Ranting and Rambling

We are well beyond the bounds of the "Friday-ish" sweater and still no post! Until yesterday, it needed three more buttons and some ends re-woven in. I had an argument with a button and its placement in the promised week, which ended in undoing the bind-off of one button band and binding off a tad looser. Turns out, it wasn't the poor button's fault, but a problem I've always had with yarn-overs paired with directional decreases.

They are smaller paired with one than the other, which means the lace detail across the top of the cardigan doesn't match up when I button it because it's lower on one side than the other. Aggressive blocking might do the trick, but it takes a hell of a pull to get them to line up, so I'm skeptical. The worst part is, it will never matter because I don't intend to wear it buttoned, but I still care SO MUCH! In any case, it is officially done and ready for pictures.

In other news, I have in my possession quantities of yarn for two coveted summer tops (i.e., sleeveless, a nice break after the Winter of Sleeves) and it is KILLING me that I can't cast anything new on until I have finished a significant number of works-in-progress. It's supposed to be motivating me, but it might be having the opposite effect. I haven't knit much in the last couple of weeks. Only 2.5 sleeves left.

I broke down and swatched the minty stuff last night. I'm going to start that top tomorrow, in-progress sleeves be damned.

I basically wrote this post to rant about all the stuff I'm not doing. I feel better about it. Your turn! Rant here or forever hold your peace! You can rant on your blog and I'll happily go read it there too. :)

*Waves*

Hi! I swear I don't mean to lapse into weeks of silence. In fact, I wanted to post last week just to warn you (for once) that I wasn't going to get a chance to post last week week, but...well...I didn't get a chance to post! The last two weeks have been CRAZY. Fortunately, things are starting to slow down a little bit and sweaters are being finished, spring is in the air!

Last week, I said, "NO!" to all my obligations, and started on something for myself. I'd been knitting (am still knitting), but that's always for myself and all the sleeves were really starting to kill me, so I did something that wasn't knitting sleeves for a few nights. It's only mildly interesting, at best, I'll bet, but I'm going to show you because I need to write some blog posts!

I bought some alpaca and some special wool to make wigs for my dolls. Dolls plural. I haven't talked about them for a while, so last you knew I had one. I'm up to four! D: They need outfits, wigs, and/or painting, which is why I haven't shown them yet (and the lack of posting anything...). Soon. When I get a life again. Anyway, I bought unprocessed suri alpaca and wool and spent a few minutes here and there the last week washing and brushing the alpaca. The alpaca will by my first wig attempt. I'll work out the kinks and prepare myself for the wool, which is the perfect color for the one girl who really needs a wig. Suri alpaca wigs look much more realistic and natural than other wigs. Since I can't find a wig quite the right color for this girl, I decided to make one. I hope the wool I bought will be as nice as the alpaca is turning out.

Suri alpaca is so incredibly soft! I always thought my own hair was pretty soft, not compared to this. Maybe I'll make myself an alpaca wig too. ;)

I'll keep you updated, but get back to my knitting focus, first. I have at least three sweaters in the final stages of finishing. I took pictures of one today, so there will be an FO Friday post! I'm writing it and scheduling it now, promise. I super promise not to let any of these sweaters fall into the pit that is my cobwebby blog. :)

It was incredibly hot today, but I didn't mind because it's been so cold since the beginning of time! I wish things would come alive, though. What does spring look like where you are? I hope you have spring! I like to know about fall too, you southern hemispherers!

Knitting Again!

Hey all y'all! I've missed you! Yesterday I checked off a major box on my to-do-list, which is a load off everyone's mind. That means we can breathe for a second and I can update the blog. :) Then it's back to the grindstone. :P

I've been knitting, but it's all been so slow-moving, there hasn't been much to share! I think I do still have a pile of FOs to show you from way back in December and maybe beyond, but I promise they will appear soon!

I've been finishing lots of WIPs from years past. It feels amazing to finish the things, but working on them has been nothing short of torture. This is mostly because I'm also trying to be monogamous(ish) with the projects and they are almost all stockinette sleeves. Ugh!

This week marked the end of endless fingering weight stockinette sleeves and the beginning of some worsted lace ones. The difference is magical! I can't believe how fast this sleeve is working up! If you have an amazing memory, you might recall that I frogged these sleeves about a year and a half ago in the interest of a well-fitting sweater. That sweater should be realized as soon as this weekend (you know, 6 years too late...)!

