First and foremost, thank you for your kind comments and emails about my friend's baby. I am happy to report he is doing very well and is now at home. He is also possibly the cutest baby I've ever seen. Definitely the cutest newborn. He is so, so cute. It's just ridiculous. Once he puts on that outfit Mum made, we're all going to die of the cute.

Speaking of which, thank you also for the kind comments on her outfit. She was quite impressed and I think briefly liked the idea of having a knitting blog before deciding she'd have nothing to say. (I think she finds knitting blogs a little weird.) Still, maybe when she retires I can convince her. Until then, I'll just feature her outfits here.

Anyway, after her spectacular outfit I feel like my present for the baby was a bit lame, but at least my photos have one up on hers - they have the baby in them! Now, don't say I didn't warn you. This baby is seriously, seriously cute. Here, I'll show you the blanket by itself first, because once the baby's there you won't be looking at it anyway.





Log Cabin, using Trillian's pick up reducing technique. Knit in Knit Picks Crayon on size six needles (uh, I think), using three full balls of each colour plus about a quarter of a second ball of each. Not much yarn at all - I now have a ton of leftovers. But that's fine, because this is great baby yarn.

As previously mentioned, this blanket was knit in the colours of the Zimbabwean flag. My friends were very impressed with this and both of them (the parents, I mean - the baby didn't really care) really liked the blanket.

Are you ready for this? You've been warned. The only problem with these photos is that he's wearing a hat, so you can't see his insanely adorable curly hair. I swear, it is like a little fluffy kitten, it's so soft. SO CUTE. (I don't have any pictures of him awake, because the whole time he was awake while I was there I was holding him, and I wasn't going to waste precious baby snuggling time to take photos.)





As you can see by his little hand in that second picture (if you haven't died from the cute), it's open and about to grab the blanket. By the time I left, his little hand was clutching onto his blankie while he slept. I'm telling you, cutest baby ever.

And no, I'm not having any of my own any time soon. But when he fell asleep in my arms and was making little snurfling noises? There was a brief temptation. But then I remembered that I wouldn't have any time to knit if I had a baby and came to my senses.

Still, the snurfling was pretty cute.

Labels: Baby, Log Cabin

Man, I was doing so well with the posting, and then I fall off the wagon for a whole week. Curses!

Unfortunately, my life has been very un-blog-worthy. I haven't finished anything (until tonight), I haven't knit anything that's very interesting to look at in progress (hey, look, it's a log cabin but bigger! And a sock exactly like the first one!), and I haven't done anything all week except knit garter log cabin and knit a sock while watching Lord of the Rings extras. And American Idol. Isn't my life glamorous?

Fortunately, my mother is much more blog-worthy this week. As previously mentioned here, my mum is a total rock star knitter, but she doesn't knit much any more due to a bum shoulder. (She didn't knit at all for years after being as fanatical as I am when she was younger, so even the reduced knitting is an improvement.) Nowadays she limits herself to baby outfits, which seems like a good use of time. (She knows a lot of babies, luckily.) She knits for her friends kids and grandkids, for Dad's coworkers (all of whom seem to have had babies in the last year), and my friends' babies. (So far all of my friends that have had babies are also my sister's friends, so my mother knows them particularly well.)

Anyway, she used to knit for us all the time, and has an entire dresser full of hand knit and hand sewn clothes that she's saving in case we have kids. I should go take some pictures of them some time - they are really quite amazing. (My grandma also knit some of them, actually. Clearly this insanity is genetic. I'm trying to convert my sister but she claims my dad would never forgive her if she started knitting, which is probably true.) I think the last sweater she knit for me was in...oh, 1993 or so, which of course means it was neon. Black and neon, with intarsia shapes all over it. Stylish! My sister's last sweater was these enormous oversized blue sweater that went to about her knees. It was a very bright blue. I wonder if they're still around? You'd be amazed what's lurking in closets around my parents' house.

