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.

I am one sock into my MagicStripes socks. I started on the purple since I am not sure if there is going to be enough to make Michael-size socks.

mmmm stripey

I got to the armholes (again) on the front piece of the diamond sweater! I can’t even believe it – I might actually finish the thing. Which is good because I’ve got a whole chest full of yarn just waiting to become something.

Great Gran finished one of her Cherry Tree Hill socks and has made it to the heel on the second one – these socks are divine. I think they might be the socks that angels wear. She is hurrying to finish her second one so that she can wear them with her new shoes (Birkenstocks – my Great Gran is So Cool) to her Sunday School Party. I will get you a picture of her sporting them when she is finished.

I’ve been doing a little bit of work on my site. I have added a couple things to my links page. And I finally got a pattern up – the one I wrote for Great Gran that has fueled the Sock Frenzy. I feel that I can honestly say that it has been Tested for Accuracy.

I finished up the grey cabled socks for M and started some Magic Stripes (by Lion Brand) socks for me in purple. We visited Mom up in Atlanta last week and got to go to Hobby Lobby (a store I adore). We actually went to the one in Morrow, GA, which has a fabulous selection of yarn for a craft store – I bought two balls of Magic Stripes (one purple and one brown) and a couple sets of dpns in sizes I didn’t have.

I am STILL working on the purple sweater. I’m almost back to the armholes but I think I have missed the window to wear it before the weather gets cold. It is supposed to be somewhere in the 40s tonight. And while I know that the weather is subject to drastic change (it has been in the 80s on Christmas in recent memory), I might feel silly in short sleeves in November. Well, it will be a fun new thing for spring.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, the digital camera is charged but I don’t have time to use it. The house is “finished” enough so that we can move our stuff from the storage room to the living room to save a bit of cash. We’ll be pretty busy with that for the rest of the week since we need to be out by the 1st. It looks just wonderful (the house, I mean – if you ignore the piles of boxes) and getting all of my things back out has been delightful. I know it is bad to get so attached to objects, but I just love my furniture and have missed it terribly.

On another note, Angus the Dog has started his arthritis shots. They are fantastic – he jumped up in the truck by himself yesterday for the first time in ages and ages. Hooray! He has also started burying his cheweez in various places: under the rug, under the couch, right now there are two in his bed. He is also carrying them outside with him on walks. I don’t know why he is doing this. I wonder if it is a side effect from the shots. Or the onset of senility. Either way, he is a Darling Dog and he will stay a Darling Dog even if he Loses His Marbles.

Wah! Allergies! I have been miserable with the violent sneezing and such. I’ve got a new pill to try and so far so good – I don’t want to scratch the itches on inside of my head anymore. I think that may be a good sign that it is working.

M has put a hole in the toe of his Wildfoote socks already! I guess that just shows me how much he likes them but honestly. No sweat to darn it, though, it isn’t like he walked through the heel.

Still working on the purple sweater. I think I may never get finished. I made it all the way to the armholes on the front piece last Saturday and then noticed that I had managed to skip two entire rows of pattern back at the very beginning. I have No Idea how I managed that. Total oblivian, I suppose. So I have ripped back (Well actually, Michael ripped back, I wasn’t sure I could do it without a temper tantrum.) and now am at 5 1/2 inches. I could scream.

Oh by the way, we are back in Bay Minette at least for a little while. Since we left Mary Esther at the appointed time, Great Gran and I got to stop in Pensacola at King’s Sewing and Knitting Center (they will eventually have a website at kingsewing.com but for now there is just a place holder). Which was Quite Cool. They had a bunch of yarn that I had never seen in person and these really nifty black bags with handles for your purchases. Our new Regia Stretch Color (Elastic in wool! Who Knew?) rode home in one. Great Gran also splurged on some Supersock from Cherry Tree Hill (in Fairhope at the B. Sumrall Gallery). Luscious! And I am so jealous. When we are rich again, I am going to buy a bunch of skeins and just pet it.