You Won't Believe It!

I finally finished Sundae!!
I even wove in all the ends!
But I haven't blocked it, which you can probably tell.
Course, I'm not big on the blocking business, but I think it would help the trim lay a little better.

To Recap
Sundae out of Rowan Classic Holiday Book 3.
The pattern calls for four skeins of Cashsoft 4ply, but I used three skeins of Cashcotton 4ply.
I got gauge on a US1 needle (!) as opposed to the US2 called for in the pattern.
And I made the XS size for a 32 inch bust, which gives me about an inch of ease, maybe none with a bra on.
And trust me, Hubby wouldn't let me out of the house without a bra on. Which is probably a good thing.

A Long Time Coming
According to my Ravelry project page, I started this on August 8, 2008, as part of the Ravelympics.
Ha!
I seem to remember whipping through it rather well, but the trim killed me. Both making it and sewing it on.
Can you say tedious?
Well, I knew I've been awfully close to being done for an awfully long time now, and I'm sick of things hanging over my head incomplete, so I sat down after work and did it.
I had the extra motivation of wanting the US1 Brittanies out of it.
Those ones I glued back together? Well the recently snapped one was a clean, straight break and it popped apart again when I held it as my left hand needle (it worked ok as the right hand needle). So I tossed it.
The other one, which was broken longer ago, actually split at an angle and seems to be holding up, but I'm not putting much faith in it.

Am I On a Roll?
Now I'm even thinking about finishing Nell!
Aside from the fact that it's 10 at night and almost bed time.

Yawn

Guess I'm just a tease.
I know ya'll will be disappointed to hear I didn't work on Sundae last night.
Yeah, I'm mean like that.
I did work on the Harf. I'm about halfway through the second panel repeat on the left hand side.
Actually, there is no "about" about it. I'm on row 20, which is just beyond the halfway mark.
Remember, the goal is three panel repeats to get it to match the right hand side in dimensions. Then both halves need another half panel and I can graft them.
So it's coming along.
Of all my current projects, the Harf is the only one with a legitimate, not self-imposed deadline as the contest entry date is in August.
I worked on Hubby's sock while doing proofreading at work. It is around row 50, so about 40 rows to go before I kitchener the sucker shut.
And the doily is back in the dining room credenza. I should get it done, but the Harf, with it's soft, squishy yarn, and deadline have been calling to me.

Oh, who am I fooling?
We're going to FRANCE!
In July!
It's sooo exciting!
Just me and Hubby. The pups are going to stay home with my mom.
Hubby has developed this habit of abandoning me over the summer to go on these globe trotting "professional development" programs. He is ostensibly learning about the history and culture of these countries so he can give his students accurate information when he is teaching class. But I know he is just taking advantage of the system.
I miss him, of course, but most of they time these trips aren't costing us anything so I'm like "go for it!" because he has always wanted to travel.
When he pulls these stunts people always ask if I'm going as well. Usually the answer is no. We couldn't afford it, and he is on a structured schedule, which usually includes housing, so it's not like we'd even get to be together.
But, since we got married, I've always wanted to go to France with him. He loves wine, and philosophy, which says France to me. I was able to spend a weekend in Paris during my Junior Year Abroad, and well, I just thought it would be an awsome trip.
So this year, he managed to score a program in Paris for a week, learning about French history and culture. This time I was like "Hell, yes, I want to go too."
So I'm going to fly out and join him on the day his program ends and then we'll spend that week running loose across the French countryside. Which means Hubby will get two weeks in France and I'll get one.
We're thinking we'll rent a car and do a road trip.
He's looking into flights and the car and hotel options even as I type.
Well, he'll probably get the flight and the car first. The hotels can come after he figures out our itinerary.
We probably won't spend much time in Paris. He'll have just spent a week there and I've been already, so we'll want to maximize our time in other locations and maybe just hit the highlights so we can have pictures together at the Eifell Tower and such.
Oh, I'm all aflutter.

Spring Was In the Air

Which inspired me to haul Sundae out for a little attention.
(Yes, I am using an old picture.)
The expectation of even more warm weather makes me think I should finish this thing so I can actually wear it this summer.
Don't get all excited, though, it's still not done.
I am so close, and yet so far from done.
I have to knit enough trim to reach up the last front slope and shoulder strap.
And then I have to sew the trim down.
And then I have to sew the shoulder straps in place.
THEN I'll finally be able to wear it.
I expect this to take at least another month (but I won't drag it out on purpose just to make my prediction come true).