Friday, I'll reveal either a newly finished minty sweater or a finished-a-couple-weeks-ago flannel dress. Or both! The sun has decided that staying up later than 5:30 is the cool thing to do, which I really appreciate. :)

What are you guys working on? Are you snowed/iced in? I've enjoyed many knitters' Instagram photos of snowed-in knits. I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow myself, but it will take more than 6-9 inches to get the university to throw in the towel.

Schedules Bringin' Me Down

School started yesterday. Trying to figure out a new schedule to accommodate all my resolutions for the year has been a bit stressful, but I'm on the right track. I think I just need to hit the point where I have a million fewer things to do and then it'll be smooth sailing! My goal for that day is Friday. Wish me luck....

Last week I was away and too busy with my family to remember to post anything. I can totally show you what I was working on, though. My grandma was helping me sew! I'm starting with the most complicated pattern ever, but between the two of us, we figured out most of it and got my pieces all cut out. I just need to tend to some knitting before I dive in. I'm hoping this weekend will be a sewing weekend.

I've enjoyed the process so far. It's like a puzzle that I only theoretically know how to put together. It's very philosophical, the more I think about it. And describes most everything I know. I can tell you how to do things, but that doesn't mean I've ever done it before. Like entrelac or those Beekeeper hexipuffs: I've never done it, but someone explained it to me once, so I get it. I could do it. I think. Right?

Weirdly, it's figuring out how to transfer important marks from the pattern pieces that's holding me up. Fabric pen? Pins? just sew through the pattern pieces? That and deciding whether I trust my machine to baste. Those are dumb things to hold me back, but I get hung up on the small stuff all the time. In any case, I hope to have an update or an upset to share with you next week.

What do you think: knowing how to do something and having done that thing...the same thing? Should we maybe all try those things we think we know how to do just to make sure?

Happy New Year!

I know it was a week ago, but still..I'm hoping it's a great year for you. :)

This is where I would normally do a year-in-review type of post, but last year wasn't really my proudest as a knitter. Something weird happened last summer and, despite my May KAL, I doubled my WIPs and the number hasn't diminished much even now. This year it'll all change. I turned 29 yesterday and I'm looking to shape up in many ways this year, get myself in order before I turn 30. There are lots of things I need to check off the list this year, so here are my resolutions (knitting first, then personal):

Finish the WIPs!
Become a monogamous knitter again (a little cheating might be allowed)
Continue stashing-down
Get rid of the knits I never use

Get into a religious blogging habit
Extend the blog to either a podcast or YouTube account
More knits and more bunnies on Instagram (tie it to the blog better)
Work before play (a.k.a. take care of business, as John says: T.C.o.B.)
Get in shape (run/work-out)

This is going to be a big year. I know it in some sense, but feel it in other ways. I want to step up my game to reflect the bigness I feel. I hope I can rise to the occasion. :/

I've been off to an awesome start this year as far as the knits go. I've completed four projects (all monogamously knit) since the first and I should have a two-year-old (and two-year-old's) blanket finished by Monday. The momentum I've built just in those small victories really has me amped up to finish things and finish them quickly. I do want to start some new things, after all. :)

Only a skein and a half left now!

Monogamous knitting will help me manage all the other hobbies I've picked up and juggled poorly in the last few years: blogging, the dolls, sewing, photography, and (most importantly) school. I'll need the extra time to organize a big surprise John and I spontaneously decided to schedule in May. :)

I can't wait to continue sharing the making with you all this year and to share the rest of my big year with you all! Thank you all so much for your continued support over the last and previous years. It really means the world to me. I hope any enhancements I plan make for the blog will make Bunnies and Bettas a really great place to visit moving forward!

Here's to the new year!

The Sun Came Out

Hello friends! Long time no blog! I've written a few posts, but it's been so dark and cloudy, I haven't been able to take any pictures to go with them. :P It's like we live in Mordor over here! I've seen the sun twice in the last three weeks! Christmas was one of those days, so that was a nice gift.

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday, whichever ones you observed. Ours was quiet and relaxed. I'm still knitting Christmas presents like a little elf, though. I have a lot left and a deadline that's creeping up fast (nope, it wasn't Christmas!).

