Mom's Sweater Update

I now have a front and a back to my mom's sweater. I am a bit concerned as the front appears to be a few rows longer (approx. 1 cm.) from the bottom to the underarms, but I'm hoping that some more-mindful-than-usual seaming will help ease that away. All that is left are the sleeves and the finishings. I hope to have all the knitting completed by Sunday and then it will be off to the blocking boards with this one! ((after which I will have to pick up stitches for the button band and neckline...ugh))

Still no photos. That camera is doomed. :(

Last Night

Last night, Max had to drag me out of my depressed stupor to get some fresh air. We walked to the Caribou that is right down the street and to our surprise we found two acquaintances there chatting with one another. They knew each other! And we knew each of them separately! How weird is that? What an awesome social species we are. We are all so interconnected.

We closed the store chatting about politics and the like...and I was happy for an opportunity to spout out a few of my favorite conspiracy theories to fresh ears. Max has already heard all of it. So, I was excited to amuse someone else for a change.

It was nice. I'm not completely over the melancholy that preceded, but I felt much happier on the walk home and could enjoy the fresh air in my lungs which I stubbornly ignored on the way to the coffee shop. I also feel slightly more inspired, but not terribly so. I still feel as though I don't know enough. I must learn more.

There's nothing wrong with that.

Oh, I was working on a Stitches Booty Post, but my camera is spazzing. I haven't been able to take a nice picture in a few days. I think the thing is finished, which kind of makes me sad. It is the camera that I took to Japan, the camera I snapped a few wedding day pictures on. I am sentimentally attached to the damned thing...but I'm about to come out of my denial and find a new one. :( So, there will likely not be a photo filled post for a while, unless I can get the thing to cooperate.

Off the Wagon

I haven't written in weeks. This is a problem. If I am ever to become the writer I hope to become, I must commit myself over and over again to the act of writing. For a while, I was moving like clockwork. Every day, I sat with my notebook and pen and wrote my brains out. Lately, I have been feeling completely uninspired with just a hint of self-loathing.

I sat and thought about my "work" for a large chunk of my day and I have decided that I really need to pull some submissions together within the next few weeks. I need to hold myself to my promises so that I can at least feel like a worthy human being.

My "work." That always amuses me. I feel like what I am creating is of little value. I am called to write, which is why I avoid writing. I want my writing to mean something. I want my words to hit the right people in the right places. At the same time, I feel like I don't know enough (although I might know more than the average citizen--again, might) to really make a difference with something as passive-aggressive as the written word. Especially considering that I am not even addressing issues in a direct manner, but in more of a roundabout way...simply hoping that some schmuck might in a million years pick up on it. If it ever gets published, that is.

In other words, "Sigh. I am a card carrying member of The Angst-Filled Writers' Club."

Tonight, Tomorrow

Tonight, I am going to be washing this stuff:


Tomorrow, I will skein it up and possibly take some pictures.

Tonight, I am going to knit on my mom's t-shirt until I puke.

Tomorrow, I will be buying yarn for man sweaters at Stitches Midwest!!!!

So, until next time, C-ya!

And PS--My dog is cute:

Spinning Up Lovin'

I haven't posted in a while.


That's some BFL that I'm in the process of plying. I have a small skein of spindle spun like this and it is MUCH FINER. Dammit. What on Earth am I going to do with it?

While at the St. Louis Botanical Garden, I came across a flock of sheep. How could I resist taking the following photo?:


To see more of my shenanigans with my buddy Michelle, go to my flickr page.

STITCHES MIDWEST IS THIS WEEKEND!!!! I told Maxim that I will be buying yarn, but that he should be happy because it will be man-sweater yarn. :p I just can't decide which lovely man-sweater to make him. Cobblestone, Retrograde, or Beau? ((sorry, non Ravelers...))

Weekends

Over the weekend, Max and I went to babysit my cousins. We had a great time.





Those kids are growing up so fast. Gabby is now ever so slightly taller than yours truly. I can't believe it.

I did knit some while I was there. I worked on my Noro socks. The feet are about halfway done (toe up). I took my mom's sweater, but I didn't feel like casting on.

Does anyone else hate casting on??

Bags

I've been fantasizing about handsewn bags lately.

And you know me, I've already scoured the interwebs and picked out a few options:

Birdie Sling

Frenchy Bag

A Day in the Park Backpack Tote

I love all three, but I am especially fond of the last one as it is "more than meets the eye"--if you catch my meaning. If I had to choose between the first two (as they are kind of similar), I think I would choose the first one.

But the backpack tote will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine. (I love Wayne's World)

Helloooooooo, Productivity!

Dudes, check this out:




That's lots of handspun yarn and lots of progress on my mom's t-shirt...and my puppy getting into trouble while I'm photo-ing. Silly Tilly.

Stats (in order of photos):

• Here we have around 204 yds of Cheviot wool singles. It's all sproingy and bouncy. It's pretty thick and thin, but mostly falls in the fingering range with a standard deviation of 3. lol.
  
  I don't know what I'll knit with it, maybe an organically lacey scarf(lette)?? A beret?? Maybe not enough here for a beret, bummerz...

• This is approx. 106 yards of navajo plied Icelandic, which I have spun up on my new wheel. I have two mini skeins spun in the same manner that are 50 yards each. Those were spun on a drop spindle. I confess that I prefer the wheel. Eeep! I will call this yarn a sport or DK...Gawd, I need to stop being lazy and start measuring WPI. :p

• My dear mother's sweater back. Waist decreases and increases complete, armhole decreases also complete. Now I just knit for 7 inches and then start shoulder shaping!
  

Who's awesome now? Who's made even more awesome by the use of bullet points?

...

...

Come on, people. It's ME! I'M awesome now...

Sheesh.

Fine, whatever. In other news, we (the husband and I) are currently redesigning this blog. I'm just sick of using the standard blogger templates and want something new and fun, nothing to fancy, mind you. So far, it is looking good. It will remain at http://www.sugarsticks.org because we paid for that, dammit. :) So, keep a lookout for the new...look.