Day 7

Due to the incorrigible antics of Jamieson last night, I am not done with Lara yet. At midnight, with six rows of the cuff remaining, I called it a night. He had food, he had water (some of it airborne, via squirt gun) but nothing would calm the raging beast except me going to bed.

Does anyone else have this problem with their cat? That if the lights are on too late at night, they go crazy? I know knocking over glasses of water is pretty much a universal cat trait, but midnight madness? Hmm.

My determination has been revised: I am now determined to finish the sweater tonight, probably at Jeanette's cocktail party. I have the neck seamed, I just need those six rows, some side seaming, and blocking. Maybe I can get it done during lunch...?

Yesterday, I:

• had soy yogurt and coffee for breakfast
• ate a bag of Fritos for Second Breakfast
• had some veggie potstickers for lunch... and some peanut butter cups
• watched State and Main and Reign of Fire
• ate fake cheese on crackers with avocado slices
• drank a beer and half
• had a bowl of minestrone for dinner
• cursed vehemently at you-know-what

Day 6

Right Sleeve Begun

I did about 2 hours last night before I pooped out. I'm determined to have this sweater finished and drying by bedtime tonight so that I can wear it tomorrow. I was going to block it then sew up the seams with black embroidery floss, but since it needs to be ready by 7 am, I'm going to sew it up with yarn and then block it. I hope it comes out alright. I seamed the back of the collar and it looks very awkwardly done to me. Hopefully, that's just me being overcritical of my own work.

Speaking of which...

Sometimes the criticism is justified, and it's entirely the project's fault. Therefore, I present (as a gift from me to all of you Knitathletes who may be feeling a bit overwhelmed and frustrated) this button:

Enjoy!

Day 5

Knitting Olympics

Knit for 2-3 hours while watching Get Over It and Reign of Fire; right sleeve is begun.

A scene from last night

A poll for you. The winner of this poll will be rewarded with the satisfaction of knowing they are in tune with how my cat thinks. I'll close this the day the Knitting Olympics ends.

What is jamieson doing?
	falling off the table in a drunken stupor
	reassessing the standard concept of perceived reality
	attacking my Knitting Olympics project
	attempting a sly transition from the table to my lap
	yoga
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Day 4

Right Side

About 3 hrs.: 16 rows of 168 stitches

Tonight I expect to begin decreasing to begin the right sleeve. In this photo I have the piece folded so that you can better visualize it as a sweater, as opposed to some amorphous thing on my kitchen floor.

Knitting time slowed by watching Danny Deckchair and Harry Potter, again. I really need new movies.

WIPs
I knitted my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot an intarsia scarf a couple months back, and in an effort to get it over with a soon as possible, I didn't knit it double. He said that was OK, but we're both regretting it now: the scarf curls like crazy, of course, being stockingette, and my B/P/W's alledged tolerance for a curling scarf has revealed itself to be very, very low.

He is also very stubbornly in love with this curling scarf and won't let me frog the whole thing so that I can knit it in the round. Which means I have to knit a backing to it, remove the crochet border, and sew it all together. I haven't been exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of this, since I think it may look like what is commonly termed "ass", but what am I to do?

Mom's back-up sock

I'm currently knitting three sweaters - one of which is Aran - and I have five socks on the needles right now, so of course, I have another project idea. And it's socks.

In a sly attempt to get my mom to wear the socks I knit her for Xmas, I am going to knit her a second pair for her birthday. (A second pair of socks - not a second pair of Bed Socks. I think it will be a while before I get over that k3tog every four rows thing.) Perhaps with some back-up socks she will feel that actually putting the socks on wouldn't be a desecration. I want to use Sockotta yarn again for this project, so the pattern of the sock needs to be fairly simple to deal with the business of this yarn. I haven't decided which one to use yet, and opinions are welcome.

I've looked around for a simple yet interesting sock pattern, but I haven't struck upon anything that really grabs my interest. I dimly recall seeing a pair of socks somewhere like the wavy scarf in Knitty. Maybe this was my imagination, because now I can't find them. Oh well. I will just have to design them myself. Such is life.

The deadline is the end of March, so I should start them promptly after I catch up on Part 5 of the FLAK, after the Knitting Olympics are over.

Yesterday, I:

• had bag of Fritos for Second Breakfast
• had burrito for lunch
• drank a lot of cheap coffee
• was so cranky when I got home that I ordered pizza and had a screwdriver
• decided that all other pedestrians in the North End are my enemy, esp. the ones who block me from passing for whole block and then cut me off when I finally have a chance to pass and say something condescending to me when I sigh in exasperation. (Does that sound bitter? You should have heard me yesterday.)

Plan B

Over the course of the weekend, The Plan has degenerated into Plan A. Perhaps "degenerated" is not quite the right word. "Evolved", maybe? "Transfigured"? Whatever the adjective, it is not working properly.

Is it difficult to fit into my lifestyle?

Not at all, sadly enough.

Is it proving to be ineffective? Is it hindering my quest to achieve Knitting Olympics greatness?

No. On the contrary.

It's working too well - I'm almost done. What to do?

Plan B

• I will work on "Lara" with unrelenting dedication until it is completed. (Probably Friday; I have Chinese class Tuesday night.)
• I will then fill the time until the Knitting Olympics deadline with neglected W.I.P's, no matter how much it may hurt to look at them.

