2 Hours of Knitting

That cute little triangle shows 2 hours knitting
I'm taking a class at The Studio and we are knitting a lace project together. Girasole by Brooklyn Tweed in Silky Alpaca.
I learned a fiddly new cast on that will make the center hole disappear. I learned that the pattern works out at the end of the row stop and count anyway. I got a good ways in and counted for the first time since casting on. I had a lace repeat too many. The 8 stitches I was off there would grow to about 64 stitches off in the final piece. Add to that the fact that other facets of the shawl wouldn't fit I chose to rip it out and start all over. That means I had to take another 5 or 6 tries to get the fiddly cast on to work.
The ruined pink sweater is now very nice non-ruined pink yarn. I can't wait to knit it again. I guess I need to reset the stash counter. Hmmmm.

Another hmmmm. I have poison ivy on my neck. How does a person get poison ivy on their neck in October? That's a rhetorical question. I can think of many ways a person could get poison ivy on their neck in October but I didn't do any of them.

@*#& Moths %#*

We grow moths big and furry around here.
Look what Sumi-e did to my sweater.
And here too. This sweater made from a nice minimally processed wool yarn, Beaverslide, that was innocently sitting in my hand wash laundry basket.
Bad kitty. Bad, bad, bad kitty.

Good dogie sleeping in the sunny yarn pile. Joey's never ate a sweater.
My Winter Hoodie out of Eco yarn that I started last year is all knitted and blocked. I hope it's dry by tomorrow (I washed it 3 days ago) so I can take it to knitting and learn how to sew in a zipper. I have big plans for this sweater. I love this yarn. It smells like raw fleece when it gets wet. I love that sheepy scent.

I've picked up my EZ Nalgar again. But it's no longer a Nalgar. I was thinking that the fair isle band I wanted to do would be too bulky under the sleeves in an aran weight yarn. So it was put into time out. I received new inspiration from Made in Brooklyn and I only had to add a few stitches to turn it into a Huron. Since I picked it back up a sleeve is done and it's time to cast on the second.

Lately I've caught myself thinking. I'll do that tomorrow or I'll do that when I move or I'll do that when I'm working. With that change I'll change me too. I've gone through many life changes. Such thinking rarely works. It turns out that the move or tomorrow or a new job is hard enough to deal with on it's own and after all it's still the same me. So instead I took those things I wanted to do but later and did them today.

The most photographic is the top shelf of my waiting to be filed papers. It used to look like the bottom two shelves. Now it does not.

Chilled

It's late and night and pouring rain. I have Joey in my lap and everything feels right. My craft fair is over. Sales were good the company was better and the weather was cold but not as bad as it could have been. It was a nice way to spend a weekend.

I came home cold to a chilled apartment. It's October and for as long as I have been paying bills October and April are the two months I live without heat or AC. It's a fun little game that makes a huge savings in my bill, but last night I would have loved to crank up the heat. My apartment fell to 65 but since I only heat to 62 turning it on would have been pointless. It's going to get colder and stay that way. I'll get used to it but something about the first cold night is extra hard.

Last year I turned on my heat on the first day of winter. I'm thinking about this year. It will be harder since I'm home looking for work. Last fall I was in a heated classroom 10 to 12 hours a day. Also, I just know that this year is going to be a cold one. Picking a date could be bad planning. So instead I'm thinking about going until the inside temp reaches something low like 50F. That might be too extreme. 55F might be cold enough. But I don't need to decide until October is over.

I finished my Circular Shrug. It looks fantastic. I'll see if I can get some photos up.

Day 3 of being sick

And I'm now at my favorite place of being sick. A friend made a grocery store run for me and picked me up more Tylenol and Rocky Road ice-cream (thanks sweetie). I took the Tylenol and it's knocked my fever back to 99.7 and got rid of all joint aches.

It would irresponsible for me to leave the house but I finally feel well enough to knit again. So after sending out 2 more resumes with my generic cover letters (I don't feel that well and the jobs aren't that great to write them new ones) I am going to curl up on the couch and knit for the rest of the day.

Now is a good time to do a check up on the stash.

I finished the Nutkin socks and gave them to their new home.

In exchange she gave me 6 balls of yummy yummy Noro Silk Garden.I'm knitting it into a Circle Shrug. It's mindless knitting and very close to done so I might finish it tonight.
Scored from the 50% off shelf at The Studio 10 balls of Classic Elite Countess.
This yarn is slated for a shawl color sweater suitable for Sean Connery in Hunt For Red October but in a purple and pink, cashmere and angora, yarn.

So the tally is one ball of sock yarn out sixteen balls of yarn in.

Thankfully, I don't keep score like that. It's one project out, two projects in. That's not getting me any coser to my goal. But, wow, what yummy yarn I have now.

I'm Siiiiiick...

Ok, ok, there are too many iiii's in that. I am only sick. My back hurts, my teeth hurt, and I have a fever of 101.4 That's it. I woke up feeling fine but my ear hurt and I went out in the world and by noon I was pretty sure I had a fever. I checked when I got home and I do. I spent the day sleeping on the couch, taking vit C, and eating Rocky Road ice-cream.

In-between naps I knitted.
The Vine Yoke Cardigan in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. The color is Red Hot Passion. A fantastic lipstick red.

Last weekend I went to Mom's house and she surprised me with a loaf of wheat free bread. It was exspensive and a little scary because the use by date was July 2010. But it was bread and I haven't eaten bread in 2 years. Too bad it was dry dense bread, hard to chew and tasted like sourdough. It wasn't very good plain. I took it home and made grilled cheese sandwiches. Mmmm Grilled Cheese Sandwiches I have missed you. I ate the whole loaf in two meals. Tasty.