Waiting for Warmer Weather

Screamin' Green is done and ready for its first mission. The weather has dipped below freezing so the wool remains on call. We're all fighting for queen parking spots at work in the morning that will be in full sun when we get out. Yeh, it's still that cold. The weatherpeople are teasing with promises of temps in the 50's by Friday accompanied by rain. That's rain, not snow.

For the next projects up I'm going a bit Blue Period Picasso as the raw materials all seem to be blue. Baby Blue, wool (sock yarn) and cotton (Valley Yarns "Longmeadow"). My brain is in the design stage for the cotton. Like the Screamin Green the yarn is DK weight but this is not splitty at all. I won't have to watch every- stinkin'- single- row for errant loops of thread. It has more heft and should take to the short rowing I have planned.
The sock yarn is variegated from blues to pink and may become bed socks due to my discovery of very thin areas on one of my current pair of bed socks. Bed socks tend to go farther than bed and take more of a beating than regular day socks. For instance, they may scoot out back to untangle Andrew from whatever bush, plant, lawn ornament he's wrapped his lead around; take the trash out in the black of Wednesday night; or just adorn my feet when I need socks at home. No darning for these babies, too far gone.

Spring Walk

I love Barton's Cove. Little duck in the middle performed for me. Notice any snow? No! But nippy just the same. Areas north and south of us were snowed on, heh, heh.
Further down the bike path...
It was a gorgeous weekend.
"Even I got to go outside, it was awesome! And my halter still fit."

And So It Grows

I had a very bad day Thursday. Well, not as bad as one of our senior citizens, (one of which I'm very fond of) that had him seeking medical attention here at the Town Hall. The kind of attention that after the ambulance leaves finds you in your office with the door shut and locked because you're too emotional to deal with anything else. I haven't heard any updates on his condition and that makes it worse. He's in my thoughts.
I went right for the knitting when I got home. Emotional therapy.

I Got Nothing.

"Don't look at the camera no matter how much she snaps her fingers and makes kissy noises."

The Screaming Green Sweater body is-dare I say-almost finished. A few more increases, a bind off, then on to the sleeves. Proportions are much better. I'm pretty sure it won't fall off when I put it on this time. And that's all I've got today.

Mulligan Ugh.

So I was buzzing along, round and round and I started to hear a little beep in my head. I ignored it, knit round and round and the beep got louder. Finally , I put my work down and voiced the words I hate to hear myself say. "The gauge is off." Yep, there was no doubt about it. Once again, the swatch LIED. So the blob of screaming green fabric turned into:

This neat little pile of string. Disappointing, yes. After taking swatch measurements from the now gigantic beginning of my sweater, no wait, I was half done, I redid the math and started again.So far so good. The designer changed the decorative front from 3 "holes" to 1x1 rib straight down the front.

"I helped her calculate the second time. Sometimes ya just gotta step up to the plate."

Hey Lady, Your Sweater's Too Loud

Perky color, eh? Andrew is graciously modeling the latest creation. Yes, the holes are intentional. The same pattern MAY show up elsewhere. Depends on how the designer feels. She's NOT loving the yarn. Splitty. The designer is still entranced with wide/boat neck openings but this one may have gotten away from her. There will be a fitting once the body/sleeves have been separated. No, no, it won't be frogged. The designer will just come up with something creative for the finished edge to uh, take up the slack. She's done it before.
"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. I'll handle the remote, you just pay attention to your knitting."

That's Just Cruel

We had 2 days of gorgeous warm, sunny, in the 60's, ditch the coat, I-can-see-grass days and this morning I drove the ride from h*ll in sleet, snow and freezing rain. Lost control of the car on a flat section of road going 25 mph. No accident, fortunately, but legs were a bit shaky when I reached my destination. The 8" of snow we got last weekend was enough thank you and easier to drive in.
On the up side the scenery is beautiful and very New Englandy. No longer is there grass peeking through, just a cover of white. Evil white. I'm gearing up for the challenge of the drive home.

"she's gotta learn to relax."

From A Pile of String

And there it is. An asymmetrical cardigan with a lesson learned to boot. For those who crochet a steek and are thinking about picking up stitches directly behind the crochet row and not at least a half inch back--your steek will fall apart. You heard it here. My brain told me it would work. The yarn Gods set me straight.
The body is of Valley Yarns "Stockbridge" the edging Valley Yarns "Northfield". A merino/alpaca combo.

"I could have told her the steek idea wouldn't work but she's got to learn these things on her own."