The order I will work on these W.I.P's is as follows:

1. backing for boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot's scarf so that he will stop asking for it;
2. fugly socks (this may take all the KO time left. And the vodka.)
3. Gentleman's Shooting Socks (just in case I do whip through #2)

Day 3

Right Front Begun

About 8 hours

At this point, this yarn is a blend - 99% black wool, 1% white Angora cat - like everything I knit.

Slowed by watching Harry Potter: The Sorcerer's Stone, Wit, Monsoon Wedding, and Sabrina over and over, as well as eating and, of course, popping out midday to take pictures of snow:

Man skiing down Hanover, the main business street of the North End

Salem Street
Paul Revere Park
Jamieson sleeping atop the yarn for my Knitting Olympics project
Okay, I know that's not snow, but he is white.

Yesterday, I:

• had coffee for breakfast
• ate tater tots for lunch
• had tofu ravioli with marinara sauce and an artichoke for diner
• drank half a Belgian beer
• snacked on fake cheese with crackers and avocado
• realized I need a Plan B
  

Day 2

Yesterday I:

• had tea for breakfast, and a soy latte and reg. coffee at the coffeehouse
• had tater tots for lunch with seaweed sprinkles
• had a microwave veggie lasagna for dinner and an artichoke
• drank two screwdrivers and a lot of mineral water

Beginning the back

9-10 hours (lots of interruptions)

Knitting time slowed by gadding about the North End and watching Just Like Heaven, Doom, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, and Monsoon Wedding - repeatedly.

Feeling very cocky.

Snow day!

Day 1

Left Sleeve

6 hrs @ home

Knitting time slowed by watching The Bicycle Thief, The Seventh Seal, and Just Like Heaven. Photo seriously brightened to show stitch definition.

This evening I:

• had pizza for lunch and dinner
• drank three Screwdrivers
• still could count, luckily
  

The Plan

My laundry is clean, my apartment is almost, and I did a little shopping. Tomorrow I go grocery shopping (after the flame is lit, it can't be helped) and then I'll be ready to rock 'n roll, or rather, er... sit 'n knit.

For sixteen days.

Whoa.

My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot is just now beginning to realize the gravity of the situation. He is used to me knitting through movies, through him talking... through parties... but I do often take breaks to do other things, like eat, read, etc.

That won't necessarily be the case soon, esp. if I fall behind.

So. The Plan. The Plan is pretty simple. I need to have the knitting portion of the sweater completed by Wednesday evening, Feb. 22nd, so that the following Thursday I can mist and block it for seaming on Friday night and Saturday morning. I have two full weekends that I hope to use for the bulk of the knitting, which will require some rules:

• I will avoid all activities that cannot be integrated with knitting. If it would be weird for me to knit in the restaurant, etc., I'm not going.
• I will be on a severe blog diet, avoiding any temptation to endlessly troll through knitting blogs to see what others are doing. This only counts if I am at home, since it would eat away at knitting time. I can't knit at work so anything goes there.
• When I'm done with the day's knitting I will post on my blog, then do something else. This has to happen before midnight on work nights so that that something else can be sleep.
• I will not knit/crochet on anything else. Sounds rather obvious, but I think I better mark that one out, just in case. You never know.
• I will plan what I am going to wear in advance to save the time I would otherwise spend blundering around, half awake and half blind in the Cave weekday mornings. (I can't stress this enough. I wear mostly black and gray. Ever look for a coordinating outfit in black and gray at 7 am in a dimly lit room?)
• I will try not to constantly whine, or watch the same movie for 16 days straight.
• I will not cook in a manner that requires real attention for more than five minutes straight. Hello, instant potatoes!
• I will eat at least three times a day, no matter what.

Now, to see if this actually happens!

P.S. I'm not going to the Team Boston Kick-Off: not only would that be distracting from actual knitting... but I'm too shy. Go figure.

Wristwarmers

Today I:

• had a cup of soy yogurt and white tea for breakfast
• am incredibly bored

One More Day to Prepare

I do have a Plan, I swear I do. The first phase of it is for me to update this blog and then go home early from work (There is nothing to do! I already Windexed my desktop and moved my monitor!) . What I do from there will be reported on later. Really. I have a Plan.

F.O.s
Last night I finished the Revised Voodoos from yesterday's post.

If you're not interested in how I revised them, now is good time to click on one of my links or something, because I am going to post about it in detail, just in case I need to remember the pattern, or someone is actually interested. Maybe that person in Estonia. (Yep, I notice you. There aren't very many people reading this blog to hide behind!)

