by too quickly, but why isn't the fall weather here yet?
I am getting a handle on the work situation. The drama queen that was MDfC (the F stands for "former", by the way) had me all worked up, but a few days of digging into the work, and a few conversations with other more reasonable people have shown me that it's not nearly as bad as she made it out to be. I'm still exhausted and have much work left, but no one will kill me if I don't get it done by Friday. I told the manager it wouldn't be done, explained why (it helped that I'm waiting on other people who are doing Far More Important Things this week) and told him I'd get it finished as soon as possible. All better. Why she couldn't have done that all those months in the past when she was near tears, sighing heavily with all the terrible burdens of work she had to do, I will never know, nor care.
I have cast on one of the fronts of the eyelet sweater. This time I remembered to use a larger needle for the cast on, so the scallops are sweet and lovely and nicely defined. Tonight is lace night, though, so unless I finish the border of the stole, it will be all pink cashmere at my house tonight. Oh, poor me, I have to play with cashmere.
I found it mildly entertaining to note the difference between the beginning of the sweater and the beginning of the stole.

Drat. I took a picture last night, but the internet was being funky and wouldn't upload. I just remembered. Oh well, picture 8 rows of worsted blue yarn, which is wider than 12 rows of laceweight pink yarn. Master (Mistress?) of the Obvious, that's me.

Still sputtering

MDC has gone away, and I have been graced with the maintenance of two of her projects. Have you ever looked at someone else's work and wondered how they manage to dress themselves without help? I am so angry at the state of the work left for me and the deadline under which I find myself, I sputtered to my remaining two coworkers for more than an hour on Friday. (Their main comments, aside from offering me help, bless them, is that they're both glad she didn't actually DO anything to the projects they each got.) I am furious that either she was so incompetent or so unethical as to leave the work in the state it's in, with a deadline in FIVE DAYS. Had I been working on these projects from the beginning, I would be wrapping them up by now. Instead, there are still things undone, unedited, and unproduced, and not one single bit of paper trail to let me know which items are complete and which still need work. She even went so far as to tell me, in front of the boss, that she was sure it would be okay if I was a week late. !!!!!!!!!!!! My boss's eyes about popped out of her head. (Followed by the pointed comment to me, "Don't you be the reason this deadline slips." No kidding.) I have tried all my life not to hate, but I'm losing the battle with this one. Thailand can keep her, the useless waste.
Ahem.
I finished the back of the cardigan on Friday night (or Saturday. Was it Saturday? I can't even remember now.) I LOVE the way it looks. I held it up against my back and it's just the right length, and hopefully the right width, though since it's stockinette it was hard to judge with the edges curling. I didn't immediately cast on the fronts or the sleeves, though. I'd promised myself that I could cast on the cheshire cat stole by BigAlice. I went scrounging for my 2.75mm needle, and ended up cleaning out my entire project corner. Said corner was 5% projects, 15% books and magazines, %5 leftover yarn balls, and 75% trash. Why didn't I take care of that months ago? Anyway, it's all tidy, and after I'd finished I found the stupid &*)(@*&(%&*)# needle on my desk. Sigh. I cast on a little while ago and was unreasonably entertained by the looooooooong row of tiny furry pink stitches on my needles. Can I just say something? (Yeah, like you can stop me.) I love the beginning of a new project. I love the possibilities of yarns, fibers, patterns, in new and exciting combinations, or old standbys. I love the potential. And I love knitting. Lace (whooda thunk?), cables, socks, sweaters, I love it all. But I bloody hate casting on.
So, since I'm clearly in such a fine mood, I suppose I'll cast on for one of the fronts of the sweater. Then I can get moving and enjoy myself for a little while longer when the pattern finally gets going.
As a reward for making it through all that ranting, pissing, moaning and whining, I present one of Bug's favorite foods: peet-zee.

Just another manic... Thursday?