Mum and I differ quite a bit on what we like to knit. She finds the whole sock thing a little weird, and is a recent convert to circular needles only grudgingly. (I feel this is somewhat of a victory on my part, but she refuses to use nice ones. Sigh.) But she uses these teeny tiny needles and this incredibly thin yarn for these baby outfits, and they are always amazing. (I just make blankets and occasionally little sweaters.)

This friend of ours who had the baby is someone we've all known for years and years, and my parents are sort of surrogate parents to her, even more so than they are with all our friends. Mum felt this deserved a particularly outstanding outfit. As I said, we met her and her family in Zimbabwe (except Dad, who knew them all before that), and she's since moved here, gone to university, met another Zimbabwean fellow, and gotten married. (He is equally delightful.)

Mum and Dad got to meet the baby on Monday, so the outfit went along, which means it can now be revealed here! I had to promise that I would give mum credit when I asked if I could post the pictures of it on my blog (I don't think she reads my blog, but I can't imagine how I could get away with claiming credit for knitting this, since I haven't mentioned it even once and it is clearly way better than anything I've ever knit.)

Ok, you don't care about any of this. Here is her fabulous ensemble!



So we have a hat, up in the top right hand corner, with a dashing racing stripe along the top. Then there is the sweater, with its tasteful giraffe button on the side. Then, to the left, are the little mittens. Matching pants, and the booties with the giraffe buttons.

She sent me two pictures so you could all see two angles of the hat. (Clearly my mother should have a knitting blog.)



The giraffe buttons really are the crowning touch.

I'm not totally convinced that I'm going to send my mother my blog link (not like I talk about anything interesting anyway, but it still feels like a weird step!), but I'll pass on any compliments. It really is worth clicking on the bigger photos.

So there you go. My mum, the rock star knitter.

Labels: Mum's outfit

Uh. Next week? Not so much. Baby was born yesterday (boy!), and had a not great birth and is now in the NICU. They won't know much until next week, once things have settled down a bit and they can assess any damage.

So now I will be knitting the blanket like a maniac in the hopes I can get it done in the next few days. Any suggestions for what parents of a baby in a NICU need are most welcome. This is a baby who needs a cozy blankie!

Gah. It's moments like this when I realise that I'm an adult whether I like it or not.

Labels: Baby

Ok, folks, here it is! (Sorry for the delay, I’ve been sick.) The winner of the contest, and my 100th blog entry! Since there are conveniently six entries to choose from, I’m using this handy dice roller online to generate my winner. In order to reduce any claims of favouritism, I’m rolling the dice before looking back to see who is which number. My arbitrary contest is nothing if not fair!

And the winner is…two! (I have to say, pressing a button is less exciting than rolling an actual dice.) And comment number two was…You talk to your Rogue!

Which means our lucky winner is Sue, from The Potato Patch. (Great blog name, by the way. I have a fondness for the word “Spud,” as it’s Jana’s car’s name, which we named on a road trip to Vancouver in 2001. I told you I name everything!) Incidentally, Sue likes Barenaked Ladies, Anne of Green Gables, Star Trek, and The Princess Bride. Clearly we are kindred spirits!

Thank you all for your entries – I really enjoyed reading them, and discovering new blogs in the process! (I should admit here that I am really, really bad at commenting on blogs, because I generally use Bloglines. I am attempting to improve on this because I like getting comments, so it seems only fair to reciprocate.)

As previously mentioned, I’ve been sick this week, and it sucks. I didn’t leave the house from Saturday evening until yesterday (Wednesday) morning, when I went to work. However, my week is definitely improving – I came home yesterday to flowers, dinner, and a spotless kitchen. (I bought Jamie a World of Warcraft strategy book. How’s that for romance?) It’s a long weekend this weekend. Everything’s coming up Millhouse!My long weekend plans currently consist of knitting like a maniac. I was talking to my mum yesterday, and in doing so, realised that the baby blanket that I’ve been knitting on so nonchalantly is actually for a baby due next week. Ack! Add to that the sock pal deadline of the end of the month, and suddenly the pressure’s on. Those are the only two impending deadlines and then I’ve got some breathing room, so I’m hoping for a knitting marathon this weekend to get some things wrapped up. The baby blanket is up to about two feet by two feet, and I’m hoping for about three feet or so, so I’m making solid progress. It’s looking quite snazzy so far! Photos coming soon. (Sorry for the lack of photos today.)

