United At Last

At last, my love for cats and my love for things that glow in the dark are united at last:

Read the article in National Geographic News about how scientists have created animals that glow in the dark, including CATS!

Wooohooo! Nora always told me she was bright.

Nothing to Report

Sigh. I dunno, maybe it's all the Comments (0), or maybe it's because I am dead tired all the time, or maybe it's just pure laziness, but I haven't really been driven to post on my blog lately. Is this thing on? 

I haven't been knitting anyway. I finished one Wandering Path sock and I am just barely halfway down the leg on the second one, and I know I need to knit at least one more in light blue before the knitting cruise. I just seem to have become hung up somehow. I haven't  been interested in knitting anything lately, not my shawl or my mittens or even the last two clues to finish my Mystery Socks. The clues are all published, I just have to get interested enough to download the clues and finish the socks, but somehow I could care less. 

Business is starting to pick up, and that should make me feel good. I am pushing myself to knit at night because I know I have to get some things done by a deadline, but it's hard. I'm going to do it anyway, right after I finish this blog post.....

Here is a picture of the first Wandering Path sock; it looks great in person, but you can see how it isn't really the best yarn to show the stitch pattern: 

And in a break from Cat Obsession, here  is a picture of my brother in law, Woofie, wearing his blue goggles in preparation for his motorcyle ride (he loves motorcycle rides, he gets to ride in the sidecar):

Sigh

I finished my first Wandering Path sock! I love it very much :) Pictures soon.

So I am standing at the counter happily knitting the ribbing for the second Wandering Path sock. A couple come into the store. Wifey shops and the man wanders over to me.

"Oh, what are you making?" he asks.

"Socks," I say proudly, and pull out my lovingly knit and cherished, recently completed Wandering Path socks.

"Huh," he says. "How long does it take you to knit a pair of socks like that?"

Flattered that he is interested, I reply, "Probably about 13 or 14 hours per sock, in a pattern like this."

He gives me The Look. "How long would it take you to just drive down to Penny's and buy new socks?"

Pffft. Idiot.

Wandering Path progress

Here is my progress so far on the Wandering Path socks I am making for the knitting cruisers:

Actually I have already turned the heel and am halfway down the foot, but this picture was taken earlier. I love this yarn, but the dark color and multi-coloredness of it make it hard to see the pattern. You can see it on my foot model in this picture because the pattern is slightly stretched and I was holding it in bright sunlight in a window. 

So, I dyed some sock yarn to make the same socks in a lighter color, a more solid and less multicolored color, to show the pattern well. Here was the result: 

It looks great in this picture, but in reality, it is still too dark in color to show the pattern well. So the next night I dyed more sock yarn and used even less dye:

This color is a perfect light denim blue. They look almost identical in these pictures, don't they? But this rather shaky picture shows how the colors differ when you put them together: 

This shows the difference in color. So I will do a sock in the purple, and then do at least one sock in the light blue, and then finish the purple socks. And maybe make a mate to the light blue sock, too, even though I really only need to knit one sock, for a picture for the pattern and to show a finished product to the knitting cruisers.  And finally, I can knit the dark blue up in a different pair of socks :)  My, that's a lot of socks...

It's Hot

Stay cool :) 

Typical Morning at Work

Until it gets crazy busy around here in the summer, I try to start out my morning at work with a little store-related knitting, either knitting by hand or on the machine. It kinda gets me  going, gives me a nice way to ease into the day, and yet is mildly productive. Here is a picture of yesterday morning:

Working on my Wandering Path socks, having a cinnamon bun and coffee. Life is not as bad as it could be. 

I love my socks, but I am going to make another pair of them. I love this dark purple Ball and Skein yarn, love it to death, but the color and the variation of colors in it do not show the pattern stitch of the Wandering Path very well. So last night I dyed some sock yarn a pretty denim blue, and I think it will show the pattern better. Or, if it doesn't, I will just keep knitting these socks in different colors until I get a color that photographs well :)  I love this pattern well enough to knit it a few times!

Pics of the Compass & Anchors Hat

Here are some pictures of the finished object! Many thanks to dear friend Mary Jane for photostyling and photographing for me (I love talking to MJ because she always makes me feel like I am NOT an idiot, after all) :) 

iTunes Geekiness

I just found the most awesome thing :) 

One of the things I don't like about the iTunes store is that if I wanna play all the song previews from an album, I have to stop every 30 seconds and click the next song to play the preview. Stopping every 30 seconds seriously inhibits my knitting flow, ya know? 

