Time for a change, methinks. Something simple. Hopefully I didn't break anything, because it'll be a few days before I have time to fix it. (The day after Thanksgiving rush, don'tcha know. I work retail...pity me...) Future tweaking shall happen.

I have too been knitting!



The mittens are made from Regia sock yarn, and the glove is made from Opal. I think gloves might be my new favorite thing to do, they go up so quickly!

And the reaction I got when I pulled it out in the break room at work during lunch was too funny. You'd think I'd figured out how to turn lead into gold. Co-workers were also most impressed with the fact that I managed to get the stripes on what we usually refer to as our "driving finger". I didn't tell them that it wasn't planned at all, just lucky happenstance because of where I started the skein!

Now I'd better hit 'post' before MSN decides to disconnect me *again*!

*cough*hack*weeze*

I've been sicker lately than I've been in a long while. Nuthin' like a respiratory infection to flatten you. But with antibiotics to kick the infection's butt, and cough medicine with codine so I can finally sleep (something I haven't done in about a week), I should be back to myself in no time at all.

I have been using the enforced downtime to do a decent amount of knitting, but have I got any pictures to show you? No, of course not! That would be like, well, a normal thing to do. I'll catch up with that in a few days, when I'm more up to speed.

Instead I'll leave you with a reminder: When your kid is nice and quiet, and lets you takes a two hour nap on a Sunday afternoon something's wrong!

It took a few hours, because I'm slow as molasses on a wicked cold day, but I did indeed kitchener the back pieces together:



It really is much nicer looking than the three needle bind off was. I'm glad that I took the time to do it. Much trial and error went into it. However by the time I had reached the end I was comfortable enough to go back to the beginning, unpick the first two inches (that I had really messed up trying to figure things out), and re-kitchener then going the opposite direction. I didn't even put the stitches on needles, because I found it easier to "see" what I was doing without having the needles in the way.

I hereby anoint myself the Queen of Kitchenering...for this week, anyway! ;)

Because I know that really not much detail can be seen in the pictures I've put up, here's a close up shot of the back:


Guess what? it's *not* fair isle! It's all done with slipped stitches, and is way easier than it looks! (You could do it Marg! You could, really!)

So all I have left to do is the bottom band, and to cast off what would normally be the button band. The sweater uses frog closures, so I don't have to hassle with creating button holes. But first, a break while I whip up a pair of mittens for the small one.

So I did the three needle bind off for the back of the sweater, as per instructions, and it was butt ugly! Yuck, ick, gross! Really bad. It was so bad that I didn't even take a picture of it so I wouldn't feel compelled to share it with the world. (Trust me, you'd thank me for it.)

What I am going to do? At this point I am attempting to kitchener it closed. (Did I spell that right? Do I care? The only soul in this apartment who doesn't have the flu in various stages of development is the cat, and I have major cramps, and whoever so shall attempt to get between me and my chocolate will die!)

Er, um, ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah. If kitchenering it doesn't work, as I can't seem to remember from one sitich to the next what the heck I'm doing, I'm going to go back, bind the stitches off, and mattress stitch it shut. I know when to cry Uncle!

It's amazing, how easy it is to get out of the habit of posting. Has everyone given up on me by now? I wouldn't be too surprised if you have. I've been going through a *insert your favorite four letter word here* of a time at work over this past month, and it's really just sapped a lot of my emotional and creative energies. I'm not going to go into details, because I am sick and tired of thinking about it. However there is a light at the end of the tunnel...For all I know that light could be an oncoming freight train, but I don't care! It's a light!

I finally got ahold of the baby blanket that needs finishing:

From the looks of it there really isn't all that much that needs to be done on it, just finishing the last repeat of the design and nine rows of knitting for the border. According to the directions the blanket is suppose to be 32 inches long, and it's already past that, so it just needs a little finishing which shouldn't take long at all.

I've also been working on the sweater for another friend's Granddaughter, who is two.


This really hasn't taken all that long to do, and has been a pure joy to work on! I could very easily do this pattern again, because different yarns and weights would give each version such a different feel.

And if you're having a hard time visualizing what I've done here, remember that this pattern is worked from the end of each sleeve into the center of the sweater. I still need to do a three needle bind off to join the pieces together. It'll look more like this when I'm done:


On other fronts, Irina had her cast removed yesterday; which turned out to be way more of a trauma that it needed to be! In her desire to get away from the saw she nearly landed a violent kick on a certain part of the *male* nurses anatomy! I ended up practically sitting on her until it was over. Of course, once it was done she was fine! And she's taken her cast into school for show & tell today, so she's well over it. Don't ask how many times I apologized to the nurse! (He was cool about it. His comment was that it "wouldn't be the first time" Ouch!)

I've also been doing a ton more cleaning and organizing around here, pulling out a few abandoned projects in the process. The Hubby may actually get a sweater from me, eventually!