the mighty momogus

Today is a veritable potpourri of crazy stuff!!

Okay, first of all, go here to see the five mightiest hairstyles of all time. These are NB's five handsome sons - those fro's are magnifique!!

Second, last night Matthew and I watched the first season of "The Office", courtesy of Netflix. This is the American version, and may I just say WA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Oh my God, it's the funniest show since...."Sports Night"! It was genius! Steve Carell is so awful and wondrous I can't believe it. And don't get me started on "Dwight Schrute". It helps to have worked in offices for many years - it's all so true! Same reason "Office Space" was so funny.

Third, the Phillies won last night in the 14th inning, after losing the lead like six times. It's a good thing I wasn't outside poised to change the flag every time they lost the lead. So, see - my flag does make them win! GO FLAG! [*see note below]


Fourth, I started another Christmas project for Someone Else Who Reads the Blog. It's one thing to be prepared and get these holiday projects finished in comfortable time, but it's another (very frustrating) thing to be doing these extremely cool projects and not be able to madly photograph them and write about them. Someday.....

Oh wait - here's something I can show. It will be a tiny adorable pink purse for my tiny adorable niece, Grace. I think every girl should have a little pink purse. [Now don't gimme any guff - I worked as a roofer for a year, and I say every girl should have a little pink purse!! And a hardhat, okay?] Here's the pattern I'm using, Fiber Trends Gelato Purses:


I don't know what yarn to use. I usually use Lamb's Pride Bulky, but the pattern instructions about yarn are a little vague - "210 yds each of a wool and a mohair that together will felt easily. A second strand of wool may be used in place of the mohair." C'mon, people - give me a yarn weight already, will ya??! I'd also like to use some nutty floofy yarn around the top, but again, I'm not quite sure how to incorporate it.

Fifth, this arrived in the mail today too. I think these will end up for me...someday... - 8 sts to the inch stranded does not make for stress-free holiday knitting. The dark color is charcoal. Pretty, no?

I love the neat inscrutable Norwegian yarn. And it all came in a Russell Stover Chocolates box, which raised my hopes momentarily, but hey, yarn's as good as chocolate.

And sixth, speaking of mittens, go here, but first sit down and have a cold compress for your head handy. I can't even imagine what gauge those are - like 800 sts to the inch! Mind-boggling......If you're still conscious, look at her slideshow. It is unbelievable - teensy tiny hats and vests and cups and saucers and vegetables - all knitted.

*Friday morning update - The Phillies lost again last night, so they are pretty much out of the postseason race. Matthew, in all seriousness, told me this morning he thought it was because I changed flags. Way to feed into my magical thinking, hub!! See, I was pretty sure it was me all along! Could it be...???

Oops - did I say "Discipline, thy name is Diana"? What I meant was, "DISTRACTION, thy name is Diana"!!! So, yes, I finished the body of the Orca Mitten and yes, I finished the sleeves of the BCP. Does that mean I actually finished the Orca Mitten and the BCP, so that it was okay to move on to new projects? Sadly no.

We have a joke at work that I am easily distracted. Mary, the owner of the Tangled Web, often will find me paused in the middle of the store with a pensive expression on my face. This means Diana has forgotten what she was doing. So she will say, gently, "Diana, did you forget what you were doing?" Sometimes this is enough to snap me back to reality and I will remember what I was doing. More often I cannot remember and start something else and an hour later find the sock I was in the middle of casting on or the bag of yarn I was pricing.

Something else that will easily distract me and fill me with childlike delight is shiny credit cards (alas, not my own). American Express makes translucent cards with a shiny blue holograph in the middle and Target Visas have shiny red and silver circles on them. If I am handed one of these by a customer, I will actually squeal with delight and wave it at Annie, the manager, exclaiming about "how cool" it is and "how shiny", while the customer gets a bemused expression on her face.

So ANYWAY, I got distracted by a shiny object. Please go here and see what it was. Please come back after you look at it. I'll wait......

Are you back? HOW COOL IS THAT??? I have "Handknit Holidays", but as always it took seeing someone else making something to make me want to make it. Plus she posted it on my birthday! It's kismet, I say! So after a vigorous teeth cleaning at the dentist today, I thought I would just wander over to Michael's and see if maybe there was something there that would maybe be interesting. Oh, I don't know...... like THIS:

See, I got a clear votive and a frosted one and a white candle and a red one - so I can experiment! I love experimenting! And some beads and some wire and some aluminum needles. I smell Christmas presents!!! These aren't the knitted hugs, because a wire hug wouldn't exactly be comforting, but they will be presents for somebody!

