Progress Report

The air outside is just crisp enough that I remember why I love October. It makes me feel energized. Time to dig out the cool weather clothes from under the bed, and hurry up with those winter projects.

I've been productive since my last post, both knitting and otherwise.


On the home front:

While it may not appear any 'neater' per se, we actually accomplished a lot yesterday with those boxes. As you can see, they are no longer towering precariously above the room, but instead have taken over all available floorspace so that to get into the office we have to do a bit of leaping and twisting and other assorted dance moves. But the cubby hole in the wall is now completely packed and ready to be taken away, and all the stuff we might want to access (or at least not pack away just yet) that was back there is now elsewhere and, well, accessible. Ditto on the closet, or at least pretty close.

My yarn stash has been divided up into the things I can bear to part with until February (on the right, in the cardboard box), things I'm either working on in the next few weeks or am taking to Rhode Island (on the left, in the Rubbermaid tub), and the cheap, acrylic, horribly peach baby yarn that was passed on to me by somebody else which I am going to take to Goodwill (center, plastic bag). I actually, strangely enough, do not know any babies, or at least not any that I feel compelled to knit/crochet for.

My lovely husband wrote on the cardboard box: "NO MORE YARN." Isn't that cute?

A brief update on my Kimono Sweater progress:

I finished the back, as well as the right front panel, and have in fact connected the two so that it's now a quasi-vest. Furthermore, I have about 6 inches' length on the left front panel, and if we sit down and put on another Netflix movie tonight I should be able to wrap that up, graft it to the back, and weave in all the ends before the day is through. I love how quickly stockinette goes. I admit it gets boring when the whole project is stockinette, but when it's only parts of the project, I find myself looking forward to those parts. Instant gratification.

By the way, I was knitting in the waiting room while getting my truck's oil changed yesterday, and an older lady waiting with me commented how pleased she was that knitting "is not a dying art among today's youth." So I had to politely educate her that it's enjoying a major cultural upswing these days. She seemed impressed.

When I do finish the second half of the front, I will put my sweater on vest-style and take some pictures. Hopefully by tomorrow you can see.

Looking forward:

I have put in an order with KnitPicks for a bunch of Swish Superwash in assorted colors for the dog sweater I'm planning for Riley. I've chosen this yarn because it's a worsted weight, 100% wool, which will be ideal for keeping his old achy bones nice and warm; plus it's superwash, since it's for a dog, and a low-slung dog at that (he has perhaps 2 inches of ground clearance at the bottom of his chest), and therefore it will likely get icky regularly. Plus it's $3.29 per 50 gram ball so how can you argue with that? I don't think Lion Brand is that cheap, at least at the Michael's near my house, and I definitely prefer the Swish. Do you like the color combo? Hopefully they'll turn out pretty close in person to the picture here. I guess I'll find out in 5-14 days. I've picked out a stitch pattern for the sweater, too, that I think will be pretty interesting, but I'm not yet ready to reveal what it is - not until I've started working on it, to make sure it goes like I want it to. (Plus, I don't want anybody to steal my idea before I even get started! I promise when it's done I'll post the pattern, and then you can use it all you want.)

Also, I agreed to make a kitty toy for a friend who's about to move to Japan. And since that is mere days away, it looks like I'm going to have to interrupt the sweater for a quickie project. You know what that means? It means I'll actually post project pictures that are something OTHER than the Kimono Sweater! Crazy. I can't find any patterns I love, so I guess I'll be making one up. I think it's going to be a squid. Crocheted, definitely. Tomorrow/Monday timeframe? Stay tuned...