So I have installed a cool applescript that will automatically play all the song previews for an album, and I don't have to lift a finger, I just listen and knit. It's awesome. And, I find that listening to all the previews of the  songs in a row gives me a much better feel for the album overall, as a whole concept, since it flows together better. 

You can get the script HERE.

You can get iTunes HERE, but better yet, you can go to Wild Rufus in Camden and buy music there, and support a friend and his family :) 

Mystery Sock short row heel .... and cats, of course

I finished the Mystery Sock Clue #4 on Saturday night, and it was fun. I don't usually do short row heels, but that is the type of heel this Mystery Sock requires, so I did it, and it was actually kind of fun. This Mystery Sock is good for me; I don't usually knit socks from the toe up, and I don't usually knit socks with beads, either, but this is a fun sock to knit!

I found a great series of 3 videos on youtube.com that shows the exact same short row heel that I just knit. If you would like to try a short row heel, you can check it out:

Short Row Heel with YO's, Part 1

Short Row Heel with YO's, Part 2

Short Row Heel with YO's, Part 3

You know me. Once I get on YouTube, I can't stop. So I found this knitting video by a person with unbelievable fingernails. I mean, how does she do anything, really? Let along knit? Here it is:

Knitting with Looooong Fingernails

And then of course, I can't leave YouTube without a few cat & yarn videos:

Not the Sock Yarn!  (this cat must be related to Nora)

Kitty Stealing Yarn (I knew it! Little thieves...)

Cute Japanese Kitten Yarn song (Warning: this video contains potentially life-threatening cuteness. Watch with caution, as you may be overcome with cutekittenitis.) The song is about kittens and yarn, but I had to take their word for it, as it was in Japanese. There are, however, subtitles...... in Japanese.... )

Facebook

Ok, I am the last person I know to finally join Facebook. Sheesh. 

So, here is my call out to anyone who reads my blog, whom I might not know because you have never commented, that you can get me on Facebook as Elizabeth Collins if ya wanna add me as a friend. Currently I have a few very prized friends, a very few, but I know you fiber addicts, customers, fellow yarn demons, dye artists, drinking buddies, martini afficianados, Tolkein fans, blues lovers, cat obsessors, family members, wool pushers, spinning dervishes, and the like are out there champing hungrily to join my band of merry what-nots. 

Welcome me to the madness. And why didn't anyone tell me that Facebook can suck up 2 hours of time in about 10 minutes? hmmm? now if they only could make vacuum cleaners. 

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin.... "is to learn something..."

from Kathi's Blog:

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin.... "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn."

-- T. H. White, The Once and Future King

I love that quote :) So glad I found it on your blog, Kathi :) 

Look at this image on Flickr :)

Internet Woes & Hat Progress

I would have posted something last night, but we had no internet at home. I am not hopeful about tonight either; we shall see. 

Since  I couldn't do much else last night, I worked on my hat pattern for the knitting cruise. It is about 70% done now and I think it is quite charming. I have about 14 more rows of the chart and then I switch to the decrease chart for the top, and then it is done :) 

Here is a picture so far:

The pattern is a little busy, but I wanted to incorporate motifs for the anchor, compass rose, ship's lantern, and wind. It is a knitting CRUISE, after all.... 

I think it will be wicked cunnin' when it is done! I should be finished with it in a couple of nights' worth of knitting, and then I can do the Wandering Path socks that I designed, also for this year's knitting cruise. I am making them out of a beautiful deep purple .... 

{Beth wanders off, humming Smoke on the Water...}

Oh, and I have knit the first 3 diamonds for my diamond patch mittens, which is what I really would like to work on now. Actually I have knit 4 diamonds, but they are so little and I am so clumsy that I seem to have lost one, so I need to knit one more before I start to join them together. I save my wanna-knit stuff for my "dessert" knitting. Actually I knit my "dessert" knitting for an hour or so in the morning, and I do my "meat and potatoes" knitting at night. Funny, how it all revolves around food. 

I haven't worked on my Easy Pie Wedge Shawl in like, a week, but I do love it and look forward to working on it again when I have time. And I am waiting for Clue 4 on the Ravelry Mystery Sock knitalong to come out tomorrow (maybe tonight!) (if I have internet)(sigh). I am loving this Mystery Sock, its so pretty. I've been thinking the bead design looks like a martini glass, at least that is what it looked like to me, but then it was borne in upon me, after reading the forum posts, that it is a butterfly, heh heh. Figures, I would see a martini and others see a butterfly... kind of a knitted Rorschach test. I guess you can tell where MY mind is at..... 

