Doncha Hate It When...(Lossa Pics and Kinda Long)

You pick up a project you haven't worked on in months (okay, a year or more) and realize how damn close you were to finishing? I've been rearranging my apartment, because my brother has come to stay for an indefinitely extended visit. As I have a one bedroom apartment, he gets the luxury of sleeping in the living room where my computer and knitting stuff was. To give us both some privacy, I rearranged my bedroom (and finally got a decent desk and dresser in the process!) and moved my computer into it.




(Yes, I love blue. How on earth does my desk get so cluttered so quickly? Never mind, don't answer that!)

Anyway, since the computer is in the bedroom now, the stash had to move, too. I realize this is not nearly as big a deal for me as it is for some people, but I do have to say that I feel a bit sorry for it, getting all squashed in the corner now.



In the process of moving the stash, I came across my cross-stitch basket and found this.



(Not difficult, as my knitting needles were resting on top of all that comfy canvas and floss and patterns.) I had started this project about two years ago as a wedding gift for a friend (they were decorating their bathroom in this theme). I was not able to get it finished in time for the wedding, ended up buying them a gift, and got hooked on knitting shortly after. I picked it up - and realized I have maybe three colors left to do in the entire thing! I worked on it again last night, and have about thirty stitches left in the main body, then the Chinese characters that go along the sides and the backstitching. That's it! Gah! I was so close two years ago! I'm going to finish it and give it to my AF friend, who is studying Chinese, appreciates Asian culture, and has a soft spot for cross-stitch. I'll of course tell him the whole story, so he doesn't get all worried - he knows how much time and patience go into needlework!

Oh, and in other fiber news, my dad thinks spinning is pretty cool and was asking me all sorts of questions about it. I didn't show him my first attempt (only have a pic of the swatch I knit with it)



I did show him my much better but still fairly sucky effort that is currently in progress (pics of that are turning out very blurry for some reason). My dad is the type who very much appreciates technology and new toys (hell, he was a CSI and now is in charge of training all the CSIs in Illinois, he knows his toys), but still cans his own veggies, makes his own jams and jellies (I was eight before I realized that other people actually BOUGHT jelly in the store - I still refuse to and either make my own now or get some of Dad's =) ), and has a very strong tie to our family's farming history. Yes, that's where I get it from - I love my daddy! He's also a softy and was able to sweet talk my mom into getting these guys



when they got home from visiting me. Apparently their names are Gomer and Merlin. Why? I haven't got the faintest idea. I guess my brother suggested the names and they liked them. No reported problems so far with the Lab and two other cats that also currently reside with them, so that's good.

Speaking of kitties and fiber, Teddie really likes the cross-stitching thing, because Mom swears much more when he bats at the floss and pulls it out of the needle than when he bats at the knitting yarn. You can practically hear him snickering as he runs under the bed for safety. (ETA: Teddie apparently prefers men over women. He was pretty shy when my family was here, but would be coaxed out for my dad and brother. He would not have a thing to do with my mom for some reason, though. If she was around, he'd hiss, run and hide. *shrugs*) However, some knitting progress has been getting done. I'm almost done with the first chunk of yarn for the sock stash log cabin. I have one repeat of stripes for the CDT done. I had the toes complete on the stockinette socks I was working on and then frogged them. I love the yarn still, but think I need to go down a needle size for it, and my US 1s are currently in use for the April Fool's Socks



My beloved US 2s are now housing this:



The yarn suddenly started screaming the other night that it wanted to be Jaywalker socks. I'm game for trying the pattern again. This time I'll even try to do it correctly! I'm going to try a toe-up heel flap and gusset on these, and I'm going to do them one at a time.

Anyway, it's a lovely Monday, and my big plans are possibly going to play disc golf, hunting on Astaria, and carving the jack o' lanterns from the pumpkins Kelly insisted we get. I'm sure there will be fiber time, too!