Here goes:

Revised Voodoos 2

Yarn: Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal 3-ply Bulky (90% alpaca/10% wool)

Size: One size

Notions: US #6, #7, & #8 dpns, scissors, darning needle

Gauge: 16s = 10 cm/ 4 inches

• cast on 40 using US #7 dpns
• *k2, p2 repeating from* to end of round
• work 9 rows as set
• switch to US #6 dpns and work 10 rows as set
• switch to US #7 dpns and work 18 rows as set
• k1, place all stitches but the next 12 on a holder (28 on holder)
• k1, p2, *k2, p2* twice, k1, cast on 4
• join to work in round (16 stitches)
• k1, p2, *k2, p2* 3 times, k1
• k1, p2, *k2, p2* twice, k2tog, sl1, k1, psso (14 stitches)
• cast off using a US #8 dpn
• join yarn at base of thumb, leaving a 6" tail (to be used later to tighten any loose stitches around thumb area)
• pick up 6 stitches from base of thumb (where the 4 s were cast on) and the 28 stitches on the holder, working as set (34 stitches)
• k1, p1, k2, p1, *k2, p2* 14 times, k1
• work as set for 6 rounds, cast off all stitches with a US #8 dpn
• weave in ends, use cast on tail on thumb to tighten loose stitches with darning needle

Not rocket science, but now you know how my mind works when I'm knitting on the fly. Fun, eh? Well, maybe that's an overstatement. The important thing is they're done, and I've written down my method so that I can make them again if I want.

Last night, I:

• had a cheese panini, a bag of chips, and coffee for dinner

More wristwarmers for my apartment to eat

Today I:

• had cereal and white tea for breakfast
• had a veggie wrap, a cookie, and a bag of chips with apple juice at a lunch lecture
• nearly fell asleep during said lecture

Voodoos Revised... Again

Since I still cannot find the wristwarmers I made for my niece, I have resorted to making another pair. Not that she is going to get them. I'll eventually find that first pair and mail them to her, but in the meantime it's frickin' cold here. I mean it. This isn't just the Californian in me. Look at my new weather pixie thing. Cold.

I made this wristwarmer last night with (if I do say so myself) very satisfactory results. Aesthetically speaking, it's a bit crude, but it is hitting all the practical considerations on the head. It fits... well, like a glove, and it's fuzzy, comfortable, and tighter than the original Knitty Voodoos. That's because I went down a needle size at the wrist for ten rows (so that I could feel it gripping my wrist, very important for a sore knitter!) and instead of adding stitches for the thumb gusset, I simply backed up the rest of the hand. And it fits. Comfortably. Did I mention they fit?

I hope to complete the second one before the Knitting Olympics begins Friday.

Cripes! Did I say Friday? As in, two days from now?

Maybe I should start formulating my Knitting Olympics Plan!

Last night, I:

• had an artichoke with mayo for dinner. (What can I say? I was knitting.)

Seagulls, anyone?

And Now For Something a Little Different...

Today I:

• had a cup of soy yogurt for breakfast
• drank two cups of black coffee
• am having leftover pasta for lunch with coffee

Do you ever have one of those days at work where all you can think about is knitting? Surreptitiously, you eyeball knitting blogs, searching for more projects to add to an already endless list like a drowning person grasping for a life line, and whenever you are given a task, you think about how much knitting you could get done instead, if only you could knit at work? Or - even better - if they just let you go home to knit?

That day is today for me, yesindeedy. We had a deadline Friday, so there is literally no work. Usually, this annoys me to no end, but after filing and organizing everything I could think of, I called it a day rather than sit at the computer all afternoon, pretending to work. I got permission, but I didn't think there was much risk of being turned down: everyone else was engaged in the important task of eating ice cream.

Crocheting

I offered to help Lissy from the North End S'nB rediscover her crocheting skills a couple weeks ago, and it has since turned into me helping the entire group along. Everyone has prior experience, albeit dormant, so I'm not stressed. The plan is to make flowers from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches. No big deal, except...

I can't read crocheting instructions. I always just looked at pictures, or made something up. So I borrowed the book and did my homework last night.

Clockwise from the top left: "Little Flower", "Little Rose", "5-Ring Rose", and my half completed "5-Ring Rose"

I was using some leftover Sockotta yarn to work these up, so I got to remember why mercerized cotton is the usual medium of choice with this kind of crocheting. It's difficult to see what you're doing if the yarn is variegated, and if it's inclined to split, it's difficult to aim properly - which pretty much sums up the physical experience I was having, aside from my hand cramp. I need to pick a better yarn for the actual "lesson." (Let this be a warning to you all!)

The other aspect of my crocheting experience was anger. Who wrote these instructions? What were they thinking? After spending a half hour on the "Little Flower" instructions (decoding the abbreviations, and the abbreviations within the abbreviations) I finally realized my initial take on the flower was correct: It's a damn chain loop with double stitch petals, spaced evenly all around. They just have a inner ring of single stitches so that the petals aren't increases. And they said it in the most obtuse language I have come across lately, and that's saying something, since in a little while I have to start studying for my Chinese class.

But all is not in vain. I have unraveled the secrets of the three flowers into English, and I actually think they make a good progression from basic to complex. We could probably get through at least the "Little Rose" before the meeting is over, maybe even work 2 rings of the "5-Ring Rose" if we're all feeling particularly clever. You never know. We do have coffee.

Last night, I:

• had fish and chips with a ton of coleslaw for dinner
• washed it down with a Heiffeweizen
• cursed The Ultimate Sourcebook (Don't worry; my curses barely rank a hex.)

Blogger must have heard me

No sooner had I published that last post than I tried uploading photos again and... it worked.

Well.

If kvetching on my blog always got me this kind of instantaneous result, you'd be reading some very different material right now, let me tell you. Fortunately, I think this is a one-time thing, a fortuitous circumstance, so I'll spare you my take on foreign policy, religion, and public cell phone usage. Instead, here are photos. Yay!

