So Much For That!

Today I frogged the baby cardigan. My loose purl rows were too obvious and then when I changed to 3.5 mm circs for the sleeves and wasn't purling anymore, the purl rows in the body were VERY obvious and the sleeve stitches were noticeably smaller. Damn. When I start it again, I'll abandon the moss stitch in favour of the garter stitch and it should go much quicker.

In the meantime, I'm moving on to the Serendipity sock. That little baby cardy's getting a nice long time out. Fix its little red wagon! I may even start the cotton baby sweater before I go back to this one. When I do go back to this doodlebug sweater, I'll swatch first, trying out new ways to knit without getting loose purl rows. A girl has to do all she can to avoid those ;)

I'll finish the Serendipity heel tonight and then the rest should go pretty quickly.

Time Flies

Whether you're having fun or not. I can't believe it's the end of March already. 2008's a quarter over. I haven't been super busy. Well, actually, I finished the edit of Alison's book. She's a wonderful writer and friend, and it's been a gift being able to work with her words. I can't wait to celebrate with her when one of her books is published.

I've been knitting quite a bit. I'm still almost half-way through the second Serendipity sock.



That's because I've been keeping my nose-to-the-grindstone on baby Chase's raglan cardigan.



This is Chase having a psychic conversation with his "sister" cow, and simultaneously drooling all over (he's quite a talented little guy). SOOOOOO adorable. You could just eat him up. He loves that jolly-jumper and gets more adept at bouncing in it every day.



I knit this cardigan at the 2-year-old size, but I'm afraid it may fit more like a 3 or 4-year old. Me and my loose knitting, dang it all. The pattern originally calls for garter stitch edging, but I chose to use moss stitch. Following a pattern that instructs garter stitch while trying to remember to moss stitch instead proved quite a challenge. After a few false starts I was off to the races. Now I just have to finish the sleeves.

I bought two more Addi Turbo circs a couple of weeks ago that I'm using for the sleeves. Turns out my lovely friend at the knitting store misread one of the packages so I wound up with two 3.5's -- one 60 cm long and one 80 cm long. She was having trouble reading the fine print I guess. But you know, I really like the longer one. It's much more supple and bendable than the 60 cm one. Suits me to have the lengths a bit off too. Those who know me will totally get that.

The new Rockin Sock club kit arrived this week. I really wanted to get the first pair of STR socks knit before this arrived, but oh well. As soon as I'm done this cardigan, I'll finish the sock. Then I'm going to work some more on the Kilcar sweater. I just have to finish one more sleeve and then block and sew. AND my friend Anne's scarf is suffering with arrested development. Somewhere, I've gotta finish that too. Then, I'll be able to work with the new STR yarn. Pictures later. Maybe waaay later.

Still pursuing tech editing projects. In the next few weeks I should hear from some bigger clients on more writing contracts. Then I'm gonna be bu-sy. So, best to keep at the knitting while the cat's away....

Holes

I started knitting a sweater for baby Chase. I bought some lovely blue wool about nine months ago to make him the Cardigan for Arwen (as seen in the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits Magazine) adapted for babies by Anny Purls here . Because I knit very loose, I had to go down to skinny needles, and they make it very difficult to achieve the cables that run up the front of this little cardigan. So, I scrapped the idea and waited for other inspiration to land.

Ravelry has tons of patterns so I investigated baby sweaters and found this Doodlebug Sweater pattern. The designer expanded the pattern to allow for many sizes and weights of yarn. Brilliant. So, I started this top-down raglan cardigan on Monday. Yesterday I tinked two rows trying to get a handle on the moss stitch neck. Today I'll be tinking about five rows because somehow, with my M1's I created three random holes. Holes that I can't pass off as my own creative alterations of the pattern, or as my signature flaw that only a really good knitter would see. Dang. Ah well, I'm enjoying having my hands in this soft wool. I'm using the 2-yr size, so I've lots of time for tinking if need be. Chase won't be two for another twenty months or so. Lots of time, lots of time.

The weather here has been positively clement the past week or two. Highs anywhere from +5 to +12 with plenty of sunshine and blue skies. I say this is bonus weather for all of us who endured the weeks of -40 howling wind blizzards earlier this year. While we've been sunbathing here in the West, down East they've been getting hammered big time. Blizzard after blizzard after blizzard. Good thing we Canadians are a tenacious lot. That or deeply stupid...

Doug's Baby

Today is a monumental day for my husband. After 23 years, he's finally riding a motorcycle again. His last bike, a Yamaha 1100 was stolen a month before our wedding. The insurance money from the theft of the bike went to pay wedding expenses, and he's never gotten over it. So, today he picked up his Honda Shadow.



It's just an old beater that he can ride to work and we can do some day trips with. He took it for an early spin; it's only March 8th, and the back alley is nothing but deeply rutted and melting snow, but he couldn't help himself. I'm going to give him a month or two before I hop on the back. Skills get pretty rusty in 23 years. His and mine.

I'm still feeling flu-ish so I more or less took it easy today. I went along to pick up the bike and return the trailer. Got some good knitting on the multi-directional scarf. Then I subscribed to Audible.com. I want to be able to knit and hear a book at the same time. I downloaded my first title: Elizabeth George's Amelia Peabody Series Book 1, titled Crocodile on the Sandbank. It's really cool, but I'm not sure if I will get enough chances to use it. Can't use it when I'm working; can't use it when anyone else is around, so we'll see. So far I'm liking it. Not sure my chaotic brain can stay focused.

The weather lately has been divine. With the sun beating on our deck, it was almost 20c this afternoon. The actual temp was 5c with lots of sunshine. Looks like more of the same to come. My little dog was basking in the warmth on the deck most of the afternoon. I just hope Mother Nature doesn't have any ugly she's saving for later. This is Alberta. We can easily take a 20-30 degree drop in a day. I think I mentioned my habit of delusion about spring. April can bring 3-foot dumps of snow. Ah, but I mustn't think of it. If I just wish hard enough spring will stay...

I'm Still Here...

Well, it's been a while since I blogged. Been down with the plague. Again. Not happy. Also, hubby's changed jobs, and this change is a big one. He's going from 9-5 Mon-Fri in an office with a noose--I mean tie, to working 4-hour evening shifts Mon-Thurs, doing dispatching and line maintenance on airplanes. It's a big adjustment for both of us. I work at home, so we're kind of walking around each other trying to settle in to the new job hours. This is a great change for him; he's been so unhappy for so long in the management job.

I've been working on the Serendipity socks. Got one finished. Love the star toe. I've never done this type of toe before.


The lovely Jalessa models the instep.

This is the short row heel. It sure looks cool with this colourway.

I didn't try to obtain perfect striping with this yarn. I don't mind pooling, and it keeps me interested as the sock goes along. For the second sock I'll try to get the solid stripes. I love different socks. The pattern is quite pretty.

I'm also working on my friend's Christmas scarf.

Holy Multi-directional Scarf Batman!!!

It looks pretty good and the recipient likes it so far.


Yesterday I threw all knitterly schedules out the window and knit a coffee cozy. I just needed a break from the same old. Today it'll be back to the scarf. Blogger seems to be having a problem with me uploading pictures, so there's one missing. Will try to upload it later.