One sock pal sock is finished, and the other one is trucking through the leg. I’m hoping to finish up the leg in the next few days, and hit the foot this weekend. I’d like to have them in the mail next Friday, and even then I’ll be pushing the deadline. (Sorry, snowdrop!)

I’ll be fine. Don’t panic. It’ll all get done. I still have Return of the King to watch this weekend, and all its extras – that’s a lot of knitting time!

And here’s to another 100 entries! Thanks for reading, everyone. Monkey Pants and Hippo Dignity thanks you! (And, incidentally, someone mentioned loving the animals up in my header. I love them too! Aren’t they adorable? It’s actually a reversible stuffy that flips one way to be a monkey and another to be a hippo. Awesome!)

Labels: Contest, Log Cabin, Sock Pal

Man, you guys sure do think I'm weird. Hee! I heartily enjoyed your comments on the last entry. I had a hard time coming up with my six favourites.

I also have a few additions to comments made about my own six weird things. Several of you were amused by the idea of me buying Harry Potter in my wedding dress. Here's the evidence!



That's Jana with her back to us (doesn't her hair look nice?), my sister-in-law Donna next to her (she drove us around all day), my sister Beth in behind, and then me, obviously. It had just stopped raining about forty minute before this photo was taken. My photographer, to his credit, happily came along to the bookstore and didn't make a single remark about what a weirdo he thought I was.



Here I am with my two copies of the book. (One of them was for Donna. I actually pre-purchased them a few days before so I was just picking them up.) I got some hilarious looks in the bookstore. I did warn the store people that I was coming. I used to work at this bookstore, so it was neat to stop off there. Actually, you can see another weird thing about me in this photo - my earrings are Mickeys! They're very pretty, and you can't tell what they are unless you're staring directly at my ears. I bought them in Disneyland on my bachelorette trip with Jana the previous March. They're blue (my birthstone), and I liked them so much that I decided to wear them to the wedding. It made me happy to know I was wearing such silly earrings. Even my mother had to admit that they were quite pretty and that hardly anyone would notice what they were. (I did tell a lot of people, though, since it amused me.)



This is one of my favourite photos, and proof that our photographer was very on the ball. As soon as we got into the bookstore, Erin picked up the book to flip to the back and started reading it aloud to us. (Apparently she always reads the end first! I was horrified by that.) I grabbed the book from her and smacked her with it. If you know Erin, you can HEAR her laugh in this photo. She has a very distinctive (and infectious) laugh, and she laughs harder than anyone else I know. I like this picture because it's such a good representation of our relationship, and it's so natural! None of this posed crap.

As you can tell by these pictures, my three bridesmaids wore different dresses in the same fabric. Pretty, aren't they? The whole set of wedding photos is here should you want to stalk me further.

Uh, where was I? Right, the finalists!

Here they are, with comments from me.

For a book person, I watch a lot of tv. (LadyLungDoc, aka Somerset, who was my first downstream Secret Pal.)

This is totally true. It’s partly just that I’m pretty low on other responsibilities, so I have lots of time to both read and watch TV. These days I mostly just read before bed, because I can knit while I watch TV. Also, I hate doing only one thing at a time, so I’m usually either surfing the internet or watching TV while I knit. (Or both. As I write this, I have a sock in my lap that I’m occasionally knitting on, and we’re watching Lord of the Rings.)

I talk to my Rogue. (Sue)

Hee! This totally cracked me up. I should clarify that I really only talk to it in the form of blog entries. I don’t actually chat with it while we’re sitting around in my chair or anything. Mostly.

I named my laptop Neville. (Kaitie Tee)

Now, in fairness, it did need a name for the network, so I don’t think naming a computer is in and of itself totally weird. (Even Jamie’s computer has a name – Heximephicles – and he doesn’t name anything.) However, what is weird (and obsessive) about this is that when I was setting up my computer when I got it in the fall, I got about four steps into the setup process when it asked me for the name. I hadn’t even fully booted it yet, and yet I spent about forty minutes on the phone with Karen discussing what I should call it. I am very partial to the name Neville.