The Mighty 8"

I wasn't kidding about 10s per minute with cabling. This weekend, it felt like 5s per minute. I am so glad I have reached this point, it's been like passing a gall stone: I just want to get it over with, already. Other projects call. They are queuing up, staring at me through the semi-transparent plastic drawers. Begging me to cast them on. Tonight, or maybe tomorrow, I will give them some relief. I have a couple or a dozen WIAs I need to pay a little attention to in the meantime.

Speaking of attention...

This is what I see when Jameson is not on my lap, my shoulders, or under my chair, whining. Whoever said cats are independent doesn't know my cat.

Recycling yarn

I've had this yarn for six years. Yes, six years. As I told knitcake during a Knit 'n Sip session (somewhat slurrily - I'd already had two vodka tonics and balled three skeins of yarn) this yarn was what got me into knitting. I was a crocheter, even and Afghan crocheter, but my Grandma sent me a care package that included this yarn in it's first sweater incarnation. It fit me; it had wonderful buttons, but the styling was so-so. Dolman sleeves, poofy body. Grandma didn't make it, she was just sending it along, so it ripped it and started making a sweater from a Rowan magazine I saw in the library. (You know, that same library where I learned to knit belt- style? I'll never forget that knitting section.)

I was half-way up the back when I began to fear that my yarn was running out. Two frogged sleeves had gone into making that half-back. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

So I put it off. And off. Until now.

Saturday I wound it all up on my handy new yarn meter, tied it off, and washed it in Woolite. I was drying it in the shower with a towel on a coat hanger as weight until it became evident that the shower might be needed for something else (like showering) within the next couple days, so I relented and slung it all over a chair.
It measures about 780 yards. Doesn't sound like a whole sweater, does it? Well, I could have sworn it was a whole sweater when I got it, and I haven't lost more than 25g of it over the years.

To use this yarn I'm going to have to learn to knit a raglan from the top down, just in case I run out - a simple raglan. The yarn is heavy worsted, about 16s =10 cm/4 inches. Maybe if I use big needles and have YO increases, it'll just make it. Any thoughts?

Foiled Again

Today I:

• had cereal and white tea for breakfast
• an having rice and bean burritos for lunch
• am frustrated with Blogger

What is with blogger lately? It is one thing that I can't use Flickr at work - I'm getting used to that - but now I can't upload photos into Blogger. WTF?

And I had some wonderful photos, too. I was saving them up all weekend. (Not that I had a choice... Blogger wasn't working at all during the weekend!) My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot made me a yarn meter, so I finally washed, dried, and skeined some single-ply, light green wool with flecks I'm recycling. I have photos of that.

I also finally hit the 8" mark on my FLAK back. 8" of cables! I'm not sure which excites me more: looking at all that cabling or knowing that I have four days until the Knitting Olympics begins to knit something else.

Last night, I:

• had fettucini with mushrooms, zucchini, onions, and tomato sauce for dinner
• ate a large artichoke with mayo
• drank 1 1/2 beers (forced the other half on B/P/W)
• watched Danny Deckchair
• knit on some socks

Busy, busy!

Today I:

• had cereal and white tea for breakfast
• am eating udon soup and a banana for lunch
• am in the middle of a charette

The shortage of time I have for an entry today has caused me to ponder what I will during the Knitting Olympics, when I will no doubt be not only reluctant to pause for extensive blogging, but unwise to do so.

I have devised A Plan.

This is not a Knitting Olympics Project Plan - I'm going to work on that this weekend - but a Blogging Plan. To save time, but still convey some information, every night before bed I will post a photo (or several: I knit while waiting for photos to upload!) followed by a brief description, in this manner:

Knitting Olympics swatch #1 in "coal" KnitPicks Wool of the Andes

Intended for "Lara" from Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca

+18s x 24r : 1 hr @ S'nB

Knitting speed slowed by showing off Baby Bobbi Bear, drinking coffee and general gabbiness. Hastily blocked this morning.

Last night, I;

• ate a bag of Fritos
• had pasta wheels with pesto and seitan for dinner
• worked on my FLAK sweater and the Embossed Leaves socks

More Wacky Antics

Today I:

• had a bowl of cereal and a cup of white tea with soy milk for breakfast
• am having veggie meatloaf for lunch
• am still on a black coffee kick

Bear Sweater

I finished the Baby Bobbi Bear sweater last night after work.

Originally, I was going drop stitches along the edges, re-knit them, and trim and weave in the ends of every row... but I didn't do that. To my work-addled brain, that seemed like too much work. So I chopped an inch off either end and wove the ends in (photo to right). That made this tidy edge you see on the left. Then I picked up the stitches along the edge and knitted the button flap. I crocheted a loop for the button.

Perhaps this wasn't the most logical way to go (I don't even know what to call it) but it was fairly effective. I like the points on the sweater, it gives it visual interest. I'm not entirely happy with the button placement; I imagined it centered, but with the sweater style I ended with it wasn't possible without the button practically hanging off the edge, and I didn't want to just have a frog or toggle. Live and learn.

I have yet to wash Bobbi and his sweater, but I'm hoping the sweater will shape up a little. The bear nose is a catastrophe, but I'm going to let it go. If I ever make this bear again, I'm going to get a tiny embroidery hoop and use it on the head. Luckily, I will never have to see this bear again after Friday, when I am pawning it off on a co-worker who has a new baby. Not that I'm traumatized or anything, it's just that if I have this fella sit on my bookshelf, right where I can see it every day, I would feel compelled to fix it.