Pretty Progress

sundae sewing
Originally uploaded by TravelingAnn

It was so cold here this morning that for a brief instant after we played fetch, my leather glove froze to the metal door handle because of the puppy spit.
I am sure readers farther north are not impressed by my 2 degrees F this morning. :-)

In Sundae News
I don't know what came over me last night, but I fished out Sundae and spent about an hour working on attaching the trim. The whole bottom edge is done. Now I just have to do the front opening edge and the last strap. It is possible I will have to knit some more trim to reach all the way around, but that's why I left the needles in it.

In Sock News
Last night I also cast on for my new socks using the Mardi Gras color Jitterbug yarn.
And casting on is about as far as I got, but it's a necessary first step.
However, driving in this morning I had a sudden urge to fish out my Berroco Suede yarn and work on the little Sueet bag from Knitty, which I seem to remember was a pretty harmless and straight forward pattern. (I just peaked, looks like the actual knitting is mostly stockinette stitch, it's the finishing—lining—that looks complicated. But that is what moms are for.)
And that is about all I've got for today.
Have a good weekend. Stay warm!

Not Much

Not Much going on here.
Deadlines are going to be the death of me, but it's the industry I chose. And I'm happy to have deadlines to worry about.

New Year's Sock
Is moving along. It is taking me a shockingly long time to finish these. According to my Ravelry project page, I started these on Dec. 30. So it's been over two week. However, I can't remember if that was the date I cast on for attempt number one. Keep in mind I knit practically a whole sock then pulled it all out and started from scratch. That will extend a project's time line!
I have to work about 20 more rounds, basically the toe shaping, then I'm done.
Still, this long incubation makes me wonder if I've been getting less knitting time in the evening than I thought. It's not like these are complicated socks that they should take a long time to knit.

Next Up
Oooh, I can't decide.
I should go back to Nell for a bit. That sweater is sooo close now that I've decided to just sew it shut. It's a matter of getting some quite time to work on it. We've been catching up on our TV shows and I want to pay attention them, so auto-pilot knitting rules the day. Hmm, I guess that means I'm excited for baseball season to start up again.
Of course, Sundae has been neglected as well. But, come on, it's a lace camisole. Not practical for this time of year; it was 18 degrees F when I got to the office this morning. (If I heard someone say that I'd tell them summer comes every year. I can't be expected to listen to my own advice, can I?) Yeah, yeah, finishing it will not only get it off my plate, but put me in a position for the first rays of summer sun. Yawn.
I think, though, that while the weather is still cold, and despite the fact that winter comes every year, I should jump ahead and start working on Hubby's mancho. I haven't even shown him the yarn, which really could be a big hurdle. I'm not sure how long it will take me, but it will never get done if I don't start it.

Hatching Plans
But then again, I had an interesting idea for a project on the drive to work this morning. I kind of want to swatch that. There is one tricky part to it. I would work the tricky part and worry about the easy parts later. It's a simple thing, but with some kick to it, so I want to show the idea to Cynthia to see if she would want it for the store. Which will influence what yarn I use, which would influence stitch count, gauge, etc. Which is why I would just work up the tricky part first to get the general idea to show her.

Tartan Sock notes
I wore the Arrgyle Socks to class Saturday.
Now I've worn them both before and after washing. The fit still seems good, with little signs of slouching. However, I spent most of the day sitting crosslegged on a couch, so it wasn't a legitimate test.
Despite this, I think I still want to increase the stitch count of the leg with the hopes of improving the chart.

Ok, time to get back to work. I'm still eating lunch, but I'm eating slowly today. I'm actually really considering shutting down my computer so I'll be forced to concentrate on work and not play online!

