Baby, it's cold outside

The temps have suddenly dropped around here. It's like we skipped fall, and went straight to winter. I am seriously unprepared for this cold! The weather was staying so nice; I was checking the weather forecast each day to see if I needed to wear a light, long-sleeved shirt to work, or would a short-sleeved polo be better?

Then, boom! Cold weather hits. Unfortunately, I spent the summer singing, like the grasshopper in the fable, instead of working to prepare for the winter, like the industrious ant. I have just this much of my Weekend Sweater completed:

It isn't that I don't want to work on my sweater, it's that I don't want to unravel the first attempt. I mean, that sounds seriously boring. It's much more fun to knit socks:

Another CIC pair (left), and working on a pair for me (now that I'm done grieving over my broken needles).

But I'm alternately scolding myself and promising same self that I'll start unraveling the sweater so I can knit it anew. Seriously, I want that sweater. I need that sweater. I'll get to work on that right away.

Right after I complete a couple more rounds on my sock.

Not for the faint of heart

So, I finally finished my Jawoll socks. Took me a full week just to finish the toe; that dark yarn was hard to see, and when I had time to knit, I didn't have enough light to tell if the previous row had a decrease or not. But, finally, they were done:

After struggling to finish those dark socks, what do you think I started for my next project?

Yep, another pair of dark socks. But if you could feel how soft and squishy this Knit Picks Essential is (Carbon Twist colorway), you would totally understand. So, I merrily cast on and started ribbing. Then, the next day, tragedy struck:

Is that a heart-breaking picture, or what? I had my knitting bag slung over my shoulder as I was getting in the Jeep, when I lost my balance and fell against the front seat. With my bag between me and the seat. I heard a sickening snap, and knew immediately what had happened.

OK, for tragedy, it really doesn't measure up to what I see on the news every night. But I've had those needles for over 20 years, and I'm really sorry to see them go. To add insult to injury, I'm currently out of size 2 bamboo DPNs in my eBay store, so I couldn't even grab another set right away. Fortunately, I did find something to cheer myself up with:

I'm back to knitting little socks for CIC. Tapestry wool on size 3s; haven't broken them, fortunately.

What a crock

The weather-guessers have been predicting nice weather this weekend; sunny and warm Saturday and Sunday, cooler and maybe some rain Monday. I figured, great, I'd play in the dirt on the sunny days, and maybe bake some cookies on Monday if it was cool enough. Hah!

This morning was cloudy and gloomy. I kept looking from the forecast to the sky; cloudy and getting cloudier. About a couple of hours after the rain started, the forecasts were updated to rain all weekend. &^%$#@!

Since the garden was out, we headed for the movies. Saw Prince Caspian; not bad, but not as good as the first one. If you're a Narnia fan, then I'd recommend seeing it. If you're not, well, it's still worth seeing, but maybe wait until it's on cable.

On the plus side, I did get a little knitting in. I finished one pair of socks for CIC:


Hand dyed Knit Picks WotA. Love those orange toes! I think they might actually glow in the dark.

I started another pair:


using some Cascade 220 I got in a swap a while back. I'm ready to start the toe, which is what the blue yarn is for. For some reason, I get such a kick out of contrast toes. Doesn't take much to amuse me, I guess.

For instance, sneaking up on cats for extreme closeups while they are trying to nap is a hoot.

The things you find

I finished the Magic Slipper booties a few days ago; finally got around to taking a pic today prior to tucking them into a box of clothing heading to the Cheyenne River Reservation. I stuffed them with some oddments of yarn to give you a better look:

While looking for a scrap of yarn and a tapestry needle to tie the booties together for their trip, I found this lurking under the pile of yarn and WIPs that inhabit one corner of our sofa:

A pair of socks just waiting for one final toe to be sewn up! I had forgotten all about these; I think I finished them while I was sick, and didn't feel up to the challenge of Kitchener with a head cold. So, a few minutes later, I had a pair of socks for CIC:

Man, that was easy. I ought to sort through that corner more often.

Not a pretty sight

That's how my front porch looked when I got home Saturday; depressingly devoid of packages. I'm beginning to doubt the fates want me to have that grain mill after all.

At least I was able to work on my ILG sock at work Saturday. I finished the leg; now I just have to find my notes on what I did to center the pattern before starting the heel. I take some small comfort in the fact that it won't be long now before I can wear these lovely socks.

I also started another pair of socks for CIC in one of my favorite colors. There's nothing like wool in pretty colors to cheer one up after a disappointment!

More better

This cold is hanging on something fierce, but I am feeling a little better. I did manage to command enough brain power to graft the toe on the socks for CIC:

Lion Wool, Ocean Blues colorway, my usual toddler sock pattern. These make pair #4 in my personal Magic28 challenge to make 28 pair for charity. Luckily, I've set no deadline for myself!

I was going to pick up my Weekend Sweater and join up all the pieces, but as best as I can tell, I need a longer circular needle. I thought I bought a longer one, but I can't find it. It's about 50/50 which is faulty; my memory or my ability to find it. So, I'm ordering another needle; as soon as it gets here, I plan to really focus on finishing that sweater. It's cold, dammit, and I need more wool!

Speaking of cold, it's supposed to be brutally cold here today; temps are supposed to drop down to 8 freakin' degrees. I have become a total wimp when it comes to cold weather; I used to be OK as long as it stayed above 0. Now, I start kvetching when it gets below freezing. Anyway, my plans today involve staying inside, resting (to chase away this lousy cold), maybe watching a movie. If I get really ambitious, I might bake a little. Carbohydrates are very good for a cold.

