Strickerin

Teh Smax, he is sick. Teh Mama, she is home, working. Teh laundry, teh dirty floor, teh weeds and teh knitting, they are all calling. Teh kitchen and teh few remaining (inside) boxes to unpack, they (tehy?) are being ignored.

Heck, even the sewing machine and the needle-and-thimble-and-quilt are calling. I have always thought I’d be much more productive working from home, but I suspect that would be more true if I had a staff at home who were preparing meals and cleaning and tidying. (While we’re at it, can I get one of them to work for me so I can do the knitting and the sewing?)

Anyway, last post I whined about sleeve cap construction, and two people said they had a resource that would tell me how to do it. So note to my Mother, retroactive 25 years: whining does too solve my problems.

Which means absolutely nothing, but it was the only thing that popped into my head when I wanted to write this post.

So, it’s May. (And DAAAAMMMMMIIIITTTTT I forgot to play the First of May song (by Jonathan Coulton) on the appropriate date. Drat.) When the heck did it get to be May? Worse, Bug is done with school in three weeks. Three. Freaking. Weeks. People. How is that even possible?

As per usual, I have nothing exciting to show, given the slowness of my knitting and the sheer size of my projects. I believe I have finished the first front of the ASCnH, which, it turns out, is easier to schlep than Madli with her beads. I ripped the whole top of the front, back to the front/back split, so now I have less progress than I did when I first wrote this. Drat.
I am also too tired and run down of late to worry about beads. Madli will be a weekend-when-small-children-are-napping project for a while… Anyway, every time I pick up ASCnH I am reminded anew how much I love Cherry Tree Hill’s yarns.

So, that hoodie. That is not a hoodie. When I fudged the numbers to fit my measurements and gauge, I forgot about the hood, and I don’t think I can just dump it. In fact, I was all excited about finishing one of the fronts, but I do believe I didn’t add any of the necessary decreased to make this wearable when there isn’t a hood hanging off. Drat – I see rippage in my future. Possibly back to the spot where I split for the sleeves. This makes me have a sad. SIGH.

I must also decide whether to flip the lace pattern and pick up and knit the sleeves from the shoulders down, or enlarge the caps to fit the bingo wings. The problem is that I have never successfully knit a set-in sleeve from the wrist up, and when I knit them top down I can’t really take measurements and trace shapes for future fit issues. As far as I have sussed, there is no real formula you can plug numbers into that will give you a sleeve cap. (The closest I’ve seen involved graph paper in the scale of your gauge, and drawing the sleeve cap, and then counting. Um, nuh-uh.) I may give it a try once, then if it doesn’t work I’ll knit down. No more five-sleeve sweaters for this gal.

Cuz look! The ugliest handspun you ever did see. Or touch. (About a worsted, three ply (chained), badly badly overplied.)

Made somewhat worse by the fact that, while adding a bit of twist in after chain-plying, the yarn kept getting stuck on the hooks on the flyer and it would get EXTRA twist. Don’t care, I just mostly did it to remember what it felt like to spin, and to get those singles off the bobbin, where they’d been sitting for the last two years or more. (Update: it wasn’t the hooks, it was the end of the bobbin with the brake band on it; it was loose and rotating freely. Not so useful for the take-up, that.)
Next I have some merino on the wheel. Aiming for about a fingering weight or lighter but not caring much. Next, I finished some merino from Cloverhill Farms. I dunno if it’s the merino, or if it’s slightly felted, or just compacted, or if I just suck, but I swear the stuff WILL. NOT. DRAFT. I opened up the braid, tore it in half, then in half again (then again twice more), and still it is was being difficult. I have finished it, it’s uneven, but sproingy and pretty and will prolly make a funky hat. I think I achieved about a heavy fingering/light sport. 295 yds from 4 oz.

Additionally, I have had the urge to finish up some WIPs. I haven’t knat more than a row or two in two months, but I am starting to feel the lack of Making Things in my life and it’s making me cranky. I finally hunted down the beads I needed for Madli (I think – won’t know how closely matched they are until they arrive) and have the other Monkey printed and ready. Oh look! The beads arrived.

The tube has the original beads, the boxes have the new ones. They match well, no?
What other beads? I see nothing.

Still no cupcakes, but I expect them today or tomorrow. I won’t start spinning them right away because I’ll want to think about colors, plies, thickness, and order of things. (That’s code for “I’ll want to put them next to my bed and pet them repeatedly for a week or so”.)

Here’s a link to a video of Smacky on a sugar high. It’s long, but pretty funny. I only got half the video, and it shakes because I was laughing.

Woohoo! Just under the wire to get three posts in this month.
(Edit: DAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMIIIIIITTTTT I forgot to publish til this morning.)

Hey, I take my victories where I can get them.

So, some observations from moving.

• We have waaaaaaayyyyyyy too much crap.
• When all my clothes are clean and hanging up, I have plenty to wear.
• When all the kids’ clothes are clean and hanging/put away, it is obvious they have a shirt problem.
• Nothing cuter than a row of 3T polos hanging on a low-to-the-ground closet bar.
• I do way too much laundry.
• I have a problem with brown sugar.  (Upon cleaning the pantry, I found 11 (eleven!!!!) full or partial bags.)
• It’s totally demoralizing when I empty boxes and T takes them back to the old place, fills them up and brings them back.
• Cats can walk on broken limbs, and occasionally cats get a thing where their bones don’t form right, and this causes their femurs to break and requires surgery to fix.
• Kitty morphine tastes yucky but feels so good.  To the cat, apparently.
• I am a dog person.
• I would rather give things away that bother with a garage sale.
• I am starting to feel like running again.  Not that I want to, just that I’m going to.  This feeling has not yet been enough to get me out of bed early.
• I am starting to feel like spinning again.
• I requested a custom order from Joan.  She may be as excited about it as I am (which is A LOT).
• one of these days soon I am going to call in to work mentally ill.