Shun the resentment

First, off I’d like to thank Stasia for telling me about the shawl edging info in the Knitter’s Shawls and Scarves book, which I think I have at home. I’ll have to take a look see when I get home. Wendy also graciously answer my question (the question that I felt fell into the stupid question category for sure). So, I think once I’ve gotten Birch off the needles I will recommit to The Third Incarnation. I’ll have to try to figure out how many active stitches I’ll have when I’m done with the body so I can contemplate lace edgings.

Lolly inquired after the most important topic… Fall semester classes. This coming semester (and we’re counting down days now. *gah* Wednesday is going to come too soon…) I am taking Collection Management (I really wanted to take Vocabulary Design, but no go *pooh*) and Advanced Internet Technology Tools: XML (this is a recommended class, along with the prereq XHTML class I took last semester, for the Database Management class I hope to take in the spring, which if it goes as planned will be insane (3 classes?), but that’s a discussion for later). I picked up my book from the book store last week (along with the student edition of Adobe CS 2 Platinum Suite *bogle* $200… I love being a student sometimes). It was a pain to get to the bookstore (summer hours are M-F 8-4:30), but I like to avoid the insanity that is the beginning of the semester, especially when I just need one book.

The Husband did not get home till almost 10 pm last night (remember the overtime pay, remember the overtime pay…). So, I started my evening off with some knitting and a recently Tivo’d episode of Law & Order. I finished the first sleeve to the Ribby Cardi. *And there was much rejoicing…* Of course, that means that I now have to make myself cast on the second sleeve. I really want to finish this sweater, but I think I’m going to need to avoid K2P2 rib for awhile. Good thing I have lace shawls to work on. 😀 Just need to finish the second sleeve, stitch it together, knit on the front bands, and do the collar… it sounds so simple. I’ll probably work on the sleeve tonight… if I don’t I may come to resent the Ribby Cardi, and we can’t have that.

I have relatively few unfinished objects (I’ve only been knitting for 3 years), and I hold a grudge against each of them (if only I had a linen closet to throw them into so I could forget they exist). The worst was the Peace Fleece sweater that never was. It began as a sweater vest (I don’t know what I was thinking… I would never have worn it), then the sweater vest was frogged. I tried to make it into a sweater with sleeves in a different, yet matching, color. I should have known things would go badly after I had to completely redo both the front and the back when I realized that I had knit them on the wrong needles (this is why you should always double check the size of the needles in your hands before casting on). Thus, I knit the front and back again and had even started on a sleeve, when it dawned on me that the flared sleeve looked ridiculous and I would never look good in that color green. The back got frogged and turned into a felted kitty bed for my sister’s cat. Of course, now the left over Peace Fleece is plaguing me… too bad my sister doesn’t have 2 cats.

Nothing to report, not really

The fiber blahs
Nothing new is really happening on the knitting front. I’m still working on the lace of the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. It’s going much smoother than it was when I didn’t know how to count. Since I finished the Cappucino socks, the Wool Peddler’s Shawl is the only thing I’ve got going. Maybe that’s the problem… it feels weird to only have one thing to work on; I’m used to having a choice. Maybe I should start considering what to do with my Brook’s Farm yarn with more seriousness. Another I don’t know if I want to work on 2 shawls at the same time… especially since both of them would be out of a wool/mohair worsted yarn. *blah* Too similar. Maybe another pair of socks is in order. They’re so nice to carry around in my purse. I also have the Noro that I picked up at Knitting by the Sea with the gift certificate my sister gave me for Christmas (they were having a sale… everything was 20% off… I got 3 skeins of Noro Kuryeon for a felt bag, and 2 skeins of a superwash sock yarn is this great light turquoise color)… I think if I were to do another felted bag out of Noro, I would make it wider than the first one (which I made following the Booga Bag pattern). Too many things to contemplate just for one new project. (And a felt bag out of the Noro would only take a couple days.) I want to make myself a cardigan, but I have sort of made that a reward for losing a certain amount of weight (that is a ways off… although I’m starting Weight Watchers on Tuesday so maybe I’ll get then quicker than I am on my own). I might just make the reward knitting myself a Rogue sweater, and make a cardigan now so I’m not cold at work.

I’ve been wanting to do some spinning, but by the time I get home I feel uninspired. I spun up some singles out of this merino fleece I just got… I washed a small sample (needed 2 soap baths), let it dry, then carded it. But I haven’t even bothered to ply it yet. I dyed some of the light grey romney roving I have thinking that might get me going, but nothing.

It’s a bit frustrating wanting to do these things, but feeling a lack of motivation.

