Speaking of...(kinda long)

There is nothing more irritating than a cold. Seriously. You're not sick enough to get the benefits of being sick - staying home, being babied at bit, etc. - but you're not healthy enough to get the benefits of feeling good, either. Bah! (Of course, I've still done kickboxing, taekwondo, and Haganah so far this week. And I have the bruise from cracking knees with Sir, my fault, to prove it! Really gotta angle those knee strikes - they don't do a lot of good if they hurt you in the process!)

The good thing is that I've had both Monday and Tuesday mostly off and have been sleeping quite a bit. I did have to go into the office earlier this afternoon to get some paperwork stuff done, and realized I'd totally forgotten to do something over the weekend that screwed the costume shop up big time. So they are not happy with me. My fault. Can't change the past, will make sure the future is better.


Speaking of the past, here's the good stuff:

These are the sweaters that Mom showed me over Thanksgiving. I have no idea how old they are at this point, but all they need is a good washing and they'd be wearable. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they are made of. When I go home for Christmas, I'll give them a good dunk in Eucalan or Wool-Lite or whatever Mom has on hand. The one on top is an Aran in the round; as far as I can tell there aren't any seams. This is a closer look at the detail on the neck of it:

The second Aran was pieced, and the cables are only on the front and sleeves. The intarsia one is my favorite, and least replicate-able of them for me, as my intarsia skills are pretty much non-existant. I'm thinking of doing the top Aran - I know I have most of those cables in one of my stitch books, and in the round is always appealing. It would be a cozy winter project, I think. I really want to get the Bluebell Boatneck sweater done and able to wear to work, though, too, so we'll see.

Speaking of current knitting, I have an FO and an almost-FO! Neither of which, unfortunately, are Christmas projects. My second multidirectional diagonal scarf:
Which normally looks like this:
as I can't seem to keep the darn cat off of it. Even if I cover it up with a towel or blanket, he'll lay on it. Stupid cat. You'd think lots of sharp pins would be enough to keep him away, but no. He'll even pull the pins out with his teeth if they're invading his comfortable space, which is not fun to discover when barefoot. Put this right in front of the Wool-Ease Thick & Quick I'm using for the afghan, which he has also pulled and played with across creation and back, and he's in kitty heaven. Grr! (BTW, if anyone in the immediate vicinity has any Wool-Ease T&Q in the Butterscotch colorway, please let me know. Of course, I ran out right in the middle of a square and there are no more skeins of this colorway ANYWHERE in town right now. Probably not until Friday or Saturday, anyway. So I am STUCK on the ONE thing I want to get done for Christmas! Grr!)

Anyway, this one is made from just over three skeins of Patons SWS in the Natural Denim colorway. I started it over the summer and finished it this past week during the shows. Apparently, this is the coolest backstage project ever, as my first one was also knit backstage during the Creation debacle and the guys there also thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. It's easy. It's triangles. It stripes on its own. It's brain surgery, apparently.

Speaking of simple knitting, we've brought another over to the dark side! One of the guys on my deck crew kept watching me work on the gloves or socks or whatever, and every once in a while he'd mention that he'd like to knit himself some socks. So finally, I handed my current sock in progress (unfortunately for him, a pinkish sock weight yarn on US 0 needles, poor guy) and said, "Here, work on this for me, then." I showed him how to make the stitches, and after a few false starts, he did pretty well, even on the teeny needles. The next day, I brought him some T&Q I'd started a simple, garter stitch, striped scarf with, and some US 15 needles. He knit all during both shows that day! "Hey, this is like crack! But cheaper!" I'm wondering how long it will be when I see him tomorrow and if he's run out of yarn yet. We also have a YP we've coerced into knitting, and have quite the knitting/crocheting circle going now during preshow. The YP is a lefty, though, so he knits differently than I do, and it's hard to help him sometimes.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for my replacement needle for the Broad Street Mittens, but I got bored and sort of fixed the needle myself. Enough to be mostly useable, anyway. I have one glove completely done, and the second glove is done except for the thumb and weaving in ends.

I like how they've turned out so far, and I think it's actually a great pattern for the yarn (STR mediumweight, Seal Rock colorway), although (you'll probably only hear me say this once, so mark this) the varigation is kind of blah. I love varigated yarns, and I love all the colors in this one, and it looks very pretty wound up, but the pooling is bothering me a little. Not enough to frog or not wear or anything drastic like that, just a little. I'll do the mitten cap for them later. I want to use them backstage now, as my hands get cold back there!

Speaking of broken needles, I'm sorry to say that Vader has eaten his last needles. Mom called yesterday and said that he had run off and they found him the next day. He had been hit by a car. Poor pup. At least he had a good life and was loved when he was at my parents'. While he wasn't the most well-behaved dog I've ever met - he'd never been properly trained, after all - he just wanted to be loved. RIP
Oh, and I really enjoyed Tin Man on the SciFi channel this week. It's The Wizard of OZ like you've never seen it before, and while the steadfast lovers of the original will probably despise it, frankly, this story makes much more sense to me. It's much more human and believable. My type of fantasy!