Seaming Sunday

Hey, maybe I'll start a new trend!
Nah, I don't have enough readers yet.
Oh well, at least I'm still benefiting.
Yes, I spent some quality time with Sundae on Sunday morning sewing on the trim.
It's slow going. Corners stink. I made it down one front and onto the bottom. The bottom stinks as well since I'm sewing into the cast on edge. Didn't think of that at the time. I'm still whip stitching from the wrong side. I tried a few stitches in mattress stitch from the right side while I was going down the front, but oddly it didn't look as good.
I think the bottom edge should look fine, as long as I can manage to be consistent. And, of course, no one should be that close to my butt to see any wonkiness. There is a concern about the bottom trim flipping up from the natural curl of the fabric. If I'm lucky (ha!) the trim with be enough weight to hold the curl down.
All this painstaking, microscopic seaming makes me wonder what I was thinking making a top with 4-ply yarn on US1 needles. Really, I have to stick with worsted weight when I make sweaters.

Do You Know What That Is?

That is a sock that is never going to fit.
Or at least that is what I thought Friday night. I couldn't understand why it wouldn't fit—28 stitch in the instep and 28 for the sole for 56 total, which would be the correct amount if I was working in the round.
I got really annoyed, pulled out my Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman, and read up on her refootable Moccasin sock. However it would have required me to rip out the entire instep as well as the gusset and heel flap (her gusset decreases are worked at the edges of the instep and the heel is totally different), which didn't make me happy.
I also found it strange that the instep reached all the way to my toes just about to the point where I should start the toe decreases. That didn't look quite right compared to other pictures I'd seen.
Fortunately, rather than doing anything hasty, I went to bed.
Saturday morning (before the hike and the cabin fever set in) I did a half-, um, hearted job of sewing the sides shut. Lo and behold, it fit.
Of course it did.
And the instep reached about halfway down my foot rather than all the way to my toes. Making it a normal sock after all. (Yeah, no pictures of that bit. I would refer you to previous comments regarding dead batteries and absconding Husbands.)

Gusset Goes Down
I did end up pulling out the gusset decreases. The recipe I was following from the Moth Heaven blog says to decrease at the start of every row.
When I work in the round I decrease the gusset every other row. Now I know it should probably be the same rate of decrease (one stitch every row compared to two stitches every other row) but it was bugging me a bit. So I reworked it, decreasing just on the right side rows.
Then I sewed the instep to the sole as I worked the sole so I could ensure I had the correct number of rows. (I'm using mattress stitch, btw.)
Of course one side came out spot on but the other came out short, which was weird, so I had to resew the short side.
At this point I can start working in the round heading for the toe shaping.
However, the poor Arrygles have once again been cast aside—this time for the stealth project.
As for Sundae. Shoot, it was 50 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. I won't be wearing a lacy camisole any time soon so the pressure is totally off to finish it.
Although I do need to rescue my mini darning needle and my US1 dpns I was using to knit the trim.

I'm 90% Annoyed

By all the WIPs (works in progress) I have that are 90% complete.
What is wrong with me? I need to pull myself together and finish them already.
Of course, that hasn't stopped me from tossing Sundae on the incomplete pile. I haven't felt like seaming and I don't imagine trying to seam on the train would be very fun.
So I've returned to my Peacock Socks.
Sock #2 has caught up to Sock #1 in length, prompting a return to the crocheted cuff. I pleased to report I zipped through the cuff with no wrist pain in evidence. I made the adjustment of double crochet instead of treble crochet stitches and it does bring the depth of the motifs more in line. However, the entire thing is curling or drawing down. At first this was annoying me and I was considering more tweaks, but then it started to grow on me. It could potentially be good because it might help keep the cuff in place and hug the leg.
I still have to measure how much yardage it took, and then make the larger size to calculate that yardage as well.
Now I'm working on a knit cuff. The pattern seems to have potential, but it isn't quite as flamboyant as the crochet one. Actually, I didn't see many knit options that looked like they would echo the crochet pineapples. Another concern is this knitting pattern is a multiple of 12+1, which doesn't give me much flexibility, so I might have to reconsider it in general.
Yeah, no pictures. Still haven't sorted out the battery situation. I saw a set of rechargable batteries in the store the other day. They were $10, which seemed fairly reasonable, by I had other things on my mind and didn't get them.

