Addictions and Compulsions (or the Internet Blues)

Our internet connection went down last night. Needless to say, we--hubby and I both--were so disappointed. We've become so dependent on cyberspace for so many things: e-mailing, downloading, catching up on news, playing on Facebook and getting lost on Ravelry (well, the latter is just me, but you get the picture). Hopeless addicts!

And I was so psyched to update the blog too. With blogging, I'm always thinking of the next post: I write notes in my handy-dandy notebook for possible topics; I experiment with my camera so I can take better pictures; learn what I can about successful bloggers; and . . . um . . . try to be more courageous and diligent in my knitting (of course!). I suppose I should have done more knitting last night (hee, hee--ooops) . . .


Speaking of knitting, I finished my short-sleeved cardi with ribbing last night. Yay for me (never mind that it has long sleeves and the ribbing is gone). It's a little big, but very comfy and so very warm (hard to believe I was happy about the cool weather). I even got a few compliments **blushes**

Do you recall my aspirations for lace? Remember my bamboo orders from Elann and Mary Maxim? Needless to say that my first forary into the world of lace was not quite successful. I had too rrrippp, rip, rip **gasp** I was ready to give up. My yarnovers were messed up! How could I mess up YO's? After a few days of humming and hawing, I made some changes: instead of metal needles I changed to bamboo ones; instead of fingering weight bamboo, I switched to the DK weight of Paton's Silk Bamboo. What do you think? Nice, eh? I'm so proud of myself. Perseverance paid off.

The Silk Bamboo is awesome stuff! Very soft and silky. I should be using 4.0mm needles, but I could only find 5.0mm bamboo ones, so I guess the lace will be more "holey" (but it's lace, so holey is good). The scarf will still be wide despite me reducing the number of cast-on stitches. I can't imagine how much it might grow in blocking (Eeek! That'll be a new adventure as I've never blocked before)

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Onward knitter, stay on track.

Clearing Away Winter

After my low-key birthday celebrations, hubby and I decided to clean away all the winter debris from our deck. The shining sun and warmth spurred us on: I moved garbage cans, broken toys, a broken table and a dried up Christmas wreath while hubby cleaned off his barbecue (see the pic above? Wish I had taken a "before" shot, but the photographic evidence of my messy and disorganized ways would have been too shameful--and I couldn't have that).

See the sweater I'm modeling. Remember the frogging of last week (or was it 2 weeks ago)? My Short-Sleeved Cardi with Ribbing no longer has ribbing (and of course it was never short-sleeved). I re-worked the bottom portion in plain stockinette to the length specified in the schematic (approx 23-24 inches). When I compared it to another cardigan in my closet, the length seemed just right. The sleeves were a dilemma: I struggled over whether to keep the ribbing or frog those too. After a few try-on's, I decided to leave the sleeves. All in all, it's not bad. At this point, I just want to finish this project because (a) it's been on the needles a long time and (b) I really wanna wear it before summer finally arrives. Only the button bands need to be worked. I'm hoping to start those this evening after a nice BBQ supper--the first one is always the tastiest!

So, what has this entire experience taught me? A lot.

• Consider negative ease (it can be your friend)


• Compare your WIP to the schematic measurements


• Its okay to frog (I learned that from the Yarn Harlot)


• No one will arrest you if you re-work the pattern to suit your needs (its called "modifications")


• Remember that I'm still a fat girl and some design elements don't always work well on the pleasantly plump


• And I'm not as fat as I think I am