That Ripping Sound You Heard

was me tearing out both of the sleeves on the Quidditch Sweater, which I was expecting to assemble and finish this weekend. When I laid it all out and did a quick check, I discovered that the sleeves were not wide enough at their widest point, not just by an inch or so (which the 2x2 ribbing would have "forgiven") but by . . . more than a couple. So then it was pick out the cast-off edge and rrrrrrrip, roll it back into a ball, and repeat with second sleeve.

Sorry DD#2. :^( My best guess now is Christmastime. I've got too many things to finish for school for the rest of today to even get started on it. But I will work on it in the coming weeks--one sleeve at a time, methinks. Even though there are great reasons to do both at the same time, I want to focus totally on what I'm doing and not have to fight the tangling separate skeins. No one can say I don't learn from my mistakes.

I've been working on a few other things that I'll show ya--
A 99 yd. skein of handspun becomes a neckwarmer--originally got this from Yarn Rescue. So pretty.

Here's a skinny scarf I'm doing in 1x1 ribbing with a skein of Colinette Cadenza that I got awhile back somewheres. It is so dang soft that I can hardly believe it's merino wool. Superwash too, if that turns out to matter to the recipient.

I can't get the color values right on this one--think watermelon, in a tweedy melange. This is Rowan Soft Tweed in Bramble. I used Yarn Harlot's One Row pattern and it's just so squishy. Sort of looks like a pink waffle from a distance! It's not long but widish, so that the recipient can wear it like a bit more of a wrap.

Here is the beginning of a dwarf--can you see the future red and white striped stocking cap? and a brown fuzzy beard? He will also end up with boots and arms if you were worried.

And here is the latest in stitch marker serendipity. These are sometimes on clothes nowadays, to pin the manufacturer's tag to the label. I started to collect them, as they open just like a pin does and can be used for marking right side or as stitch markers. They are about an inch in length. Cool, no?

In other yarn news, I bought two skeins of laceweight cashmere about three years ago from someone on eBay, to put away and use when I was a better knitter. What I didn't realize was that I was going to need to be a better general-all-around-person because I have been so frustrated. I was trying to knit with them, held together, skeins kept separate, but they were previously wound when I received them and I think something went amiss in the winding because tangletangletangle is the name of the very frustrating game. I have resorted to breaking the yarn at a few moments but mostly am just trying to persevere to the point where I have one ball wound with both strands. One of the skeins would happily let me finish out this process in ten minutes, but the other is a devil. I have thought of giving up more than once, but if I just come back to it when I have a little time, it is actually coming untangled. And I am becoming a better general all around person. ;^)

Now my plan is, when I get the #%?!* yarn rewound properly, to hold it with another yarn yet again and knit with them together, since the laceweight x 2 still doesn't do it for me. While I love the softness of cashmere, I think it needs to be married to something equally soft and almost as thin, so that it can be interesting to look at as well as soft.

In Hummingbird News . . . a few have come around this past week, when it's not raining, and I've seen at least two females and one male. No pics this time though.

In Cancer News . . . DH is traveling for work in the Far East, and he has his first post-chemo scans 12/15 or so. So we are doing our lives and focusing on what needs to be taken care of now, and will find out the status of his tumor growth when the time comes.

Happy knitting, all.