Variety Is the Spice of Crafting

Which is a darn good thing as it gives us an excuse to endlessly start projects without finishing our current project. And if someone is foolish enough to confront us on the matter, we can easily respond, "Oh, I need multiple active projects in order to avoid repetitive motion injuries in my hands and wrists."
I must pause here to mention that Hubby has never been foolish enough to comment—or more accurately question—on the number of projects I have going at once. He only occasionally comments if I have been working on something for a long time and then suddenly switch, which can be put down to curiosity. And the only time he has protested a mid-project switch was when I was making his Yankee Socks, then he campaigned for them to be finished.
Which is all a round about way of saying, are you as tired of hearing about this endless Sundae trim as I am of knitting it? I'm closing in on the end. I'm now at a length were I have to start attaching it to determine whether I have enough yet. Which is going to make it far less portable.

The Hat to the Rescue
Fortunately, I have P's crocheted hat to fall back on.
I was able to get gauge with the LionBrand HomeSpun and a size L crochet hook. But I wouldn't recommend it—the fabric is rather floppy.
My hooks are, apparently, scattered throughout the house for some reason. I had to troop up the the attic to find the L and I'm sure I own and N but couldn't tell you were it is, and there is an, uh, J in the dining room credenza with some more HomeSpun that I was planning to use to make a baby blanket for my cousin's new baby (who will be a year old in February). Not quite sure I was thinking, allowing all these hooks to wander.
Anyway, the hat was making me feel pretty useless last night as I couldn't get one of the increase rows to work out. It's using basically the same progression I used for my Crochet Guinness Dog Toy and other circular crochet items I've made, so I don't know what the problem was. Whether I followed or ignored the pattern, my stitch count was off.
I blame the HomeSpun, I couldn't see what I was doing. And the Giants game prevented me from counting properly.
So I packed some Cascade 220 and an H hook for the ride this morning—and beat that increase row into submission! The pattern is correct, it's the crocheter that is defective.
I'm going to be extremely bad and work the rest of the hat in the Cascade 220. This will allow me to confirm the numbers but not the size. So I'll have to rework it in the HomeSpun to check measurements.
My kingdom (queendom?) for a smooth, chunky yarn!

I Step On the Blog!

"Blue, Blue, Electric Blue./That's the color of my room/Where I will live."—David Bowie
You might notice that I've redecorated a bit. Yes, I'm getting pretty dangerous with that library book.
I've actually been wanting to change the colors for a while. I tried to do it one by hunt and peck, but since I didn't know what I was looking at, all I managed to do was change this white background where the text is. That wasn't what I was after at all. But now that I know a little something...I still had to hunt around a bit for the correct section of code to change, but I manged it.
Of course, since the other template that Blogger provided was built by someone who really knew what they were doing, as opposed to me who only sort of knows what she's doing, I've lost some details—like the shadow down the sides of the white section to make it floaty. But I'm working on it!
I have confirmed that a blue background is not available with this template layout, so I'm unique to a degree and haven't unnecessarily taken the hard road like I did with that list the other day.
The next goal is to get sidebar stuff down either side of the main text. hehehe. I'm sure I've seen it on other blogs, but I don't see it in the template options. Well, I bet once I get to the tables tutorial I'll be unstoppable! Also, there are a few other things to clean up, like the boarder on my profile and the bullet points on the Labels List, but they will come in time.

Knitting?
Oh, right, you come here for a reason. My office closed early on Friday, so once I got home I ended up seaming Sundae. It moved along pretty quickly. Then I move on to painstakingly attaching the trim I had to date. Ugh, talk about a pain. The trim is quickly loosing it's charm.
I took it to the store Saturday to get opinions on the ribbon. The closure is a ribbon threaded through the trim that will go up the front.
I was scoping out our lengths of silk ribbon last week so already knew the yellows we had wouldn't work (too orange). I had been thinking green, but we had this nice washed out tan/beige one that everyone agreed was the best. It blends in rather well, but had a touch of contrast. It took a while to select the correct one due to color variations—some of them where too brown. But I'm rather pleased now.
This picture isn't the best. I took it early Sunday morning, but the sun wasn't hitting the deck yet, so it's in shadows. Oh well, the top will be done soon (after I knit another mile of trim for the front and bottom!) and then it will be shown in all it's glory.
But now it's time for breakfast and more HTML!

