Time flies when you're having rum.....

Or watching pirate movies. Or both! All are acceptable ways to spend a rare snow day, as long as you are knitting.

No snow day for me though. I was hard at work once we slogged through the ruination of our secondary road. No knitting in the company of friends that night either. Sigh.

So, this Tuesday was a long-distance participation in Knit-Night. I am now in a race to finish a baby gift for one who is set to arrive at the end of the month and to start another for an April girl. To make things even more interesting, my friend Lenore challenged me to a race. Pictures to follow.

As for the sweater, I goofed. I have pics of it in progress, but the final product was not captured photographically for posterity. Oh well.

Freezy poofs!

It has been a while since the last knitting update, mostly because I had some ideas about projects for Christmas presents and ....... well, that just isn't working out to plan. Those projects are on the same path to destruction as the other unnumbered cross-stitch projects that are marinating in the closet from Christmas-es past.

On a happier note, I finished the baby sweater! It's not exactly to plan, but it worked out for the best. The pattern was for a little layette with jacket, hat, pants and booties. It was in seed stitch with I-cord trim. I decided to do the jacket, in a size slightly larger to account for my knitting speed so that it would actually fit the recipient when it was received. The I-cord also ended up by the wayside. The ties were cute, but the color of the trim keeps playing tricks on my eyes. It really does match pretty well in the right light. Other times, not so much. So, I edited the I-cord to the length I could stand to knit and designed a closure that would be baby-friendly. Pictures will go up after Christmas. (This one made the deadline.)

As for the others, more to come. Maybe if I get busy now, at least one will make the show. The weather outside has been frightful --- wet and foggy for the weekend changing to sunny and blustery today. If I hold my coat just right and run REALLLLY fast, I might even get airborne.

Let me tell you why I suck.....

I, being of unsound mind, have been found guilty of suckage by the Tribunal of the Needle and by my own admission. (To learn more about the Needle, click here.) My penance is to write out this admission, here in what will be known as "the flog blog", the top ten reasons why I suck.

• 10. I use movie quotes in conversation. For proof, see above blog title.
• 9. My yarn stash is quietly taking over my house. I have yarn that will probably never see a project but that I can't liberate or trade at the moment. Maybe someday, but not today. My preciousssss.......
• 8. I have a frog pond the size of Lake Erie.
• 7. I love Hot Topic. Deal with it.
• 6. I love Halloween. I didn't dress up to answer the door this year and so this Halloween was terrible. There were also only 5 trick-or-treaters which made it a double-bummer.
• 5. I am an accountant and I love my job. Working to pass the CPA exam is partly to blame for me having to write this post. Still working on that whole work/life balance thing.....
• 4. Heavy Metal music is my personal drug of choice. The louder, the better. My hair will always be long so that it whips around as I bang my head. Given enough time and AquaNet, I will make my hair bigger than yours.
• 3. Disco sucks, but ABBA will forever hold a special place on my MP3 player. I'm not giving up my roller skates either.
• 2. I want real paper in my newspaper and my books. The on-line versions are just not the same to me.

And the number one reason why I suck:

• 1. Bailing on my friends at the last minute after PROMISING to make it for the first time in weeks. For one who was present at the conception of the Needle, this is probably the biggest reason why I suck.

Respectfully submitting the above, I throw myself on the mercy of the Tribunal.

Fall is in the air

Yesterday was the first fall-like day that I have been privileged to experience. Although the weather was nice last weekend at the CRF, it got a little sweaty towards the middle of the afternoon. Yesterday was breezy with just enough of a nip in the air to let me know we had passed Labor Day. Yay Fall!

I particularly enjoy the season because it encourages me to work more on my knitting. It's just easier to hunker down on the sweater when you REALLY want to wear it the next day or next week. It also doesn't make working on the Christmas stockings seem as ridiculous when you can sort of imagine snow as a vague possibility in the near future.

And then there are the church bazaars and fall festivals. Well, who can say no to a cup of cider or the scent of hand decorated cinnamon brooms? I am also hopeful that I can attend a fiber festival towards the end of October. It would be my first, but I think it would also be a lot of fun.

The projects are going well. The baby sweater has made significant progress, although I anticipate sending an IOU for it to the mother's shower. Oh well. I also started a vest for myself. It is probably going to undergo a "design change." The pattern has a plain back and a cable pattern on the front. In knitting the back with my thick & thin yarn, I found that it made a wonderful "bubble" pattern. Sort of an illusion of the yarn, but pretty cool nonetheless. After consultation with the needle gurus of my knitting circle, I'm going to do the front in plain stockinette also. Less work and better results than getting lost in all of the cabling frou-frou. Pictures to come soon.

Just for fun

This is what greeted me shortly after breakfast. The blue dot is a sticker from the banannas on the counter. It says, "Place sticker on forehead. Smile." I think my husband has something to do with this.....

A diversion

These are little socks that are a lot like me -- twisted in a good way! Cat Bordhi's latest sock book has these as a practice pattern for the full-sized version. The pattern is called Coriolis and is named for the force that makes the water circle down the drain in the same direction every time. Really neat! Notice that the little curly seam bit curves out towards the ankles on each sock -- which means you get to knit a different pattern for the left and the right foot.

I was also very pleased with this yarn. It's called Red Heart Heart 'n Sole. The fiber has aloe added to it so that it softens your hands as you knit. It should also help the socks stay soft -- perfect for baby feet.

Update on Rory

Rory went to his new home yesterday with many hugs and much jubilation. He will be a companion to a recently-arrived little boy.

Tommy is right. Toys are awesome! Not only are they fun (and instructional) to knit, they are fun to give away.

(P.S. Check out Tommy's blog here for his latest endeavor -- the Cowboy!)