Prepare yourself, World.

This was supposed to be a one month project, but here I am 2 months later.  It's another a baby blanket (if you couldn't tell).  But this time, it's for me.  Yep, sorry world, we are spawning.  I'd be further along except they aren't kidding about fatigue in the first trimester.  Growing a human has been the "big" project for the past few months.  At the rate I'm going, this maybe the only blanket the kid gets.

Weekend Update

1.  A snippet of a project.  It's not the big one, but it is related.  Crafting still happens here!

2.  It was my birthday weekend.  In deference to my vanity, we won't discuss which one.  It was a very nice weekend.  Cold enough for a cozy fire, curled up with a book, knitting a row here and there, all in all very satisfying.

3.  Dear hubby went to fetch my birthday present only to discover that yarn.com does not email gift cards.  So instead he came up with this--

His version of WEBs bucks.  It's not easy to see but instead of the United States of America, it is the United States of WEBs.  Plus instead of being legal tender, he made it elastic tender, meaning it could be more than stated value (an idea of which I heartily approve).

To the pain

I worked some more this weekend on the teddy bear.

To the left is the body, to the right a nose.  I was all pleased because this one of my one month projects and it was clicking along really pleasantly.  I was feeling good, and then I looked at this.

This is my remaining yarn.  I went back, double checked the pattern.  Yes, this is supposed to be a one ball project.  I checked the weight.  50 g?  Check.  DK? Yep.  My gauge is in the ball park.  But this, this is not enough yarn for four limbs and some ears.  I really wasn't going for a bear that looks like he went a round with the Dread Pirate Roberts in a game of "to the pain." I bought this yarn on closeout, so with fear in my heart, I went back to the WEBS website.   Yea!, they still had some.  So while I wait, maybe I'll cast on something else...

It's a head

No, really.  You'll see.  A head.

Gauge wars

Gauge and I have a decidedly contentious relationship, and it is not getting better.  Maybe worse.  After finishing my sweater and noticing the sloppy neckline did not exactly match the picture, I rechecked gauge.  4.5 stitches/inch instead of 5 stitches/inch.  I got gauge before I started.  I swatched, I measured, I changed needles, I swatched again and remeasured, I went down another needle size, I re-swatched and remeasured.  I ended up on size 2 needles (pattern suggested a 7).  I had the bloody gauge when I started.  Anyway, I started a new project, where gauge doesn't matter, but I'm determined to get it on the suggested needle size.  So I cast on.  And I've tried to pull the yarn as tightly as I dare to the point where I can hardly wedge a needle through the stitches.  It looks promising but I feel in my heart that, much like the cake, the gauge is a lie.

Life List #79

Knit a sweater that fits.  I've been working all summer on Tee for Too.  Finally on Saturday, I sucked it up and sewed up the sweater, which was relatively easy since the sleeves were knit into the body of the sweater.  But still, I really hate the knit-picky stuff like weaving in ends and sewing up.

So I fortified myself and got to work.

Which got me this.  Any position other than the most vertical was going set the girls free.  Call me a prude, but I like my girls under wraps.  So since a decorative crochet edge was called for, I added a few rows in the front. 

2 inches later I concluded, I could live with(in) the sweater.

Weekend Update

1. So after a few days weeks, I finally got around to canning my tomato sauce and jalapeno peppers. Either I don't have the hang of it, or you really do have to stand by the stove and constantly adjust the temperature and pressure of the canner to keep it at 11 psi.   Water baths rule!
2. I got most of my sleeve on my sweater completed before I decided I couldn't live with my fudge on the decreases, even though it would have been hidden in my arm pit.  So tonight, I ripped it all back and tried again.  It still didn't go exactly right, but it was more right than before.  
3. I also managed to finish a real, written book this weekend-The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley.  This is the first book I've read in a shamefully long time.  I've listened to The Forgotten Garden over the past few weeks, and I'm still undecided on fully embracing the audio format.  It took 24 hours to listen what would have been about an 8 hour read.  There are many times when I would have skimmed the sometimes wordy prose in order to get to what I already knew was coming but instead had to listen to the somewhat plodding pace of the reader.  Strangely, shouting at the radio to "get on with it!" didn't make the woman read any faster, but did cause me to grind my teeth.  But it makes decent use of the commute, when I wouldn't be doing anything productive anyway and I did "read" a book, which I haven't been making much time to do.
4. Biscuits put in an appearance at Sunday morning breakfast.  I haven't made them in ages.  I should make them more often.   They are a nice change of pace from pancakes.
5. I also happen upon two cantaloupes and a watermelon in the garden this weekend.  One of the cantaloupes was too rotten, but the other one was pretty tasty.

Steal this idea

While I was eating breakfast this morning and reading the Yarnharlot’s blog, she gave me a great idea.  She has set up for herself a sock of the month project.  At the beginning of the year, she prepared 12 bags with a pattern and yarn.  Each month, she draws one out and works on it.  So even though I’ve been reading about this sock of the month project for 8 months now, it just struck me this is a very theft worthy idea.  I should do this for my own crafting and book list.  Let’s face it.  Waiting for opportunity to show up isn’t working.  This year it seems when she shows up, she hasn't been bringing along motivation. Which is to say, it has been a rather unproductive year.  This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t craft or read outside of the monthly selection, but that these selections would be small enough to complete in a short amount of time.  Thus, one could surmise that motivation for bigger projects could be boosted by completing a series of smaller ones.  I like it.  I love the idea of nearly insurmountable challenges except, they tend to be nearly insurmountable (what is wrong with me?  It’s like I want to fail).  So maybe this way at least something will get done and you guys won’t have to look at 10 pictures of sweater and try to figure out if I’ve made any progress (which I have by the way).  You’re welcome. :)

Holy knit, I thought it was gone forever.

The knitting is back!  I was a bit worried when I didn't have at the 24 hour mark.  Because, as any ardent cop show watcher knows, the first 24 hours is key.  The website was so not helpful and would only go so far as to tell me the bag had been located (which I doubted for a while).  But when I get back from the hair appointment (oh yes, I'm a brunette now), I have a message on my machine and one hour later, the sweater and I were reunited.

Trying not to panic

Ok, so I've been gone for a while.  I had to go to Florida for a few days on business and flew back in today.  I remember now how much neither like nor enjoy the air flight experience.  It's hard to believe I pay for that treatment.  So we were (predictably) delayed in Charlotte for 2 hours.  So I was in the airport for 3 hours without my knitting because my purse counts as a carry on and there was no room in the computer bag.  But that is bitterness for another tale.  So in that 3 hours, my suitcase did not make it into the stack heading for Chattanooga.  I'm trying not to panic.  My nearly entirely complete sweater is in that bag.  The knitting is missing.  Pray, pray for the knitting.