Well, I am all finished with the back half of the gray vest.

It wants for blocking, but it’s finished.

Just in time to go to Atlanta for Thankgiving Day. I am taking the purple Magic Stripes socks (Yes, they are still unfinished. It’s not like I’ve been anywhere to work on them!) and my soldier’s hat. Since I am only at the gussett on the second sock and just past the band on the soldier’s hat, that should be plenty for in the car and visiting knitting. Afterall, we are only going to be gone two nights. I mean, how much could I get done in two nights? Maybe I will throw another ball of sock yarn into the glove box…you know, just in case.

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll.

I hit 15 inches on the gray vest yesterday. Exciting things happen when you get to 15 inches.

That’s right: armholes! An interruption in the trance-like state of stockinette. Well not really, but twice each row you get to look like you are doing something fancy with your needles. If you are super-extra-special bored, you can get out your stitch counter and count up to six even though you can clearly see the decreases with your naked eye and count them sans counter with no difficulty whatsoever. You’ll notice that she (and by she, I mean Julie Gaddy, the designer) has me making decreases “wrong.” It is the same way around the v-neck of the sweater so that some interest is added to this plain plain plain vest.

Look what the guy in the rural mail truck brought:

Neat, huh? There is: Jawoll from Lang in oatmealish, dark brown and charcoal for socks; one ball of 1824 Cotton in maize to go with some leftovers in chicory and fennel for a stripey bag; and 2 balls of 1824 Wool in raven to make a hat for my adopted soldier. Thank you, Yarn Forward! When you told me this morning it might take as long as 21 days to ship from Canada, I was very sad, but then here my box came in the mail! AND the mail was an entire hour early. See? Yarn Miracles happen every day.

The gray vest is at 11 inches and counting.

It is a very rainy day. There are also supposed to be high winds and maybe some thunderstorms tonight. Which makes this a perfect day for knitting!

Gray day. Gray vest.

I am about five inches along and I am questioning the wisdom (and style) of a two and a half inch bottom band. I keep reminding myself that it IS a boy sweater and it WILL be 26 inches long when it is finished. The band will probably not look quite as …um… obvious upon completion. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Pretty soon it will be time for a hot chocolate break. Yes, I am aware that it is 75° outside. But it’s raining! Sometimes in south Alabama you have to pretend it’s fall. Otherwise, you may not get hot chocolate at all. And that, my friend, would be a tragedy.

P.S. I downloaded Bucket-O-Chic last night – everybody else is doing it!

Look what I’ve been doing today:

Busy girl!

That’s right, the purple sweater is seamed! The only thing left to do is press the seams and then it is ready to wear. And it fits like a glove. Like a glove, I say! Michael is out of town, so you will have to wait for action shots, but for those of you who Just Can’t Wait: here’s a little peek.

I also swatched for Michael’s Perfectly plain vest. It is his turn to get something new to wear. And I am ready to knit with some nice, bouncy, resilient wool for a change.

As promised, here are Great Gran’s feet all dressed up and ready for her sunday school party!

Fancy feet!

What you can’t see in this picture is the basket loaded with muffins. Yesterday was Muffin Thursday here at the farm.

Angus helped me take pictures for the gallery the other day. Mostly he helps by sitting on the sweaters I am trying to photograph. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Angus seated on a green sweater. You can’t see the sweater because his fur is in the way.

Also, to my delight:

The purple sweater blocking. Joy.

And of course, since it’s cotton, it will take DAYS to dry completely. Especially since it’s cold – for us here in the South anyway. There was frost when Angus and I went out this morning and I could see my breath. First time this winter/fall (what seasonal designation does November get?). It is hard to believe the high was almost 80° on Wednesday. I think that may be why my nose has become a Faucet – I have sneezed and blown my way through an entire box of kleenex since yesterday. See me shaking my fist (clutching a tissue) at that tempramental Mother Nature? It is going to be hot again tomorrow.

I can’t even believe it! I finished the second sleeve on the Purple Sweater last night. I can’t believe how long that took. I seamed the right shoulder before I went to bed so that I can put the neck band on and then block block block. And as soon as it is blocking – swatch for something new! Three cheers for new.

Here is an interesting thing I came across this morning:

The Knitbloggers Knitting Basket Project – what luck! Last year when my parents’ church was doing the Heifer Project, I dearly wanted to send a knitting basket. But at $500 and with precious little income, I had to settle for a chicken. I am glad I get another chance to purchase fiber-bearing critters. Wendy says that $1459 has been collected so far. Which is just fantastic – I love it when people decide “Oh, let’s try to do this one good thing” and end up with the thing three and four times over. Sometimes people rock.

Ahh. Early morning knitting.

The dog and I were up at 6 this morning. So I got started on my other sleeve. I made it to the cuff before breakfast and almost to the sleeve cap before lunch. Short sleeves are the BEST.

Yesterday I happened to see the Books-A-Million truck go by, causing my heart to race with the thought of new knitting magazines. We ran by this afternoon and sure enough, the winter Interweave was just being unpacked. At first glance, there are several things I would love to make – not the least of these is the Granny Square Pullover. Since I have yet to get the hang of crochet, Great Gran has agreed to help me with the borders.

As an aside: Did you know that books and magazines come to the stores in plastic flip-top totes? It made me miss WebVan more than ever.

With an enormous sigh of relief, I have finished the front piece of the sweater that never ends! Now a single, solitary, short sleeve stands between me and swatching for a new project. I like the purple sweater, don’t get me wrong, but I have been working it on it since ALL MY LIFE and I am ready for a change.

We are in Mary Esther until Saturday. M, the dog and I had a lovely boat ride this afternoon and an even lovelier sunset this evening. Pink everywhere. Agatha Christie on tape, a finished purple front and pizza for dinner. Does it get any better?

Great Gran finished her Cherry Tree Hill socks in the car on the way down and I did the toes. Great Gran does NOT graft. She is perfectly capable of finishing her own socks, she just hates it. I figure if she could seam all of Gran-mother’s sweaters for her (my great grandmother did NOT seam), I can graft a few toes for Great Gran. That is how Knitting Karma works.

Well, lookee here. Interweave Press has started it’s own knitting blog. And it is posted to by none other than Amy Singer, the editor of Knitty. So you know it’s bound to be interesting.