Today and yesterday, I conquered the monumental task of moving my yarn stash around. John's been on a shelf-building kick, which wrapped up with new yarn shelves for me. Yay! I don't have as much unused yarn as I thought I did. I have a ton of partial skeins, but those are living somewhere else for now. :S

I like the idea of getting up and plucking the yarn I want from the shelf instead of having to recall my weird organizational system (and the exceptions to it) and digging through boxes and tubs of yarn. I'm hoping to continue my destashing in the coming year. This will help me keep track of it. Though I'll have to find a new use for some of the shelves when I begin to run low on yarn (HA!).

I'm sure (I hope) after the gift-knitting season you are all diving into selfish knits! What are you working on to keep you warm in this burst of cold weather?

Sweater Stacking

Hello, dear readers! I hope my American friends had a fabulous Thanksgiving last week and that my international friends had a great week!

The lack of sunlight is hindering my blogging a bit because I'm not typically home when the sun is available for photos. :P I have been knitting and working on various things, though.

My in-progress knits have been unceremoniously dumped in wretched a pile next to the futon since this summer. It was really starting to wear on me, so I thought I'd do something about it. My first thought was to neatly fold the projects and stack them so that the least finished were on the bottom and the closest to finished were on top. That way, I can glance to my left, think, "Hey, this sweater just needs a neckband," and pick it up to finish it.

Turns out it works! As I was stacking the projects (sweaters, mostly), I thought those very thoughts and I finished a couple of them. I have a large order of Christmas knits, all the same item, so I know I'm going to be glancing longingly at this carefully arranged stack and wanting to knit on anything but those items from time to time. :) I'm hoping that desperation for anything else will result in lots of finished sweaters! It's ridiculous to have so many so close to being done. It's cold, dammit! Let's wear these things already!

I've had a bit of wrist pain as of late, so I've refrained from knitting, even though I don't think it is knitting-relating. It's feeling much better, so I'm going to do some housework now and then cast on a Christmas present for one of my brothers to knit when my Wednesday tv shows come on. :)

Are you making holiday gifts this year? What do you watch while you holiday-craft? If you are interested in some good company and some good holiday movie recommendations (some are wholly unrelated to any holiday, but still fabulous), pop on by the Christmas Movie KAL thread in the Very Shannon group and join us!

Quickly

I started a hat on Monday. I feel like I haven't started anything new for ever, but I think it was just last week I started a pair of socks. Really, I haven't finished anything in forever. The hat is going quickly enough that it should be done by the end of the week. I like small projects!

A couple of pictures of the hat and socks (that aren't much larger than they were last week :S):

And that's all I've got for you today. I scheduled too much for class tomorrow and didn't get started on prepping it soon enough, so I've got a lot of lesson planning to do tonight! Hat for you Friday? Deal. Or, if time magically slows down (I know it will, but not before Friday ;)), maybe I'll finally get John in his smashing new cabled sweater. :)

A Sock Start

Last week kinda got away from me. I have the finished knits, though! Have knits, will share. :) I've sort of lost my knitting mojo recently. It makes me sad. I don't know if it's just because I've got a lot to do around this (midterm) time, if it's because I have a mind full of things I want and need to do, or if after 7 years my maniacal knitting speed has just finally caught up with me and I need a break. The overwhelming number of works-in-progress certainly hasn't helped. :S I'm working on it very slowly. :)

I started these socks over the weekend, hoping that my love of the yarn would jump-start my mojo again. It didn't work as well as I had hoped, but I am knitting and mostly on them, so that's a start.

And for a promised FO: a little black bunny. Nothing terribly special, just a fun little yarn-eater that we had way too much fun photographing!

Ophelia doesn't like him. Who can blame her? He's eating her food!

I hope you guys have a fabulous week and I'll try to get pictures of John's fabulous new sweater before Friday so you can see it then. See you soon!

A Fall Shawl

I did what I said I was determined not to do last week: fell off the face of the earth. Friday ate me all up. I had a conference proposal that needed submitting and with a bunch of extraneous noise from the window and just outside my office door (everyone thought it would be a great place to chat Friday!), it took me about three times as long to do it. :P THERE WILL BE AN FO THIS FRIDAY! I swear it! I'll write it up tonight, in fact! It's been way too long.

In other news, this sucker is damn near finished. I got to where I thought I'd finish and decided it needed 28 more rows. Then there will be fringe and it will be the greatest shawl I have ever knitted! I'm so excited!