I name everything. My laptops have names. (Giles and Neville.) My car has a name. (Rosie.) My iPod has a name. (Rupert.) Even my cell phone used to have a name, although my current one doesn’t. I haven’t named my chair, though, even though it’s probably the inanimate object I spend the most time with. Mmm, chair.

It took you years to make your first pair of socks, and then you made 9? 10? 11? pairs in 4 months! (Michele)

Yeah, this was a little weird. I’ve mentioned before that I seriously wanted to learn how to make socks for years. That’s not an exaggeration. The first pair of handmade socks I was given was from my friend’s mother in grade 8, so I would have been…12. As soon as I saw them I wanted to know how to make them. (They were awesome socks which have tragically since been lost.) I knit my first pair of socks last February, 3 weeks before my 25th birthday. Once I learned, I was totally addicted.

You hoped your yellow-ish Sweet Georgia yarn was named after an obscure firefly character, rather than confronting the cruel truth - that Saffron does dye things yellow :) (lupinbunny)

This amused me immensely. I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable that the yarn could have been named after YoSafBridge, since Sweet Georgia yarns are frequently named after Jossverse characters. Still, I am willing to admit that I might just be being obsessive.

There are blue letters on your shower curtain. Seriously, who reads in the shower?! ;) (Jessica)

I totally picked my shower curtain because I think words are very decorative. (This is because I am a big nerd.) When Erin and I lived together, we had a page from the dictionary and a page from a thesaurus framed and on our wall. We also had a huge metal board that was covered in magnetic poetry. (That’s now down in our laundry room, which is the only part of the house we share, although we totally run in and out of each other's halves of the houses all the time. It's very handy having a neighbour like that - we borrow things all the time for cooking.) When Erin went to Washington D.C. last year she bought me a bag covered in the names of authors, because she knew I would like how nerdy it was, how pretty the names were all over the bag, and also figured it was a good size for knitting. (It is – perfect for a sweater and a sock. How’s that for a good friend?)

And I have often wished I could read in the shower. One time I was reading in the bathroom as I got ready to shower, and I was so caught up in the book that I came within about six inches of getting into the shower with my book. (This wouldn’t be so embarrassing if I was, like, nine at the time, but this was about two months ago.)

So. Clearly, I am a weirdo. That's ok. I've embraced the weirdness.

Stay tuned for the winner! And, hopefully, a photo of my first finished sock pal sock, or at least very close to finished. We've still got two and a half hours of Fellowship left so it's looking promising.

Labels: Contest

Look! It's a Meme AND a contest, both firsts on Monkey Pants and Hippo Dignity. I got tagged last week by The Lone Knitter, and I have to admit, I wasn't really planning to do the meme. I'm not wild about them, generally, and I'm also really lazy.

However, I'm coming up on a Monkey Pants and Hippo Dignity Milestone: my 100th post! (Here, anyway. I have archives over at diaryland.) So I decided to have a contest. I contemplated various options for this contest, but eventually decided to incorporate it into the meme.

So, first of all, the meme. Six weird things about me. Well, there are definitely more than six weird things about me, but here are the six I came up with for myself.

1. I bought Harry Potter 6 on my wedding day. In my wedding dress. I have photos!

2. I hate having my legs touching when I'm sleeping. I fold the blankets in between so that doesn't happen. This is why I hate sleeping bags.

3. I like tomato sauce, ketchup on some things, and pizza sauce. I hate tomatoes. It's the texture - bleah! (I have a lot of weird texture issues with food. Do not get me started on mushrooms.)

4. I have the smallest toenail on my little toe that I've ever seen. I can barely get nail polish on it.

5. I didn't change my name when I got married even though I'd always thought I would. (I don't think that's weird, but enough people find it weird that I figured I'd mention it.)