All the Trimming

The trim for Sundae is progressing at a good pace. The stitch count moves through 3-7-3 in the space of four rows, so I switched over to my US1 dpns. It was very unwieldy trying to work so few stitches on a 24 inch circular!
As you might remember, the pattern actually calls for the body to be worked on a US3 and the trim on a US2. As I had to got down to a US1, I'm sticking with it for the trim. I think I have plenty of yarn. And I just can't face a Us0.
Since the repeat is so small, I'm flying along. We stayed up late watching TV last night, at one point I laid out the body pieces then matched up the trim and it seemed like I had 20 repeats left until the back was covered. It was fairly close to bedtime by then so I did not get those 20 bumps done, which makes me think it isn't moving as quickly as I thought.
The strap, which you can sort of see in the picture on the right below, will be greatly improved by the addition of the trim, I think. I'm going to have to make an effort to sew this thing together this weekend. It will be much easier to judge the needed trim length if my target is accurate. I'll have 2 1/2 days to fit the sewing in, think I'll manage? It's only two little seams....
In addition to the trim down the straps and across the back, there is trim down the straps, down the front opening, across the bottom and up the other side. Which is a heck of a lot of trim. I am very studiously not thinking about having to sew it on/attach it when I'm done knitting it. Currently, I'm thinking whip stitch.

Size Matters
I couldn't get the entire top in one shot yesterday and still have it close enough to see detail, but at the same time all the pieces seem awfully small even though they are for me. Usually I can just blindly make the XS size on Rowan patterns and I'm fine.
I'm also fairly certain that I really shouldn't have lain the project down on the patio table for these pictures. It was looking kind of grungy and covered in oak tree seeds.
But I did it anyway, because I like to live life on the edge!

Sock Statistics, or Practicing HTML

Ok, let's see if this will work. I checked my old posts and see that I already posted the weight of my leftover sock yarn, but not in such a (potentially) pretty format. Looking at my notebook, I also see that my stats are still a little incomplete, but oh well, it's the only thing I can think of to use for a list/table.

Yarn Name          Amount Used    Amount Remaining

Blue Jitterbug                       36g
Purple Jitterbug      76g            34g
Sol Joy                              24g
Sanctuary                             5g
Lanna Grossa          61g            39g
Regia Cotton          57g            42g
Celestial Merino      67g            47g
Lorna Lace (bee)      63g            55g
Opal                                 55g

Ok, so there is a little listy, charty thing I've built. Yes, I am aware Blogger has those nice little formatting buttons at the top I could have hit, but that wasn't the point.
I'm actually surprised by how much was used to make the Lanna Grossa. I could have sworn that I only dipped into the second ball for the toe of the second sock. On the other hand, those are the socks I have it in for because they seem too big now, so I might reclaim some of that yarn. (No, the yarn diet hasn't gotten to the point of cannibalizing projects. And it shouldn't for several months, if not a year.)
What have I learned from this HTML exercise?

• No point peeking at it if you forget to put in your end tag.
• Blogger will populate the end tag for you if you forget.
• If you put each end tag on its own line Blogger will insert blank lines (which I didn't think was supposed to happen, and explains that big gap between the list and this text).

I haven't progressed in the book. After staring at the computer all day at work I don't feel like staring at it more at home. So the advanced tutorials will have to wait until this weekend (long weekend, yipee!). Apparently there is a tutorial for building better tables than the one to which I just subjected you.

Knitting

Oh, yeah, knitting. I finished the straps for Sundae yesterday. Not sure if I'm so keen on the lace pattern over the five little stitches. I'm assuming it will look better with the edging sewn on. And I managed to start the edging before bedtime while I was knitting in bed (Hi Ms. Create!).
Actually, this is why tape measures should be used liberally, I had been tracking the strap length by folding down and comparing it to the body. Well, by the time I started the straps the body was longer than 27cm—Hello? Any part of my brain paying attention? Luckily as I settled down to start up again a little light went on. When I measured they were just at 27cm. I would have been really annoyed if I had made them too long!
I ended up driving in this morning, so future knitting progress will be confined to this evening after dinner.