We Got Needles

Not much of a blog post today because I am sick.

But I did want to tell you that I got a large-ish shipment of needles and notions today. The needles are the pearl gray finish aluminum needles, Inox/Prym brand; I got double pointed needles in 6" and 8" lengths; filled in both 14" and 10" single point needles, and got circular needles in several lengths. Also I filled in the notions wall with Clover and Susan Bates products, including stitch holders, markers, yarn needles, felting needles and felting wool in a variety of colors, coil-style dpn holders, point protectors, cable needles and the like. Yay :)

Bamboo needles are ordered and should be here in a few days, and I have a small book order of the classics coming as well, to fill in the book shelves a bit. I did try to get Wendy Knits Socks from the Toe Up, and Sock Innovations, but both of them were sold out. I will try again the next time I order. 

I  have 12 colors of Encore worsted weight about to ship, so the empty Encore bins will soon start to look happier. 

Things are starting to roll for summer. Let's hope we can get some momentum going! Come in and buy a sweater, that's the best thing you can do to help me... or persuade your friends and relatives to come buy them, since I KNOW that my blog readers can knit their own sweaters, very well!!

Diamond Patch Mitten progress - #1 is done :)

I finished the first mitten of the Diamond Patch mittens. And yes, that includes sewing the top of the hand and the top of the thumb, and weaving in all the ends! 

It is really pretty:

These mittens are actually pretty fun to knit! I look forward to making the second mitten. I think that now the only thing I don't like so much is using the alpaca yarn... it is kind of splitty or hairy or something. Seems like I am fighting it a lot. I think a wool yarn would be better to work with, but I must say, ya gotta love these Classic Elite colors!

In other news, I worked a bit on my Compass and Anchors hat yesterday and I finished designing the decreases and chart for the top of the hat. I have a couple inches done on it and will work on it tonight; I could be 30% done by Wednesday. By next Wednesday the hat should be done and I can start the socks I designed for the knitting cruise, I think I called them Wandering Path socks, or something like that. That should take a couple weeks max. In that time I should also be able to finish the 2nd Diamond Patch mitten, which seems not so hard to knit, now that I have made one of them. So by June 1 I should be able to get going on another sweater project, pull an old UFO from the Scary Bins, and start another Spa project. Sounds good :) I'm making progress :) 

Diamond Patch Mitten progress and questions

First of all, I have completed Clue #3 of the Mystery Sock! Woohoooo! It looks so pretty. I finally got to use the beads :) 

Now to the meat of the matter, my diamond patch mittens. I have been working on them. I have completed the hand of the first mitten, and now I am knitting the little triangle sections that complete the bottom. Then I have to make the thumb, which is also knit from small modular triangles. Finally, I will pick up stitches around the bottom of the mitten and knit the ribbing. The last thing will be to sew the mitten together (!!!) and weave in ends. 

I kinda fudged my experiment, and started weaving in ends as I go, and believe me, it is much better that way. Not only do I not have the ends to weave in later, but also it is just easier to see everything with no ends in the way. Makes it much easier to see that I am knitting the new diamonds in the right places, which makes me feel slightly less stupid. 

However, there are a couple voids in the pattern. Not errors, just missing information. Or maybe I am missing something (a distinct possibility). For one thing, the top of each little diamond ends in two stitches that you put on a coilless pin or some other kind of stitch marker that opens. Usually you use those two stitches when you are picking up stitches between diamonds: you pick up so many stitches along an edge, knit two stitches from a lower diamond, and pick up stitches along another edge, and this forms the bottom of a new diamond. But, when I finished the last diamonds at top of the mitten, I had two live stitches held by stitch markers at the tops of 8 diamonds, and no indication what to do with them. It just says "sew the top of the mitten together". Had I known, I would have just bound off those stitches when I finished those particular diamonds. I wove the ends in as I went, so I can't use the tails to bind them off. I guess I will just be creative when sewing the top of the mitten together.

The second issue is that the bottom triangles end with 7 or 8 stitches that I have chosen to leave live, although the pattern doesn't say whether the last stitches should be left on holders or bound off. To do the ribbing, I will pick up 64 stitches around the bottom of the stitches, according to the pattern, but in reality I will probably do fewer, because I don't see how I will have room to pick up a total of 64 stitches around the 32 stitches from the triangles. We shall see. 