6. I have almost no patience for most things in life, but endless patience for knitting. I don't think this is weird, but it freaks Jamie out. He doesn't understand how I get impatient after two minutes of waiting in a line or whatever, but can spend three hours untangling a skein of yarn or frogging three days worth of knitting. The only other thing I have any patience for is babies. Otherwise I am a terribly impatient person. Conveniently, knitting helps with the other things as well - waiting isn't as bad when I have knitting.

And now, the contest! This is my 98th post. What you have to do to enter is come up with something about me that you think is weird, based on having read my blog. (Don't worry, you are very unlikely to offend me based on what I've written about in my blog. I even have a shirt that says "Easy to annoy, hard to offend" that Karen and Paul made for me. I tend not to write about the things that you could offend me by calling weird.) It can be a knitting-related weirdness or not. Those of you who know me in real life can use a non-blog-related weirdness as long as you are confident that it's something I don't mind the internet knowing about.

I'll pick my favourite six weird things and post them in my 100th entry. Then I will draw a name from those six finalists, and that person will win!

What's the prize, you ask? Yarn, of course. I have three colourways of Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock, and you can choose one of them! (Two skeins.) (If you don't knit socks, we can talk about a substitute. If you don't knit at all, I can't imagine why you'd be reading this anymore if you don't know me in real life, so I'll buy you a drink or an ice cream or something.) I don't have a photo of the colourways on me right now, but I'll post them along with the finalists.

To enter, just leave a comment. Make sure there's an email address that I can reach you at (or use a name that makes it very clear that I know you in real life and know how to get ahold of you), and tell me something you think is weird about me.

Make sense? Let's hear it, folks. What's so weird about me?

Labels: Contest

First, and most importantly, it is ONE MONTH until my birthday! See how I'm helpfully reminding you with plenty of shopping time left? I thought that was considerate of me. Here's a helpful tip: I like yarn. There are also several knitting books I'd like to get (Knit Fix, A Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, Victorian Lace Today, A Gathering of Lace...you get the idea.) Also, yarn!

Ok, public service announcements aside, exciting things are afoot at Monkey Pants and Hippo Dignity. First of all, there's a contest coming soon! Possibly some time this week - depends on what my schedule's like. Details to follow as soon as I know what the contest is. Prize will be yarn. (Mmm, yarn.) (Sorry, all my non knitting friends who read this blog. If you win I'll buy you a drink or something.) Also, did you know I have an RSS feed? I do! 10 people have figured that out - are you one of them?

Ok, seriously, I'll stop pimping myself out now. On to the real point of this post - the body of Rogue is done! And for once I remembered to take photos BEFORE Jamie went to bed, so they aren't bathroom mirror shots. Unfortunately, Jamie likes to fiddle with camera settings a LOT so they're pictures of me looking irritated with how many photos have been taken. Maybe I should learn how to use the self timer.

As mentioned, I had a ridiculously slothful second half of my weekend, which also included yesterday. I finished season 1 of House (great show! Hugh Laurie is awesome and alarmingly hot), and also finished the body of Rogue. Pay no attention to the needles hanging down all willy-nilly - the hood comes out of the neck cables, so the stitches there are still live. (I know it looks lopsided in places, but I wasn't standing straight on, because these pictures were taken in our small and mess front hall because it has the best light, so we're at weird angles to each other.)



That also makes it hard to see the neck cable, which is too bad because it looks pretty good.



Here's the thing about Rogue. Those lovely side cables (which also make for some very nice and well-fitting shaping) are really damn hard to take pictures of without looking like a total dork.



See? Eventually we opted to just cut my head out of the photo entirely so you couldn't see how silly I looked while flailing my hand up above my head.



Since I totally ignored pretty much any other responsibilities for two days in order to make progress (not entirely true, I did the dishes and a load of laundry), I neglected all the other knitting on the needles. You know, the ones with deadlines. A certain due date is looming, but more pressing is my sock pal's socks!

So once I finished Rogue's body, I set it aside and got to work on the socks. And I made excellent progress!



The observant among you may be thinking "progress my foot." At first glance, you're not wrong. The photo from January 25th shows this.



