Temptation, frustration so bad it makes her cry...

The temptation of course is Cherie Amour, sadly the frustration is as well. I finished the body, connected the shoulders and seamed the sleeves. Here is the problem. I suffer from the dreaded tight bind off disease. Now I am aware of this problem and typically seek to offset it's results by binding off loosely or going up a needle size or two when I bind off. If you had asked me I would have said that I had done it loosely, obviously I would have been deluding myself. Now you know what happens when I get frustrated with a project right? Cherie was unceremoniously dumped on the computer desk. Perhaps I will have the patience to do surgery this weekend but I don't even want to look at her at the moment. Here's a look at her before it all went to hell:



You can see I was just living in denial since I had put the sleeve in the hole to see if it would fit. Ha!

I grabbed a sock for comfort. It's as though socks are the husband I always come running back to when my love affairs go awry. Hell I may even cast on for the lady detective hat, hats are comforting too. I need some comfort this week. Rinaldo left for a conference yesterday and I have two parent teacher conferences this week. Last night was Avery's which was excellent but odd. Most of his teachers told me, "well I gave him a 90 but he's really a 95 student. High schools like to see improvement over the year. It shows he's a hard worker." Huh? So we're dumbing down the grades on the first marking period to make his record look like he worked hard at improving rather than that he worked hard at maintaining? Whatever. The grades were excellent regardless. Ian's is tonight. I'm anxious due to my phobia of parent teacher conferences (I was anxious about Avery's last night too) but I talk to his teacher at least once a week and she tells me he's doing very well so I'm sure it will be fine.

Adding to the stash is comforting as well and my Knit Picks shipment came with the yarn for Mirepoix:



I did some color substitutions but I'm happy with my choices. We'll see how they knit up. I know I said I was going to start this in January but I may have to swatch it up sooner. I'm dying to see how they look.

Finally I picked this up over at Yarmando's:



...there now don't you all feel really good about yourselves!

Happy Wednesday all, we're halfway to the weekend...

A bit of progress to show

I'm in the homestretch on Cherie. I even had Amanda take a picture of me trying it on, see:



I have a few more layers on than I would normally have underneath it. but overall I'm happy with the fit. I'm hoping the bottom opens up a bit more when I block it and it gains some length. Of course I could just lose some weight but whatever...

I ordered the yarn for Mirepoix for some bizarre reason. Well ok it was because I had a gift certificate from KnitPicks to spend. I don't imagine even looking at it until January though. I also bought one of the Harmony needles points to replace my MIA 9 for my set. I figured it was as good an excuse as any.

Nothing much going on overall so I think it's time for a bunch of pointless links:

Damn those Bushs, they seem to think that Knitters
are part of the Axis of Evil.

If you're a geek like me you may actually be interested in what exactly the writer's are striking about here's a blog post by one of my favorite comic book writers who is also a writer/producer for Lost.

This granny blogs but she doesn't seem to knit so I suppose that helps that stereotype.

Finally the news I've been waiting for. I always said I preferred to weigh about 20lbs more than the doctors say I should. Of course I have a bit to lose before I get there;)

Happy Wednesday!

After a whirlwind weekend of shopping and spending quality time with my cousin I did actually make some progress in the knitting department. The first Charade sock she is done:

Rinaldo was tired and sick so I choose to blame him for it looking crooked in the picture. It looked fine when I finished it. He loves it so whatever.

I also made some Cherie Amour progress while Ian was at his playgroup yesterday:


I am finally at the ribbing. Honestly it went very quickly once I got into the rhythm of it but damn it took me awhile to get the hang of it for some reason.

Tomorrow I'm off to Cleveland for a conference. Tomorrow night they are taking us to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'm actually really excited. Thursday is meetings all day, then back on a plane home on Friday. I'm going to try to do a few posts in advance to post while I'm away. I have some goodies to show. Not knitting stuff but fun nonetheless.

By the way you should all know I've been cheating on my blog. I've started doing reviews of the show Blood Ties over at Pink Raygun. Check it out if you're interested. I should have a new one up every Saturday.

The road to hell...

I had intended to show you some Cherie Amour progress. I brought my camera took some great shots and realized I didn't have the cable. So not helpful. I am nearly ready to admit defeat on having her ready to wear for Rhinebeck but I am plugging along as though there is still hope. I had to rip out the bottom 3 times because you know how I am when it comes to yarn overs. I just like to skip them whenever possible, lol. I actually have the whole damn thing marked with stitch markers for each and every repeat so I can count that I have 12 stitches when I finish each set of stitches. Now I've gotten into the rhythm though and it's going along well. This morning I realized I was further along than I thought. I kept thinking I had to do 31 repeats of the 4 rows when in actuality it's 31 rows of the pattern. Big difference. I am on row 16. The real problem is my business trip next week. I leave Wednesday and come back Friday. Even if I take it and finish it on the trip I can't exactly block it on the plane, can I?

My cousin arrives tonight, yay! Lots of shopping and fun this weekend. Then next week will be a bit crazed. Ingileif leaves on Monday so I am taking a half day then I work Tuesday but then Wednesday is my trip, Friday I'm back and Saturday Rhinebeck baby! Thankfully the week after will be vacation so I can recover.

Since I am cable-less I will share this picture that Rinaldo took on the train. He got the biggest kick out of it:



Have a great weekend everyone!

I was very productive this weekend but not really with the knitting. I cleaned my house from top to bottom since I was having company on Sunday but the cleaning continued on Monday since my cousin is coming to stay with us next weekend.

I did at least get the first sleeve for Cherie Amour blocked:



Size-wise it blocked perfectly but lengthwise is a bit of a problem. They're about 2 inches longer but I'm not too concerned since I thought the length was a bit short anyway.

In the cleaning frenzy I decided to ball up some of my sock yarn to make it easier to store. Like my homemade swift:



I got a few done but I left the ball winder attached so I can do more, tonight.

I am nearly finished with the first Charade sock. I'm at the toe. It's odd that I didn't finish it last night since I usually can polish off a toe in an hour or so of tv watching but I was a bit out of it. Maribel's cousin died this weekend. The wake is tonight and the mass tomorrow. This was a very cool guy who was one of the first of the extended family to make me feel like I belonged. I already miss him...