I also started a Christmas present for Somebody Who Reads The Blog, so I cannot show it. This makes me sad, since it is turning out way cool. I will faithfully document and reveal after the holidays.

Phillies lost an important game last night, so I could finally take our American flag down and put this up:

I had to leave the other flag up until the Phillies lost, so I wouldn't jinx them. I had taken down the Phillies flag and put up the American flag the last time they lost. I am caught in a web of magical thinking. I don't exactly think that my juggling of the flags makes them win or lose, but I'm not completely sure that it does not.

My sister sent me this:

Which made me do this:


See, it only takes the shmeensiest bit of guilt to get the Mighty Momogus going! I came home from work yesterday (taught the low pressure Double Trouble Felted Clutch class) and cast on while watching the Eagles game. I grit my teeth, encountered the same snag in the chart as in the first mitten, resisted the impulse to hurl it across the room, ploughed ahead, and finished the body!! Now I only have the dorsal fin and pectoral flippers to do.

It helped that I also finished the BCP sleeves. I was supposed to increase to 100 stitches to get a 20" width; somehow my gauge got a little hinky, and I reached 20" at 84 stitches. Huh. So of course the sleeve has a million rows of cap shaping, which I had to fudge madly. Who knows how these sleeves will fit in. If they do, it will be a triumph of ignorance and improvisation! Here they are with a little sumpin' I bought yesterday:


Do I have a problem?


Yes, it's another skein of Malabrigo. I think the blurriness of the Malabrigo pictures comes from me shaking with adoration. I have what seemed in the past to be a very strict rule about not buying yarn unless I had a project in mind, but this Malabrigo stuff has turned my head. I think it will be a pair of mittens for me. Or maybe a cabled neck warmer, though you wouldn't see the cables because it's so variegated. Who knows? I declare that this shalt be the last skein of Malabrigo I bring home. For a while.

What's next in the queue? I'm thinking maybe a little Gus gansey action. Some sort of combination of these two patterns:

One is Yankee Knitter Fisherlad Guernsey (how great a word is "fisherlad"??). The other is an old old Debbie Bliss pattern. I think I'll do the YK pattern and modify it a little with the DB hem, cuffs and collar. 'Cause I can. Not quite sure what yarn yet. Gotta poke around the old stash and see if there's something suitable for my little fisherlad.

I also have holiday knitting projects percolating in the back of my mind. I haven't knit presents that much in the past couple of years, but this year I feel like I want to make warm cozy things for my family because we had a tough year and it will be like I'm knitting them hugs. (Okay, I know that sounds all Hallmark-y and nutty, but I mean it. Now don't gimme any guff!)

Look who's in FIRST PLACE in the wildcard standings:

Yes, that would be excellente Chris Coste and the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Seven games left and they're a half a game ahead of the Dodgers. Cross your fingers and toes. I know I am - WHOOPS!! I FELL OVER!!!

I haven't posted since Tuesday! What's up with that? Pesky work getting in the way of The Mighty Momogus! Did you miss me??? Well, let's see what's been going on.....

Discipline thy name IS Diana! Look, I've knit almost 16" of BCP sleeve (twice!). Only 2" left before cap shaping and I shalt be blessedly finished with sleevage:



The Tangled Web brought in Malabrigo yarn this fall, and it is TO DIE FOR. It's as yummy-looking as Manos, but it's crazy-soft and gorgeous to work with and way more yardage for $3 less a skein. So yes I succumbed to its siren call and brought this home:



I'm thinking simple cap or mittens. I am cursed with a fierce love of making mittens, but having only one pair of hands. Watch out, friends and family - I feel Mitten Frenzy coming on!!

Speaking of mittens, I cannot bring myself to cast on for the second Orca Mitten. I need you, my readers, to shame me into making that second mitten. C'mon, bring on the blog pressure!! Bring on the guilt!

