Buh Buh Buh Buh

Feeling totally braindead, probably inhaling too much acid dye....let's get that out of the way: shop update this Thursday (tomorrow) at 9:00 p.m.....

In knitting news: I'm still working Silken Scabbard - tried it on and it's probably entirely too small, so it'll probably be a gift. (I'm not taking volunteers for receipt, sorry - I have a plan that will hopefully make someone's YEAR.)

Since that sweater now apparently won't be for me and I am The World's Most Selfish Knitter, I immediately went in search for a sweater for me. I started and abandoned the Fireside Sweater. I strongly and wholeheartedly recommend knitting it RIGHT NOW if you are an extra-small or small, but maybe consider reworking the charts a bit if you're any larger - in a medium, it didn't look quite as way-cute as the pictured extra-small, and I didn't feel up to modifying the charts to suit my tastes. To be sure, this is in no way a slight against the designer - she designed an adorable sweater and it's a baffling undertaking as a FIRST DESIGN (holy crap!) and it was written for additional sizes in a totally sensical way, it just created too much reverse stockinette and not enough cable for my taste and while it would be pretty easy for me to make a couple of adjustments, as is part of the charm of knitting, I'm feeling thick-headed and dull and not up to doing anything but blindly following a pattern. (I do not at all enjoy people who gripe about designers on their blogs, so to be clear - NOT A GRIPE about the pattern or the designer. The pattern is clear and the sweater is beautiful. My preferences are just obnoxious, that's all.)

So instead I'm going to attempt Silver Belle. I thought about casting it on....that cast-on....it's a LOT OF STITCHES. I may finish it in time for next year's cold snap. I've swatched, and then the guilt of not working on Scabbard got to me and I picked that back up. I'd show a progress picture of that, but really it's still just a big lump of grey knitting. Maybe when I finish the body - which should be soon - I'll get a shot of it.

ETA: Aw, hell. Well it seemed like a real great idea, but as Amanda points out in the comments, it ain't true. Thank you, Amanda! That's what I get for sharing a forward without checking its validity....and you wouldn't think something about soldiers would be a hoax. Shame.... And now for something completely different: It's about time to start your holiday cards. This suggestion went around at work - probably at your work too - and I wanted to share, even though it's tantamount to blogging a forwarded e-mail. It's worth it. When you write up your holiday cards this year, please consider setting one aside for a recovering soldier. I'm sure we'd all agree that they're always in our thoughts no matter what side of the war fence you land on, and they deserve heaps of respect and warm thoughts.

Send your holiday wishes to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Happy knitting!

NaBeWeDoHaNoMo

What happened to me, man? Last year - or was it the year before? - I declared November NaWePoNoMo, because it had an extra payday. This year, October had an extra payday, and yet NaWeSoSOPo. So I've joined NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) since procuring new clothing is impossible lately BeWeDoHaNoMo (Because We Don't Have No Money). I'm looking forward to January, NaBarOSaMaBu - Nation and Barack Obama, Save My Butt.

So yes, in order to boost the offerings of my wardrobe without boosting the economy (sorry, economy, you on your own!) I've done a bit of stash diving and cast on for Silken Scabbard, a pattern I picked up during Stitch Diva's $5 sale last week.

I'm probably about 35% of the way through with it - I've made some progress since this photo (taken on Sunday during a trip to St. Augustine with the husband and the dogs) and have since made it down to the waist decrease area. Not bad for a sweater cast on November 3rd and knit from DK weight yarn (specifically, RYC Cashsoft DK, and on US 5 needles). I saw one of these on Ravelry that was finished in twelve days....man I wish I had more knitting time sometimes. I'd like to have this done in time for our trip to North Carolina for Thanksgiving - at the very least, I'm hoping to finish it during said trip. (Travis and I and the dogs and his sister and his mom are all going up to visit my parents for the long weekend. I'm very much looking forward to it - well, everything but the four-people-two-dogs-four-suitcases-in-a-Prius-for-ten-hours part of it. That could be a Griswoldian adventure....)

