Is it the music that connects me to you?

I stayed up last night knitting until about 3 AM trying to finish Ms. Danvers. The main body is finished, all the ends are woven in. I finally decided on a graphic motif of vines for the front, and a square neck. I crocheted the contrasting color (black) around the armholes and neckhole. All seemed to go well. The short row shaping under the arms worked out great - it doesn't look deformed. Contrary, it looks like it was made to fit me. Because, it sort of was. Not totally. I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't swatch (I never do. That's my guilty secret - I never swatch. I eyeball), I didn't take measurements. I just cast on and started going.

I wrote down most of the pattern as I went. A lot of it is, more or less "knit to suit yourself" or "you have to judge". The instruction of "You have to judge" has driven my mother nuts for years. A lot of knitting requires that you judge for yourself, based on your own personal preferences. I knit whatever I please, most of the time. I freestyle, if you will. My mother wants me to teach her to knit before I go back to Ohio. I think this lady will be driven nuts. Sure, there are those knitters who are rigid and follow every pattern down to a T. But I'm not one of those. And because there are as many ways to knit as there are knitters, I think she'll go batty if I try to teach her and my methods end up being different (and I know they are) from every source she tries to find for help. I doubt I'll end up teaching her, it will save lots of stress for all parties.

David's knitting is coming along well. He just made what he calls his first "real" project - an MP3 Player cozy. Being the cutie that he is, he made it from BRIGHT RED fingering weight wool yarn on size 8 needles. It's very lacy sort of and very very stretchy. I should get a pic of it, but he hasn't let it out of his sight since he seamed it. I don't know what he plans to make next.

Back to Ms. Danvers, though. I really just need to add the hood and everything will be finished. Unfortunately, there are no good, clear, tutorials covering how to add a hood. Everything I find is so mucky and murky in detail, I don't even want to try it. And since I spent most of last night trying, I'm super frustrated. I picked up the stitches on the back of the shirt and knit those up with increases in the middle. The picked up stitches are nowhere near large enough to cover a head. The area I knit (complete with a vine lace pattern crawling up the back of the hood to echo the vine intarsia on the front) is big enough for maybe the back of the hood. So I'm thinking I could just pick up the area around the "back part" of the hood I knit last night, plus pick up two stitches on the neckline for each row. (one on each side of the neck) and that might make an awesome hood. I'm not sure, though. I guess I'll give it a try. I don't really want to pull out more of my knitting ( I attempted making sides of the hood last night. It turned out disasterous).

After Ms. Danvers is finished, I'll either start my and David's socks, my armwarmers (PURPLE! YAY!) or finish up the Shawl of Minty Goodness.

I have a pattern for the armwarmers. They'd knit up in a day or two. The socks, I have no clue on yet. The Shawl of Minty Goodness might take a week to finish, at most.

I went to the craft store yesterday (AC Moore) and picked up size 1 and 2 double pointed needles. I also took a needle inventory yesterday. I'm not doing so bad. What I don't have in straights, I have in double points and circs, and vice versa. So I've got all my sizes covered. I'm one of those odd people who refuses to use anything larger than size 15 needle, so I've got all the sizes I'll use covered. Except the elusive 000. I think I'll die and go crazy without the size 000. I want to be one of those brave, courageous, insane knitters that tackles intricate lace bedspreads on size 000. Or just to knit my doll clothes, you know? I have size 0. But not 000. Ooooh, how i want a size 000!

While at AC Moore, I also tried to pick up some sock yarn. The employees were without a clue. Me: "Sock yarn?"
Them: " What's that?"
Me: " Double Knitting weight?"
Them:" WHat's that?"
Me: " Lace weight? Fingering weight?"
Them: " That sounds dirty. Ohhh! You mean baby yarn! Yeah, we have a whole shelf of Red Heart/Caron/Bernat/Lion Brand over here."

Arrghh! No. Sock yarn. Sock yarn that is made into socks. Not the gigantic chunky stuff that looks like braids of rope. Not the acrylic stuff that will make someone's feet sweat horribly and isn't even the right weight anyway. No No No! As much as I love Lion Brand....their magic stripes wasn't even available for sale at this particular Ac Moore. I considered Microspun for about a minute before I realized that I hate working with it. And my only problems with using baby yarn for the socks is that they're ALL pastel, and the acrylic content could lead to some foot fungus.

I don't want to have to resort to buying all my sock yarn online. I really don't. JoAnn's is a little bit better, but I can't seem to get a ride there. Not yet, anyway. Maybe before I leave, I don't know.

Begrudingly, I picked up some Lion Brand Wool Ease for David's socks. I wanted to make him black and red ones. But did the store have any black worsted Wool Ease in stock? No way. That would have made my trip too easy. So I picked up the closest color substitute I can think of for black - dark grey. It wasn't until I got back to the car, yarn purchased, did I realize that dark red and dark grey are David's former high school's colors. Ick. School spirit is not synonymous with either of our names. So I'll use the red for the socks, plus whatever else I can find in my stash thats suitable, and the grey for something else. I have no plans yet.

I did manage to pick up some Sugar N Creme Cotton at Ac Moore though, in colors I really love. There's Hot Blue and Warm Brown, which will look awesome together. Warm Brown is a chocolatey color, and Hot Blue is an almost neon turquoise. I've loved those colors together since last year, when on a craft run outing with an ex, I found a piece of clearance brocade in those colors. Marked down to 4$ from $13. Yeah, I was happy. I had big plans for that fabric. A corset, or needle roll. One of the two. But when I left for college, I left my darling fabric behind by accident, and my father swiped it to re-cover my family's computer chair. I'm still pissed.

In addition to the Warm Brown and Hot Blue, I got a Hot Green as well. A nice, neon green that looks good with the Hot Blue and Warm Brown. Are we seeing a color naming trend, by the way? There was an awesome pine green color at the store, a really vibrant dark green, but I didn't get it. I'm upset. Its name was probably Dark Green, though. So I'm not at a big loss. The cotton will all become washcloths for when David and I move into our new space.


So much to do, so little time. So many size 8 needles to do it on! (after taking inventory, I realized JUST HOW MANY size 8 needles I have. Oy vey!)