Check out the incredible autumn light, too. So pretty....I jumped the gun rejoicing fall's arrival a couple weeks ago. We had an 80-degree weekend last weekend. Today has the nice, crisp autumn feel in the air. I drove through some falling leaves last night that made my heart pitter-pat. :) I've been riding my bike all over town, too. The weather has been absolutely perfect for such a ride. It's just too miserable in the summer.

What have you been up to? Any fall outings planned? Are the colors changing where you live?

Amelia

She's finally presentable (just ignore her poorly hand-sewn dress). This is Amelia.

It took a while, but she finally transitioned from creepy to cute. I didn't think she was ever creepy, of course, and John thinks she is super creepy even now, lol. :) I haven't yet found the perfect spot to keep her where he doesn't have to see her all the time.

I had so much fun painting her face! I don't think I did too badly, either. Granted, she looked like this the first time I tried (on the left) and I had to redo it (on the right):

I got a little heavy-handed and her head ended up much darker than the rest of her body, so I had to lighten her up a bit second time around. That gave me the opportunity to try to paint her freckles in a different way. I like them much better now.

There are things I would (and will) do differently next time, but I'm very happy with the more permanent aspects of her. 

The fun comes in the temporary stuff, anyway! For instance, I think this wig washes her out a bit too much, so I'm waiting for a couple of new ones: one brownish red, with the same gorgeous mohair fluff and curl, and the other darker red, longer, and straighter. I also want to get her lighter green eyes. These I bought because they were on a spectacular sale (and I felt a little silly buying just eyelashes for a couple bucks) and I wanted to see if the size and color would work. They aren't too bad, but I can do better.

I can't wait to start knitting and sewing for her. :)

Shiny New Project

Hey guys! I'm knitting a million projects shiny green cardigan!!! It's so cool!

"But don't you have, like, five sweaters on the needles?"

Nine-ish, actually, but LOOK! SHINY AND GREEN!!!

Preeeeeeeeetty sweet, eh? ;) It's Grace, by the ever-so-talented Jane Richmond. My gauge is a bit iffy, but a violent blocking should fix it if my first measurement was more correct than my second (which was right on).

I've been in destash-mode rather than finish-everything mode. That'll change as December looms. That's when finish-all-the-things-itis hits me. Right now, I'm enjoying knitting lots of cute little things (this is the biggest project I've started for a while) and watching them fly off the needles as quickly as I had the urge to cast them on. I'll try to share some on Friday. I have a serious backlog of FOs piling up.

Working on anything fun? You should always have something fun on the needles!

Works-in-a-Pile

Thank you so much for your comments on all my posts. I sometimes get busy/distracted/forgetful and don't reply to them very quickly, but I'm caught up now and I hope you'll keep commenting. :)

I have loads of knitting planned for the evening, lots of Grey's Anatomy to catch up on in the next 12 days (when it will magically disappear from Hulu), and some soup to make (it's soup weather?! Crazy!), so I have to keep this short, but I'll give you a shot the pile of stuff I'm making and a list of what's in the pile and you can see if you can discern what's what, haha.

A shawl, a sock, my Ginny's Cardigan, a little stuffed bunny (that hasn't been stuffed yet), and a baby sweater I am going to try to finish before tomorrow evening. I'm focusing on smaller projects this fall to give myself room to finish up a huge pile of unfinished sweaters and to use up a stash I'd like to get a bit more under control. I kind of like it, really. It's refreshing to need only a few days or a week to knit up something cute or useful or gift-worthy.

What do you prefer to knit? Does a sweater or blanket or other large project give you greater satisfaction in the finishing than a smaller one or is it the other way around for you?

A Big Face Post

As promised, a post about the new hobby. I had some doll fun this weekend! I started to paint her face and hands. Here is what she looked like when I got her:

I bought gouache watercolors, pastels, and a few more watercolor pencils to supplement the very small collection I already have and went to work giving her a face. I think this was my third take on the freckles:

They finally looked the way I wanted, but I was aiming for something a bit more subtle.

So I left them just as they were, just lightened the darker ones with a touch of water and a small dab of a Q-tip. Ah, the joys of watercolor. :) The freckles took all day, so I was happy to spend Sunday on less difficult stuff and make progress in greater leaps.

