You know when you're on a roll and you just can't put the knitting down til you finish? Well, that was last night. I was on the hood and at last measurement before I sat down to knit, I needed another 7-8 inches to go before binding off. Woo hoo, right? Well, I did close to 6 and tried to drape Mariah on me and see how the hood was coming along and realized, hey, you'd get a better idea of how much more to do if one side was sewn and could actually sit nicely on the body. So out came the needle and one side got sewn up. And then I knit a few more rows. And then I started weaving in some ends. And that's about when the hubby came out into the living room and said, what on earth are you doing up at 1am? Yeah, 1am. And by the time I put everything away, took my contacts out and everything, I wasn't in bed til 1:30. So I'm struggling at work this morning.

In other knitting news, I've abandoned the second stripey sock. Poor sock is half finished; I have to pick up heel stitches and do the gusset decreases and I'm home free on the foot, but the lure of a package from Threadbear containing one skein of Helen's Lace in the Glenwood colorway had me winding it up and starting another Clapotis. I'm using it doubled like Six and a Half Stitches. I'm wavering on making it smaller than my first one, but we'll see how anxious I am to get to the 3rd section and eager to drop stitches.

I still have not received my one orange skein of Takhi Cotton Classic II from Yarnware.com. I know it's on backorder, so I can't fault them, but I'm anxious to finish up the baby blanket and send it off to it's new owner. The baby is due in May, and while I do still have time, it's sitting there yelling at me to finish it. Finally something out of my control. Maybe, just maybe, anyone who reads this and has one orange skein of Cotton Classic II, and it must be II, in their stash would want to send it to me? I'll love you forever and would be glad to send you something in return....homemade cookies, some sock yarn, my boss. Oh wait, sending you my boss doesn't make you want to give me yarn. Scratch that.

Mariah progress

So, almost 2 weeks after my sleeve debacle, this is where I am in Mariah. It's dark, but you can see that there is a LOT of progress!



I have another 12 2 row decrease repeats on the yoke and then it's on to the hood. And I'm hoping to have it done this week...my boss is out of the office 2 days this week! :)

Because it's too big for train knitting now, I'll have the stripey sock done by the end of the week as well. That leaves the baby blanket left and well, I can't do that since I'm missing the orange for the intarsia of the duck. S'ok though. I got my TKGA Level I package and will focus on the swatches. Or, when I go to Flying Fingers, maybe I'll pick a new project up! :)

Just for fun...my little guy playing around:

The first sleeve

Mariah's first sleeve, finished this morning at work.

We have a sleeve!

Well, almost a sleeve. I've got close to 16 inches on the first sleeve for Mariah. I'm a bit nervous though...the sleeve increases say to continue in pattern, and I took that to mean once enough stitches, put another cable. I've looked at other Mariah's and their sleeves are plain. Obviously you can't see the underside of the arm in the picture, but am I making too much work for myself? Why do I even ask? I'm going to leave as is; I'm not frogging back 10 inches. Pics to come tonight/tomorrow when I have them.

Looking forward to my yarn shopping trip to Flying Fingers on their yarn bus. My mom, sister and I have a date with the bus on the 19th. I hope I can control myself...their Blue Sky Alpaca is on sale til the 20th. Mmmmm...Blue Sky Alpaca.

I have neglected the second Stripey Sock. The poor thing calls to me, but I'm deaf to its cries because of Mariah. Mariah's cries to be worked on are much louder. Poor Stripey Sock. Will have to give it some love this weekend.

Cry

Can I just say how sad I am? I cast on Sunday evening for Mariah, did the cuff and put it down to work on the train to work. Worked til I had roughly 7 or 8 inches of the sleeve. Cables looked great. Took day off today and was super psyched to have a whole day to knit. Picked up where I left off and at about 13 inches, looked at the work and was amazed at the cables. But noticed it looked kinda small. I know I was on gauge, but I measured anyway. Measurements off. Looked at the pattern, and that's when I noticed. I didn't do any increases, starting at about 6 inches. And since the cables are slightly complex, I couldn't rip back to 6 inches with ease. I ripped out the entire thing. Even hubby sympathized with me over the phone. It hurts. The cuff is knit again and I'm not psyched anymore to knit this sweater. :(