I never thought about having to sew the mitten together after finishing it, and that is kind of a bummer. It's a good thing this mitten is stunningly beautiful  :) 

FO! and Pictures of Progress

I finished the Michael’s Guernsey last night. I blocked it today and I think it came out pretty nice:

I have made a little progress on my Easy Pie Wedge Shawl in Spunky Eclectic’s “Shark” colored Forever Lace yarn that I got at the SPA: 

I am working on my hat for the knitting cruise; you can’t see much of the pattern yet because I am only on about row 2 of the chart: 

And here is my sneaky picture of the Mystery Sock! I am only photographing the bottom of the foot, to show my progress and so you can see how pretty the yarn is and how pretty the beads are. All the fancy work is on the top of the foot, but that is a secret for now!

This sock shows Clues 1 & 2 completed. Clue 3 comes out on Saturday, but sometimes Wendy puts it up a little early, so it is possible I could see the clue tonight. I love knitting this sock :) 

And lastly, I finally got some pictures of my poor neglected Diamond Patch Mittens. I actually do like working on them, now that I am working on them again. They are knit modularly, in smallish diamonds, and it only takes me about ten minutes to make each diamond. My problem is knitting the diamonds in the right PLACE.  It’s not hard. I am just spatially disabled or something (I think “stupid” could apply, as well.) I love the color of the yarn, and the pattern is easy as pie to understand and follow. I am not loving working with alpaca at the moment, I don’t like how slippery it feels, but that is just my current mindset. I am thinking about dyeing some plain white wool of my own and making these mittens again sometime. I think that would be fun. 

Here is the back of the hand.

This shows a close up of the diamonds.

I have made it above the thumb opening! It looks like a pretty big thumb hole. Actually the whole mitten seems kinda big, but I did check my gauge. Also, being made of fingering weight yarn, the mittens might not be that warm, so if they are a little big I will have room to put in a liner of some sort.  We shall see. 

Notice the many many many ends hanging down? which I have not woven in as I go? I am ignoring them. Each diamond has two ends and really, a smart person would weave them in as he or she knits. However, as noted above, I am perhaps a bit “stupid”, so  I have my work cut out for me even after I finish knitting the mittens.

Oh, oh, I just thought -- it’s an experiment. I am knitting this mitten and leaving all the ends, and will weave them all in at the same time when I finish the mitten. Then when I knit the second mitten, I will weave them in as I go. That way I will know which way is better for me, for when I knit modular things again. Sounds like a reasonable plan to me :):) 

Almost done.....

I didn't get much knitting done last night. After supper I went upstairs and snuggled in bed with a very handsome black man. He has gorgeous fur and a beautiful fluffy tail and he purrs luxuriously when he snuggles with his mummee. So.... I napped instead of knitting. But I did get a little knitting done.

I have 9 more rows to go on the cuff ribbing, and my sweater body will be all done! Then I have to knit the neck (only one inch) and sew two seams, and weave in ends. So barring any napping instances, I should be able to finish the sweater by tomorrow! I will bring it in to get a picture, if I remember to put new batteries in my camera. 

I have to finish my knitting cruise projects. Then I can work on the diamond patch mittens. I should at least get a picture of them to show you what I am lollygagging about. 

I have this ten minute thing I am trying to do. If there is a job I have to do but don't want to do, and would tend to put it off indefinitely (or until it is an emergency), I tell myself, just do it for ten minutes and then you can stop. A person can stand to do almost anything for ten minutes without too much pain, whether it is exercising or cleaning or knitting diamond patch mittens. Usually after I get started, I am capable of and even actually WANT to do more than ten minutes of whatever it is; it is the getting going that is the problem. Making that first step: getting on the bike, turning on the vaccuum, picking up the needles. I think they call it inertia. I nearly flunked physics, so I have never been good with inertia. But as with inertia, it takes more force to get a moving body to stop than it does to get it to keep going, so once I get started, I actually get things done. I have momentum. I need to spend some quality ten minutes with my diamond patch mittens.

Let me see, now where did I put that "I need a tug" flag... hmmmmmm. 