What a mess that would be!

Last night, I:

• had miso soup and vegan cheese and crackers for dinner
• watched Best of Show
• finally chose my Knitting Olympics project

Too Much Excitement

Today I:

• had cereal and white tea for breakfast
• am having two bean and rice burritos for lunch
• am drinking a lot of black coffee
• think maybe I should buy some soy milk to bring to work
• am drowning in a flood of project ideas

I really need to calm down, but I don't know if that's possible. Do you think success with the Knitting Olympics is linked to a build-up of excitement prior to the event? That may be, in which case, I'm on track.

Where I'm not on track is with picking the project. I know, I know, I've been going on and on about this, but it's all that's one my mind. (That and a pattern for the variegated Jawoll sock yarn.) Here are more pictures to illustrate to you the depths of my dilemma.

(Left)"Lara" from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. I have this book. I don't have the yarn, but whateveh (as they say in Boston), I can substitute either black wool or some rusty-brown alpaca I was saving for the next picture.

(Right) "Fern" from Rowan #36. I like this pattern but I worry about the bagginess of it; I saw it worked up on one blog, and it looked like a sack with a ruffled tie in front. While I'm not in peek physical shape, one could hardly call me zoftig. There is real danger here.
(Left)"Paula" from Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca. Same substitution as as "Lara". This is kind of an alternate "Fern" in my mind.

(Right) "Nina" from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. This pattern was why I bought the book. I could do this up in "coal" KnitPicks Wool of the Andes - I have a ton of it - but I haven't done the math, so I'm not 100% that I really have enough yarn.

I have a lot of recycled yarn I could use as well, but I'm not certain how much. My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot is going to make me a yarn meter (Board with two nails in it, 3' apart. So high tech!) so that I can get my stash all sorted out, but frogging a sweater into skeins as training doesn't sound like a wise move to me. I'd rather knit on my FLAK sweater and, hell, anything else that comes my way lately. That's the particular (and fortunate, depending on your viewpoint) form of my current indecisiveness - tons of projects, and actually doing them. I'm even tempted to cut Mandarin class tonight, which is a terrible thing to do.

I wonder if I can knit in class?

Last night, I:

• had tater tots for dinner
• watched Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber - twice (knitting painkiller)
• drank 1 1/2 beers

The Idiocy Continues

I made a lot of FLAK progress tonight. See?

Half an inch, you say? What's so impressive about that?

Well, look at the photo from the last post and you'll see something else has been changed.
That's right! I flipped around the wrong saddle before, and tonight I frogged the entire back (3/4", oh boy!) and fixed it. Then I knit about 14 rows of the pattern.

Hopefully things will go a bit smoother with this sweater from here on out. My plan is to get the armhole length before the Knitting Olympics. Now that I am making more progress getting stitches on the needles, versus getting them off the needles, this may actually happen. This whole fix-it process took me a movie and a half (with distractions) so I have a pretty good idea of my speed with these cables now. (Read: slow)

Knitting Rate

I was thinking quite a bit about this today, what with a timed, endurance knit coming up. It occurs to me that if I get a relative idea of my Realistic Knitting Rate - that is, how fast I knit a basic stitch like stockinette in the context of my typical knitting environment, my apartment - I'll be better able to choose a Knitting Olympics project that fits me. So, taking into consideration trips to the bathroom, coffee refills, breaks to stir dinner, acknowledge the presence of my boyfriend/partner/whatnot, and deflect the various, imaginative attentions of my cat, I do about 20s a minute. (I base this upon my cable-knitting speed, which is about 10s a minute. I noticed it close to tripled on the "knit as set" rows.)

The verdict: I am definitely not making "Fleur" for the Knitting Olympics. It's fingering weight, and would take me an hour an inch on the back side. I'm not even going to calculate how long the entire cardigan would take - I'll just save this project for a time when I can, well, overlook how much time it will take. Plus, I don't know where to get the beads.

I could make a worsted weight or even DK weight sweater, provided it's not too fiddly, and I don't screw up too much.

Isn't that good to know?

FLAK

Today I:

• had black tea and cereal with soy milk for breakfast
• had a bag of Fritos for Second Breakfast
• am eating microwave tofu lasagna for lunch
• am guzzling black coffee
• wish I could somehow be paid to knit... leisurely

FLAK

Sunday morning I put some sleeves on BBB's cardigan and then devoted myself to my neglected FLAK knitting. Here you see my diligent knitting assistant guarding my knitting diary, a bag of Bear stuffing, my coffee, instructions for a different knitalong (one I am not even in - long story) and one of my FLAK shoulder saddles.

For those of you coming late to this blog who are not In The Know, I'm using "chocolate" colored Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks on US #6 straight needles. I did the cable swatch with US #6 dpns, and the danger of randomly dropping cable stitches off the ends freaked me out so much that I had to go and and buy straight needles. I haven't decided if I am going to make this sweater entirely flat - it begins flat, then joins in the round, apparently - we'll just have to wait and see what my emotional tension levels are by the time I really have to address this question.