MVP Countdown = 58 Home Runs


I got a spam email this morning from the Champion of All Spam Email Names: Vichyssoise V. Crybaby

Well, Dad and I went to the Phillies game last night and though the company was delightful and the Phillies scored 6 runs in one inning, they lost. Together the Phillies and the Cubs used 35 players. Here's my crazy scorecard:
Phillies
Cubbies

I went off to the souvenir store to buy a t-shirt for Gus in the 4th inning, which is when all hell broke out. It is our custom to maintain the scorecard of the other person when one of us takes a break, so poor Dad had to keep score TWICE during the two busiest innings ever. He was relieved to see me when I returned. Jose Hernandez hit a grand slam, which was very cool, but it was not enough. Alas.

I snuck off to Yarnings this morning to peruse their button collection. We just don't have exactly what I wanted at the mighty Tangled Web. I did indeed find the perfect button. It's doing a sort of a brassy moon-and-stars thing.

LOVE!!!

FInished Object:


And because I must check out what other places are carrying I came across this (please excuse crazy blurry picture):


LOOK at the color:


"Graceful" yarn from Yarn Place. 2400 yards of 100% laceweight wool in "Irish Lass" colorway for $23.50. Yikes. The price point and the color gave me the vapors, like a Victorian lady. Oh yeah, it came home with me. Now I must put it away from me and concentrate on 1) Orca Mitten II 2) BCP Sleeves 3) Mustard Pi Shawl. Yes, discipline - thy name is Diana..................................isn't it?

Here are my earnest spinners, concentrating on their class:


Yay! Triumphant new spinners!!


So yesterday was great at work. My spinning class went fabulously - I was so proud of my wonderful students. They made yarn! Then Margaret Radcliffe had her appearance at the store; she was terrific - really nice and really knowledgeable. I bought two of her patterns, which she signed for me.

I could have kicked myself around the block because I didn't bring the mighty Orca Mitten to show her. We talked about it though. I told her I enjoyed how involved the knitting was; which was of course a lie, as my devoted readers know, but I didn't want to say, "Gee, that pattern was so frustrating I threw the whole mitten across the room, Margaret! What gives??"

Here is my haul from yesterday: "Spin-Off" magazine (which arrived in the mail), the two Margaret Radcliffe (autographed!) patterns. One is for mittens with a charming heart-shaped cable motif, and the other is for three different Fair Isle-pattern Christmas stockings. (Fair Isle means no intarsia!! Oops! I LOVE intarsia!!). I also bought yarn for a Mystery Project, which I will be starting soon. That's the sable Lamb's Pride Worsted and the pink and brown Desert. What will it beeee???? Stay tuned! I also made a little more progress on the Bilious Shawl!


Eagles lost in ignominious fashion yesterday, BUT the Phillies won!! Yippee! This man hit Number 57!

Dad and I are off to the Phillies game this evening. They play the Cubbies. Cross yer fingers!

I re-read some of my past entries and wanted to clear something up. I seem to be making a big stink all the time about how much I loathe certain things: knitting sleeves, intarsia, kitchener stitch, short-rows. What a negative impression that creates! And that's not me by a long shot. So I'm going to turn over a new positive-minded leaf about these things. Repeat after me:

1. I LOVE knitting sleeves!
2. I LOVE intarsia!
3. I LOVE kitchener stitch!
4. I LOVE short-rows!

Without all these lovely things, we would have cold arms, no properly-orca-colored mittens, bulky seams, and no shape. And what kind of world would that be?

Now apparently I need to repeat my mantra a little bit more intensely because I have not knit any more on the BCP sleeves nor have I cast on for the second Orca Mitten. Instead, the siren song of my laceweight yarn stash drowned out my chanting. I bought this handpainted laceweight yarn here ages ago.


I'm not going to take a million pictures to try to capture the color on camera. It is the most intense bilious mustardy chartreuse you can imagine. It is SUBLIME. I can't stand how beauteous it is!! So anyway, the insanity of the color does not lend itself to use in traditional "shawl-y" type patterns. So I decided to try this pattern.


"Half Pi Shawl" from, yes, ANOTHER LYS. But that's okay - it's good to spread the joy. The pattern is pleasantly mindless and shows the demented color to wonderful effect. And this yarn is soft!! BONUS!

Phillies keep on winning! Yesterday, this guy (cole hamels):

took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. He's exactly half my age, born AFTER I graduated from college. Oy. But hey, he doesn't have to marry me - just keep pitching the way he has. My erstwhile friend Pat Burrell went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts (OUCH) and is back in the MM Doghouse, after poking his head out briefly when he hit a grand slam on Friday. And apparently I jinxed Ryan Howard by putting that home run counter on the blog last week. He hasn't hit one since, and yesterday he did hit one, but some little punky Astros fan reached out and knocked it back into play. Phils are still 1.5 games behind the Padres, but they're starting to pull away from the other folks. CROSS YER FINGERS!!