Make room for me, kids; I'm joining you.

Bad timing

Today is unseasonably warm, and I would love to do some work in the garden. I had planned to spread compost in the vegetable beds, then cover them up with cardboard so they would be ready for planting come spring. The cardboard keeps the soil moist and holds in the warmth, promoting worm activity while supressing weeds. Come spring, I just have to remove the cardboard and start planting.

Unfortunately, I am laid low with a sinus infection, and don't feel like doing anything but lying on the couch breathing through my mouth (such an attractive picture, isn't it?). If I feel energetic, I may work on this a bit:

Socks for CIC, in my usual pattern, with Lion Wool, Ocean Blues colorway. Yes, these are the ones I started earlier, trying to adapt the Little Sky booties pattern. Just didn't like it, so I frogged and started over. I've knit this pattern so many times that I hardly have to think about it. Hardly thinking is about as much as I can handle today.

This warm weather is supposed to last a couple more days, which I figure is about how long I expect to feel crummy. Is pessimism a symptom of a sinus infection?

Catsup

Here I am, twiddling my thumbs at work again and catching up with my blogging. Yesterday was the mailing deadline for the latest challenge for CIC. I packed up a box with two vests and ten pairs of socks; didn't realize how many socks I had accumulated since the last shipment! I have shown off some of these already, but not all:


The vest on the left is made with Lamb's Pride Worsted, and is big enough to count towards the "bigger kids" goal. The one on the right is made with two strands of hand dyed sock yarn worked together, and is for a smaller child.

The two pair of socks on the upper right are for smaller kids, but the remaining eight are for larger children. Most of these were made with yarn generously given to me by others. Not only is it nice to be able to knit away without worrying about breaking the bank, but it's fun to mix and match colors, finding creative ways to use what I have.

Speaking of generosity, I recently received this windfall from another CIC-Knit member:

Can you believe the size of that pile? Boatloads of tapestry yarn, plus several skeins of mohair and some heavy worsted weight, just begging to be knit into warm woolies for CIC. Fellow CIC-knit member bskmoon received this generous donation, which was more than she could use, so she shared it with me! The generosity of knitters continues to astound me. I'm itching to get started sorting and planning. So much potential!

I never get tired of this

I never fail to be amazed by the power of blocking. Here we have a recently completed vest for CIC, fresh off the needles:

As you can see, it is a puckery blob. Not something you would actually want to give to anybody, or wear. But, after a little swish in some cool water, and a nice lie-down in the spare bedroom (off limits to all feline types), we have this:

Why, lookee there, it's a vest! I know, little things amuse little minds. :p

Meanwhile, I finished up the matching toes for the latest CIC socks (raveling and reknitting the first toe wasn't bad once I made up my mind to do it), and started on another pair.


The lavender and purple yarn is Dale Baby Ull, sent to me by Shelly Kang when her house was in the process of being buried under sock yarn. These weren't quite full skeins; not wanting to have a repeat of the latest toe incident, I weighed the yarn, then carefully calculated how much yardage that should be. My calculations show that I should have plenty for a small pair. Plenty. I keep reminding myself of that fact as I watch the remaining yarn dwindle. Plenty. Worrying won't make the yarn last longer. Plenty. I think I have one of those "once bitten, twice shy" vibes going. I just keep repeating to myself: plenty.

Workin' hard

Here's what I've been doing at work today; a little knitting, a little reading, a little surfing. What's that you ask? What about work? Oh, there's no actual work for me to do. But the powers that be decided they want an IT person in the office on the weekends just in case there's a problem somewhere. *Sigh* I won't bore you with all the reasons why this is stupid, just take it from me that every other weekend I'm going to spend 8 hours in the office twiddling my thumbs. Oh, and working on the search for a new job.

On to more important matters--what about the sock? The overwhelming majority agreed that I needed to finish my CIC sock in a contrasting yarn, and ravel & reknit the other sock to match. Thank you to all who responded to my plea, both here & elsewhere; you helped me do what I really knew I needed to do, but was trying to avoid. I decided against the purple yarn I originally thought to use; it overwhelmed the purple in the sock and made it look muddy. I finally decided on this steely blue yarn, which I think coordinates nicely.

It's getting close to lunchtime, and I'm wondering how much green beer and revelry I'm going to run into in my search for a meal. The weather's turned cold again, which may be in my favor. I'm off to try my luck; if I don't make it back, I hereby bequeath my stash to the CIC-knit group. :)

Uh Oh

I just started the toe on my second sock in this pair for CIC, and I've run out of yarn. I searched through the stash, looking for something to finish the toe with.

Here's what I found. The socks are made with hand-dyed Lion Fisherman's Wool. On the left are two little bits of a different, but similar yarn; one is pink & purple, the other purple & blue. I don't think I'm up to doing alternating rows with the two different skeins, so I'd have a toe that was missing one color. I think that would bother me too much.

On the right is a skein of Lopi Light in the same colorway. The colors are pretty close, but Lopi is shinier than the Lion Wool, so I think the change would be noticeable, but not glaringly.

My third choice is to finish up with a solid color (I have plenty of purple lying about), unravel the toe of the first sock, and knit it to match.

I'm having a devil of a time deciding what to do, so I've relegated this to the spare bedroom while I work on another pair. Input would be greatly appreciated!