Compare the two, and I'm only about one stripe further along.

But the REALLY observant among you will notice different needles in the two photos. Yup, I frogged it. The whole damn sock. So this is sock pal sock take 2, and I'm already past where I was with the first version after frogging it on Friday. It was just going to be too snug on the Addi 0s, so I've moved to my KP size 1, and am happy with the change. (Not least because knitting on 1s is a LOT faster.) I liked the fabric a lot on the 0s, but I didn't like the fit. And it's looking good on the 1s, too. Here's hoping I can hit the heel by the end of the week. I'm going to Barenaked Ladies tomorrow night, which will not offer me much knitting time, and Thursday I'm working late. Hopefully the weekend will give me some time to really tackle it. I love the yarn, and I love the pattern, and they're absolutely perfect together. I hope snowdrop likes it as much as I do!

Labels: Birthday, Contest, Rogue, Sock Pal

Ok, the universe appears to have forgiven me. (Knock wood!) I've finished shaping the armholes on Rogue's back, and just have to knit flat for a while before I start shaping the shoulders. And by a while, I mean another 27 rows. I am having a truly exciting day that has led to me still being in my pajamas at 7:27pm. I know. That's pathetic. But the knitting! I've also watched several episodes of House, which I have out from the library. But then Jamie got home, and despite the fact that he doesn't give a shit about the NFL (He is a CFL man through and through), somehow he is still watching the Superbowl.

Watching the Superbowl in Canada is actually pretty lame, because we get dumb Canadian commercials instead of the excellent American ones. They aren't usually anything special, but there have been two that cracked me up. One is a GM commercial with one of those thingies that remove tires (I don't know. It's yellow.) being fired and trying to find a new job and eventually killing himself. I don't know, it caught me in a moment of weakness! I also liked the Coke commercial with the Grand Theft Auto guy.

ANYway, suffice it to say I have had a pretty lame day. I don't have any plans tomorrow, either. I think I might go see a movie in the afternoon. What's the point in having weekdays off if you can't go see matinees by yourself? I keep meaning to do so but haven't gotten around to it. There are enough movies I want to see before the Oscars that if I wait to go with Jamie, I'll never make it to half of them. Plus a weekday matinee by myself means I can knit without bugging anyone. (Not that I let that stop me in most movies, but if the theater is packed I don't usually knit.) Not that anything I actually want to see is playing at the most convenient theatre. Grr.

Right. As the universe is temporarily cooperating, Rogue photos! As you can see, I'm making good progress. I'm hoping to have the back done by tonight. (Maybe I'll go watch tv on the computer.) Please don't judge me about how dirty the mirror is. The only other mirror in our house has a sandblasted picture of me and Jamie on it. Kind of an amusing novelty, but not great for photos!



As you can see, the fit is fantastic. I am pleased with this, as I always get a bit nervous about gauge.

The side cable turned out great. I am going to ignore the miscrossed cables. I choose to think of it as a design feature.



I do have to turn my attention somewhat to my baby blanket and my sock pal socks, since those have deadlines. But man, this sweater is addictive! Maybe I'll get the body finished and then work on the other two for a while before I pick up the sleeves and the hood.

Labels: Rogue

Well.

I had a two hour nap earlier today (Jamie was napping, and I am weak in the face of other nappers), so despite our late night last night, our busy day of brunch, yarn stores (ok, just one), napping, dinner, and the opera, I'm quite wide awake at 3am. (Not that this is particularly abnormal behaviour for me. It's far more strange that Jamie was up until 2.)

After getting home from the opera shortly after 11, I have spent the rest of the evening knitting and listening to the new Barenaked Ladies album in anticipation of the concert on Wednesday. The album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me (or BLAM, if you prefer) is not all that new, but I haven't listened to it much despite downloading it (legally!) on the day it came out. As a result, Rogue is now finished Chart A and is about to divide for the front and back! It's thrilling!

So thrilling, in fact, that I actually transferred it onto a second needle (only about 15 stitches need to move to make it not fall off its needle), tried it on, and took pictures.

