I hope this wasn't a bad idea

Today I:

• had no breakfast. Nada. None. Blame the alarm.
• am drinking coffee
• am having instant potatoes and stir-fired broccolini and mushrooms for lunch with a bag of Fritos
• wonder if I'll ever get the hang of my job

There comes a point in any project when the question of whether it should have been started at all is raised. Perhaps there are unforseen - or worse- foreseen difficulties. Maybe the yarn or the color is not quite on. Or you were drinking when you picked it out.

The current project that is flying so feverishly off the hook has been stuck in that territory from the get go. That hasn't stopped me, but I did almost kind of casually forget to mention it on the blog at all until it was finished and a success, if you know what I mean. Why? Well, for starters, it's a Berroco pattern, which is almost enough in its own right. I am making something from a company notorious for fug. (My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot, upon seeing a black and white print out of the pattern, likened it to the camouflage netting used by the military. Then he quickly buggered off because he was making me mis-count.)

Why am I making this Thing? Well, maybe I've had a few too many soy White Russians lately or something, but I think Berroco may just be misunderstood, and with some shrewd calculating and righteous yarn choices, something nice can be made from one of their patterns. It may be several incarnations removed from the pattern, and be the subject a major redesign, but it just might be possible.Behold! My interpretation in progress. The most obvious problem with the pattern was the yarn. That had to go. Not that it was evil or anything, but it just wasn't where it belonged. I'm substituting "Stone" Sirdar Breeze, a DK weight 60% acrylic cotton blend. I'm hoping this adds a bit of class, a bit of refinement. I don't know what the opinion at large is on this yarn, but I am more than a little concerned that I like it so much that I can't see what a dog the project is.

I'm also experiencing a little stress about this substitution. The gauge is different, so I'm crocheting in the middle size, not the smallest. And I'm using an arbitrary hook. But anyway. Nice yarn.

I'm doomed.

Cat Cross-Over

I went to Jeanette's for cocktails this weekend (after all, the knitters who drink together, tink together...) and snapped this photo of Isis. This is Isis in action. I think most of the afternoon she was on the couch next to Jeanette, snoring. Jamieson could learn a couple things from Isis. He does sleep...
...but he spends every waking moment performing crazy cat antics.