The socks are done--the Potomatomus ones, that is! After the frustration of so much ripping and reading, reading and ripping, I got back online--only to discover that Knitty.com had extended the pattern beyond the margins of my printer. I was missing a column of pattern--and you can imagine the results.

I am Turbo-less this week: my crazed and zanny Manx "teenager" is at home with my boys. It's actually rather nice not to have to hold my skein tightly in my armpit to protect it. I had finally sacrificed a portion of my Cascade for my Two-at-a-Time socks but to no avail: this cat wants action--that yarn has to be snaking into my hands to be viable prey. He can jump from the coach to my lap, snag any unprotected ball, rip it away--and he's off and running, weaving a tangle around chair legs and rocker rungs. I may actually get that pair of socks finished this week. . . :-).

I'm also test-knitting a scarf pattern. I'm not sure the degree of confidentiality I'm supposed to be keeping, so I will leave it at that--but I'm eager to get it done and be back to my watch vest (I have been protecting it from you-know-who's onslaughts). Winter WILL come! and I want to be warm.

The wee bonnet on the cover of the January/February issue of Piecework has been set aside for another day: it's the adult tam pattern that Alice Starmore included with the kit that I am excited about. I ordered the kit and have knitted not one or two but three (well, almost three--I have a birthday gift due on Wednesday, and I'm half-done) with the yarn amount sent--and I still have a full skein of the base color, Mara, left (I may have to break into it to finish the top of the third tam). This is the best yarn bargain on the lot: I got it directly from virtualyarns.com for $44. So far that's 14.50 a tam--and I still have enough for at least one, perhaps two more (I had better get that wee bonnet squeezed in someplace).

It's summer and I'm a teacher, so that means the schedule has slowed a little. I'm also doing up the watch vest in Knitted Vests. I didn't like the texture so readjusted the stitch count (I'm doing it on 269 stitches, not 212) on smaller needles and am doing it in my favorite yarn: Heilo by Dale of Norway. I also didn't like the border--but that Chinese red vest a few pages over has an awesome one: garter, seed, and garter. It works wonderfully--so far :-).

March 4, 2009
How do knitters find time to do all that knitters do (other than knit) and still maintain family, friends, and funding? I look at the photos of completed projects and think, "Yeah, right, I can't even manage to find my camera half of the time, let alone take the time to photograph projects in whatever stage they are. I move cautiously along technology's tide and take an occasional dip; I am not a mermaid or fish.
I have completed one project that managed to captivate and capture, offering me no respite until it was done and on my head: it's from the adult tam pattern that virtualyarns.com sent out with the yarn for the "wee bonnet" featured in Piecework. (Yes, again I could not resist: colors like Mara and Whin, Red Rattle and Kittiwake render me totally weak at the knees and salivating at the mouth.) I shall try to take the photo and get it through all the necessary hoops, bells, and whistles.
I have been accepted at SchoolHouse Press's knitting camp for the second year in a row: I touched down in their Camp III last year (after several attempts in the past ten or twelve years), and they must have felt sorry for me: I actually am going to be able to partake in a workshop that is more to my level (my sister-in-law--not the scarf one!--came down to spend the weekend and brought up last year's camp. She asked how camp was: I replied that complete immersion may work for foreign language in high school but old brains cannot assimilate at the rate that the P2O's and the . . . well, you get the picture. She replied, "You didn't understand?" No, I did not--but I did have a grand time.)
So . . . now I have to come up with the funding that will allow me such a frivolity in today's economy. Sons' tuitions may have to come first.

Christmas Craziness

I have been knitting until the carpal tunnel kicks in--then knitting some more! It is truly a case of so many patterns, so little time. My sister-in-law, who shall remain nameless, wanted a scarf that was sufficient to cover her rather ample chest, so I cast on 97 stitches with Heilo and worked up five skeins in moss stitch. When presented with the result (which, granted, did resemble a blanket) on Christmas morning, she raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh!"--then rapidly put it back in its wrapper. It was obvious that coverage needed definition and that I had not done what she had envisioned when she had demonstrated,"This wide . . . " at Thanksgiving. So. . . I have been ripping (or frogging) as I reknit. I did take a needed break to knit up the Hidden Passion socks from Interweave's 25 Favorites book; they were fun in Panopticon (Lorna's Lace) and Baby Ull (pea green) (Wild Purl had Franklin Habit by for a workshop, and several ladies were going to knit the Ziggy socks with Panopticon and another Lorna's Lace; when I went in the store, I didn't see any evidence of their having completed their socks, but I at least have a pair that matches anything pea green in my wardrobe . . . hum? Which would be?) I am also working on my first Baby Surprise sweater: definitely fun, but my friend Jan clears her throat and reminds me about the sweater pattern I borrowed . . . a while ago. Therefore--scarf first, sweater next: my New Year's resolution!