more argh

back home in toronto and sherwood is almost finished - just have to do the neck, seam & block! whee! but my 6mm dpns are still mixed up with my wreath project, which i can't seem to find... my lovely husband did a little reno job while h & i were away and i am thrilled beyond belief, but i think my knitting might have gotten tidied up out of harm's way somewhere...

anyway, here is a crappy photo of the almost-done sweater:

oh boy.

totally forgot to bring the wreath with me to mum's, so that is not getting done. i did, however, bring along the sherwood sweater i've been plugging away at for h for the better part of a year. i've done the front & back and am just finishing up the first sleeve, and i thought i'd have a look at the pattern to make sure it's the right length (h is asleep) and... i'm doing it wrong. the pattern repeats with a half-step in the original and a full step in mine. whoops! at least i was wrong consistently from the beginning... ah well.

i'm liking the construction at any rate. i changed it from circs to straights because i prefer them (yes, really!), but i like the 3-needle-bind-off shoulder join, and i like starting the set-in sleeve by picking up stitches along the armscye and knitting down. and the tricky purl-behind-knit that i figured out for the earl-grey socks is coming in very handy on these cables.

even if i am completely wrong, i still like it. except that of course i am certain to run out of yarn. might start haunting others' stashes for a few extra yards of cascade ecological.

(edited now that i am home again and using a keyboard that will allow me to type the letter "h" without use of a mallet)

xmas creeps ever closer

and the wreath is done! well, not really. it's all knitted, now i just have to felt, shape, and assemble it. i am thinking that might be a good project for this weekend when we go to visit my mum. we always end up taking laundry with us anyway, might as well throw one more thing in the machines! at least i have the satisfaction of knowing that the tedium of set after set of petals is over (7 flowers, each with 4 sets, each with 3 petals = 84). it was getting a little old.

grumble

the problem with being a sewer is that it makes it difficult to buy clothing... everything is just so poorly made these days it is galling! i bought young h a lovely duffle coat at a nice store and one of the buttons was off within a week, and the zipper was coming loose too... just finished sewing on a new button properly, and reinforcing all the other buttons properly, and reinforcing the zipper. grr! serves me right for having standards i guess.

this is also why i love vintage... things used to be so well made compared to now. sigh. can i be transported back about 5 decades please?

but of course!

just as i am ready to start the last set of petals on my felted wreath, i lose my printout of the pattern... sigh. and the original ravelry link was wrong. but it's fixed now (and here it is, for the record), on track again, determined to finish it this weekend or else. hard to get things done when i fall asleep at 7:30 most days though!

also, i can't believe i haven't posted yet about laura's amazing storage locker of yarny goodness, conveniently located at queen & spadina, i.e. 5 minutes from my office. i have been by three times so far, getting christmas presents, stuff for friends, and stuff for myself of course! basically, a relative of a friend of a colleague (or some such connection) had hoped to open a yarn store, bought $100,000 worth of yarn, and then decided not to open the shop - so there's a lys-worth of yarn going at 25% off retail, and laura wants it all to go to knitters! it's by appointment only, since it's all in a storage unit rather than an actual shop, but laura is very willing to get rid of it all: set up an appointment by calling or emailing 416-389-3866 or simbabee1@yahoo.ca.

she has everything from lana gatto feeling to lopi (which i have always secretly coveted) to tofutsis to a million other gorgeous fondle-able yummy yarns. here's some briggs & little sport (and my first hand-wrapped centre-pull ball - thanks to rosary for showing me how) i got to make surface - i haven't made a sweater in a while because when you need 15 balls of yarn it gets of pricey - but i got all i need for only $20! very happy!



i've had it in my queue for ages, and i'm aiming to get it done... for next thanksgiving. that's realistic, right?

how does this happen

two months ago i thought i was so organised and ahead of the game for christmas... now it is barely a month away and i have so many things left to do! everyone has their lights up on my street and i haven't finished the felted wreath... i keep getting distracted by new projects (an asl "i love you" vest for h, and a pair of socks, and returning to an old sweater project for him that i set aside last spring) instead of completing the time-sensitive ones i should really get cracking on! also, having craptastic health for the last 60 days has really not helped. but there is a light at the end of that tunnel i am beginning to think; physio last week really made a difference, and i'm doing that again tomorrow (note to self: find receipt from last week's session & submit to insurance). here's hoping they fix me; i am dying to repaint, and open the living-to-dining archway (as i have talked about since we moved in) - at least i have cleared out some closets, took bags of stuff to goodwill, and "de-fragged" my piles of projects-on-the-go. now, where's my celebrex...

they snick! they doodle!

so i decided to try again, this time using a combination of lard and butter, and i noticed that the recipe calls for baking soda and i am pretty sure that last time i used baking powder (that's the first thing i reached for this time, too). in any case, they are perfect! and great with a cup of tea!