(by the way, those 2 flags are STILL flying over the harbormaster's house) 

Creativity quotes and some knitting progress

I was looking through an old notebook as I was cleaning out my computer bag, and ran across some quotes I wrote down during a creativity class I took with Sally Melville: 

"Culture is the making of something you didn't  have to make." -- Brian Eno

"If it's asymmetrical, it's art."  -- Sally Melville

"The universe is made up of processes, not things." -- Lee Smolin

"Change the way you look at something, and the thing itself changes." -- a quantum physics concept

"There is no failure." -- Beth Collins

Hee hee 

I am 33 rows from finishing my last sleeve on the guernsey I am knitting, so all I will have to finish is the neck, sew it together, weave in the ends, and block it. Except for blocking, I can potentially finish the sweater tonight, or tomorrow night at the latest. Then I really have to work on my hat and socks for the knitting cruise, because yikes! that is coming up in like, six weeks. But it really shouldn't take me more than a week to do either of those projects, maybe 3 weeks tops for both of them.

I got about 4 or 5 rounds done on the hat, then realized the chart I had made was missing ONE DOT and it made the first row of the pattern wrong. I was gonna go back and duplicate stitch it in, but then I found I wasn't working on it because it was wrong, and made me mad, so I ripped it out back to the ribbing and am going forward again. And I am much happier. 

I have finished clue 2 of the Ravelry Mystery Sock KAL. I wish I could post pictures, but I don't want to be a spoiler. I will show you the sock at the end of the month, and then I will knit the second sock. 

I have worked a bit on  my easy shawl, and I am about 1/3 of the way through the second of six wedges. I love it :) It's so pretty :) :) 

No progress on the mittens. Maybe once I get the guernsey done I will work on them again. If I haven't worked on them at all at this time next week, I am just going to put them back in one of the Scary Bins. 

Vicious Circle

Jane and  Mary walk into a sweater shop/yarn shop. They look around, and Jane says to Mary, "This is a great sweater! This color would look wonderful on you!" 

Mary examines the sweater and tries it on. The simple shape and color do look good on her. "Yes," she admits, "I love this sweater. It's exactly the kind of sweater I like to wear." 

"Are you going to get it?" Jane asks.

"No," Mary replies. "I could knit it."

"Yes," Jane agrees. "You could.... you are such a great knitter." 

They mosey on further into the store, toward the back where they know the knitting supplies beckon them. After browsing a bit, Jane notices Mary holding a pattern and looking at various yarn colors. Mary is displaying all the signs of sweater-project-purchasing; Jane looks over her shoulder at the pattern.

"Oooooh, that is so pretty! I love all those colors, and that is a really interesting texture in the pattern stitch. That would be so fun to knit!" Jane exclaims. "Are you gonna get a new project?"

"Nah," Mary sighs. "I always do this, I knit beautiful, complicated, multicolored sweaters, but then I find that I never wear them; I guess I really only like to wear plain sweaters. But knitting plain stuff is boring." 

The two women wander back out into the sweater part of the shop. 

"Look at this!" Jane exclaims. "What a great, simple cardigan. It looks so elegant."

"Yeah," Mary says. "I could knit that, though." 

As they leave the store and walk, blinking, into the sunshine, the yarn shop lady giggles. 

Knitting Progress Report

I have nearly finished the first sleeve on the guernsey. I am making good progress on this sweater; I noticed that in a post back on April 13, I said, "I can't seem to get my 16" of knitting done on the back of my guernsey, how will I ever knit the whole sweater!!!!!" 

Well, it has only been 3 weeks and now I am nearly done the sleeve and have only one sleeve and the neck to do and I will be done :) 

I started a mindless knitting project with the lace yarn I got from Spunky Eclectic at the SPA in February. I figured I would take a break from socks as mindless knitting projects. I am doing an easy pie-wedge shawl, from a Lorna's Laces pattern. It is all garter stitch, in short rows, with a very simple lace edging. It is made in 6 pie-shaped sections, and I am working on section 2 at the moment. It is fun and easy to knit! I started out using my fabulous Signature Needle Arts needles and a lovely glass bead stitch marker, but after the needle fell out of the stitches a couple times, I switched to a grippier set of wooden needles and a lighter plastic stitch marker, and am even happier now than I was. 

I have about 2 inches done on my knitting cruise project! I should work on that more today. 

I have knit Clue #1 of the Ravelry Mystery Sock Knit Along, and love it to pieces. I really love this Ball and Skein sock yarn that I got at the SPA! I switched from knitting it as it was written, using 2 circular needles, to knitting it on double pointed needles, because I like them better. I am eagerly waiting for Clue #2! I think it comes out tomorrow. I know I said I would only work on FOUR projects at a time, but I am not really counting this as a real project because the first sock only requires a bit of knitting each week. At the end of the month, when I am ready to knit the second sock, I will use the second sock as a SPA project.