I teach the second half of my spinning class this morning. We'll be learning to ply. Ha - that reminds me of one of my favorite Tom Petty songs, "Learning to Fly". Well, if you were all huge Tom Petty fans out there, I'd make up some unbelievably clever parody song about spinning and plying, but you'll be happy to know that I'm not going to.

Knitting news below! But first, I need to chime in on some of the pressing pop culture issues of the day, most celebrity-baby-related.

1. I received the latest "Vanity Fair" with the pictures of baby Suri. Please know that I think Tom Cruise has some seriously misguided notions and I hated how he talked about Brooke Shields, but I thought the pictures of baby Suri were wonderful. She's beautiful, and her parents looked at her like she was the sun. They made me happy.

2. Britney Spears's new son is named Sutton Pierce. I have to say that I think that is just a gorgeous name for a boy. Props to you, Mrs. F.

3. Siskel and Momogus Movie Report: I watched "Match Point" (with Scarlett Johansen and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, directed by Woody Allen) the other day. May I just say I believe that this is the most depressing movie ever made?! It made "Sideways" seem like "Animal House". Jonathan Rhys Meyers was delicious, just like in "Bend It Like Beckham" (one of the most joyous movies ever made, btw) but good lord was that movie a downer. I felt like I needed to take a shower afterwards.

Thank you to all who responded to the Oreo Consumption Technique Debate. While many of you concurred with my technique, there were many who didn't. It was a stimulating intellectual exercise - just the sort of thing we feature here at TMM!

I finished one of the Orca Mittens. Picking up the stitches around the cuff was so mindless (the first thing in these mittens that's been easy!!!) I almost cried. Friend Francesca pointed out that a 38-stitch Kitchener run is nowhere near as horrible as it could be, which is true, but it was still a nerve-wracking 10 minutes of my life.


Here is a picture of Gus wearing the Orca Mitten (hilariously slack-jawed expression due to the pernicious influence of Saturday morning cartoons):


I also got tired of knitting the body of the BCP, so I started the sleeves. I have about 3" more of the body to do before I split for the front and back. I loathe knitting sleeves with a passion that knows no bounds, so I try to knit them first or at least get them done before the body is done. And though I also dislike working with two balls of yarn at the same time (smacks of intarsia), getting both sleeves done at once is worth it. Progress shot:


Phillies won last night and the Padres lost, so the Phillies are now 1.5 games out of the wild card lead. This guy hit a grand slam:


GO PHILS!!

I have not a whit of knitting news to share. I haven't done anything, Orca-Mitten or BCP-wise. All I've been doing is cleaning and working. Perhaps tomorrow I will have something more interesting to share.

In the meantime, please feel free to chime in on the following debate raging here at Chez MM:


Matthew and I were watching an Oreos commercial where a kid and her grandmother have a race eating Oreos. They both remove the top cookie layer, then furiously lick out the icing, replace the cookie layer and then dunk the resulting icing-less cookie in milk. I said, "Why are they doing that?" And Matthew said, "Well, that's how you eat an Oreo." And I said, "Say what?? You remove the top cookie layer (to achieve the proper icing-to-cookie ratio) eat the resulting icing-topped cookie, and then eat the top cookie layer last."

WELL, you'd think I had sprouted two pectoral flippers the way he looked at me!! Am I crazy? This is how I've always eaten Oreos. Can it be wrong? And let me tell you, if it's wrong, I don't wanna be right!! How do other people eat Oreos?

I have it on reliable sources (that would be Dad and Laura) that what I referred to in my non-scientific way as a "side fin" (or in knitting-orca-mittens circles what is known as a "thumb fin") is officially known as a "pectoral fin" or "pectoral flipper". Dad hazarded "pectoral fin" as a guess; Laura, as is her way, did some furious googling and came up with "pectoral flipper". I'm thinking that mammals have flippers, not fins. Not to disagree with my honored father.... But now that I'm actually thinking about it, I don't think that thing on the back is a "dorsal flipper" - it's a "dorsal fin"....same with the tail fin. It's surely not called a "tail flipper"! Maybe only the side fins are called flippers....OH FORGET IT!!!!

