(A) Good Friday

Interlacements RickRack II - nothing to do with anything, just pretty.

What a couple of weeks, huh? Yeah, so my boss got laid off, and my boss' boss became my boss. Thing is, my boss wasn't supposed to find out about being laid off until the end of this month, so now we're all thinking that there'll be more layoffs, but my boss' boss, now my boss, wouldn't confirm anything. And then my boss' boss, now my boss, got laid off on Tuesday. With me so far? Two bosses and their boss gone, still a possibility that more of us will be let go, but the likelihood is decreased because losing those three big salaries may have saved the lower people. For now.

In the middle of all of this, Accountant Boy's boss was laid off, and A.B. took over his job responsibilities, but not his salary and not his title.

Oh, and my mom's house is now haunted, apparently by my dad. Lights turn on and off in the bedroom where he died, the TV remote control disappears and is then found in the back of the pencil drawer and, most tellingly, the adding machine turns itself on and starts feeding paper through its printer. We think he's either angry that we didn't have a big party at the forty-day anniversary of his death, or confused and believing that he needs to finish some tax returns.

Am I getting any knitting done during this stressful time? Well, no. Although it would probably soothe me to do it, I can't pull my knitting out of the bag, because it drives Winston mad with longing. I don't know what this is going to mean for the future of Fluffy Angora Menace and my ability to wear it around him. All I know is that I can't work on it in the evenings. I'm trying to figure out how to slip out of the house for three hours and get it done.

Jodi asked about the Arosa pullover in the comments of this post. Man, that seems like such a long time ago. I 'temporarily' abandoned Arosa soon after that, intending to get back to it after I cooled off and stopped hating it. I haven't picked it up since then, but I have had some thoughts about how to finish it and actually like it.

Jodi, the thing about the front panel being kind of weird just worked itself out. It looks completely weird when you're working on it, but just follow the directions. It looks like the sweater's got kind of a wrap/crossover thing going, but that's a trick of the pattern photo. The second, weirdly shaped piece gets stitched right to the edge of the main piece. It makes sense when the pieces are laid next to each other. It also makes sense when you see how the fabric drapes if you're using the Arosa yarn. If you had two layers of fabric across the front, it'd look sloppy.

What am I going to do to mine to make it work? I'm going to take it apart and reknit the neck edges so that it's less droopy, maybe fewer stitches and a slightly smaller needle. And then, much as it pains me to do so, I'm going to knit the sleeves as they're supposed to be knit. The solid sleeve just wasn't working.

I'll get right on that, just as soon as I get my Last Winter...uh...First Day of Spring...umm...Easter sweater done.

Stepping Back

The Arosa sleeve that I thought was too big? I didn't just think it was too big. It's too damn big. The other sleeve's cap shaping is going to be too square. Therefore, Arosa has gone underground for a couple of days/weeks/months/years until I can come to grips with reknitting that sleeve, and reshaping the other sleeve cap so that it's more round. It should have been so simple. I just can't look at in anymore. I can't.

Unfortunately, this has also temporarily soured me on Kristabella, which still only needs sleeves and a little neckline detail. This means that I'm stepping away from both of my works-in-progress. Desperately grumpy, I turned to Accountant Boy last night and bleated, "I'm not a craftswoman! I SUCK!" He suggested that I take a break for a few days, but that will never do. I need a new project. Further, I need a project unlike my current projects. No seaming, no sleeves, try on as you go, that kind of thing. I have the perfect thing in mind.

A couple of months ago, while planning for the camping trip we're going to take this weekend, I was browsing the Sierra Trading Post website. I needed a sleeping bag, and maybe a deeply discounted workout top. Quite by accident, I happened upon a long, flowing skirt with velvet applique. I did not need this skirt. I justified its purchase by saying that it pushed me over the free shipping limit, and that it would probably be too small for me. It's one of the dumbest financial things I do - buying more than I'd planned so that the shipping will be free. "Ah, I'll probably end up sending it back, anyway..."

Turns out that it isn't too small. I love it. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to wear with it. What's a girl to do? This girl took that skirt in hand, marched off to her second-closest yarn store and bought some perfectly matched, fairly expensive yarn with which to make a companion top for her bargain skirt. Yes, if I use all six cones of it, my little top will cost a whopping $96 plus tax, bringing the total of my 'bargain' outfit to about $147. And all I needed was a sleeping bag.

I'm going camping for the first time in my life this weekend, and I'm taking my six little cones of Anny Blatt Victoria with me for the car ride. It's going to turn into Coachella. Let me be more clear. It's going to turn into a wearable, appropriately sized Coachella. Or my cries of rage and anguish will be heard around the globe.

