It's On!

Aw, wookit the cute widdle baby sweater! When it grows up, it will be St. Brigid!

I had to cast on twice. The first time, I missed a major cable crossing in row 3 -- I believe I was looking at the wrong chart when that happened. The charts for this are a bit confusing at first. Not dreadfully so, but enough that it would be pretty easy to look at the wrong chart that early on, and not realize what was happening. So that's my theory on that one.

Anyway, botched cable crossing on row three, discovered the problem on row four. Ripped and reknit and got to row eight before taking this picture. I hope to get a little knitting time in tonight, too, and have even rented a movie in a most optimistic, non-Monday fashion. (Pineapple Express, in case you're wondering. I'm told it's very silly and funny, which seems like just the right thing for the day.)

I got a gauge and fabric I liked on size 6 needles, by the way, but am wondering if I might not end up ripping and reknitting on 5s. I've heard other people complain that the gauge swatch was no accurate predictor of finished size, and almost all of them gained inches and inches in width. I figure I'll knit through a few more rows, just to let the cable crossings draw the fabric in as tightly as it is likely to, and then measure. But right now, with only 8 rows knit, this thing seems wicked wide.

Destroyed by a Basketball Tournament

So, today is the "March Madness" tournament for Danger Boy's third grade basketball squad. (Yes, I know, but the gym is booked up for March, and "January Madness" doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?)

I promised, cross-my-heart promised, a really-really-really-mean-it promise, that I would go to this tournament. And just for extra oomph, I called Miss Seven and my godson to ask them to come along. They're pretty excited because their alternative plans for this evening would have been playing in the kiddie care room at the racquet club while their parents get in a game or two. Sugar highs and cheering for little boys who can't dribble, pass, or shoot -- yes, I can see where that would be the better alternative.

So I'm all set. I have little snack bags packed with blue jelly bellies (leftovers from the winter blues party last weekend), Capri Suns, tissues, advil, pirate bandaids, single dollars for the concession stand, notepads and colored pencils and stickers (in case of boredom -- theirs), and -------

Crap. I don't have any socks on the needles.

I can't take the Fulmar sleeves because they're too complicated for that environment. Ditto the Fair Isle bag, which requires charts. I haven't cast on the sleeves for the cabled cardigan, and I need to find my notes on how to do the flippy-uppy short rows in order to even think about it. Branff -- I need different needles. The pink sweater is at the seaming stage, no good for working in bleachers. And the Catherine Parr is too heavy and cumbersome to work on without good supports under my elbows.

That leaves St. Brigid, which I want to re-swatch on 6s. I can do that. It will take me through maybe the first period of the first game. And then what????

No rational knitter would expect any other rational knitter to get through an entire third grade basketball tournament without knitting, would you? Or, to speak the lingo of the day, can I get a by on this one? How about if I promise, really-really-really-mean-it promise, to finish the pink sweater on Saturday before casting on St. Brigid Sunday?

(Ahem. Note to Mr Puffy and other interested persons: I'm thinking snickets.)

That's Two

One of my goals is to cut down on the number of OTN projects this year, and I figured I would accomplish that by not casting on something new until I finish two items. Easy enough, right?

So, I have finished two pairs of socks this year, which gives me permission to cast on St. Brigid on February 1 as planned. Yay! Well, except that now there aren't any socks OTN, and I'll have to finish two sweaters in order to cast on another pair of socks. Which doesn't seem to make much sense somehow. Clearly, I will need to think through my rules a bit more carefully for next year.

Here are the deets:
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Maxime Print
Needles: Size 1.5US Crystal Palace double points
Cast on: 11/16/08
Cast off: 1/27/09
Pattern: A simple 2x2 ribbing all the way down.

I really like this yarn. Very nice, very cushy and springy and round, much like Dale Baby Ull. I made the legs very long so they could be cuffed and give an extra bit of warmth at my ankles and lower calves. Each one of the color stripes is about an inch thick, so each leg is a notch under 10" long when unfolded. (They are identical in length, to the eighth-inch, but I bent the unfolded leg in the picture to get it to fit better in the frame.)

Now, with that little bit of business out of the way, I must confess why I'm so intent on discussing my "2 projects done before casting on" rule. I just realized today that I have all of the yarn I need to knit the Veronik Avery Fair Isle Cardigan. I promised myself I wouldn't start that until Fulmar was done, and I've been pretty diligent about knitting Fulmar when time and my wobbly knuckle permits. The sleeves are over 9" long now. That's progress. But not enough!

So I'll be good and do what I set out to do, no matter how tempted I am to start the Fair Isle Cardigan RIGHT THIS SECOND.