I am very frustrated by my picture-taking. I look at other blogs and their pictures are really nice - clear, well-composed, whatever. Mine look like they were taken with an Instamatic from 1973. (I know, I know - Instamatics took better pictures than these! I'm just saying....)

I finished, almost, one of the Orcatastic mittens. I just need to pick up stitches and make a cuff. Lookee here:


Argh - I'm embarrassed at how bad these pictures are!! In my defense, a small mitten shaped like an orca whale is difficult to photograph.

For all you knitters out there, here is a photo of the longest stretch of Kitchener stitch you could imagine:

38 stitches long - fortunately, I'm over my Kitchener-phobia, so it wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, I'm not over my intarsia/short-row-phobia in re the second mitten, but hey, it will be over soon.

(This picture, while also not so great, cracks me up. Look at Silly McNoseypants!)

In Orca Mittens News, I made the dorsal fin and one, uh, side fin yesterday. [scientific query: I'm pretty sure those fins on the side are not called "side fins". What are they called?] Even though this pattern IS the knitting equivalent of building a nuclear reactor - I have never knit something so weird and complicated and nerbous-making - it is TO-DIE-FOR cute!!!

(Remember when I said I was going to use Gus's camera, because my camera was taking such bad pictures? I think this picture, taken with Gus's camera, proves that it is probably not the camera's fault that it is taking such bad pictures. Note to self: Before taking blog photos, have some coffee. Also, do not take pictures when you have to leave to drive Gus to school in 30 seconds.....)

I also wheedled and whined until mighty Sister Laura came over and was my test subject for my spinning class. She was an incredibly apt student and look what she produced!!!

I'm so proud of her!

My spinning class turned out to be a blast! All the ladies did great! I was so pleased with them. And may I just say.....PHEW!

Phillies got shut out by that ding-dang Dontrelle Willis and lost to the Marlins yesterday. The Eagles won, however, which is very nice. But I was at work, so I missed all the fun.

Ryan Howard For MVP!! - Home Run Countdown = 56

Margaret Radcliffe is appearing at the Tangled Web on September 17. We got a shipment of her patterns and a trunk show yesterday at the store. My nephew Charlie is a huge fan of orca whales right now, so when I saw this I jumped at it. I bought the pattern and some Encore Worsted and cast on last night:


Why, how tidy and neat the mitten appears! Doesn't it??? Let me just say that there are 2 techniques that I loathe in knitting - one is short rows and the other is intarsia. The next picture will show you the depth of my love for my nephew:


See, I tricked you with that first picture!!! This is the horror that was lurking beneath! Shiver me timbers, matey!! Millions of ends! Millions of stupid short row "wrap and turns"!! At one point last night, I actually flung the whole she-bang across the room. Thank the lord it was only 39 rows - I came close to impaling myself on those circular needles in order to end the pain.

I think the worst part is over. Now I have to make "fins", one of which is the thumb - cute, eh? The sizing was a little problematic - Charlie is 4 so I thought I'd make the extra-small - but when I measured Gus his hand was smaller than the "extra small" in one direction and as large as the "adult" in another. Huh? Oh well, perhaps these will just be a test pair, because I would really really like to do more short-row shaping and intarsia!!

Tomorrow is my spinning class. It is full now, with a waiting list. I wasn't so "nerbous" (as Gus used to say) when there were only 2 people signed up last week, but apparently now everyone in the Delaware Valley suddenly needs to learn, and they have all turned to me. Gulp. My good sport sister Laura agreed to be a test subject - I'm going to try out my teaching technique on her today. I'll report on that later.

Or maybe just I am! I finished "Out of Africa" and "The DaVinci Code" and also saw "Sideways" last night. Here's my two cents (and then we'll be on to fiber-related activities): "Out of Africa" was gorgeous, elegaic, wonderful. There was some correlation with the movie, but it was more a series of shorthand sketches than a full-blown novel. Highly recommended.

"The DaVinci Code" was a rip-snorting intellectual page-turner for about three-quarters of it, and then completely went kerbluey, like air out of a balloon. Talk about anti-climactic! It was thought-provoking, however, and I can see why there was such a kerfluffle about it. Recommended with reservations.

