I AM SO GREAT!*

With the dangerous deadline of going back to school looming, I managed to finish the baby quilt I began about two weeks ago. I still need to clip the pesky threads so it will have to wait to make its appearance. Mostly, I'm just ecstatic that I made a quilt, complete with hand-quilting, my own binding, and a not-so-fancy label. It's full of novice mistakes and with any luck it won't disintegrate after its first real wash.

*Title taken from a young Bart Simpson song which really sums up my mood.

Freaking crazy or divine providence?

In the middle of studying for finals, or cramming if you prefer, I come across The Lord of the Rings on tv. This is my all-time favorite thing to study to. Later on, after moving to the library to do my diligent student duty, I read "Start with the final state--having all hobbits and all orcs on the far bank." I had to read it three times to convince myself that my Cognitive Psychology textbook was talking about hobbits and orcs.* It was like a meeting of the nerds, in the dark of the night. Or a small sign that it's time I re-read the series.

*This was in reference to a problem solving scenario, hobbits on one side, orcs on the other.

Babies grow up so fast!

Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss

I started this for a baby girl I thought was 2 months-old. I had two days to complete the tiny sweater and only had the finishing left when I found out the baby is nearly 6 months-old. I suck at time estimation.

I used Wool-ease in a pea green color because the mother's favorite color is peridot. I ran out in the middle of the night and had to continue with something I had onhand. Cotton-ease in the same color family to the rescue. I'm going to stick with the brighter green for my second and final attempt.

Last-Minute Halloween

Halloween was fun this year, if a bit rushed. Made more fun by the fact that I put the siblings to work. This is a glimpse of their handiwork:



On the crafting front I finished the back for the VK Cabled Cardigan and cast-on for the left side. The $1.50 Cardigan is on hold until I have the heart to sit down and do the math for the decreases on the fronts. Knitting is rolling along but in need of attention is my overflowing fabric "scraps." I'm up to about three boxes worth, something that's hard to estimate accurately since I keep finding pockets of fabric in odd places. With the impending doom of having to sort and organize the fabric I want to escape and start a new crochet project or maybe even trade mountains and organize the scrapbooking stuff. [Crossing my fingers that the Bio midterm went well..]

Post-Weekend Update

Owing to two Midterms this week I've been knitting up a storm. The black $ 1.50 Cardigan has been frogged but not forgotten. The bunchiness wasn't working out, even after a light block. Instead, I restarted it in Cotton-ease. The brown shows off the stitch pattern much better. Already on the second skein!

The rejected black yarn is now the Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006/07. The cable repeat is different for every row, ensuring minimal boredom. I fell in love with the tie closures and the fabric is knitting up super chunky (duh).

I also started some booties for the new baby. There may also be enough yarn left over for a tiny hat. I better hurry up.

Now Showing: BALLS

I've done some work on the cardigan and dug up the old gray sweater. But the most exciting thing by far was this marquee. Time to start my paper. Hooray!

Son of a Beach!

Yep, it was bound to happen. Cast on for the Dollar and a Half Cardigan and a few rows into the lace pattern it's time to rip it and start over. The lace pattern itself is intact. But I've got this blasted extra stitch at the end of the row. Kind of like when you've finished a nice section of stockinette stitch and there's a tiny snag, that you can't squish back into the fabric. And it just stares at you. That's what this extra lace stitch is doing...staring me down. And although I concede that this situation could have been resolved by pragmatic swatching, I like to dive right in (and flail).