Ooh! I have exciting news and I haven't shared it yet. I have a Boyd Ultimate Sweater Machine! I traded one of my swifts and some yarn for it, in an excellent exchange with Megera from the Knittyboard. This is especially exciting because, given my recent woes, I've been muttering to myself, "Maybe I should just knit big-ass rectangles and stitch them together. Maybe that's all I'm capable of doing anymore. Knitted sack with arm and neck holes. Damned knitting..." Now I can knit all of the big-ass rectangles I want! I'm looking forward to using it. It's making me think about my hobby in a whole new way. Do I knit because I enjoy knitting, or because I want the finished product? If I attain some level of proficiency with the USM, will I ever knit a stockinette sweater by hand again?

Sleevie Blunder

So how are things going with the Arosa pullover? Hmmm. That's a tough one to answer. On the one hand, it's been described as 'sloppy', and the sleeves still aren't done. Who dared call my handiwork sloppy? I did. Who agreed with me? Accountant Boy. The neckline is too loose, and I can't bring myself to rip it out and tighten it up. On the other hand, there's still hope for it. I think I can tighten up the neckline by changing where I've seamed the insert to the main part of the body. The sleeves, well, that's a different story. I tried a cap sleeve, but it was out of proportion with the rest of the sweater.


I then knit a 3/4 sleeve, which started out as a full-length sleeve but got demoted because I did some weird shaping at the wrist and decided the weird shaping would look less weird if it were at my elbow. I did all sorts of fancy shaping on the cap, but it looked crappy combined with the shaping on the body of the sweater, so I frogged it and reknit it. I then knit the other sleeve. In an expected turn of events, I've screwed up and knit the second sleeve about an inch wider than the first. I'm so tired of knitting it now that I don't plan to reknit the bigger sleeve to be smaller, or the smaller sleeve to be bigger. Yes, I took copious notes and yes, I followed them, except for the part where I noted how many stitches to cast on.

You might think this has soured me on the project. Wrong-o, dear readers. I'm looking forward to putting it all together tonight. It's got a sort of mid-century vibe to it, with a tailored look to the shoulder and a curvy front. It's very late-series 'Perry Mason' murderess/tennis star.


Lucy's been hanging out with me while I knit. Here she is, at my feet on the concrete patio, a couple of yards away from her very comfortable, cushioned bench. Like I said about this time last year, she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I reached down to pet her after I took this picture. This caused her to sigh, haul herself to her feet, and wander back behind the barbecue.


I like it back here because it smells like delicious, and I like delicious. -- Lucy the Dog

Benny and the Jets

"Here. Take it. You need it more than I do."

"What are you trying to say?"

"My hair's going to grow back. Yours...um...I love you. Look, just take the wig."


"Saturday night's alright for fightin'. Saturday night's alright, alright, ALRIIIIGHT!!!"

I love all of my cousins, but this particular bunch really shines. You give them a few drinks and suddenly there's an Elton John tribute going on in front of you. It wasn't just that he looked like Elton John with his sister's wig on his head. It was that he seemed to be imbued with the very spirit of the man. Pictures don't do it justice.

What was going on in the previous picture? I believe it was something to this effect:

Uncle Warbucks: "That one over there in the grey dress. She's a stripper."
Big Guy (laughing): "Oh yeah?!? How do you know?"
Uncle Warbucks: "He's been dicked over so many times that he only dates strippers now."
Cousin (to himself): "Nah, man...she's not a stripper. It's my sister's wedding. He wouldn't bring a stripper to my baby sister's wedding...well, maybe..."
The Engineer: "Hey, cool it. Suzanne's coming over."

I made a little progress on the Arosa sleeves yesterday, if you count making a cap sleeve that looks completely out of proportion to the rest of the sweater and starting a long sleeve that isn't going to drape especially well as progress. At least now I know that I don't want a cap sleeve, and that the long sleeve I'm making isn't the way to go. Maybe I should make the meshy sleeves.

Oh, and Sara? If that top in yesterday's post looks suspiciously like the shaped lace tee, it's because it IS the shaped lace tee. It's the only pattern in the book that's also been a single pattern for purchase. Its single-pattern name is Krista. When I bought it, I realized that it was very similar to Bella, just with a different neckline, cap sleeves and a larger gauge. I really wanted a Bella, but after knitting it too small and frogging it this winter, I couldn't bring myself to restart it. I liked the neckline of Bella more than Krista, but the gauge and waist shaping of Krista more than Bella, so I thought I'd make Krista with the Bella neckline. I've now decided that I also want longer sleeves on it. So basically, I'm making Bella with the larger gauge/fewer lace repeats.

It might be a few days before I pick either one up again, anyway. Perhaps I should start a new project. Perhaps this is what the universe is trying to tell me. Perhaps this is why Buddy decided to see me off to work this morning by regurgitating in my knitting basket.


Happy belated birthday, the Woman. - Buddy the Cat

Disgustipated

Oh, knitting. Why must you torment me so?