I bought this sock yarn at Windsor Button with the straight needles. Obviously, I don't have enough sock yarn, since I am continually buying more. (1200g is not enough!) I am very excited about this yarn. I am almost tempted to make it my Knitting Olympics project... assuming I can make anything my Knitting Olympics project for more than 30 minutes altogether.

Urgh. Let's move on.

FLAK Back

I got as far as an inch in to the back of the FLAK sweater yesterday before I realized I had one of the saddles backwards. Do you see those live stitches, tied up on yarn? They have to face the neck. I had one facing outwards.

There may be some of you out there who would say that this is not a big deal, no one would notice if the braid isn't exactly mirrored on the shoulders. Ha! I laugh at your optimism.

I dropped all the stitches on that saddle, reattatched it properly, and began picking up the pattern with the loose yarn ends. This was actually going fine for a while until I noticed that I had developed a twist between the "new" and "old" section of the pattern. Okay, I can deal. I untwisted it and fixed it. Then I was almost done and I realized I had and extra moss stitch at the join. Urgh. Where'd that come from? I dropped it, looked at the slack yarn that blocking would not fix, and frogged the entire back.

The above photo was where I was around 10 pm last night. My waves are mirrored, even my braids. I really don't care if my horseshoes hang down or up, just as long as they're recognizably horseshoes. I know there are some of you out there (hopefully not the same people with such a laissez faire attitude about cabling symmetry) who have substituted cables and filler stitch, but I'm not one of them. This is, to be frank, my first adult sweater, and I don't really feel like pushing the envelope that far.

Last night, I;

• had miso soup for dinner with half a beer
• watched The Mothman Prophecies, The Interpreter, Danny Deckchair, and Dark Shadows (revival)
• had tater tots for lunch

Blue Bobbi

Yesterday I:

• had hashbrowns and a tofu dog for breakfast with coffee
• had a seitan "cheese steak" with domestic feta, broccoli sprouts, and kalamata olives with a beer for dinner
• had a cheese panini for lunch with a soy latte
• worked obsessively on Bobbi Bear

Bobbi Bear

Pattern: Baby Bobbi Bear by Blue Sky Alpacas

Size: One

Yarn: less than one ball Blue Cotton Ease and a ball of brown Sugar n' Cream for a sweater

Modifications: Since I wasn't using the specified yarn I used US #7 dpns to get a good fabric density. To keep things in proportion when the pattern called for a knitting a specific length I substituted the number of rows I that would have been worked in the original gauge. For instance, the original gauge was 4 sts and 5 rows = 1", so when the pattern called for knitting 3", I knit 15 rows (5 x 3).

Comments: I said I was going to pace myself with this project, but apparently I meant "fast pace". The Cotton Ease was pleasant to work with, and the pattern pretty logical. Still, I managed to goof up at least 3 times. Fortunately, I have a past of goofing up and have fix-it skills that, alas, outshine my knitting skills, so I was not delayed too long by this.

The instructions give no indication that I noticed when it should be stuffed, so I stuffed it as I went. This was quite inconvenient, esp. when it came to making the arms. Also, embroidering cotton is, to put it briefly, hell. I suggest doing it before stuffing the head, rather than after, like I did.

The sweater was worked up on US #7 dpns using the brown Sugar n' Cream. The back fits well, but the front overlaps too much. I'm going to cut the edges of the button flap an make the corrections, but not today. I think I've seen enough of this bear for a little while.

Bears and Banana French Toast

Today I:

• had leftover banana French toast for breakfast with a cup of black tea
• had a bag of chips (courtesy of the OKC) for Second Breakfast
• am having mushroom potstickers and coffee for lunch
• am almost tempted to make this sweater

Re-Picking the Knitting Olympics Project

I've been cruising through free knitting pattern websites today, looking at countless sweaters, cardigans, and summer tops. I feel a little drunk on all the choices (good, bad, terribly wrong), but I think I've settled on two courses of action. I will either:

1. buy pattern #kps221 and knit it up using some "coal" Wool of the Andes I just happen to have (20 balls)
2. or buy this yarn from Elann in black and hope it arrives in time for me to start training for "Fleur" again.

Opinions more than welcome. In fact, quite desired. It may be insane of me to want to make a cardigan out of fingering weight yarn in 16 days. It may also be that Option #1 is not such a hot idea, either. I'm not objective right now, so I couldn't really say. Go ahead and talk me down.

Blue and Brown Baby Bobbi Bear Begun!

That's right! After a couple false starts last night, I have settled on a needle size and have almost finished Bobbi's body. As you can no doubt vividly see, Bobbi is of the blue persuasion. I didn't have any cotton yarn, but Jeannette saved the day by generously donating a ball of the infamous, discontinued Electric Blue Cotton Ease. ("Electric Blue" may not, in actuality, be name of the color, but I think it will suffice for now.)I would never wear this color, but I don't seem to mind knitting in it, esp. when I already have a brown cardigan planned for it sporting a cute little blue star button I found at Windsor Button. You can see it in the bottom right of the photo. (A Bobbi Bear sweater was Jeannette's idea; I shamelessly lifted it.)

I'm trying to pace myself with this project, but it isn't easy. Cotton is so soft, the pattern so simple, the yarn so blue, I can barely help myself. I came home from the South Street Diner last night around midnight and knitted a couple more rows, it's that good. Which reminds me...

People of Boston, why do you hate me?

