Just a note to all my dear friends out there....

I'm sorry. I must admit that I have thought of you often, of late. But as can be witnessed in my blog, I have done NOTHING to remedy that situation. I know that if you haven't forgotten about me (Thanks Lynn!) that you'll probably expect pictures to accompany this post. Unfortunately, I'm at work. Camera? At Home. So pics will have to come later.

The briefest of explanations is due to you regarding my absence (ok, I'm incapable of blog brevity):
1.) I have a new job.
2.) I'm in a knitting slump.

"Cur-int Projeks"

1. ) I'm still working on my Lotus Blossom Tank ("top": I'm adding sleeves). I got all the way through my first attempt at a top down sleeve (which was way cool, btw) and I discovered that, despite the inordinate number of times I COUNTED. I picked up 12 stitches TOO MANY!!

Exactly how many is 12 stitches too many, you might ask?? Well, I'll tell you. 12 stitches is exactly the number of stitches I need to pick up under the arm in the bound off row.

What does this mean you might ask? It means I have to rip out the whole friggin' sleeve!!!! ARRRRGGHHHHH! I wanted this to be an easy summer project!! I wanted it to go fast!! BUT NO! I am physiologically incapable of following a pattern. I must always change it. So, could I just go with the little tank with pretty straps? Nope. I had to add sleeves. From the top down, nonetheless! So to fix them I have to rip them out entirely. [sob]

That bloody "quick and easy" top is sitting in my bag and it just might remain there until next summer. OR, I could follow EZ's advice about ripping and say to myself "Hooray! More of my favorite hobby!!" (Or I could just parcel post the whole damn thing to her, were she still with us.)

OK, I've got my emotions back under control. Sorry.

2.) In class I've started a swatch for a lace sweater out of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk in color Kiwi for an all-over lace sweater, but then I decided to boycott the project. Not because I don't want to do it. It's just that I don't want to do it RIGHT NOW. I finally got the yarn for my Alice Starmore sweater and I want to work on that since it's already started.

3.) Sock 2 of 2 in Koigu KPPPM. Stash knitting. I bought the Koigu more than a year ago and I want sock from it. So, I'm making some twisted rib plain socks for myself. I still can't seem to get the foot length thing right. They're either a little too long or a little too short. Annoying, if I do say so.

4.) Baby blanket for a girlfriend's friend. The friend who asked me to make the blanket for her friend is kind of going through a rough spot right now and needs all the support she can get.

OK, so it was also an opportunity to try some of that yummy Blue Sky Cotton in delicious baby colors (baby blue, pink, teal, yellow and mint green). I wanted to reverse engineer the log cabin blanket from Mason Dixson but then my conscience got the better of me and I went out and bought the book. It's fun and has some lovely non-challenging projects. I can use big yarn on big needles and I fell in love with the Contemporary Baby Blanket. I'm still using Baby colors but the squares are kind of random vs. in lockstep log cabin style. Loving it.

5.) On hold until I finish something else:

• Innishmore by Alice Starmore
• Lady Eleanor (OMG, boring) from Scarf Style (all three projects are listed in this link)
• Those really cool fair isle socks out of two solid colors of Koigu that I was making (that two handed knitting stuff is hard) with the pattern from Estonian Knits
• Somewhat Cowl in Elann Alpaca Silk doubled by Wendy Bernard from Knitandtonic.com. (pending cooler weather, it's too darn hot to even hold that yarn) Finally...the OTHER mitten.

Hey! That's not so bad. I know I'm forgetting something, but then, I went through my stash a few weeks ago and ripped out anything that I wasn't loving.

For example, I ripped out that Cowlneck Mohair Sweater from IK Winter 2004. Boy was that a disaster, anyone want 11 skeins of La Gran Mohair in Highlighter Blue? That was my first attempt at a sweater. Ever.

While I didn't end up with a sweater, I learned several things:
1.) I hate fuzzy fly-away mohair.
2.) To wear that particular mohair sweater, you must be rail thin as mohair clings to all your bumps and curves.
3.) That cowl would have been better served in a darker color. The blue was just too, tooo, for that sweater. Pretty, but not a good person to sweater combo.
4.) Swatch, check your gauge. Do it again.

Finally, I say I'm in a knitting slump because I'm not in love with anything I'm working on. I just want to finish something and that seems to be a challenge for me. Then I think back about the projects I've done and I realize that it's not that I don't finish things, it's that I give them away once they're finished. So, I want to finish something for ME and that blasted tank top is giving me fits!!

Oh yeah, and it was my blogiversary on July 26th. I totally missed it cause that was my 2nd day at my new job.

Pictures are coming tonight. I promise.

See, you didn't really miss this did you?

Smooches,
jen