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Well, NaBloPoMo is over, and I met my goal of posting each day. Some entries were lesser in quality than others were, but I made it through, and it also helped me to reconnect with blogging. Of course, I am, once again, behind in emails, comments, and reading, but that is nothing new. I am really glad I did this, and having you all stick with me all the way through has been wonderful.
NaFiSweMo is over, too, and I achieved my goal with that. Most of the time when I finish a sweater, I am so sick of it that I have a hard time finding the love for it, but not this time. I am so very pleased with my new sweater, and I have not taken it off since I finished it. I have already received wonderful compliments on it, and my friends can tell that this is a sweater that I will wear often. Salt Peanuts is a great cardigan, the color I chose is perfect, and I have even more love for the yarn (Patons Classic Wool) than when I started. I do not think I could ask for more.
In something of a surprise, bringing my colder weather clothes into the rotation and putting the summer ones away for the year did not coincide with a burst of unseasonable warmness. Instead, it is still cold, and I get to wear the pajama pants I made for myself. Yeah, I have a sewing machine and play with it a little, but it is not getting much attention because knitting gets all of my free time right now. Speaking of that, I need to get back to that last seam.
Cyber Monday and all of its coupon codes and emails have been raining down on me, and it finally got to me. So, a little bit of yarn fell into an online shopping cart, and will be on its way to me soon. Nah, I did it on purpose because there is some yarn I needed for gifts that I just do not have. The truth is, I already had the yarn in the virtual basket, but didn't get around to sending in the order until today. I kept fretting about colors, but it is a good thing I did spend extra time checking that, because I almost made a big mistake.
Speaking of yarn for gifts that I do not have, I bought some bulky yarn. As you know, that is not really my style, but I understand that there are some sparkly vampire movie fans in the family, and I think those mittens would make great gifts for a couple of people. They were chatting the movie and books up while we sat around and visited after Thanksgiving dinner, and that is when I got the idea.
Speaking as one who has not read the books, I will say that I am not much interested. I did watch one of the movies when it was on tv the other night. My nose was so stuffed up that my mouth was hanging open, and I could not think or do much, and from the commercials I had seen, that seemed to go along with the movie, so I lost a couple of hours to it. It just is not my deal, but I really do not care that other people love it. I kid around a bit, but I do not want to make fun of anyone enjoying a book, movie, or music. We all like what we do, and I hate to see people feel ashamed about things like that.
Anyway, can you believe that this is the 28th day of the month? Time has been so weird for me lately, and I was quite surprised when I realized that there are only two more days left this month. I keep plugging along on my NaFiSweMo project, but I need to kick it into a higher gear if I am to make my goal. I have one sleeve set in, and it took longer than I had planned, but the second should be quicker. Of course with these colder than average temperatures, (they say we are getting snow tomorrow) each moment with the pile of wool on my lap is good, and it is great incentive to keep working on it.
The cranberries are cranberrying, the pie is chilling, and the squash and friends are assembled and waiting for their time in the oven. I just have to stand on the Wii Balance Board with the turkey to see how early I need to get up in the morning. Everything else will wait for tomorrow.
Our weather continues to bounce from warm to cold with some rain in between, but I know that we will continue to have more cold days. That has kept me from just letting the pinned out pieces of my cardigan sit until next week. The seaming of Salt Peanuts is underway. So far, I only have the shoulders and half of the collar done, but it is progress. Once I get the sleeves in place, I think the challenging parts will be done, and the rest should go smoothly. Having The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by my side always helps. Wanting to curl up in a new sweater and read a book or three helps, too.
I confess; Salt Peanuts is still pinned out, waiting for seaming time. I cannot determine if it makes it better or worse that it took me several more days to get it out of the water and blocked. I just could not crawl around on the floor with pins, schematic, and tape measure without going into a coughing fit. Anyway, that is my excuse, but I will get to it soon, because I want to wear this sweater. It just occurred to me that I need to make a decision on the closure. The pattern uses a ribbon, but I am not sure about that. I have not spent much time looking at ribbons, but nothing I have seen thus far does it for me. I do not think I want to go the button route, but it is a possibility. There is always the option of using a shawl pin or stick I suppose, but for now, I am thinking of using i-cord. It should work, and it would blend in with the rest of the sweater. Then again, I might just be using the closure issue to avoid settling in for a long seaming session.
Finally, the knitting of Salt Peanuts is complete! All of the pieces are soaking their cares away and looking forward to being pinned out into their cute sweater shapes. They are optimistic and believe that the seaming will go smoothly, and that the sweater will fit. Until it is time to put it all together, I am getting my daily dose of fiber. I am taking two and trying again in the morning.
When I cannot concentrate, I am grateful for the Random Wednesday.
I have to rip back an inch on Salt Peanuts because I was not measuring and knit too far. I do not mind it too much, because I was busy visiting with knitbuds.
I have hope that I will finish this sweater soon because our weather is predicted to be freezing on Friday and 80 on Monday.
NaBloPoMo is still fun, and I am glad to be able to say that. What I do not like is that it is no longer on its own site and has been absorbed by BlogHer. Perhaps I would like the BlogHer site more if I gave more time to exploring it, but I kind of doubt it. I find it to be too busy, redundant, and a bit tedious.
I want to stay true to my Salt Peanuts, but the itch to cast on something new is getting stronger. Maybe I can satisfy it with a MochiMochi, but only after I get the cardi on the right track. Then knitting something new is like a reward for good behavior, right.
Wait--do you hear that sound? It is a close-to-complete pair of mittens declaring that they should come before anything else, even a Teeny-Tiny MochiMochi.
When I made my bold declaration that I would finish a sweater this month, I knew that at some point it would mean actually picking up the pieces of my long-neglected Salt Peanuts and assessing the situation. Now that I look at it, this big, crumpled pile of gray wool no longer feels overwhelming. I can see how it may not look very promising right now, but I am so close. I just have to finish one of the front pieces; I just have to figure out where I am in the pattern. Yeah, letting this sit for so long was not one of my better choices.
I do not even remember why I set it aside. Probably, it was because the weather turned horribly hot and I could not face putting more work into something when it seemed like it would be ages until I could actually wear it. Now, however, our weather is featuring cooler temperatures on a more frequent basis, and I want to have my new cardigan. Additionally, Helen has joined me in the agreement to finish a sweater this month, and I do not want to let down my accountabilibuddy.
I super-swear this is not an excuse to put-off my deadline knitting. I am working on it, and it will be done soon, too. Now it is just a race to see which I complete first.