 Remember, my four projects right now are supposed to be 1. work on something from the Spa purchases; 2. work on a UFO from the scary bins: 3. work on a sweater project of some sort; and 4. have a mindless easy to knit project that I can take with me always (usually socks). I have made a sidebar on the left of my blog to keep myself and my readers apprised of where I am at all times in my four projects... just scroll way down. And you can always look at my progress bars on my WIP's on my Ravelry page, too.

I have not touched the Diamond Patch Mittens. Sigh. I have pretty much decided that I have to finish the sweater before I will work on the diamond patch mittens. And they are going to be so pretty! I am actually starting to look forward to working on them. My camera is out of batteries right now, maybe I can get some pictures of stuff tomorrow. 

Happy knitting! If I can make progress, I know you can too !

The Perfect Knitting Bag

I have found the perfect knitting bag. And now we sell it at Unique One!!

It is from the Nantucket Bagg Company (you can go check them out on their web site). I really love these bags!

The bags are available in a smaller polyester model, which is the perfect size for knitters, and also a larger canvas size, which is good for power knitters, knitters going on long boat trips, and the larger bag is also good for carpentry tools and stuff. 

I got 5 of the smaller polyester bags in natural, hot pink, and black, and we currently have one of the larger canvas bag, which is only available in natural canvas. The polyester bags are $41.50 and the larger bag is $71.50. 

You can zip the bag together so that your tools and pockets are all on the inside:

You can zip the bag together so the tools and pockets are all on the outside:

You can unzip the bag entirely so you can lay the whole thing out flat:

And here is a picture of the larger canvas bag:

These are awesome bags!!! And I noticed on their website that they have an offer right now, that if you send them a picture of you using your bag, you can potentially win a free bag too! They make great gifts :) 

If you see one on the website that I don't have in stock, I can order them. I am thrilled with this new find!

Bully Woolies kits!!

I love Bully Woolies kits! Stacy makes such great products, with excellent packaging and clever, colorful designs. Here is what I recently received:

You can click to make big..... also I photoshopped the prices onto the kits so you can see how much they are, if you want to order one. 

These kits are fabulous! The catnip mice kits have Maine wool and Maine-grown catnip, and jingle bells, and are sure to make any cat leap for joy. The squeak toy balls for dogs are cute and they come with squeakers and dog treats!

Also I have a NEW wallet kit from Bully Woolies that is awesome. It is about twice the size of the coin kits, and it would make not only a good wallet, but also a nifty knitting notions bag. 

The coin purses are cool, and there are some cool new colors, too! Come by and check them out :) 

Guernsey Progress and Boat Projects

I finished the back of my Michael's Guernsey and am part way up the front: 

I feel like I am making good progress on this sweater. I probably won't be able to wear it until later this fall, which is good, because I made it a smaller size than I was when I started. I hope I will be small enough to wear it this winter! It is good incentive. I think the body and sleeves will be too long though, but it is easy enough to go back and fix that later, when I really want to wear it. I love the design of this sweater, and the yoke pattern is really fun to knit. 

There are 22 rows of ribbing and 86 rows from the ribbing to the underarm, and a set number of pattern rows for the yoke. Knowing the exact number of rows from the back makes it much more fun for me to work on the front; it is like knitting the second sock. There is really no more measuring to be done; I just have to mark my progress every 10 rows with pins. I love it :) 

So right now I actually only have 2 projects I am working on, this sweater and my Diamond Patch Mittens. You know I plan to always have 4 projects at a time on the needles. What's up, you may ask?

It is now May 1st. I have a knitting cruise June 17 through 20 to prepare for!!!! Time is running out!!!! I always like to have one or two new patterns to give my knitting cruise participants each year, so I better get on the stick. At least this year I have the two designs already mostly designed. I just need to knit the samples and write the patterns and (yes, Peggy, I hear you) get PICTURES to put on the patterns. :) 

Luckily the two projects this year are going to be small items, a hat knit in 2 colors, and a pair of socks with a cable design. I think they will be lovely. You should come on the knitting cruise so you can get them for free! The patterns I design for the knitting cruises will be available for sale in the shop as well, after the cruises are complete. But if you want to get them first, and for free, come on board the Isaac Evans!

Yikes, I gotta get these done by June 17, I better get to work........ 

P.S. I also signed up for the Mystery Sock KAL on Ravelry!

 Yes I am out of control. It starts today! I better get those Diamond Patch Mittens done....