Before:

After:

For all my brave talk last night, I stalled around quite a bit before I frogged it back this evening. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it all day today. One week of work, gone. Oh well. My own personal challenge… how long will it take me to get back to this point?

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I’d take a progress photo but then maybe I would be upset and it would just be too much to deal with. Rick’s sweater doesn’t fit… and I’m to the point of starting the ribbing band at the bottom of the sweater body. It was wishful thinking and I should have listened to my inexperienced self for once. I was doing increases on each side every 10 rows; I’ll up that to every five rows this time.

The really good part is, it’s just stockinette stitch. Mindless knitting. Back and forth, back and forth. I knit and purled rows tonight without really paying attention to what I was doing and was surprised when I got to the end of a row. Of course, I could miss an increase or three that way and will have to be careful, but I am ready to get started again.

Maybe pictures tomorrow.

Maybe.

Right now, I’m really wanting him to want to wear the darn thing. With upcoming medical stuff for him to cope with, he is going to want a sweater that fits. I’ll give him one. Put all that together and it means I’m not at all upset about frogging back six inches of sweater. That and the miracle of spit joins. I’m a happy knitter tonight.

Really weird, I know.

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I made up for a lot of lost time this weekend (and the house isn’t so clean to prove it).

I didn’t realize it had grown so much until I took the photo this evening. It was quite a thrill, actually. I almost feel like I’m getting somewhere… at least until I remember I have to knit the sleeves too. IF I can manage the same level of knitting this week, I might just have the body of the sweater done next weekend.

Time will tell.

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Soooooooo, in case you were wondering from my last post, it turns out I did not have a macular hole. Yay! I did, however, have a tear in the retina of my right eye which was allowing fluid to move behind the retina itself. That was causing the retina to detach, and though I was not having any symptoms at all the doctor strongly suggested I have a little laser surgery to stop the tear and the detaching before it got much worse. And so I did. Not so much in the fun department but not as horrible as I’d expected either. I’d rather not do it at all but at least I know that I can if I’m required to do so again.

Ahem.

I just really really hope I don’t have to do it again.

That light was incredibly bright and I will admit to being a little less composed afterward than I wished to be. Such is life.

I was told to expect to see some floaters and flashes of light and boy have I ever. Even now I keep thinking something is crawling across the floor at my feet and that there are some pretty massive lightning bugs outside the window to my right. Not so much to impede my vision, just enough to make it a little more interesting.

I go back in two weeks (more like 10 days now - yay). I’ve got my fingers crossed he doesn’t come at me with a laser beam again. I’m still a wimp.

Rick’s sweater is coming along nicely. I put it on a larger cable so he could try it on and it fits! I am practically giddy about it! At least my sparkly vision (one just now on my shoulder and again out the window) doesn’t keep me from knitting. I can’t ask for much more than that!

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Because I like purple, right? Rick actually picked out the color for his cardigan (second down on the left) so perhaps I’m rubbing off on him?

I divided for the sleeves today which felt quite satisfying. Most evenings I manage an hour to knit if I’m lucky. I started the sweater a week ago (Monday, actually) so I’m telling myself I’m moving along just fine. I’m thrilled that I don’t have to worry about setting in sleeves this go round. I didn’t do such a great job at it my last attempt (poor sweater hasn’t seen the light of day since that blog post) and will knit top down as often as possible to avoid the stress. I am a knitting wimp.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to determine if I need eye surgery to repair a possible macular hole. I’m so excited. *sigh* I’m nervous enough that I don’t know if I can knit in the waiting room. That’s nervous for me.

Maybe I’m just a wimp all over? lol I can live with that!

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Rick picked out this color for this sweater (rav link). I am practically jumping out of my seat to get started and will give only 4½ minutes to this post.

It’s a little more purple than he realized but I’m not worried. If it’s too much as I work on it I can always dye it for him down the road.

I picked out the new Imagination in Damsel for a Clapotis for one of my bosses at work. She likes purples. I can do purple. See above.

This yarn is unbelievably soft.

Do you think we have purple on the brain around here?

I promised Rick a collar tonight. Must fly!

Oh, and Lolly likes my cowl! I’m happy!!

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It’s big, Lolly. I mean, totally my fault and everything. Bulky weight yarn never ever EVER will substitute worsted weight yarn, not ever (unless someone - not me - takes the time to consider a crazy little thing called gauge - then appropriate changes could be made. That’s not me.) It’s big.

I don’t even want to show a photo of how wide around the darn thing is, I’m too embarrassed.

Get the idea?

The really great thing is that I should, hands down, have the warmest neck in Georgia when cold weather gets here.

I’ll be making another one, very soon. I do love the pattern (pdf) and the end result. I love your end result even more, Lolly, and will aspire to your shining example.

Just not this week.

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And it’s going to be a little big. I cast on bunches of stitches, following Lolly’s Lichen Cowl pattern like a good girl should. Excepting I’m using Moda-Dea Tweedle Dee in Surf ‘n Turf, which is bulky weight yarn, no matter how much I try to tell myself it’s a heavy worsted weight. I’m so funny sometimes. So. Funny. And you’d think the fact that the pattern calls for size 8 needles and that I’m using size 11 would have clued me in. It didn’t.

I folded it in half so you wouldn’t be horrified at its width - or shocked at my stubbornness in still knitting what is so obviously too big. Maybe it won’t be so bad once I cast off. We shall see, and continue to dream.

(I’m really just hoping like crazy that the yarn for Rick’s cardigan shows up tomorrow. I want to be WIP free when it does, so no starting over on this poor cowl. Not to say that I won’t make the cowl again, correctly, at a date in the near future. It’s a lovely, easy and fast pattern.)

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This is quite possibly the first ever FO (of mine) that I started and finished ages before it was due. The beginning of a trend of sorts as I started a cowl tonight too, and it’s way too hot for cowl wearing these days. I’ll be prepared. And if KnitPicks has my yarn here on Monday, well, it’ll be sweater knitting time too. Three things in a row done well before I need them? I’m going to lose my procrastination title! (Queen of, thank you very much.)

Good ol’ Red Heart baby yarns - Lilac and Snookums Print. I used two whole entire skeins of each, only leaving two or three feet of yarn to spare. This totally explains why I went for an unknown soft green for the edging: I ran out of the purple and didn’t want to frog back a round to do it properly. It needed a wider purple section on the outside in my opinion, I wasn’t about to lose one to finish it. So, the green, which I’m not thrilled with but probably will leave in place. It’s done (except for the weaving in of ends but we won’t mention that)?

37 inches square which is amazingly warm to sit under. It reminds me how thankful I am that nobody has requested a full-sized afghan lately!

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Well, the blanket is done. I don’t know if she’s delivered yet but hadn’t as of yesterday at 5:30. Poor woman.

It’s not terribly big, only 28 x 23 inches but I just ran out of steam on this one. It took me almost four days to come up with that beautiful border (four rounds of sc and one of reverse sc). I’m beat. It’s that G hook, I’m telling you. Sucked the very life out of me. That and baby due any moment pressure got to me (or so I’m telling myself). So, if she was waiting on me to finish to have the baby, she can go for it now. Sorry Allison!

And then, just because I like working on small projects I started another baby blanket this afternoon.

Nothing much yet for size, but it will certainly go faster this time around. One of the guys in my department has a family member expecting soon so it seems like the thing to do. A giant granny square which will work up quickly as I’ve got two big projects waiting in the wings: a sweater for Rick and my first Clapotis. I’m just waiting on the yarn to arrive. Knitpicks really likes me this week.

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