In Which I Demonstrate the Awesome Force of My Will

This afternoon, I stopped at one of those big box craft stores and bought a knitting mag for the flight tomorrow. The new Interweave Knits, in fact. One of my favorite magazines.

On any other day, I would have flipped through the magazine while waiting in the checkout line. A sneak peek at the designs, a taste of things to come. A little foreplay, you might say.

But not today. Because this is meant to be for the airplane tomorrow. Today, I just ogled the wild tank on the front cover and the ad for Stitches Midwest on the back, and almost quivered out of my skin with the effort it took not to crack the cover.

It's been Seven!! Whole!! Entire!! Hours!! since I became the owner of this issue. I left it in the plastic bag on my car's front seat -- usually I would decline the bag because it's not environmentally sound, plus it's awfully hard to read charts through the white plastic. And even harder to turn the pages.

But today, that bag helped me resist the temptation to sneak glances at the article headlines while stalled by traffic.

When I finally made it home from work, I carried that magazine into the house and set it on the bed next to my open suitcase. I took it out of the plastic. I brushed my fingers along the glossy photo on the cover. I wondered, not for the first time, what kind of yarn they used for that tank.

And I didn't open the magazine.

I finished packing. My suitcase closed on the first try, which is a sure sign I've forgotten half of what I need. I unpacked, checked everything again, and repacked, this time with my shoes. Every now and then I glanced at the magazine and tried to decide what we might call that precise shade of green in the vertical stripe on that tank top.

And I didn't even touch the magazine.

I packed my carryon, a roomy purse-tote thingie. It's just big enough for that magazine,

which I still haven't read,

and a few essentials like a granola bar, gum, notebook, yarn and needles. The Cascade 220 is flying in the cabin with me. So are the Country Garden socks. I know I don't need to take both projects on board with me, but I will, and by the time I get into my seat, I will most likely forget they exist.

Because that is when I will finally get to read the magazine.

Narrowing the Field

I'm closing in on a packing decision. I think I'll take the Country Garden socks-in-progress so I can finish at least one of the pair, or maybe both. And then I might take either the navy Cascade 220 superwash (destined to become an aran watchcap for my nephew) or the Fiesta la Luz silk (purchased from the Patternworks catalogue last fall, but I'm still dithering over stitch patterns for a skinny scarf).

Everyone keeps saying, take socks. Socks are easy and portable, it's true, but I'm scared of snapping my smaller needles during airplane turbulence -- I get a wee bit tense in the sky sometimes -- so that rules out Lorna's Laces, Trekking, and my other finer weight sock yarns. So I'm considering taking some of meatier sock yarn in this picture. From the left, we have Socks That Rock (colorway: Mist), Mountain Colors Bearfoot (colorway Flathead Cherry), Socks That Rock (colorway Sapphire), Mountain Colors Bearfoot (colorway Wildflower), 2 skeins of Wildfoote (colorway Symphony), and some Koooooiiiiiguuuuuuuuu wound into cakes. I don't really expect to take the Koigu, but had to put it in the picture for a certain Koigu-loving SnBer who has mentioned wanting to see my stash someday. Here's a fraction of the sock yarn, doll. Just for you, and you know who you are!

I'm leaning toward the blues because they can be worn with my husband when he's finished. I'll be getting back to knitting him after this trip. I've decided against taking my husband in the suitcase because the back is finished, which means knitting either the sleeves or the fronts next. That means working with two balls at once, not to mention the cable needles. Did I mention that people party at this conference? Of course they do. They dress up as giant fish and Matrix clones and Annie-git-yer-gun types, which makes it pretty much inevitable that there will be drinking. Probably a lot. Do you think I want a bunch of tipsy conventioneers anywhere near my husband? Hell, no. I've got a hard enough time keeping knitters from stroking his tender flesh, without adding a buncha drunk muggles in fantasy costumes into the mix.

Anyway.

The other nice thing about sock yarn is that it doesn't take a lot of room in a suitcase. My husband would be a bit greedy in that department. So he'll just have to be patient and wait until I return. (Though I'm already jonesing to cast on the sleeves, because they do this nifty bell shaping with short rows and it looks like fun.) (I'd be knitting that tonight, I'm sure, except I still haven't finished the can-can costume for Wednesday night's costume party. Why do I keep sewing when I'd rather be knitting?)

In any event, now that I've at least narrowed it down this far, I feel like I can start packing other stuff. Why do we have to pack yarn first? And why do we have to pack more than we could possibly knit? I'll be taking about a month's worth of knitting for a five-day business conference. This only makes sense to other knitters. (Please, I'm begging, tell me this makes sense to other knitters!)