Things That Need Blocking

sundae fronts
Originally uploaded by TravelingAnn

Here are the Sundae fronts, as promised.
I might have to undo the last decrease row. I squinted at the bigger pictures in the book and the lace pattern is supposed to continue up the straps.
Since the pattern didn't specify, I was doing my decreases one stitch in from the edge and "full fashioned" so they follow the slope of the edge and make the nice line that develops in that situation.
But because of working the decreases that way I wasn't able to work the lace on my last decrease row. I think it would look goofy to switch back to the lace and leave that row eyeletless.
However, this is a concern for the morning, it's bed time and I still have to iron my clothes for tomorrow.

It's Over

The Ravelympics, that is. As well as the normal Olympics.
You will notice I did not say "It's Done" or "It's Finished" which might have implied that I had actually completed one of my projects. Which I have not.
I think this officially means I'm a looser I tried my best, gave it a valiant effort, etc.
The deadline was on Sunday at 8 a.m. or noon, I'm not really sure. I kind of lost interest when I realized I wasn't going to make it :-) and I had some other stuff going on (which I save for another post) that took precedence.
The Nell Sweater is in the same state you last heard—one and a half sides seamed, button hole band still only up to the first hole. sigh. It's a WIP (Work in Progress) for a reason.
I got a little further on Sundae. By, oh, Friday night I had the fronts at 27cm to match the back, which was the start of the armhole and neckline shaping.
All this time I've been working the fronts simultaneously, which I believe I mentioned in a previous post. But when I got to the shaping, I was totally flummoxed by the "reverse to match" directions for the right front. So I abandoned it and continued with the left, figuring it would be easy enough to catch it up and then work them together again for the "27cm on these 5 sts" bit for the straps.
I've "reversed shaping to match" on other patterns. I think I just hit this late at night, there was shaping on both ends, and the decreases weren't at the same rate. So trying to remember every row on one end and every other row on the other and doing it all on the wrong side for the one piece was just a bit too much. Really, you should have seen me trying to figure out why my yarn was in the wrong place when I cast off for the arm hole on the one piece. Oh, that's right, this one is done on the purl side.
The shaping on the left piece is just about finished after the train ride this morning. I've decided to stick with working on Sundae for now. I'm blowing off the end of Summer of Socks. I know, scandalous, but I already missed one deadline, I don't want to miss another!

My Other Weekend Activity.
I spent most of Sunday curled up on the couch with Hubby's laptop, one or the other dog (both of whom were annoyed that I was sitting on their end of the love seat), and the Learn HTML in a Weekend book from the library.
Oh my gosh, HTML is soooo cool! It's like this secret language that is actually just out there for anybody to learn. I made it through the basic tutorial, so I haven't reached the really cool and complicated stuff yet, but so far I'm like, "They pay people thousands of dollars to do this? Sign me up!"
During the tutorial I typed what looked like gibberish into a TextEdit Document, then I opened it in Safari (default browser) and not only did it look like something—it looked like it was supposed to! And then I learned hypertext links! Wow!
The feeling was like when you first learn to read patterns or charts. You follow these codes or squiggly lines and manipulate your yarn and suddenly you have lace or Fair Isle or even just a sweater. And people think you are so cool.
Anyway since I only know the bare minimum so far, I haven't really unleashed my new HTML powers on the blog yet. But I did put in a link to jump to the top of the page. So if you find yourself at the very bottom of the blog for some reason, you don't have to mouse or scroll all the way up anymore. Which, I personally, found annoying.
Ok, I'll try to get pictures of Sundae tonight. In the mean time, I need to do something productive work-wise.

Note To Self

The next time I decide to do some challenge that has me finishing a project in 20 or less days (fewer days? Where's my AP Stylebook....great clear as mud now. "fewer" might actually be the correct choice because I'm referring to individual days. anyway.) make sure the project you select requires big needles. I'm talking no smaller than US8. This fingering weight yarn on US1 business is just nonsense. Unless the project is going to be a sock.
Wait, why wasn't I smart like some other Ravelympians who chose socks for their projects?
Oh, that's right, I already know I can knit a pair of socks in two weeks. It wouldn't have been a challenge. drat.
As you can probably guess, things are looking grim for actually meeting either of my Ravelympic goals—finishing Nell or making Sundae.
As such, the next question is whether I persevere with Sundae or put it aside and go back to socks.
Because, of course, missing the Ravelympic goals has the double whammy of all that lost Summer of Socks 2008 time. The amount of time the Peacock Socks were taking combined with the start of the Ravelympics meant I didn't finish a sock during the last two week time frame. And now we are in the last two weeks of the whole KAL. September 1 is the last day of Summer of Socks 2008!
Which all means I can't even say, "Oh well, I missed out on the end of Summer of Socks, but at least I finally made Sundae."
In any event, I'm considering getting out the last ball of Jitterbug and trying to get a pair of socks done before Sept. 1. But I have to see how the mood takes me.
At the moment, I have to finish eating my lunch.

