Knitting is a Stupidhead

Not much happening on the knitting front. Jaywalker heel #1 has been successfully turned at last:



It took A. Long. Time. I am, happy to say, getting to be enough of a knitting adult that when I do terrible, terrible things to, say, a sock heel, I actually rip back and redo it the right way. Even if I have to rip back, say, five or six different times in a single weekend. You know, just, say.

What with all the bad knitting and ripping and more bad knitting and ripping on the sock, I really haven't gotten very far on the old sweater-of-my-own-design. Not far at all:



In addition to all this progress (hah!), I'll instead revisit a project past, Sitcom Chic:



Most badly executed sweater ever! Lessons learned? Knit a gage swatch, 100% cotton kinda sucks, measure oneself before picking a size... don't make one side of a (seamless!!!) cardigan longer than the other (seriously don't know how that one happened). This one was knit at least a year ago and was one of my first sweaters, so I'll cut myself some slack. Really, I think the pattern is very cute, it's a fast knit and maybe I'll give it another try in a better yarn choice and taking into account the other lessons learned.

At least I had one success this weekend; I made cheese. Really. Paneer, as in Palak Paneer (fresh cheese in spinach sauce). It was super easy, super satisfying, and I love me some Indian food for dinner. Sucky knitting is easier to deal with on a full belly.

Seriously, Not Cool

Baby. Pots and pans. 7:08 am. Sunday. Rebecca angry.

Switching gears...



My little sister's birthday is on Friday, and in lieu of sending her one big gifts, I'm sending her a little box of goodies... heavy on the pink: Hard Candy makeup kit and lip gloss rings, some Japanese stationery from Daiso, some candy, and a felt flower hair elastic (the only homemade item in the box). The hair elastic was so simple (apart from having to relearn how to do french knots) that I may make myself a couple. You know, because I usually don't look juvenile enough when I go to work.

No Sleep for the Wicked

You know that scene in Trainspotting when Ewan McGregor's character is in withdrawl and hallucinates about the baby crawling on the ceiling? Mildly disturbing as the baby is, I find myself wanting a ceiling baby of my own. You see, I'd like to teach my (otherwise lovely) upstairs neighbors just what it's like to be awakened by a baby playing with the pots and pans on the floor/ceiling (at 7am on a Saturday). Then, if I'm still feeling spiteful, I could sneak the ceiling baby into their apartment to creep them out when it swivels its head all the way around.

I'm Screaming on the Inside

Things that broke this week:
1. Work computer
2. Work microwave
3. Important piece of work equipment for which I am ultimately responsible
4. Work garbage disposal
5. Bathroom ceiling
6. Car

I'm coping by eating vast amounts of Thai food and working from home (which I think is perfectly reasonable after yesterday's 12 1/2-hour day, due mainly to #3 and #6).

On a better note, I seem to be making headway on my jaywalkers. Well, I haven't ripped them out again. I finished the capelet-of-scary-big-gage, as well. Yay me.



Pattern: Antropologie-Inspired Capelet by Crafsteress Julesy
Begun: 4/10/07 Finished: 4/15/07
Size: A little larger than the pattern size
Yarn: Knitpicks Bulky Weight Peruvian Wool in Bare, dyed with Berry Blue Lemonade Kool-Aid, 2 skeins
Needles: Loooong (50-ish inch) #10 circulars
Mods: I made the body a tiny bit longer than suggested in the pattern, I magic-looped the sleves, and my gage was a little finer than the pattern (which didn't matter a bit with common-sense instructions like "Continue raglan increases until sleeve measures the circumference of your upper arm").
Thoughts: Nice and simple. Despite my fears, it doesn't appear to make my arms look like sausages. Unless it ends up being too scratchy to wear for an extended period of time, it looks like it will serve to cover enough of my naughty-adjacent bits to wear to a church for my niece's dunking. The Kool-Aid dye job both matches the dress marvolously and is interestingly varegated (certainly not splotchy).



And the sock close-up:

I Enjoy Being a Girl

Perhaps my mother didn't dress me girly enough as a child. I have evidence of one class picture (third grade, I think) in which I had short permed hair, a red checked flannel shirt, and a photographer who referred to me as "young man"... I can think of no other reason for dressing for work as though for a tea party, even though I know full well that there is a good chance that I will get oily, greasy, or have to pay careful attention to the arrangement of my skirt as I crawl around on the dirty floor trying to find a particular $^#$ing cable. At least I have the good sense to wear my skirts primarily with Keens (the bestest shoes in the whole wide world).

Revisiting the Knit List:

1. The socks have been cast on again (this time as jaywalkers with my Kool-Aid dyed yarn), frogged again, and cast on one more time with a modified (two sizes smaller) pattern in order to get gage.

2. The capelet is almost done (have I mentioned how much I adore raglan shaping?) in blue-raspberry-lemonade-dyed Knitpicks Sierra.



Sigh- the days are getting longer, but it's still getting dark by the time I get home from work. That's the capelet's intended in the background.

3. Math has been done for the sleeveless-cowl-of-my-own-design. Swatches have been knit and blocked and measured and more math has been done. I'll be hitting this one full force upon capelet completion.

4. The ripple blanket is underway... in the Great Northern Homeland. My lovely mother not only agreed to crochet me one, but is working on her own at the same time. She started mine while visiting last weekend and Sunday night packed up the yarn I bought for it and flew home. I leave you with the pile of ripple yarn which I may or may not have rolled around in while muttering about the glories of inexpensive merino.

It's not a race...

Been so busy, but I present FO #2:



Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert from Knitty (but you knew that already)
Begun: 3/2/07 Finished: 3/30/07
Size: Uh… big
Yarn: Brooks Farm Four Play in a pink and brown colorway
Needles: Size 8 straights and circulars



Mods: One less section 3 repeat than written because I ran out of yarn. Let me repeat that: I ran out of yarn. I was about 3 inches from the end and I ran out of yarn. I ripped back about eight inches, got rid of the aforementioned repeat and the rest was fine and dandy.
Thoughts: Clever. So clever. Nice as a shawl, nice as a scarf. Mindless, but not too boring to knit. Very nice in the Four Play yarn, but if I knit another, I think I’d do it in Noro Silk Garden to get the hombre stripes playing off the perpendicular dropped stitches.