So, I was all “I have all morning Wednesday to just knit! I bet I can finish the back of the MustHave!” Then we went to supper at Great Gran’s Tuesday night and I left my knitting there. Like a Big Dope. This would not have been a problem if the weather had just been nice and Great Gran had come to town Wednesday morning and brought me my sweater. But no. It cold, rainy and windy. I didn’t get it back until Wednesday at supper.

Why didn’t I work on it Thursday, you ask? SNOW DAY! Well, not so much here, but there was snow in Georgia (a whole inch in some places). We figured if my mom and sister and Michael’s mom and sister didn’t have to go to school/work, neither did we. We played MarioKart all day and ate pizza for dinner. I love snow days. As a consequence, the back of the MustHave didn’t get finished until late last night.

My great Gran-mother made the place mats!

I made it an inch longer through the body than the largest size (mine is 14″, 21.75″ total). This way, it won’t end up quite so cropped.

My Dad is down here this weekend and he and M have gone off to meet dad’s brother and some cousins for what they call a “Tupperware Party.” Now, I could be wrong, but I am next-door to positive that they aren’t watching someone demonstrate food storage items. I know that there will be hunting/fishing (big pastimes down here) and food. They might seal the leftovers in a Modular Mate afterwards. The dog and I are going over to Great Gran’s for the afternoon to cast on for the MustHave front and pick my next project. You gotta order the yarn early – you never know what shipping is going to be like! When I order, I am going to get the wool for my laptop case (thanks for the color suggestions – I am still having trouble making up my mind). With any luck, the yarn fairy will be paying me a visit very soon!

It is a gorgeous day! Sunny and 60°. What finer weater is there for planning spring projects?

Rain, rain go away.

I was going to show you a nice picture of our swamp of a yard, but it seems that I have let the camera battery go dead. Ah, well.

Sunday was bee-u-ti-ful: sunny and breezy and warmish. But today, monsoon season started when I walked out the door to go to work. Winter’s not over yet. I may have a chance to wear the MustHave after all! I don’t think I am losing steam in it’s production, I am just distacted by all of the spring and summer posibilities (and all of the new yarns I will have to order to make the spring and summer possibilities). I think the first thing on my list is the Vintage Knits short-sleeved, striped sweater. I have been drooling over the picture waaay too long! Then maybe that little cardigan set in the new Interweave (take a look at the free pattern for the Blue Sky Organic Cotton Tank while you’re over there). And then…well, I really shouldn’t get to far ahead of myself. But I think another cotton sweater vest for M is also in the queue. He’s so cute in vests.

The pattern for Mercury came today. It looks like it will be a lot of fun to make. This counts as a small project so I am allowed to make it while I am working on the MustHave. Now I just have to pick the colors: I am thinking something bright (read: fun) but serviceable (read: won’t show dirt). So grey and pink, or brown and green, or olive and orange. I just don’t know! Suggestions are very welcome.

I am now off to work on the MustHave! I have been having a little trouble knitting at home lately. But Betty is having her afternoon nap in the middle of the bed, so if I go very very quitely into the den and very very quietly get out my knitting. . .maybe she won’t notice what is going on. . .

After knitting a good part of Tuesday and for a few hours on Wednesday, I am no longer embarrassed to show you my musthave progress.

I am all about Dramatic Lighting lately…

I haven’t gotten to work on it much today because of errands, unpacking, painting a cabinet, ironing everything we own (seriously, M was running out of shirts), and picking up a ton of books from the library.* But the house is coming along.

For those of you who are reading along in your copy of Interweave Knits, here are the pages that intrigue me:
12 (the sleeves are cool), 22 (Great Gran also likes this one – short sleeves!), 26 (I want this one first, but I suspect that I have too many cardigans and I need some pullovers to round out the ol’ wardrobe. And then I think: but this one would be cotton!), 30 (sunshines!), 42 (I would want the cuffs shorter), 47 (I am partial to the cardigan…), 81 (because that’s just funny), 82 (pretty!) and 92 (but it would have to wait until fall). Upon review, I think I should have just told you I like the whole magazine. Please send yarn money. And while you’re sending things, more of these Sour Patch Kids would also be good. These little guys are yummy! Too bad they make powder all over the keyboard…

*I am educating myself on girly things like skin care and makeup so that I can be very good at my job. Plus, I like to learn things. Sadly, most of the books in our library system are circa 1983 and don’t offer much in the way of makeup application. Unless one’s goal is to look like this trendy soul.