Doesn't have the same ring, does it?
Well, my life has exploded. MDC (most despised coworker) is moving away. HOORAY! To another whole continent! HOORAY! I'm pretty sure I won't be able to hear the crunching of the granola all the way from Thailand. BUT. I got two of her products to support. That brings my total up to SIX. Soon, one of those will go away, and I will have all kinds of free time, because I will only have five. Assuming I still have a job at all. Sigh.
DH is in the construction business. He vacillates between "YAY, I'm going to make so much money you can retire and we'll pay off the house in five years" and "OMG, we're going to be in the poor house and I have to find new jobs NOW - how do you feel about Las Vegas?" Sigh.
Someone told the Bug that it was okay to be terrible because he's two. Sigh.
At least the knitting is okay. The eyelet sweater is an insanely enjoyable knit. I'm getting a little bored after 23 inches, but I'm almost finished with the back. I think I have about three more inches to go. It's quite pretty, and I am looking forward to wearing it. The Cheshire Cat Stole is breathing down my neck, though, and the pink cashmere is whimpering when I get near it, asking to be cast on. I have decided I will allow myself to start it when the back of the cardigan is finished, before I cast on for a front or sleeves. I have a small hope that I will get it finished for Christmas so I can give it to MIL. I got the bicone beads (a deep glittery rose that I absolutely love, despite my general aversion to pink) so the only thing stopping me is willpower. Willpower is not my strong point, so I need to finish up the cardigan back soon.
Anyway, yes, I said it. Christmas. It's coming. Fast. Next week is the end of September. (How the hell does that happen? Sheesh.) I have very modest plans for crafting this Christmas. One stole, several knitted wire candleholders like these, and a quilt. The quilt top is completed, and only needs quilting (by machine, I'm not totally out of touch with reality) and binding. I think I can do it. Time will tell.

Bug thinks it's all good.

A random assortment

The weather is cooling down a little, but it's still not cool. (High 90s for the week.) The mornings and evenings are lovely, but the days are still pretty brutal, especially after the comparatively lovely weather in Montana. I spent all this past weekend in the house, knitting and spinning and letting the house go all feral on me. As a result of the heat and the mess, I am exhausted. (Have you ever noticed that when your house is messy, you feel more tired and restless?)
I knit on my eyelet sweater (from the Classic Elite City Park collection) all day Sunday. I ripped what I'd started and restarted in a different size - my gauge was such that the extra stitches allowed me to knit their largest size as written, though I am making a few modifications as I go along. Most notably, I'll need to increase the armscyes and the length of the sleeves. I still love this pattern and this yarn.



Note: that's not a goldfish crumb, it's the model from the book, showing through one of the eyelets...

I am the worstest most awful sockpal ever. Nancy sent me TWO beautiful pairs of socks just hours before we left for Montana - a cotton blend, cuffed lime green pair, and a pair of anklets in Regia Bamboo, in a colorway I actually have in my stash. I left them behind because we were already packed, and the cleaning lady put them "away". I haven't been able to figure out where "away" is yet, and I think I'm going to have to leave her a note when she comes back. I've looked everywhere I can think to look, and so far, no such luck. (I have this deep fear that I actually took them to Montana and they got lost during the suitcase search.) I could just kill myself - I want to wear them! They fit perfectly and are such great colors and snuggly yarn. Of course, the Lord of the Flies set that is my living room isn't helping matters. I suck bigtime. (That's why there have been no pictures. GAH!)

ETA: I found them! Apparently, the knitting goddess just wanted me to publicly admit that I'm the kind of bonehead who misplaces handknit socks before she ever wears them. I am a loser, and I admit it. Here they are!



Thanks again, Nancy! You can bet these will go straight to my hand-knit socks drawer.

I have always heard that spinning is easiest with good fiber prep. I thought I had good fiber, and had someone show me how to predraft, but I think I still wasn't doing it right. I hoarded my good fibers until I could spin something worthy of them, but I was using crappy stuff that made things harder. I got frustrated, and didn't want to spin at all. I dug out my Grafton batt the other day, and WOW. It's not perfect by a long stretch, but geez - that stuff practically drafts itself. I also moved my wheel to the carpet, which makes the skittering effect go away, and I spent a pleasant hour or so spinning my little heart out. It was great, when The Bug wasn't trying to grab the footman or make the wheel spin the other direction.



Who, me?