I had taken the past week and a half off, intending to relax and knit. The week did not go exactly as planned, with the doggy chemotherapy and the unpredictable weeping interrupting my hours of enjoyment, but yet I was hopeful. Arosa was only two sleeves away from being finished, and Bella was going to be done in a record-breaking four days. At least, I reasoned, I'd have something to show for my vacation.

What went awry? Why am I less than enthused, with only hours left of my vacation? Notice that neither piece above has sleeves. Both need sleeves, as I have admitted and Daisy has confirmed. "Mmmmmm...yeah," she said, her face crinkling ever so slightly with distaste. "It needs something. Maybe just a cap sleeve, but definitely something."


I knew as soon as I started the Arosa sleeve, which is a *YO, K2tog* mesh for its entire length, that I wasn't going to be doing it. The yarn, so happy to be knit in stockinette, was nearly impossible to knit into that net pattern. I'm going to have to make something up to replace it.


What about the Krista with the Bella neckline, the one I'm going to start calling Kristabella? Oh, that. The sleeves, which I'm too disgusted to photograph, came out at least ten stitches too short on each edge. I ran out of stitches when I was seaming them in. I'm pretty sure I misread the pattern, and that I missed a few repeats between decrease sections. Also, it's cotton. Cotton immediately stretches across my torso and makes me look about ten pounds heavier than I am. I don't know why I keep forgetting this. I don't think it'll be a bad sweater when it's done, and it was quick enough to knit, but now I'm unmotivated to do anything with it.

So here's my dilemma. I can reknit the Kristabella sleeve, making it a 3/4 sleeve with a bell edge, and I'd probably like it. I could have it done by the end of the day. Alternatively, I can make up a sleeve for Arosa and set it in, also being done by the end of the day. My goal is to be able to wear one of them to work tomorrow. I may decide based on a coin flip.

In other news, Lucy's tolerating her chemotherapy very well. The oncologist says that she's already responding well to the drugs, and her lymph nodes are shrinking quickly. I spent last week bursting into tears every time anybody expressed sympathy or concern about the situation. It's like when you fall down, and you're O.K. until somebody comes up and asks you if you're O.K., and then you start sobbing. I'm getting better about it. It now takes a good five minutes of talking about it to get me going. How's Lucy, the happiest dog in the world, handling this? She's wagging her tail and licking anything that moves. Nothing new there. She's sleeping a lot, but she wasn't exactly an insomniac before this. We're just happy to have her around, drowsy or not. She's a few feet away from me right now, snoring softly. It's good.

I got my invitation to Ravelry last week, poked around there a little bit and really liked it, but haven't done anything at all there for myself. Maybe I'll start inputting things once I've recovered from the stress of my vacation.

Yesterday was my 37th birthday. I knit, watched 'Perry Mason', ate brie and salami sandwiches for lunch, and had a good dinner with my friends. Accountant Boy made a fantastic card for me from an old GL transaction report. (We're trying to save money, because Lucy's care has now cost more than a trip to Europe.)

Yep, those last three paragraphs gave me just enough time for to think. I'm going to go knit the Arosa sleeves.

Waiting in the Half-light

12:45 - Anxious

You know what job I should have? Veterinary radiologist. They seem to make pretty good money, based on how much I've given them in the last year and a half, and they get to make their own hours. Today, for example, while I'm waiting by the phone for someone to tell me if Lucy has lymphoma, the radiologist is deciding if his wife is going to be mad if he comes in to work for an hour or two. "He might be here after 4:00." They've been great at the emergency vet, don't get me wrong, it's just that when it's your pet in the crate waiting for service, you don't want to hear "if he doesn't make it out today, you might as well pick her up and deal with it next week." I know that's just the way it is, but that's not what I want to hear. Grumpy and sick with worry. Want answer now.

While I'm waiting, I'm working on Arosa. I've got the back and the main part of the front done. The second part of the front is a little different than I thought it'd be -- it's just a little panel that gets sewn in after the neckline is done. I don't know what I thought it was going to be instead, but I didn't think it'd be a weirdly shaped piece of fabric.

I really like how this yarn's knitting up. Look at how cool the neckline's going to be, even before the edging gets picked up.



One last thing about Cobweb -- here's a detailed view of the bead and purl section. The color's weird in the picture, but at least the details are there.


Just waiting.

6:45 - Ranting and Foul-Mouthed

What is it with the cancer? First DaddyBanana has cancer, then my cousin has cancer, and now my DOG has cancer? Jesus tapdancing CHRIST! Could we stop with the fucking cancer already?!?

Hey, so now you get to say f$5k but I still get censored? - Belligero

Fuck off, clown.