So there that is. Lookit me. Knitting. (I have some, um, thoughts on this pattern. I'll share when I'm done. I wouldn't discourage knitting it - it's going to be a nifty sweater - but I have........thoughts.)

I forgot to post anything about it here, by the way, but I'm having a shop sale that is active through today - 20% off everything in the shop, prices already marked down. Yay discounts!

At 11:01 P.M. Eastern Time...

I set down my knitting, eyes full of tears, and breathed for the first time today.

Tomorrow I lament the passage of a tremendous blow to the rights of gay couples and domestic partners statewide, but just for tonight, I sleep soundly in hope for the future. We WILL get there, and we just took such a step, such a big step.

Vote Or Lose Your Right To Bitch Later

What an exciting day! I hope everyone plans on getting out to vote after they're done reading 1700 blog posts about voting. There's no doubt in my mind that there will be beyond record turnout. And while I won't say who I voted for (like you couldn't freakin' guess) I will say that I am excited and energized. I'm also just glad to not feel like I didn't really have the best choices - 2004, anyone? - but rather that the two candidates running are capable of stringing together coherent sentences, feeding themselves, and dressing without assistance. I may agree with one candidate a bit - okay, A LOT - more than the other, but I don't feel that either one is functionally retarded, and that's a big step in the right direction, comparatively speaking. (Note I'm referring only to the candidates for PRESIDENT. We won't get into that other one.....)

Bring it!!!!

Promotion That's Not (Entirely) Self-Serving!

All I friggin' do is self-promote around here. Are you sick of it yet? I have a little something different this time...not knitting, though, of course.

If I had any knitting worth showing, I would....I've been working on a cowl-neck sleeveless sweater that, so far, I pretty much hate. And it's almost done. It's too short (why do I insist on knitting everything too short??) but, since it's silk, I'm not worrying about it because I know after I wear it once, it'll stretch down to my knees. However, the "sleeveless" thing is not exciting me since it's stockinette and the armholes roll up about an inch - eww - so it's sort of got this really attractive red-silk-wifebeater look to it. Nice. Totally work-appropriate, no? So I have decided to add cap sleeves - which I'm trying to settle on whether I want to do by knitting sleeves separately and (gulp) seaming them on, or picking up at the armholes and knitting down. I'm pondering that second option and using short-rows to get that cute cap sleeve look. Might work. Might be a disaster. There's a reason I design small items, not sweaters or other things that have to accomodate limbs.

So anyway, I'm here to promote someone else's thing - although I am marginally involved in a tiny way, which allows me to throw a little self-congratulatory nod into this while still pretending it's about someone else. (Yay!)

You can now PRE-ORDER COOKIE A.'S NEW BOOK call Sock Innovation on Amazon. You know you're crazysauce for her designs. If you want a preview glimpse, it's on her website here.

So how in God's name could I have anything to do with this? Well, I got to be part of the group of super-awesome test knitters for the book! Yay, something I knit will be in print! On that preview I linked, you can see the sock I knit. (I will not go so far as to call it "my sock" although I totally do when I look at the pictures...I point at it and go, "That's my sock!" When I did that at home, Travis got all proud of me and I had to back up and explain that it was not really MY sock, but the one I'd test knit a while ago - his pride didn't seem to glow any less brightly though, 'cuz he's sweet and supportive like that. If I'd admitted that actually I'd only held the ball of yarn while someone else knit the socks, he would have been like, "Good job, baby! I bet NO ONE ELSE could ever hold yarn like you did!")

I pulled out a little visual aid from the preview (and I really hope it's okay that I did that...we have permission to share the preview, hopefully I'm not taking unacceptable liberties here.) There's something about it that tickles me:

Do you see the name of the sock? All the socks in the book are named after people in Cookie's life, and it gave me a kick that when she decided on a name for the socks I knit, it was Kristi! Hee.

Go pre-order your copy! I believe it releases in April, which is practically just around the corner already! (Don't scoff at me, think back five months to June. That wasn't all that long ago, was it?)