This was only my first layer of "pinking" so it's fairly subtle, but maybe you can tell how she's already coming to life a bit with color on her cheeks and lips. All of my photos in inconsistent lighting and different areas of the house at different times of the day certainly don't help, do they? She looks a little sweeter and a little less creepy, eh? :)

And this is as much work as I finished on her yesterday. I probably should have left her alone after the last layer. She looks a little overworked now, but that's okay. It's a learning experience. :) If I hate it, I'll just redo it! All that's left is her eyebrows, another layer of drawn eyelashes, then some gloss and real eyelashes. I've been working on her hands at the same time. I really like how they are turning out.

The best part about the whole thing is that I was productive with school stuff in between steps! I have to wait an hour between layers for the sealant to dry, which means I absolutely cannot work on it for an hour. An hour for school work is pretty much the limit of my attention span for intellectual work, so everything is working precisely as I planned, muahaha! School is hard, guys. That's why I knit so much. ;)

Knitting is Work, Right?

The three day weekend did nothing to inspire my work ethic. I'm just glad I have one less day I have to work this week. :) I'm knitting like a fiend, though. Or trying to, anyway. Lots of other stuff I have to do. :P

I'm almost finished with Ginny's Cardigan. I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on it this weekend. That means I should find some buttons!

I also cast on some slippers for my great-grandma. I feel like they should take no time at all, but it hasn't gone quite that quickly, haha. They are perfect for bus- or mindless-knitting, so I won't notice how long they take. I have to get them done soon! Her birthday is coming up!

What are you working on? Are you super excited for fall (or spring, as the case may be)? :D

Sleeves, Sleeves, and More Sleeves

School is starting, which means all sorts of craziness for me. No time to acclimate to being back home after my trip Home, a dissertation prospectus that's due (again), an office move (and nowhere near enough space for my books), class planning (that I haven't had time to start yet), and of course five bunnies! They are the least of the crazy, though. After some amazing climbing, water bottle rejection, litter box amnesia, and food weirdness (and that's just Teddy! :D), I think everybun is settled and happy. As happy as a bunny can be (tolerant is a better word).

Still knitting. I promise. Though you wouldn't know it from visiting here, eh? I'm stuck in a sleeve rut. Three sweaters, all in the sleeve phase. I'm down from six to four and a half, though, so there's progress. Would you like to meet the sleeves? Let's!

Here's the half, which is a bit tighter than is necessary, even though I knit it a size larger than the rest of the sweater. Couldn't get my hand through the cuff of my size. :S

And the whole sleeve, which is actually a 3/4 sleeve. I knit the thing inside-out sort of accidentally and had zero laddering, which has never happened when I magic looped a sleeve (or two at a time). I think I'm going to just do that every time. By knitting it inside-out, I mean I had the wrong side (the knit side for this cardigan) facing me and worked the right side (the purl side) on the inside of the sleeve. I had intended to knit the whole sleeve because I hate to purl, but I couldn't get it to work and still pick up stitches prettily in the underarm. That didn't make any sense, did it? Please refer to paragraph one of this post and forgive me.

I haven't started the other sweater's sleeves. Let me rephrase that: I haven't restarted the other sweater's sleeves yet. They were all but done and I tried on the sweater and ripped them out, ripped out the band, ripped out the shoulder seams, and added short-rows to the shoulders. I've done this before to add an inch to the back. I'm hoping I don't have to do it again. It's pretty and I love it and the sleeves will be better this time (if the back is finally behaving), so I'm not bummed yet, but I'm not convinced that the whole thing won't end in frustration.

Once I'm finished with these three sweaters, I'm going to pick up one I partially frogged this time last year. Guess what it needs?! SLEEVES!!! Please help me make sleeve bearable! What do you like to do when you knit sleeves? Movies? Audiobooks? Daydreaming? Wearing the first finished sleeve? ;)

I'm going to cast on a million socks when the SSKAL is over, lol. Too many sleeves!

Change of Scenery

I'm back home in Idaho for about a week. As I walked to the front door of our house last night, I thought, "Gosh that tree looks weird....Did they replace it?" It wasn't until this morning that I realized it's because it has leaves on it that it looks weird. :) I haven't been home in a green season (there are fewer than normal in Idaho!) for four years.

Trip = new project, in my book, so here it is:

Ginny's Cardigan from the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits magazine released last year. I'm loving it! The yarn is Frog Tree Alpaca Sport. It knits up rather unevenly, but I suspect a good steaming will set the stitches right. Maybe plump them a bit too. It's an awfully light sport.