Secret Pal
Maybe I’m feeling the knitting blahs cause I am procrastinating working on my secret pal’s last installment. (Since she isn’t going to get it any time soon… it’ll probably wing it’s way to her closer to the end of the month and the end of Secret Pal 4… I’ll divulge.) The main part of this month’s shipment is going to be a handmade needle case. I am going to experiment first and make one for myself (my needles are getting out of control). But working on this requires getting my sewing machine set up properly again… and possibly getting additional bobbins, which you can just see me rushing out to do.

RAOK
I’m a little worried that I RAOK I sent out last month may have run into problems. I had Delivery Confirmation on it, and the post office claims it was delivered. But the person I sent it to never acknowledged it. So, now I’ve got thoughts running through my head like the postal person delivered it, but only left it on the door step and someone happened by and took it, running off to enjoy yarn and chocolate by themselves. *gah* What can I say, I have an active imagination. I will just have to hope that it did reach it’s intended recipiant, who is now busy rolling around in yarn with a mouth full of chocolate. *grin*

Ups and Downs of a Thursday

Scooter
This morning I was doing my best impression of an unhappy camper. “Why?” you ask. Well, I got up, picked out a decent outfit, and spent 15 minutes putting on make-up (I only wear make-up for special occasions and when I know there’ll be pictures). I looked pretty cute, too. Then, I pulled up the DMV website to get directions to the branch I was going to… only to discover that they’re all closed today for Caesar Chavez Day. *GAH!* Between the wasted time getting ready and the paper cut I got under a fingernail when I was checking to make sure my checkbook was in my purse, I was not happy. I wanted to scream… I cried instead… stupid hormones. So, tomorrow morning I get to do it all again for the pleasure of trying to get my motorcycle permit. That means another day of nervous waiting. I know I should be nervous, the majority of the questions are ridiculously easy (the only ones I might have problems with are that ones that specifically refer to motocycle things like clutches and gears). No what I’m nervous about is absoluately stupid… I’m afraid I’m going to be made to take the auto written test and not pass it. See? Stupid. But these are the kinds of things that get stuck in my head and continue to rattle around. This is why I started knitting in the first place.

Bookbookbook
I have canceled my order with amazon. It still hadn’t shipped and I kind of doubt it would have shipped tomorrow. A call was placed to a local Barnes & Noble, where a very nice bookseller has put my name on a copy, and it is currently waiting for me to go and pick it up. Guess what my first stop on my way home from work will be… go on guess. *grin* If all goes well, I will be in possession of the bookbookbook by this evening. (It shouldn’t be this difficult to get a newly released book.)

Wool Peddler’s Shawl
I finally say down a couple nights ago to try and figure out what was going on with the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. I frogged back to the setup row, and I thought I figured out the problem when I found a dropped stitch about 6 rows down (the nice thing about the Peace Fleece is the stitches don’t run if you drop them). I used a crochet hook to bring it up, recounted my stitches, 231 the correct number according to the pattern. Start the lace again. Row 1 no problems, everything appeared to fall where it belonged. Row 2 had the same exact issue as before… the pattern wasn’t lining up correctly. It’s a 10 st lace pattern… I have 10 sts… I try to knit Row 2’s 10 sts (K1, P9) and it’s off by a stitch… I recounted 10 sts at least 5 times.. I even looked at the chart. Have I lost all capacity to count? That would be hard luck on a knitter, I think. I have no idea what it is I’m doing wrong. I might give it another go tonight… but if I’m still not getting it, it’s definitely going to the LYS on Saturday.

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday

Okay, I know I said socks… which is why I cast-on a felted kitty bed Monday night. I had the front and back of a sweater that was the second try at getting some Peace Fleece I bought back when I first started knitting a couple years ago into a sweater, but it just wasn’t happening… the front and back have been laying around for several months, and I had no compulsion to knit arms. So, I ripped the back out and started a felted kitty bed for my sister’s new kitten. I think the socks will come next.

This morning I made my way to the post office to send off a RAOK package, a Secret Pal package, and finally my best friend’s birthday and Christmas gifts (his birthday was at the beginnning of Nov., so I’m a little late). This is my first actual RAOK to go out; it was kind of fun to put together. I found a cute stuffed, floppy sheep on sale (sales are great), some candy, and some yarn from my stash that was languishing… all off to a new home. I hope it helps to cheer up the recipent.

I keep thinking about what kind of shawl I want to make out of my Brooks Farm acquisition… I’d love to do something top down, but I’ve only got 1000 yds; I’d hate to run out before I got to the bottom. I could do a basic triangle from the bottom up but I don’t know what sort of design I’d want to use. All of the patterns I’ve found that I like either use lace weight instead of worsted, or call for more yarn than I have. I will have to think on this more…