Puppy Maintenance

Hubby took the boys for their annual check-up yesterday. They are both basically healthy, which is good, since we will now have to eat one because we can't afford to buy groceries for the rest of the month.
I'm thinking Baru, he's younger, so hopefully he will be more tender. The best course of action will probably be stewing one of his legs, that will stretch the meat to more meals while allowing us to keep him around.
You do realize, of course, that the preceding was both an appalling and tacky joke on my part. We would never eat our puppies, we love them too much. But, seriously, I don't remember vet bills being this high when I was younger—or when I had cats.
Anyway.
Samson has an ear infection, which I have to image is related to all the swimming (supervised and unsupervised) that he did at my in-laws. We couldn't always get to him to dry him off. He got his ears flushed and has drops now. And he got his shots.
He was very clingy last night. Kept complaining that his butt hurt (from the shots) and his ears felt yucky. He didn't appreciate it when I told him he smelled like a hospital. Basically he wanted his mommy, so he spent the night snuggled up to me on the couch.
Baru is now an 80 pound porker (up from 76 last year!), which the vet said was fine. He gets this rash in his groin, it looks like dirt or bruises, but it doesn't seem to bother him. Last year the vet said it was bacterial(!). A course of antibiotics cleared it up, and then it came right back. Now the vet says he doesn't know what it's from, but it's probably not his all natural diet, so we should examine his environment for irritants. And he provided a $40 bottle of Ultra EFA supplements, twice a day in his food, which should be good for his skin. It smells a little fishy, but Baru will eat anything.
We looked at the ingredients. It's all Omega-3 and -6 and GLA and zinc. All the stuff in our own vitamins and a little more. Shoot, we should take it to make our own fur soft and shiny. In fact every so often I would give them one of our Omega complex vitamins, or an E, but I guess I didn't do it frequently enough.
This has also prompted me to be more diligent about giving them their brewer's yeast. I should cook them some oatmeal to mix things up a bit too.
This morning Samson was much perkier, practically his regular self. I think he was just looking for sympathy last night.

Knitting?


This photo of Sundae is from over the weekend. I've progressed since then. The fronts now measure about 12cm each. Baru stopped by to check things out.
And do you see what I mean about the pictures? The one at the top was up loaded from my desktop. These other two were pulled over from Flickr. I want the text to wrap!
ok, calm down, maybe spend some time with the library book?
Instead of reading the library book last night I worked on Nell some more. I did the other side seam (hem to armpit) in like half an hour. Or at least it felt that fast. I was very surprised. Now I just have to do the final sleeve seam—then conquer the button band.
It sounds so simple.
Here's hoping my head holds up. phooie.

Seaming

nell seam
Originally uploaded by TravelingAnn

The ability of the human mind to block out unpleasant experiences is truly amazing. It is probably a factor in a knitter's ability to merrily knit one sweater after another all the while knowing said sweaters are eventually going to have to be sewn together.
Or at least I think it contributes to my ability to forget in between.

I was going to try to feed you some line about how seaming two horizontal pieces together (e.g., the front and back of a sweater) isn't so bad. But I quickly realized it would be a load of nonsense.

Not to say I hate seaming sweaters in the same way I understand other knitters do. I just don't like it as much as I like the knitting. I think I even do a fairly good job of it, not to say I would feel comfortable having someone pay me to do it, but no one has ever commented on it. Actually, to the contrary, I once had a non-knitter comment on how well done/interesting a shoulder seam was. Now sewing in sleeves, that I hate.

But I've been sucking it up and working on seaming Nell. No, I haven't finished the button band. That has one again been abandoned. My wrist got a little tweaky over the weekend again, so I resorted to the seaming to give myself a break. I've finished one side now, from hem to cuff. One more side and the button band to go! I don't think I'm going to finish by the 24th.