Why were you holding out on me about this diner? Didn't you know I've been going all the way to Davis Square for diner food? That I've really been feeling the lack of a midnight haunt? Just thinking about having lived in Boston for a year without knowing this place existed has me feeling queasy. All this time, I have been staying in, going to bed early, going to Bova's for eclairs at 2 am, even embarking on pointless walks along the harbor in the rain to fulfill my nocturnal urges. All the while, this 24 hour diner has been a fifteen minute walk from my apartment.

Life here is never going to be the same.

Last night, I:

• had banana French Toast with a vanilla frappe
• ate hashbrowns and a tofu dog for diner
• had a fat brownie, courtesy of the OKC

There's good news, and there's bad news

Today I:

• had a cup of soy yogurt and black tea for breakfast
• am eating toffee, courtesy of the OKC
• am bemoaning my fate

The Good News

I called my mom last night. She's a realtor, so it's not uncommon for her to answer the phone in her car, but it just so happens that I somehow almost always call during her evening commute when she's about to enter a tunnel. Then we get suddenly disconnected. Sometimes she calls back, sometimes she doesn't. I managed to glean from her before she entered the next tunnel that she 1) got the Bed Socks, 2) is stunned that I made them by hand, and 3) hasn't tried them on because she is afraid her size 10 1/2 feet will ruin them.

I think she may have heard me when I said I made the socks EXTRA BIG, but I can't be sure. She was already descending into Central California Tunnel Hell.

So she likes them. Perhaps a little too much to wear them. This is good and bad, wouldn't you say? Maybe if I make her a second pair as back up (her birthday is April) she'll feel it isn't too much of a risk to put one of the pairs on. What do you think? I must admit this is an obstacle I hadn't quite anticipated.

Also, I finished my FLAK swatch last night and blocked it. I am already behind on this knitalong (some people are on the back of the sweater already!) so I didn't go the full 24 rows, more like 14. I don't think it makes a real difference. My stitches per inch is dead on. I haven't bothered with counting the rows per inch. I can work that out later if it's a problem. The important thing is I can start the sweater now with something like a clear conscience, if not downright brazenness.

The Bad News

At the S'nB last night I "trained" for the Knitting Olympics by knitting up a swatch of the "coal" Merino Style from KnitPicks for "Fleur". I used US #3 needles, and it was pretty dense. I was under the impression that this yarn was DK weight, but I blocked it last night and measured it this morning right after the FLAK swatch. The gauge for "Fleur" is 28s = 10 cm/4 inches.

My swatch is 24s = 10 cm/4 inches!

Argh!

The fabric is already as dense as I can tolerate, so that's that. I have no yarn for "Fleur". Nothing. Zip. Nada. I am (to use a time-honored cliche) up Shit Creek.

One of the criteria I gave myself for the Knitting Olympics was that I would work from the stash. Buying buttons, zippers, toggles or whatnot is perfectly acceptable, but not the yarn. Not even one ball if I fall short of the required amount. The only DK weight yarn I have in my stash is off-white and I refuse to make anything out of it that doesn't require at least a few cables or bobbles. This can only mean one thing: I have to choose a different pattern and yarn.

Simple enough, eh? Of course not.

I have already nixed the possibility of using cables, bobbles, or complex stitches when they comprise the majority of a pattern, unless it's socks. I could do socks, but I really want a sweater. I need a sweater. I will not be complete without a new handknit sweater, ASAP. (I think that may be the entire reason I am participating in the Knitting Olympics, come to think of it.)

Simple sweater it must be. I have yarn for that. I have, in fact, A WHOLE LOT of yarn for that, in worsted weight. Perhaps if I chose the yarn, the pattern will automatically follow without much fuss or whining.

Yeah, right.

Edit: Worse News. I am an idiot. 28s = 10 cm/4 imches is not DK weight; it's fingering weight. Ah, well. I still don't have the yarn, since I don't want to make it in green.

Last night, I:

• had a cheese panini for dinner with a coffee at S'nB
• drank half a beer
• was foolishly optimistic

I am so busy, I don't even know it

Today I:

• had a cup of soy yogurt and black tea with rice milk for breakfast
• am having mushroom potstickers for lunch
• am posting a gratuitous cat photo (Isn't he cute? This is his Dr. Jekyll side.)

Ever feel like you are knitting in circles? Not just making a hat or something, but just not getting anywhere? I've been feeling like that lately. I have all this yarn and plans and whatnot, and very little to show for it.

I'm not even at the half-way mark yet with anything I have cast on, except for another pair of aquamarine Lamb's Pride Super wash socks. I am have the back done for a raglan cardigan from Campus Hand Knits, and I've started both sleeves. I'm swatching for FLAK, and I'm going to make "Fleur" from Rowan Vintage Style for the Knitting Olympics. I'm perpetually knitting and ripping out a wristwarmer. I have several socks cast on, and the Fugly socks stuffed in a basket out of sight in the hope that I will forget about it.

I'm blaming the holidays for this. There is valuable knitting time lost during the holidays, when people think you are supposed to be talking to them, watching the kids unwrap their presents, eating, for goodness sakes! Not to mention the travel nausea. Really, let's not talk about that and what it does to the desire to knit, much less live.

