skittermagoo!

I'm a bad blogger!

Yesh, indeedy, I have been neglecting the poor blog lately . . . it even took a Stalker Intervention to remind me how long it's been since I've written!

What's kept me away, you ask? Well, nothing legitimate . . . work has been hectic and busy, but that's not unusual.

Now that Spring has pretty much arrived in North Texas (today actually felt almost summerlike, it was so warm!), I've been spending a lot of time outdoors. I never, ever in a million years thought I'd actually like digging in the dirt and growing things, but for the last month or so I've been absolutely obsessed with gardening!

My lawn hasn't really come back yet, but jeez, my rosebush has! We inherited the rosebush from the previous owners, and last year it looked a bit sad (though it did bloom all summer and into late fall). So this year I consulted the one gardening book I own, which directed me to prune it back to 18" tall in mid-February. I did, and immediately thought I'd killed the poor thing -- it was basically three sticks when I got through with it!

And here it is, a mere six weeks later:

If you look a little closer, you'll see this:

The other day there was one bud . . . when I looked today, I counted NINE! Wow.

I've also been growing some basil and rosemary, but haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet.

There has also been knitting . . . this is what I'm currently obsessed with:

OMG, an actual blog entry!

Nope, you're not seeing imaginary things . . . it's real! Woo!

Work has been absolutely insane for the past couple of weeks, and it's all I can do to just get myself home, make myself a cocktail and collapse on the couch, much less actually blog. I wish I could say for sure that it will be getting better, but, well, I can't really predict. In any case, I've been follwing Elizabeth Zimmermann's sage advice and have been Knitting On. I just haven't been Photographing On!

For instance, I finished the first sleeve to my Samus sweater over a week ago, but haven't yet taken any pictures. And I have several socks-in-progress, but same deal.

Ahhhh, but what have we here, in quiet repose on the bannister?

YES! It's the Flame Sweater (Jesse's Flames from Stitch-n-Bitch Nation)! And it's DONE! Finito! Complete!

Do you want to see it modeled by its recipient? Why, of course you do! (Well, maybe you don't, but here it is anyway)

It fits almost perfectly (phew!) . . . the sleeves may be a bit long, but, well, I think that's okay. I even sent it through the washer and dryer (gotta love Wool Ease!), and it didn't fall apart or anything! And tomorrow it's supposed be chilly, so Hub will actually be able to wear it once before summer arrives (next week).

I swear I did a 43-minute happy dance last night when I wove in the last end on the neck.

Speaking of the neck . . . that was a bitch. I picked up stitches at least four times before I got it right. Here's how it went:

Attempt #1-
Directions say pick up 80 stitches. Mark the center front and center back. Pick up stitches starting at the center back, around to the stitch before center front. This should be exactly half way. Count stitches, I have 40. Fabulous! Pick up the rest of the stitches in exactly the same manner, and count the number between the center front (halfway) and the end. 40! Wow, could I have done this right the first time? Start the k2p2 rib, and at the end of the first row of ribbing, discover that there is something not right here -- I ended with k2 instead of p2. Count total number of stitches. 78. Rip out picked up stitches

Attempt #2-
Repeat picking up of stitches around neck, making sure not to skip any. Count picked up stitches before knitting the first row around (can't say I don't learn from my mistakes!). 78. Rip out. Double-check pattern to make sure it's actually 80 stitches I'm supposed to pick up.

Attempt #3-
An exact duplicate of attempt #2, and I was about to just say "forget it" and do an M1 at either side on the first row, bringing the total to 80. Then I realize that if I do this, there will be big honking holes at each raglan seam.

Attempt #4, #5, #6- (I think . . . I kind of lost track)
Variations on Attempt #3. Finally I realize that it is too late, the yarn is too black, and I'm a little buzzed on red wine. Maybe I should wait until the next morning to try this.

Attempt #7- (next morning)
Sit down to pick up stitches for the neck. Deep breaths. Remembering the problems last night, decide to pick up a stitch in the middle of each raglan seam, negating the problem of the big honking holes. This should give me 82 stitches (78+4 for the raglan seams), and I will simply k2tog at each shoulder to make it an even 80. Pick up stitches all around, thinking that this is a Very Clever Solution, and go along my merry way. Get to halfway, count stitches: 41. Perfect, I'm right on track. Get to the end, check for holes. No holes! Count the number of stitches. 80. Eight Tee. The exact number in the pattern.

I'm still not sure how it happened, and I am not going to question it.

It was an incredibly rainy weekend here in North Texas, so I spent the weekend doing all kinds of crafty things! On Saturday, the Purling Pirate and I took a basic sewing class, and we learned how to make these little purse/bag things. Here's mine!

Cute! And reversible!

I think P's was even cuter; not sure if she will show pics or not.

The class was good, but I think that (amazingly) my sewing skills might have been a little more advanced than what the class was geared for. That's ok, though, because I now know how to line all the cute felted bags I've made and will make in future!

Also, some of the terminology the teacher used was nothing less than hilarious . . . my favorite was when she referred to the gap for turning the bag right-side-out as the "birthing hole". Um. Yeah. So once we were done sewing, she told us to "put your finger in the birthing hole, and pull, and pull, then push.". Yes, I'm serious! (P, back me up here!).

So I took my newfound technology home and used it to help Hub make some beanbag juggling balls, chronicled here.

In other weekend news, we had a Grownup Homeowner Moment last night when we realized that with all the rain, we had water dripping down the edge of our fireplace surround and onto the wood floor. ARGH! Luckily, right about the time we were wringing our hands and gnashing our teeth and mopping up the small amount of water (what we caught before it made its way below the floorboards, anyway) it stopped raining. I'm pretty sure we've figured out how it happened . . . Clogged Gutters, anyone? Anyway, it's on our list of "immediate repairs". Sigh.

Ugh

Wow. It was a hell of a week, one which nothing in February could have held a candle to. I thought it couldn't get much worse, and I was very, very wrong. Luckily, the pain and suffering was confined to work, not home, so I could at least get away from it.

I had a week of "Meant To"s. I meant to blog. I meant to show y'all pictures of the flame sweater finally being seamed. I meant to read all the updates on my Bloglines.

Well.

There's always next week, right?