Speaking of Bastards....

We interrupt this knitting blog to bring you yet another rant about (nim)Rod Blagojevich.

Lookee what the US Congress inserted into the economic stimulus package legislation.

SEC. 1112. ADDITIONAL ASSURANCE OF APPROPRIATE USE OF FUNDS.

None of the funds provided by this Act may be made available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date of the enactment of this Act, or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illinois.

The preceding sentence shall not apply to any funds provided directly to a unit of local government (1) by a Federal department or agency, or (2) by an established formula from the State.

In other words, if the Illinois General Assembly fails to convict the bastard on his impeachment charges, Illinois doesn't get to participate in the economic stimulus package. My sense is that, in that case, the state's share of the money will instead go directly to counties or munies. The last sentence leaves that open as a possibility without requiring it. Except that I think it would be unconstitutional to apply this clause exactly as written -- not sure, but it smells like week-old fish to me.

But we'll never know for sure if it's constitutional or not, because it ceases to be an issue the moment (nim)Rod is convicted. Which they damn well better do. Fast.

Go, General Assembly, Go!

Kismet

This is my swatch for St. Brigid, which a few of us in my local SnB plan to start on February 1. I swatched it last night, for the fourth time, and I'm still not sure if I have gauge. The first three times, I measured the wrong number of stitches in the swatch and couldn't figure out why my gauge was so wild. This time, about halfway through the swatching process, my knuckle started to act up and my gauge changed. I was on gauge before my knuckle started swelling. But I lost a stitch per four inches after it began to hurt.

So do I assume I will get gauge as long as I knit with a healthy hand?

As I pondered this question, I googled St. B, and here are a few fun facts about her.

* She is the patron saint of bastards. Which seems appropriate, somehow.

* Her saint day is February 1. The same day we picked to cast on the sweater. Cue the Twilight Zone music.

* She was sort of famous as a child for giving away stuff to anyone who knocked on her father's door, which was a source of considerable strain between Brigid and her father. At first, she mostly gave them milk. But when she gave her father's jeweled sword to a leper, her father put her in a convent.

* Eventually, she founded a convent of her own, and as she was being consecrated as its Abbess, the priest accidentally made her a bishop instead. For about 500 years after this, all the Abbesses at this convent had the rank of bishop.

* Some say she never existed at all, but that early Christians swiped existing Celtic legends about a goddess Brigid (or Brid, pronounced breed) and stamped Christian ethics onto the existing faith. This was a very common conversion practice, but it seems pretty likely that she may have lived, seeing how there's a tomb with her name on it.

So there you have it. We all now have permission to mutter "Bastard!" whenever this pattern irritates us. And I think I'd better wait until February 1 to cast on. It is, after all, her day.

Things I Am Heartily Sick Of

I'm heartily sick of shoveling my walk. We pay good money to the homeowners association to have this taken care of. As you see, that is money well spent.



















Words can't describe how sick I am of having to brush and scrape my car. Do you think we could have just ONE MEASLY DAY where we don't have to do that? Is that too much to ask?

















And the bobcat. Oh, the bobcat. Yeah, I'm sick of that, too.

























And don't even get me started on Catherine Parr. It has been living quietly in its bag for weeks, taunting me with the knowledge of how close it is to being finished. But even after my knuckle returned to normal human proportions, I couldn't bring myself to take CP out of the bag. Sick of it. Sick of everything.

Luckily, there's a cure for the winter blues. Throw some hot cocoa into the mix (spiked with something medicinal, of course), and we've got the recipe for a new and improved mood.

Why Brains Matter

This is what happens when you have killed your brain. You try to do something simple like sew up some shoulder seams, and end up with -- well, good god, I have no idea what that is. A mess. And not only did I totally screw it up, but I managed to screw it up in two completely different ways. See on the right side of the picture, where the seam has a row of bumps sticking out? That's because I sewed the seam in the wrong place and left half the cast-off sticking out. And see on the left where -- well, I'm not sure exactly what happened there.

All I'm saying is, good thing I can unpick that seam.

I'm taking the day off today. Well, "off" meaning it's just gone past noon, and I've only worked an hour this morning, and probably won't work more than an hour or two later today. The last two days, about everything I've tried to do has turned out like that seam, so it's obviously time for some R&R.

I'm going to try for a little knitting this afternoon and see how the finger holds up. And I'm going to lay on the couch with the clicker for at least an hour. Maybe even take a nap. Naps are good.

And by the end of it, maybe, just maybe, I'll remember the right way to sew a shoulder seam. (sigh)