Stupid Stupid Pattern

I'm finally back to knitting something for myself. I'm way ahead for mother's day...the wedding cardigan has been mailed and received, and I've turned my attention back to my birthday cardigan, a picture of which can be found on the Skacel site...here. Now, I saw this knit as a shop model at Renaissance Yarns and upon feeling the fiber, had to have it. So I ordered the yarn, bought the pattern book, and waited. Once I had the yarn, I decided to be lazy and not swatch, but would do the sleeves first, and see what happened. I got the cuff just fine, and then I ran into an abbreviation that was NO WHERE IN THE BOOKLET. After scratching my head for a few, I emailed Nancy at Ren Yarns, and had my answer. Then christmas happened and I put the cardigan down. Picking it back up tonight I started where I had stopped, looked at the pattern, and was stumped. I cast on 58 stitches, didn't increase at all (the pattern didn't tell me too) and suddenly, when i start the sleeve pattern, I have 72 stitches. Somewhere, magically, I picked up 14 frackin stitches. Seriously. Where do they come from? I have no idea. I do know, that right now, I don't have the patience to figure it out. I'm torn between wanting to beat the pattern (and by beat I mean figure it out and make my pretty cardigan) and scrapping the whole thing, writing Skacel a nasty-gram, and designing my own darned round cardigan. Dang it.

And another thing...you see it's all round like a bulls-eye...you might assume, as i did, that it's knit like a shawl, slowly growing in diameter. Oh no, it's knit like sections of a bullseye and then sewn together. Dum. Dum Dum Dum.

And of course, I don't want to knit another pair of socks. I want to knit a sweater. Dang it.

Brief update

The last month has been filled the brim and coming down from the high that was the wedding/honeymoon has been tougher than I imagined it to be. Took awhile to get readjusted (still not 100%), had to get over a case of bronchitis that someone shared on the plane ride home (still coughing) and trying like mad to finish the wedding gift from the hawaii wedding (about 70% done). So I have pictures of the wedding and the honeymoon, but haven't gotten them ready to be posted, and I've actually finished a project, but haven't taken the time to photograph them (the cleo socks, for anyone paying attention).

So my head is mostly connected, but I'm not feeling totally caught up yet...so stay tuned. I'm whittling my to-do list from things like officially changing my name to taking photos of projects. I know, my priorities are all mucked up. As the new Mrs.Monkey, I'll try to be better.

Wish me luck

By this time (8pm), two days from now, I will be a happily married woman with a drink in my hand (hopefully...to the drink part). It's a really odd thing to type. One, because while I rationally know that as a female of age 28 who owns her own house, car, dogs...I am technically a woman, I don't see myself that way. I don't feel mature enough, most of the time, to consider myself a woman. It's something I don't completely understand (as I know I'm ridiculously mature). And the married part just seems odd. I don't think I'm old enough to be married (again...rationally I'm well aware that I'm old enough to be married). So referring to Mr.Monkey as husband and myself a married woman just seems odd and will definitely take some getting used to.

So stay tuned in a couple weeks time for pictures and a report. I will hopefully post from the honeymoon, but will likely be doing other things. Wish me luck!

More than sporadic

So although posting has been spotty of late, it's going to get worse. Wednesday, my mom and I leave for Hawaii, where I will be watching my 'little brother' get married on the beach. I'm working on their gift, and because they might see it, I'm not going to post a photo (it's on ravelry). It's turning out nice. We're staying through sunday, and get back late. I'll work for another week, and then be off for three weeks. There will hopefully be time for knitting amongst the festivities. 18 days. It's pretty crazy to think about.

I finished the handfasting scarf. it's just barely long enough. looks good though.
I'm quite pleased. It's stretchy, so it'll work. I've also started a leftover sock yarn blanket project. mitered squares. it'll be nice and warm. It's a little weird, working on a project that has no definite end. someday, i'll just decide it's done and put a border on it. but for now...
Madrona was the weekend before last (thanks to marti for the sock blanket inspiration). I took classes every day, and was completely exhausted by the time Sunday came around. Lots of color classes, fair isle and intarsia. And i learned a knew way to knit from the yarn harlot...she called it lever knitting. I haven't done much with it, but it's good to know another new skill. Jen and I saw this sign...which summed things up quite nicely.

Top 10 reasons why I'm a bad blogger

1) i haven't posted for 3 weeks
2) i've been so stressed that i haven't even felt like knitting
3) i had a week of layoffs (not me, thankfully), a bridal shower, grandparents and college roomies in town, huge work project, and wedding invitation madness. there was a meltdown and tears. great fun.
4) did i mention wedding invitation headaches...they're all out now.
5) my office has been waiting for ceiling patches since christmas (the ceiling got a first coat of paint this evening...it needs another coat and then two coats on the wall. maybe this weekend).
6) i took a really cool sock yarn dyeing class and have had no time to dye my own yarn, or knit up the yarn i did dye, or show off pictures i took
7) we have a new addition to our family
Click to embiggen. She's pretty darn cute. the first week was a fun week of potty training. She's 16 weeks when we got her, and it didn't seem like much training had been done. she's feeling much better now.

ok. can't think of 8, 9 or 10. i will try to be a better blogger. however, only 33 days 'til i'm hitched. I expect to be fairly busy, although hopefully not stressed.