The Plague

I just can't shake whatever has been plagueing me. I'm sick. Still sick. I finished the prednizone (sp?) and thought I was doing fine and it's hit me like a ton of bricks again. I'm having ear troubles, aches and pains and dizziness and a cold on top. And guess what? I've got a solo to sing in two services this coming Sunday at church. Not good. I'm still waiting on the doc to call me back.

Then on top of that, the spouse and I had a knock down drag out kinda fight, the Youngest has acted up horribly for three days straight and if you give me a minute, I'm sure I can find something that the Eldest has done too. Actually, right now, as I type even, he's aggravating his brother onto ever higher levels of tantrums.

All I want to do is have a drink, eat some chocolate, knit, take a hot bath and go to sleep. Not all necessarily in that order. Except maybe for the alcohol, that stays first. I need a nerve tonic.

Silk!

I almost jinxed myself yesterday. I told you that I was flying along and everything was perfect didn't I? Yep, me and my big mouth.

I got to section four of the pattern and then blew it. There is a lot of confusing wording. She breaks up this part of the pattern into what she calls rounds. Not rows, not exactly repeats. I'm not sure how she justifies the wording. I did a panic call out on Ravelry and then got smart and went to her site. If you have trouble understanding this section of the directions, go to her site and check out the FAQ/Techniques/Tips section. She goes back and explains it much better there. After about half an hour I was flying along again nicely.

This morning though, while both boys were away at school and I had peace and quiet, I got out my spinning again. I've been working on 2 oz. of Tussah Silk that I've been slowly turning into lace-weight singles. I've finished it up and I'm letting it rest on the bobbin for the day. Tomorrow, given a chance, I'll wash and set the twist.

Here's what it looks like now with flash both on and off:




It was supposed to be black, but now, depending on the light, looks sometimes black, sometimes charcoal and sometimes a deep rich purple. I don't care, I think it just looks lovely.

Rogue Hooded Pullover Speed Knitting

I have found the key to speed knitting. It's not only small movements worked at the tips of the needle with proper but loose tensioning.

No, I've discovered that if you add in an over-healthy dose of caffeine combined with Prednizone and a pinch of antibiotics, your speed will increase by at least 50%. I kid you not. I've been flying on the needles even with children interruptions, child chauffering, cooking meals, thinking about cleaning (notice that I didn't say doing), grocery shopping and trying to sell stuff on ebay so I can get my drum carder I've been wanting.

Here's what I've managed to do in two partial days:

I'm working on the Rogue Hooded Pullover. I'm amazed at the cleverness hidden in this pattern. The cables that you see above are at the sides of the sweater. She's hidden the waist shaping in those cables and no one will ever notice.

Once I got past the small learning curve of deciphering her charts, this has been a breeze. The combination of cables and mindless stockinette keeps you from getting bored and also keeps you from getting mired in endless cables like my other cable sweater project.

I've got about half the main sweater (not counting the hood) completed in two days. That's, like, a record for me. I can't wait for all the kids and dad to disappear tonight to go to scouts so that I can work on it some more.

I've got a deadline (self-imposed) for this project. We're going the annual family "pig-pickin'" in SC again this year on Feb. 21st. I want to lose at least three pounds and have this sweater complete by then. Think it can happen? We'll see. I'm optomistic about the sweater, not so much on the poundage, but I'm trying to be hopeful. :)

One quick question for all the cable working gurus out there. I'm having a problem on one side of my cables. See?:


On the left hand side the stitches are gapingly huge and obvious. Any tips on tightening this up and alleviating the problem? All comments welcome!

Beware!

Beware taking a three year old with bad behavior to get professional family portraits done. I'm just sayin'...




Another start-i-tus knitting project coming tomorrow!