The back of the MustHave is going slowly. So slowly, in fact, that I am embarrassed to show you a picture of my progress. But Betty is learning to knit and I have taken a picture of her first project.

Angus is unimpressed by Betty’s mad skills. Three guesses where she got the yarn.

One of the reasons progress has slowed dramatically is that we have been moving into the house (there is still no ‘fridge, but my Uncle needed the attic for office space so we accelerated the progress). Which is good and bad. It is good because I love the house. I mean I really love it. And I love my furniture. And I love being here. But I also loved being at the Farm. Because it’s beautiful and quiet and Great Gran is there and I saw her all the time and it was Just Good. And I know she is just 10 minutes away but it’s not the same. So I am all happy to be here in town and weepy at the same time. I am also concerned about the noises in the wall. I think there might be something alive in there. And frankly, people, that’s really creeping me out.

I should be able to make better headway on the MustHave tomorrow, since I am going out to the Farm to spend the day. Great Gran has company coming tomorrow night so my plan is to help get ready (except she has already done everything so I will graft her sock toe and work on my sweater) and be Entertaining.

OH! I forgot to mention, my spring Interweave is here! And I have left it at the Farm. Drat it! So I can’t tell you which pages I found intriguing. You’ll just have to live in suspense.

So it’s raining. Again (or maybe still, it’s hard to say). We’re back in Alabama and I have been knitting today. What else are you going to do in the rain? Not that you hear me complaining…

When cousins…are two of a kind!

You’re not seeing double, I really have finished both sleeves! The whole time I was knitting this afternoon I was thinking: “You know I really should be working on my Valentines. I should have mailed those yesterday. Emily, have some self-control and go and make your Mom a Valentine.” Then I remembered that my mom wasn’t going to be home this weekend so I could keep working on my sleeve. If the cards don’t get there until Tuesday, at least my arms will be warm. Darling Sister, if you’re keeping up, the mailman misplaced your Valentine. I made your’s First Thing and mailed it Last Friday in Plenty of Time no Procrastinating – I swear!

While we were in Atlanta (Oh oh! I saw a Snow Flurry while we were there!), we had a break in our meeting* and several of us wandered around Decatur looking in shops. One of them was billed as a “knitting boutique.” This excited me because I had lost my cable needle the night before (which meant I was using a borrowed one at the meeting) and I wanted to procure a new one. HAH. Whoever named this store was a Great Big Liar. If a store only carries chunky, wooden, straight needles in three sizes, I hesitate to call it a knitting anything. But if the definition of “knitting boutique” is a store with a dozen kinds of high-priced novelty yarns, and loads of very trendy (but not knitted) clothes, then this was it. I mean, fuzzy yarn of Unidentified Content and Origin that you only have one ball of for $25 a pop? Give me a break. I did fondle some exorbitant angora, so that was OK.

Since we’ve gotten home, I have mailed the cable needle that I borrowed at the meeting back to it’s owner (sorry, Allie!), I have lost the other cable needle that I was using that is really too small, and I am now using this little loopy metal thing that I found in my bag. I’m not sure where it came from but it seems to work OK. To get a new needle I will either have to treck an hour to Fairhope on a weekday to visit the little half knitting/half needlepoint store to get a new one or order one on the internet with insane shipping. Bah. I hope I don’t lose the little loopy thing.

*Wait a second. I forgot to tell you why we were in Atlanta. M had some business stuff on Wednesday and Thursday and then we both had a planning meeting for a camp retreat type thing we are the Youth Directors for. So I spent Thursday and Friday with my mom (and my sister) making stuff for the retreat type thing that my mom is the lay director for and then all day Saturday was spent in Decatur planning for the summer. I knit during the whole thing. And so did a lot of the other folks. So it wasn’t bad for a meeting.

Did I mention that we were going to Atlanta? Well, we’ve been here since Wednesday. We’re staying at my folk’s until Sunday and Mom let me rent a bunch of movies. It was during Monsters Inc. that I managed to finish my first sleeve.

Ta-DAH!

And I am past the second “cross-over” on the next one. I suspect that I managed to do at least one set of increases on the wrong row of sleeve #1, so I am comparing the edges as I go along. I figure that as long as they match, I am All Good.