Sundae is coming along. I was able to get through most of the lace a bead section on the front over the weekend, leaving me with just two rows of straight lace to do on the train. Of course I lost a row an a half yesterday because I was supposed to YO, SKP, K1, K2Tog, YO, and instead I YO, SKP, K2Tog, leaving out the center K1 and last YO entirely. I did not realize this until a row later because the intermediate row was straight purl and the pattern on the rest of the row was somehow correct. That lapse had to have changed my stitch count, but I must have been looking at the pattern rather than counting so the rest of the row fell into line. Oh well, it's fixed now.
But, again, I don't think I'm going to finish by the 24th.

My Fight With Flickr
Which isn't even a real fight considering I just upgraded to a Pro account (it was only $25 for the year, which is still about half a tank of gas, but will hopefully last longer than the gas). My issue is that, apparently, if you have a photo on Flickr you are supposed to link any other appearances of it back to Flickr. (I have not been yelled at about this, I see the notation on the web site.) I think it has something to do with stealing bandwidth.
Now, you can click that nice little "blog this" button, but it makes the formatting all freaky—as you can see in this post. I don't mind the blue border or the little notation of the picture name.
Also, if you go to the other sizes page and use that HTML, that shows up freaky in the blog as well.
What I usually do is upload pictures to Flickr for Ravelry purposes, and then upload the image to Blogger straight from my desktop. Which gets around the whole Flickr's bandwidth issue. I have to image that it's my picture and if I want to post it in multiple places I can.
But I thought I'd be good and pull the pictures out of Flickr, which wasn't working so well over the weekend and I ended up ditching the post.

In an attempt to beat the blog into submission, I trotted off to the library and picked up "Lean HTML in a Weekend." Much to my disappointment it is written for Windows, and I use the superior Mac. But I have to imagine the actual coding is the same (I checked around and it looks like there is a Mac version of the book, but I'm not going to buy it. That money can be spent on yarn!).
So if freaky things start happening/appearing (well, freakier than normal), it's just me messing with things I probably shouldn't be messing with.

Wish me luck.

Two More Centemeters to Go

By diligently ignoring all chores or other activities last night I managed to make up for lost knitting time.
Well, I still helped Hubby make dinner and packed my lunch for today, but the rest of the time I was on the couch watching TV and knitting.
As a result, between last night and this morning on the train, the back is 25cm long. Ha! I should be able to finish it on the ride home tonight and then this evening will be dedicated to casting on for the fronts.
And let me tell you, it has been hard to ignore it and not work on it sitting at my desk, knowing it is so close to being done.
What I am itching to do is push the last 14 beads that didn't get used down to the end of the ball. Actually, this morning I had to roll the end of the yarn into a little ball because it was too floppy and just making a mess. I've been working from the inside of the ball, so it just fell apart here at the end.
And the end is so close, it shouldn't take long at all to push the beads off.
How long is my lunch break again?

Calculating Time

Ok, so Tuesday when I went to bed Sundae was 15cm long.
When I got to work Wednesday morning it was 17cm long.
When I got home Wednesday evening it was 19cm long.
No, it's not growing mysteriously on its own. sheesh.
Meaning it takes me about 1 hour to knit 2cm. The goal is 27cm, so I can expect this piece to be done sometime Friday, although I'm loosing time today since I drove to work.
And the front pieces are also at least 27cm...meaning I really shouldn't have engaged in this exercise because I'm just stressing myself out.
Ahh, deep breath, I knit and crochet for my own enjoyment.

Discombobulated

This morning I put hot water in my cup, but no tea leaves.
Then I got to the train station and realized my shirt was inside out. (One of the other women at the office says that is supposed to be good luck for the day.)
Both situations were easily remedied, but it was a rough start to the morning. I mean, really, the puppies couldn't have said something about my shirt while we were playing fetch?

Sundae
Is coming along nicely. As of this morning the back measures 17cm. The goal is 27cm. Which is shorter than I was expecting, but then there aren't pictures of the back in the book. Oh well, as long as everything is covered, right?
There has been no progress on Nell.
There has also been no progress on the camera battery situation. Unlike my tea and top, it is not as easily remedied because it requires me to both think and leave the house, neither of which activity interests me very much at the moment.