05:50 is darn early

The Broncos let me down. Big time. It was not a good football weekend.

I managed to stay wake until the 3rd quarter before deciding that my need for sleep was stronger than my need to watch the rest of the (bad) game. I am really glad that I did not loose more sleep over that game.

KnitPicks interchangeable needle sets have given some people fits. I have had a few problems but not many. Last night made up for it, though it didn't have the disastrous consequences that it could have. The cables on two of my projects separated from the connector with stitches on the needles. Two. In the same night! Luckily for me, no lace was on those needles. Both the He Gansey and Rob's earflap hat were affected. I didn't lose any stitches, though, since I noticed it right away. Today there will be superglue application. I would say that I will start buying other needles and get rid of these, but I have quite a few - several Options, two new acrylic tips and a full set of the harmony needles. In order to not loose the use of all of those tips, I will use superglue and periodically replace the cables, I think. BTW, I like the acrylic tips.

So, the decreases on the top of Rob's hat were begun, and the He Gansey has reached the length specified in the pattern for beginning the arm gusset. We need an assessment to evaluate whether additional length is needed before we move on. I am exited because this is the beginning of the interesting part of the sweater.

Addendum - the length is good. On to the gusset.

One more inch of ribbing on the travel socks will finish this pair off. I have to choose another sock to work on since my LYS has not yet gotten the additional Chocolate Cherry Claudia's sock yarn in. I can't finish that pair until I have the extra skein of yarn. I still haven't decided whether the next sock will be stockinette (possibly in Ravens colors) or a Cookie A design.

It's time to go use the superglue.

Typical Monday

Things just didn't go smoothly. Luckily, they worked out better for me not going smoothly than they would have if they had occourred as scheduled. How's that for odd?

I did more knitting last night during the Sunday night game. Eldest son's hat is a little further along and so is the He Gansey. I then picked up the purple alpaca scarf and worked a row in it. I had thought that I would start the edging but found that I was too tired and turned out the lights.

5:45 came very early this morning. I plan to try to work 10 hour days and take off on Friday. I hope that thoughts of Friday morning can pry me out of bed until then. It will be really tough tomorrow morning, since the Broncos are on Monday night football, playing the Steelers. There are a lot of Steeler fans where I work. I hope to be able to razz them about loosing the game on Tuesday. ; ))

On second thought .....

Maybe I can sleep in a little bit tomorrow morning and work from home for a couple of hours on Friday. That would be a lot easier to do. If I can keep my eyes open tonight, that is, until the end of the game. I can't stop yawning now and it's only 4 PM!

boating

After vacillating about what to do today, deciding to stay home and having a nice breakfast, I decided that it was too nice out to miss going on the boat. We packed in a hurry and off we went.

It was gorgeous on the Chesapeake, and flat as can be. It is very rare to be on the water and have it be so calm that it reflects the sky, but that's what it was like today. I am so glad that we went. I was even more glad that we decided to go while listening to the Raven's game on the radio. If I had stayed home today to watch that fiasco I would have been very upset. We came in just abut sunset - the sky was beautiful. Bob caught a few small fish and threw them back unharmed. I got lots of knitting done and we both enjoyed the sunshine. I think I got my dose of Vitamin D for a couple of days. It was a good day. I won't think about tomorrow and work yet.

No boating today

The winds conspired against us. Winds that, 2 days ago were forecast to be 5-10 knots were, this morning, forecast to be 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots. I opted out, DH decided to give it a try. Once he arrived at the marina, though, he changed his mind. Other boaters who had been out (at this time of year there are not many, and they are the true diehards) were coming back in. The wind had truly picked up. DH decided he would stay in.

My knitting projects today included trying on the part of eldest son's earflap hat that I had knitted only to discover that, as I suspected, it was too loose. I frogged it and have re-knit it on 24 fewer stitches. I tried it on my head and it fits - I think it will do for eldest son, also. It looks good.


I worked on DH's He Gansey after I wove in the ends of the Elemental Boatneck. The finished garment will now go into the washer on the delicate cycle for blocking purposes. I will knit lots of He Gansey stockinette stitch. ; )


I sat in the sun on the deck for a while this afternoon and it was wonderful. As soon as the shade started to take over, though, I was cold and had to go inside. That makes me wonder about boating tomorrow. I had thought that I might give up watching the Ravens tomorrow so as to spend time with my honey doing something he loves. If I got cold in my yard at 2:30, what will happen on the water? Hmmm ... Warmth, sitting comfortably in my living room, watching TV and cheering the Ravens on vs. sitting outside, probably in the sun, spending time with DH, freezing my fingers off. I have a decision to make.

Another new project started

I cast on for eldest son's earflap hat. I am winging this design because I couldn't find a pattern that was just right. The yarn is Cascade 220.

Thisis the beginning of the hat. Since I am winging it, I decided to knit the cap first and pick up stitches to add the earflaps.

I took a pattern from the book I won at Knitters Day Out and then changed it up a little so that the lines of the design were thicker. We wanted the red yarn to be more significant.

It looks pretty good, I think. Now I have to hope that it fits. I had to add some stitches for the pattern repeat over what Ann Budds book of patterns said to cast on. I hope the fact that it's stranded color work will help. If not, it will be frogged and one less repeat included. I am no stranger to frogging, that's for sure.

The He Gansey is a little longer and will be worked on tomorrow on the boat.

Yes, it is just about winter and it's rather chilly outside now. It's supposed to get to 30 degrees tonight, but the forecast high for tomorrow is about 60. Hope springs eternal. We plan to go fishing tomorrow. That is, Bob will fish and I will knit and try to stay warm. It should be fine in the sunshine. It's later in the day, as the sun starts to go down that I will be cold.

If I am not frostbitten by the time we come in, I will fill you in on the days events. ; )

just garter stitch

Despite a long day (that began with a 2 hour drive to work instead of the usual hour) and later than ususal hours, I completed the garter stitch band at the bottom of the He Gansey and joined front and back last night. Now I start the long stockinette stretch.

It's Thursday. Two good things about Thursdays - it's knitting night at the LYS and it's almost Friday.

Both of my sons are interested in earflap hats. They have different tastes, so the hats will be different. One thing I will add, I think, to eldest son's hat is to thrum the earflaps. I think that will make a huge difference in warmth, and will look cool. I will samples and show him before I actually knit it, so as to not waste my time if he thinks it is a stupid idea. It is his hat, after all.

I am looking forward to this time when I will be knitting on several larger projects and not much in the way of smaller ones. I think I will feel much more accomplishment if I end up with wearable sweaters rather than decorative scarves. I have already changed my buying habits so that I purchase sweater quantity yarn rather than a skein here and there of a yarn I like. I have the yarn at home for at least 3 sweaters. I will still knit socks, though. They are always useful.

Knitting with fiber friends tonight. yipee!

Finished!

The elemental Boatneck knit with Hempathy is completely knitted. It does have 2 ends that need to be woven in, but only 2, and it needs to be blocked. But it is complete and it fits! Yippee!!

End weaving and blocking will probably happen over the weekend.

Bob's new sweater, the He Gansey from No Sheep for You has been cast on. I am using Cascade 220 in a pretty soft blue color. Bob looks so good in blue but this is a different shade than he usually wears, so it will be different enough for him.

I had to scrape ice from my windshield this morning. gasp! I wonder what the winter weather will be this year.