The holidays are also the time of Massive Quanities of Small Projects Which You Will Never See Again. In the past three months, I have knit 8 hats, 1 pair of wristwarmers, 1 pair of fingerless gloves, 5 scarves, 2 flower brooches, 2 pairs of socks and a washcloth. I kept the washcloth, a hat, and a scarf. Sure, there's satisfaction in making the small objects, and even a little bit (sometimes) in giving them away, esp. if you can see the person's reaction to it, but most of my family lives 2000 miles away. I have to eek out my satisfaction in a job well done via email or over the phone. (Which reminds me: My mom still hasn't said anything about her socks, not even "They came in the mail yesterday." Urgh. Maybe I'll call her Mother's Day and ask what happened.)

Maybe twenty small objects in three months sounds like a lot of FOs to have knit, and you think I should be satisfied, but twenty FOs should be seriously cluttering my apartment, let me tell you. What's actually cluttering my apartment - aside from books, mail, and clothes - is WIPs and WII. (Works In Imagination, i.e. yarn stashed for future projects) At the rate I'm going, I'll need a private supernatural workforce to get this stuff knitted up any time soon. Which is not a bad idea, really. Maybe if I put out a bowl of milk the elves will come. Do you think they prefer soy or rice milk?

Last night, I:

• ate a leftover eggplant parmesan sub for dinner with a beer
• went to Chinese class
• worked on my FLAK cable swatch
  

It Lives!

Today I:

• had a cup of soy yogurt and black tea for breakfast (not necessarily in the same cup!)
• had two bean and rice burritos and a bag of Fritos for lunch
• am being moderate about the coffee
• wish I had as much time to knit as Jeannette

After much fretting and diligence my hard work has finally paid off. No, I haven't gotten a raise, or been awarded some kind of medal. I have simply managed to keep my houseplants from dying this winter.

When I came to the East Coast I thought I had a green thumb. Trying to grow anything in that toxic waste they call soil in Philadelphia and the incident of the Fern Who Got Too Much Water soon disabused me of this idea. How was I supposed to know that Coastal California was a gardener's dream? I thought you really did just drop a peach pit and have a tree grow. Doesn't that happen everywhere?

Apparently not. Growing plants in my apartment is no small feat. My houseplants have been languishing on my wide windowsills and I, spoiled Californian, have been at a loss about what to do. Too much water? Not enough? Cat harrassment? Nope. When all your windows face brick walls less than ten feet away, rising two floors above you, you're lucky if you don't start feeling as if you are the Birdman of Alcatraz. The problem is sunlight. I went down to the hardware store and got myself a 60 watt plant light.

I've had my houseplants on life support for about a month now, and I am pleased to announce that my rubber plant is growing again. It wasn't easy. I had to turn the lamp on every day, and shut it off every night. I had to chastise my boyfriend/partner/whatnot repeatedly until he stopped shutting all the blinds the moment I left the room. This, and the low winter sun, are to blame for my plant's health to begin with. He now understands that the plants and I do not appreciate this, and that the light is not meant to substitute for natural light, but to supplement it. Nobody is peeking in at him anyway. We face a brick wall!

My African Violet is still alive, but it isn't blooming. It's edges are dry, despite the dish of damp alabaster gravel I have under it to hydrate it. (I recently discovered my cat may have something to do with this. He gets very excited when I water the gravel, and just last week I caught him licking the rocks as if they were the only viable source of water in the house. Literally trying to get water from a stone! I shooed him away and he went to his water bowl, his second choice. Have I told you my cat is nuts?)

And my bonsai, the one in a species that's supposed to be impossible to kill?

Well, let's not talk about that.

Last night, I:

• did laundry while eating an eggplant parmensan sub and drinking an Italian beer
• had a handful of raw cashews
• ate instant vegetable/barley soup for lunch, a soy yogurt, and a bag of Fritos
• finished reading Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic
  

I Guess This Is New England

Today I:

• had weird flavored coffee for breakfast
• didn't have weird flavored cereal for breakfast... at least, not after the second bite
• have a laundry date
• trudged to work through the snow

It's snowing again. Again. Just as I had been lulled into thinking, however irrationally, that spring had come three months early. That's the Californian in me. I'm utterly convinced that winters should remain mild, lots of rain and mud and the occasional 60 degree F day with bright, overcast skies. Perfect for a beach picnic with some merlot, a wedge of brie and a fresh bagette. Right? I could go for that now. But there's the little issue of all this snow.

Maybe I should look at the bright side of this. Walking to and from work is great exercise, esp. when it is through about 4+ inches of snow in a gale, right? And it builds character, or so I have been told.
And I'm equipped. All this knitting has been for a reason, it isn't just compulsive industriousness. I now have an alpaca scarf, a cloche-style hat, and I would have the Voodoos, too, if my apartment hadn't swallowed them this weekend. (I can't really blame it. They are irresistible. But it is annoying. Those Voodoos weren't even technically mine.) Add the snow boots, long wool peacoat and the unseen, ever valuable long underwear I wear eight months out the year out here and you have one toasty commuter. A bit like a slightly damp powdered donut at the final destination, but still pretty much dry inside and good to go if left by the heater a little while. I suppose there are worse things to be.

Last night, I:

• had lobster ravioli with bread and a Heifeweizen at the Green Dragon
• read some more of This Rough Magic
• rediscovered my childhood knack of making two chairs into a comfortable settee