Flan's Turn to Catch Up

Kathleen-
Apparently April isn't a good month for blogging for me, since I just checked, and I last posted in March! I've got no news as exciting as yours (an AUNTIE!), but here's a sampling of the past few weeks:

Lots of work...but when I wasn't working, I knitted:

• Central Park (non)Hoodie: Sleeves done, body done, button bands knit. 1 sleeve set in, the other partially set in. Collar (no hood for me!) stitches picked up, but I decided that I couldn't figure out the appropriate length of the collar till the sleeves were fully set in,
• Baby Soft Cardigan (times 2!). One for Harmony is cast on and I'm working on the first front. I'm about to cast on for a second one (for Elizabeth, the beautiful daughter of K&B), and I'm going to try knitting the body in one piece.
  
• Monkey Socks: ripped out! Wrong size! I haven't decided what to do next.
  
• All other projects: Untouched due to all the work.

So in the past month, we went to Iowa to see Mike's cousin play hockey:
And the mascot rode a unicycle on the ice:


We went to the Minnesota zoo, and saw the dolphin show:


And I got my picture taken with a (brass) tiger family:

And a brand new (less than a week old), baby camel:


And spring came to my garden!



I'm plotting my next adult sweater project- I'm thinking Sunrise Circle Jacket (which, for those who don't know, is a limited time free download from Interweave as one of the 5 Reader's Choice patterns), in some lovely Burgundy Cascade 220.

I'm also plotting Mike's kilt hose. I've swatched the stockinette, and now need to swatch the cable pattern....

I'm terribly behind on the ABCalong, since I still need D, E, F, G, H, and now I!

Slogging Along

Hey Flan,
Thank goodness you're alive, doing well and survivied The Event! It sounds like you had a fantastic trip with your mom and had some amazing yarn finds. I'm so jealous.

Monday I finished The Hubby's socks. It was a happy day. All ends are woven in and the pair is safely ensconced in the bottom drawer of the yarn storage area, hidden until his birthday. I cast on for the Broad Street Mittens. I was going to do two on one long circular, got 2 rows in and absolutely hated it. I'm headed out to find some dpns and hope that they will make everything better.

The Hubby's sweater is also coming along. I finished the body!! 48inches around x 15 inches long = a whole lot of knitting. Oh yeah, I now have an excuse for not having any photos- The Hubby has the camera so for the next little bit there will be no photos. I worked on the first sleeve, faithfully increasing until EZ had said to stop. However, that only got me to half of the total length. The calculations seem correct according to the recipe, but I got out the sweater upon which I'm basing the calculations and decided to increase some more.

Artyarn supermerino is the best damn yarn there has ever been. Period. Inspite of my undying love of alpaca even it cannot beat this yarn. Best Ever. I'm working on EZ's February Sweater for E&H's baby (as I've decided they're having a girl or a boy that will have to wear purple). I did have to rip out a couple of rows- apparently I can't count to 7 repeatedly- but this yarn makes me smile. It's just that fabulous.

I did it. I actually told someone in the knitting community that I didn't like something. In the world of knitting I try to keep everything positive. People might make something that makes me cringe, but I try to remember that not everyone's asthetic is the same as mine and that at least they are contributing to the Knitting World. There's usually always something nice that can be said about the knitting (the knitters however are sometimes a different story). But the new IK layout is something I just don't like. I tried to keep an open mind with the first edition of the new layout, but the second edition came in the mail last week and I just don't like it. I actually emailed them about it. I know that I welcome change the same way mothers-in-law welcome daughters-in-law, but I rarely tell the people about the stuff I dislike. Something made me email them and they emailed one sentence back, thanking me for my feedback.

I'm off to prep for a meeting. Tomorrow is Friday and I'm trying to keep that in focus.