Sockgress Report

Here's the most recent picture of the sock. The cuff is 1.5" of 2x2 ribbing. The leg is 7", including the cuff. I find this a nice, cozy leg length for a normal sock, though I do sometimes make 4.5" or 5" legs for a shorter, crew type sock.

Because I know knitters like to see the seams and guts, here's the heel flap and the start of the gusset. This picture also lets you see the range in colors on this yarn. See those bits of forest green and darker blue mixed in? There's even a bit of burgundy. How gorgeous is that? Cherry Tree Hill makes me drool. fwiw, on both my camera and my computer monitor, this picture shows the colors best. ymmv.

Another view of the heel flap. For a denser, longer-wearing heel flap, I do a slip one - knit one on the right side, slip one - purl one on the wrong side. The back of the heel is nice and cushy this way, too. But yes, the color pattern does look a little different as a result. Fine by me!

Responses to comments:

Hi Becca! No, I don't get my yarn wet in the tub, not usually. I roll up the knitting and pin it to itself so it's not draping into the water. Also, I set my yarn behind my shoulder on that lovely deep ledge so it drapes over my shoulder from behind. This keeps it dry. For the most part! I do occasionally do something very clever indeed, like drop the whole thing into the bubbles. But that's okay. Yarn dries. :D

Hi Nia! I love it that we can keep in touch through blogging even though you abandoned us for the glamorous big city high life. (sob!) (kidding!) (But you know we do miss you!) No, I don't think I would ever try to publish that pattern because it's basically just a riff on a pattern from one of those page-a-day knitting calendars. That pattern called for worsted, and I altered it for DK, which meant adding another two columns of cables and redrawing Chart B (which will be mailed to you tomorrow or Tuesday). I don't think that's enough of a change to be able to claim that it's original work. But yes, someday, I think it would be great fun to design a pattern all of my own. Because, you know, it worked out so well for me when I tried to design those socks last fall. *cough*cough*

Hi Anne! Thanks for dropping by! Those kiddie playmats are cheap and incredibly durable. Waterproof, pinproof, and with a textured grid pattern pre-carved into the surface. What more could a knitter want for twenty bucks?

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go decide which knitting to pack. Brace yourselves. This could get ugly.

Buzz, Buzz, Says the Bee

Every queen needs a throne.

I am always busy, but the last week or so, busy has turned into chaotic. I think my bout of illness on Wednesday was, at least in part, my body shutting down for a few hours' rest. It happens, right? I mean, you can only work from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. at lightning pace for so many days in a row before you body goes on strike. Just to put another spin on it, for all of the week before that, every morsel of food I managed to eat was eaten either at my desk or in my car as I raced from one work commitment to the next. I've been reading manuscripts at stoplights. Talking on two different phone lines while simultaneously writing letters. My to-do list currently fills four sheets of regular sized paper, and I need to complete as much of it as possible before Wednesday morning.

Dudes, I've been busy.

When I get like this, I force myself to get into the tub every so often. OK, let me clarify. I bathe, of course I bathe, whether I'm busy or not. But instead of a rushed shower, I force myself into the tub. A bath instead of a shower means that I get to lie there, in that gorgeous little nook, in a tub big enough to swim laps, and just aaaaaah.

You can rush through a shower. But a bath, now that's a venue for relaxation. And unlike other forms of relaxation -- tv, radio, lying in bed like a beached whale while whimpering at the unfairness of it all -- you can't just pop out of the tub and start racing madly again. You get in the tub, you're committed to it. It can't end on a guilty whim. There are towels involved. It can't be rushed.

Plus, you can knit in the tub. Am I the only one who does this?

Later tonight, I'll show you a sockgress report. Thanks to bathtime and other stolen moments, I've managed to grow sock one from a four-row baby all the way through those difficult adolescent years a/k/a the heel.

Hardly Worth the Trouble

Here is the vest back. This is now my FIFTH attempt to load the damn picture. I wouldn't keep bothering over it, but it's starting to feel like the holy grail.

Good to Know

It wasn't me! *cartwheel* It really was because of blogger! Heh. I feel totally vindicated.

Blogger Status
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
RESOLVED: We are seeing reports of uploaded images not appearing properly on blogs. We are investigating the issue.Update (12:36AM): there was a problem introduced during the maintenance earlier today which has now been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Look Who's Blocking

I give up. I've tried three times to upload the picture of the vest back, and blogger won't let me. My choices are to say bad words, put my foot through the monitor, or walk away from this for a while. I'm choosing to walk away. But I'll be back just as soon as I can stop in my mind comparing blogger to Pat Robertson, child molesters, and the IRS. Evil hardheaded bastards, the lot of them.