my life in stitches

the latest

the sleeves are attached and i'm well on the way to completion. pretty soon i'll need to start moving half the stitches to another needle so that i can try it on and see what's what. i'm terribly nervous that something is wrong. i have no real reason to think that other than the fact that a project this involved and labor intensive always seems destined to have some fatal flaw that will involve hours of meticulous stitch by stitch unknitting and then laboriously re-knitting them again. i'm keeping my fingers crossed. even though i surely won't be wearing this for another two and a half months, i am eager to be done with it.

no new news. thanks to Sola for turning me on to Skins and Gavin and Stacey! i think both shows are destined to make it on to regular Tivo rotation. carry on!

one sleeve down, one to go!

the amazing, technicolor dream smock is coming along. sleeve #1 is done and dusted. casting on for sleeve #2 today. err... maybe tomorrow. i wish i could get motivated to get on with it because the fun doesn't really begin until you get to the yoke. i have some interesting ideas in mind, but we'll have to just wait and see how it plays out.

lack of good television definitely means less knitting for me. it's really the dead season now, isn't it? my tivo has practically retired. i am loving that Don Draper. i don't think there's been a more fascinating (and good-looking) character on television since Six Feet Under's Nate Fisher. what is better than Mad Men? Weeds has been pretty good, too. Still getting my weekly dose of Anthony Bourdain, but that's really about it for television now, isn't it? if you're watching something great, please leave it in the comments. i've been filling in the blanks with whatever's showing on BBC America. i've become obsessed with Top Gear, which is odd since i don't drive, but whatever. The Graham Norton show is great, but that's been showing reruns, too. i've seen every episode of Dr. Who at least 3 times. Project Runway is a bit of a snooze fest this season. grr... i guess i've been spending less time watching the tube & knitting and more time reading. not a bad thing, but my needles are starting to wonder if i've got another craft on the side.

it may be a couple of months before my brain recovers from what has been an endless summer. maybe when it cools down a bit i'll be able to come up with something clever. carry on.

thank god for 79 degrees!

that's right. it's 1:45 pm and a record low of 79 degrees! it hasn't been 79 degrees at this time of day since like April or May or something. seriously. i feel like celebrating! which for me, on a Tuesday afternoon, would mean squirelling away in a dark pub with a fish & chips and a pint or 3. sounds degenerate, right? not so much considering that i almost never drink at night. you see if imbibe just before going to bed i can't sleep. and when i don't sleep i'm a total wreck and absolutely useless the next day. so, if i'm going to drink, i like to do it during daylight hours so that i can be sober when i go to bed. oh, the joys of being self-employed! (a friend just called and wants to go out for a little afternoon knitting + beer. perfect!).

i feel i've been a bit remiss in not posting any photos of josephine and the amazing technicolor dream smock. the thing is that it's just a big stripey blob until i add the sleeves and i'm only 2/3 of the way through sleeve #1. i'll spare you the boring stripey details.

i designed this square for a group knitting project underway on the Yarnplayaers group on Ravelry. now if i could only a knit another 19 or so we'll be in business! i'm off to find a knitting project that can hold its own alongside a Stella or two....