I rented "Sideways" from Netflix and it arrived yesterday. Matthew and my dad went to the Phillies game last night, so after Gus and I had our First-Day-Of-School (see photo below) Celebratory Fried-Food-Fest and he went to bed, I sat down to watch the movie. It was like the opposite of "The DaVinci Code". I kept thinking, "This is the most boring movie ever. Why did everyone love this movie so much? Should I keep watching this boring movie?" I thought that it was going to be rowdier - more of a laff riot. But then there came the moment when Paul Giamatti describes the pinot noir grape to Virginia Madsen, which is just a wrenchingly beautiful moment, and I began to love him and the movie. It's too complicated to explain if you haven't seen the movie, but those of you who have seen it probably know what I'm talking about. As the movie wound down, I was thinking, "Oh my God, this is the saddest movie ever made!" But then it kind of pulls out of its tailspin right at the end. It had a beautiful quiet hopeful wry ending which redeemed the rest of the movie. This isn't a goofy "Wedding Crashers" feel-good movie, but I highly recommend it. And of course, Paul Giamatti (who was mind-blowingly amazing) is the son of Bart Giamatti, the best baseball commissioner we ever had. Coincidence? I don't think so!

What's new in fiber-land? Well, after I re-got the hang of spinning I was thumbing through some spinning books I have and realized that I had spun my yarn in the wrong direction. Huh. No wonder it felt so awkward! There's technically no "right" or "wrong" direction, but like 99.9999% of yarn is spun counter-clockwise and then plied clockwise. I had spun it clockwise. DOH! I took that yarn off the spindle and spun up some in the other direction, and it was fine.


I am also progressing nicely on the Braided Cable Pullover (henceforth to be known catchily as, ah, BCP). Here is a (pretty awful) shot, which kind of shows the beauteous mossy green better. I think I'm going to try Gus's digital camera for a while.


In MMNNP news, I bought this this morning, hoping perhaps the hummingbird I saw a couple of weeks ago will return. I had a hummingbird feeder a couple of years ago, but it got no play. Hope springs eternal:


And I made nectar!!!

(It's actually just sugar and water, but hummingbirds call it nectar!)


Here is a newly-minted first grader, who later reported that his first day was "the greatest day of my life!" (though you wouldn't suspect that from his HI-lariously sour expression here):

No time off for this knitter/spinner - I'm spending Labor Day laboring!

Here's what I finished yesterday:

Yep, both are done. These are for a friend who's taken good care of me this stupid-awful year. But believe you me, there's a pair for me in the works! I heartily recommend this pattern - each mitten, even with all the crazy flaps and fingers, only took a day or two to knit. And it's fun knitting!! Well, it was for me; your mileage may vary.

Anyway, I vowed to spin again this weekend. And so I did. And it was a good thing I decided to practice a little before I taught my victims - oops, I mean, students! I had kind of, sort of, shall we say, forgotten, what to do. The ensuing yarn (mercifully hidden in the middle of the wound yarn) was, ah, very artistically thick and thin. I had been able to get a pretty consistent yarn before, but the stuff I started out spinning yesterday was inconsistent, to say the least. Look at the ball of Grafton Fibers roving spread out on my sofa!!


I would just like to wrap it around myself!! The cats were asleep at the wheel for this choice opportunity - one leap onto this stuff and they could have wreaked holy havoc. But they were off someplace else, probably both sitting in a box lid in the basement.

Here's what I spun:


Not so bad, after I got the hang of it again. I'll try to get a better shot of the colors of the yarn. It's very strongly orange, then very strongly magenta, but you can't really tell from this shot. It should be dementedly beautiful knit up.

I'm not usually big on knitting sweaters for myself. In fact, I think I have only knit four sweaters for myself over the past 13 years. As I said before, I like the look of a very plain sweater, which is deathly boring for me to knit. And if I want something complicated, I like to knit lace. But I've felt the need recently to knit big, comfy sweaters for myself. So since I finished the KP&S Cardigan, I went into my stash (only knitters will know how bizarre that is!!), found some gorgeous mossy green Cascade 220 and cast on for this sweater:


I'm doing the V-neck. You can't really tell how deeply gorgeous the green is or see how great-looking the pattern photo is. Huh - note to self: perhaps I should not be taking pictures at 7am before I've had coffee. Anyway, the yarn is a little dark for optimal cable viewing, but I don't care. The cables will be subtle. And I always forget how nice Cascade is to knit with.

Have a good holiday, everyone! I'll be knitting and spinning and watching the Phillies game - now that's a good day!

What does it mean???