Thursday, April 20, 2006

I thought I had a solution to the B&L Regal. I did some ribbing, and started up a slip stitch pattern. It felt like I was copping out. I decided I didn't like it. No, not that I didn't like it, but that it wasn't special or worthy. It was just ok. I couldn't see myself as proud to give it away as a gift. I took a picture, but still haven't ripped it out. I'm not sure.

Then I started thinking about my need to "use up" or "get rid of" certain parts of my stash. I have boxes of beautiful colors, merino, alpaca, shetland. What am I saving it for? Why spend time on a project that is just so so, when I have so many choices of wonderful?

So, into the closet I went, and this is why the Circle Square sleeve did not get finished this weekend. I flipped through my books and magazines again, and pulled out sport weight. Lovely lovely sport weight, wool from e-bay, alpaca from Peru, some Nature Spun Sport, some merino from Elann. It worked up this. 6.5 stitches per inch, using Donnegal from Starmore's Celtic Collection as a pattern and color guide.

Now, I'm still thinking about my BIL, as I show the swatch to Husband. He announces that it is really nice, and that he would be unhappy if the sweater was not for him. What's a girl to do, but recalculate, and cast on?

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Well, no updates for the past week, due to a hard drive crash. I'm still playing software scavenger hunt, and getting little tweaks installed. Stupid stuff, like the noise that is made when the IM goes off, and cleaning up the Java errors for various business applications. Yuck.

In the mean time, the knitting is done on the Ingeborg hat. I've cleaned up the ends, and just need to sew the hem down. It's a little big. I'm not going to add the trim, as I think it looks a bit humptey-dumptey.

Now, for someone we've not seen for a while. Isn't he pretty? Well, except for the spaghetti monster look that happens with intarsia. Most of the ends are already woven in, and just need to be clipped. I'm doing a fully fashioned sleeve cap, and just started the decreases. I expect to have this sleeve done by the end of the weekend.