I'm three chapters from the end of Deathly Hallows and that makes me really sad. I'll have to do a Harry Potter movie marathon when I'm done. And then maybe listen to all the books all over again. ;)

It's incredibly, uncharacteristically (I live in the desert) stormy here! How's the weather in your neck of the woods? Hopefully as knitting-friendly as here!

Sweaters Galore

Today is cast-on day for my favorite annual knit-along! Very Shannon's Summer Sweater KAL! I look forward to it every year and plan way, way too many sweaters. This year is no different, except that I'm going to finish all of my sweaters-in-progress first. First-ish. ;) I will allow myself one new sweater as I work on the others.

I have some gorgeous alpaca for Ginny's Cardigan and a trip home next week that will afford me some time to get a start on it (and finish up the Narcissa Socks from the same magazine...and look like a big ol' HP nerd going home again ;]).

I'm looking forward to having a whole host of new sweaters from my pile of knitted stuff beside the futon. I hope it all works out like I plan!

Do you care to join? You can knit any sweater you like! There are great prizes, amazing sponsors, helpful posts, and a huge community of wonderful ladies knitting along! The Ravelry thread is full of incredible pattern ideas if you need any. ;)

Where's the Hammock?

Hi! I've missed you! I'm optimistically hoping that summer will now stop kicking my ass so I can enjoy it a bit and spend some more time here.

So many things have happened! I got the new phone and still have not started a case for it, but thank you for your suggestions! I have a vision forming. You can still weigh in! Last weekend my aunt got married and I got to hang out with lots of family I don't see very often. It was a lot of fun. Tuesday, we acquired two foster buns and we have been loving them like crazy. Expect many pictures.

On the knitting front, I have a sweater that needs 4 more inches on each sleeve and it'll be done (it's going to sit for a while before I get back to it, so don't get too excited!) and I started this sweater:

I shouldn't have, but I couldn't tell it no any longer! It will be Levenwick. You might remember that I started one a year and a half ago. It was a beautiful shade of blue. Alas, I didn't have enough for the sweater. :( It became this sweater instead (which I'm still on the fence about, but haven't re-blocked yet).

So, I found some yarn a couple months ago and scooped it up. I might have just forgotten about the whole thing and made other lovely sweaters, but an amazingly kind reader of these 'ere blog gifted the pattern to me for my birthday last year and that so touched me that I absolutely must have a beautiful Levenwick for her to see! It's perfect so far and I definitely have enough yarn to finish it this time, so I'm knitting quickly and blissfully.

Andi of Untangling Knots is co-hosting an Outfit-Along. She is knitting a garment to pair with a garment she will sew. I've had the fabric for a dress for six months now and I received a sewing machine last week, so...I'm sort of unofficially joining along, I think. I will probably chicken out on the dress, but this sweater will look super cute with it whenever I do get around to it. :)

How is your summer going? Busy like mine? Nice and relaxing (I hope!)? Full of fun? :)

Pattern Ideas?

I got a new phone last month, which means new apps, which means I can type blogs up on my phone on the bus much easier and maybe even add pictures*, so I hopefully won't be quite so blog-faily. :) Just pretend like I did blog last week and the week before. :S I thought about it really hard, but mind-to-blog must not be a thing yet.

A new phone also means that I need to knit a new phone cozy.

It's a leedle bit small...

I haven't had a lot of time to think about what a new one will look like since I've been knitting so hard on two big projects and thinking about dissertation and researchy things. I hope you can help me!

Two required features are a pocket for the phone (of course!) and a pocket for my bus pass and I.D. Should I knit it, sew it, or crochet it? What sort of closure should it have? This button thing isn't ideal. It takes too long to get the phone out. If I knit or crochet it, should I do ribbing and cables again, just ribbing, just cables, or something else? I can imagine lace working....

Do you have a cozy for your phone? What does it look like? What do you like and dislike about it?

I'm absolutely willing to write up a pattern for whatever we come up with so I'm not hogging ideas just for my own use. ;)

My silence has been part part-time job, part school work (the two are intertwined, really), and part adventures with John. I'll tell you about the adventures very soon. Probably Friday if I can't figure out how to wear my latest FO by then. How the heck are you guys?! I miss you!

*I tried. Didn't work. Oh well, a little extra effort never hurt anyone. :)