When I plugged my flash card reader into my laptop, my laptop crashed. I got it rebooted (grumbling all the while), tried to upload the photos, and my flickr uploader crashed. Went to the flickr website. Flickr is down.

I can take a hint. I'm going to bed. Rogue photos will be posted tomorrow.

The opera was pretty good, by the way, but a little long. I don't have patience for much of anything after two and a half hours. Plus the leg room at the Jube is terrible, and their bathrooms are ridiculously small. Overall, though, an enjoyable experience. Plus it was fun to play stereotype with all the rich people. I think I saw more fur coats tonight than I have in my entire life up to this point.

(Incidentally, I'm coming up on a milestone post. Stay tuned for a contest of some sort!)

Labels: Crash, Rogue

Man, February already? That's just crazy. But also good, because January kind of sucked. Nothing major, just a series of minor annoying things.

February is shaping up to be a major improvement. Tomorrow night is Jamie's school's big band dance thingy, which I am going to. I'm wearing my excellent brown and pink dress, and I'm kicking myself for not finishing my shawl, as it's the perfect occasion. Oh well.

Saturday night we're going to the opera. Which is hilarious, because we aren't really opera people, never mind people who go to fancy dinner dances one night and the opera the following night, but apparently we're cramming our fanciness into one weekend. Maybe on Sunday we'll watch some Monster Trucks or something to balance it out. Jamie got free tickets from school, and we're sitting in the nosebleeds with a bunch of teenagers. Woo!

Next Wednesday we're going to see Barenaked Ladies (to which I say WOO!), and then all of a sudden it's halfway through February which means it's almost my birthday! Yippee! And then once we hit my birthday, it's less than a month till we hit Disneyland.

Awesome. Everything's coming up Millhouse!

I've had an oddly light on the knitting week. Monday night was Stitch n Bitch, so I got a fair amount done on Rogue, which I continue to lean towards ignoring the mistake on, although Cara over at January One is trying to convince me that I can fix it. (I appreciate her optimism. We'll see.) I think I might leave it until the sweater's done, although then if I screw it up I'll be even more pissed! But I'm not really a perfectionist, and it does look ok. I'm aiming to finish chart A tomorrow and then start tackling where it separates for the front and back. Maybe I can finish the body by the end of the weekend! (Ah, foolish optimism. Nothing like putting this things on the blog for some public accountability.)

Tuesday night I had book group and had dinner with Jamie, my mum, and her friend beforehand. I did get some of my thrum mittens done - actually, I finished them while I was at the meeting and got lots of admiring comments, but I decided the cuffs were too short so I ripped them out and re-knit them. (Just the cuffs. Not the whole mittens!) They are now REALLY done and ends woven in and everything. Except I don't think I'm going to keep them.

I know, I know. This giving away of knitting is absolutely chronic. Fear not, I'm definitely keeping Rogue, and my shawl. And I've got yarn for Central Park Hoodie on the way (thanks, Trillian!) - it's going to be in Cascade 220 in a very lovely green. Once I've made that, I'm thinking of making just a plain v-neck pullover in something sort of medium weight so I can wear it by itself. I'm going to use the pattern from A Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, which is a highly useful book that I intend to buy. (Have I mentioned lately what an awesome knitting book collection my library has? I suggest knitting books to them all the time, and so far they've bought every single one. Yay purchasing department! But they buy almost all the good new ones without any suggestions, to the point that I suspect there's a knitter down there somewhere.) Anyway, I'm currently debating what yarn to use for that - I get quite warm in sweaters, so I want something not too heavy.

I think after that I'd like to try my hand at a tank top. I have no idea what sort of pattern - I want something pretty simple, so I might just use the dimensions from the Handy Book again. I'll have to poke around for that - I am also quite clueless about yarns for that type of thing.

In other news, Karen put up photos of the cast cozy (as named by her husband - excellent name!) here. It's a little loose, but the thumb keeps it on quite nicely.

Don't ask about the socks. They need a trip to the frog pond. I'm choosing to temporarily forget that.

Labels: Rogue, To Knit