Murder of Crows

I'm making great progress on Arosa, even though I'm only working on it at work. I'm up to the middle of the armhole shaping on the back. Yeah, it's not so interesting to talk about, but it's refreshingly simple to work on, soothingly meditative. I take it out to my car on my lunch hour and work on it while listening to 90s-at-noon on Live105. It's the best part of my workday. This yarn has a great drape. I also bought a bag of it in black/silver, and I'm thinking of remaking the IK Greek Pullover with it.

Cobweb was going well as well, and I'd hoped to have a finished picture of the back by today, but then I noticed that I'd screwed up the first and last repeats of the lace several rows earlier, and then I tried to drop the stitches and fix it, and then there was weeping and much gnashing of teeth. One hour later, I'd ripped back to where I was on Tuesday, and I think I got all of the stitches back on the needle, but I wisely decided to put it down for the evening and go to sleep.

That's all the knitting news.

I'm slacking on the gym. I'm blaming it on my knee being kind of tight and sore, but that's just an excuse. I'm burning out on work, on my fitness regime, on a lot of things.

Last night, Daisy noticed that Lucy has rubbed all of the fur off under her collar. I looked down at my newly baldnecked dog, looked up at Daisy, got teary-eyed and whispered, "That's horrible. I'm horrible. How did I let this happen? My poor, poor Lucy!"

"It happens. It's just HAIR. Calm down. It will grow back."

"Will it? Will it really?" My lip trembled.

"Dude! What's WRONG with you?!?"

"I need mashed potatoes and gravy, and I don't have the will to move off of this couch."

We were wallowing in our ennui last night, what with Daisy's freelancing job at the chocolate factory coming to an unexpectedly sudden end and my job/cars/finances/knees/pets/statuary seemingly slipping out of my control. I've stopped e-mailing people, stopped commenting on blogs, kind of stopped caring if anyone calls. Daisy's in the same boat. I think we're both a tad depressed. Hell, the only reason we're still keeping in touch is that we live next door to each other. Held down in our morass of apathy by our ill-defined malaise, we couldn't pull ourselves out of it enough to even find food. Falstaff saved us by driving to El Pollo Loco and buying us chicken dinners.

Today's looking a little better. I made an appointment for Lucy to see the vet about her obsessive licking and chewing. A.B. thinks she might be allergic to the bark, which would really suck, but I think it's probably more likely that she's allergic to the grass. She's been doing this for way longer than we've had the new bark. Anyway, I made the appointment for her, so that's checked off the long list. A.B. and I are run/walking Bay to Breakers on Sunday, probably way more walking than running, but we're going to do it. I've got Arosa in my bag and the weather's looking nice for a lunchtime knitting session. It's a good day.

On my way to work today, I saw my favorite outdoor jogger. I call him Superguy. He wears what I can only imagine are his only clothes suitable for exercise -- bright purple gym shorts, a shade of purple not normally found in men's sportswear, and a grungy white tanktop with the Superman logo emblazened across his big, round belly. I'm pretty sure the tank isn't supposed to fit him that way, that it's meant for a much taller man but it's the size he needed to cover his gut. He's a heavier gentleman, is what I'm trying to say. Oh, and it has a tear near one of the shoulders, making it look like it had been in the rag pile at some point before receiving a second chance. I like to imagine Superguy pawing through the laundry basket, shouting in to his wife, "Hey, where's my tank top?" "I use it to polish the furniture. I've used it to polish the furniture for five years now. It's a RAG." "Ah, man!" He pulls it out of a basket of stained, torn cloth napkins and towels, holds it up to the light, sees the rip in the shoulder but notes that it's still technically wearable. "It still fits!" What I like most about him, about the idea of him, is that I've seen him every few days for a few weeks now. He didn't just try it once, then give up. Damned if I don't find that inspiring.

I know it's called Crow Canyon Place. I know it's not supposed to be ominous and scary. And yet...

Smoke on the Water

I'm at work, and as usual, things are going more than a little wrong. At least nothing caught on fire this morning, so we're doing better than yesterday. I'm not talking 'on fire' as in 'hot, hot project'. I'm talking 'on fire' as in 'uninterruptable power supply smouldering on the data center floor'. We're all going to be here until midnight or later tonight, just like last week. We're all also going to be unable to do any work because of various data and network issues, which brings us to the real meat of this post.

Here's the start of Arosa. I'm at 3 1/4 inches on the back. Despite it being kind of crunchy and not exactly silky on the ball, I'm really enjoying knitting with Arosa. It's not at all hard on the hands, and it's so, so shimmery. The contrast yarn came from my big estate sale haul from a couple of years ago. I think it's Lang 'San Remo'. San Remo and Arosa. Resort towns. Maybe this pullover's trying to tell me I need a vacation.

I'm going to knit during every moment that I'm unable to do productive, paid work today. I'll post a quick update tonight when I finally leave. I'm aiming for finishing the back and maybe one of the sleeves. "But Suzanne! Surely you won't have THAT much time!" Oh, you'd be surprised.