Did I forget to mention

I made this while on vacation--it's a scrap scarf in horizontal form. I found this approach great in some ways, and I loved being able to choose the colors to go into it. However, leaving long tails on each end (each row is a different strand of yarn) meant that I sometimes unknowingly picked up an end and knitted with it instead of the real yarn I should have been holding, so I messed up majorly in ways that were hard to fix later. That will probably be obvious in a few spots.

Also, one side pulled tight for some reason I'm not aware of, and thus it doesn't hang straight. That would be fine since it's meant to drape around a neck, but it makes it a little puckery. Gee, I suppose I could run it down more, but I will just move on.

I also did a quick hat on circulars with that same blue wool I used for a 1x1 rib scarf. This hat is hiding 1/3 more of itself, and so I either misjudged or didn't finish the top well enough--it could easily cover the head of the BFG. But I do feel that I managed that mini stripe pattern well!

I just keep knitting!

I've been working again today. More progress on the twin rib scarf than on the cable scarf, but that is no surprise since I mess up more easily on the IHS and hate to frog it and do it again. Today, I saw something on Grumperina's blog that is so cool. It's how to do cabling without needing a cable needle or DPN. Wonder where she learned this trick! I am going to try it and see how it goes, but just reading it made sense, and for me, when it comes to knitting, that is a minor miracle.

In the meantime, I got a thumbs-up from the doc today, one week out, who said that the healing is going great and that my allergic reaction is definitely subsiding. (I could have told him that because today I wasn't tempted more than twice to shred my lower leg with my nails. Also I haven't had to resort to the groggy-pills to deal with that. God, what did people do with allergies before the 90s??)

I ordered a heap of yarn from Herrschner's today because they gave me free shipping and had a great selection of sale yarns: some burgundy Noro Sumile (not a wool, but a cotton/silk chenille), Paton's Katrina (which I got in a powder blue, yum, so I can bravely forge on ahead in the knitterly world and make myself a tank), and some other odds and ends that will make great hats and scarves. I think the free shipping came because I signed on for their regular emails about sales etc. (AKA "spam," let's be honest), and the minimum order was $25, but hey, that's not hard to do when you're a champeen yarn-stash enhancer like myself.

Are you thoroughly mesmerized yet??

After putting up the photo of DC3 Percy's beautiful face, I quit for the night and then didn't get back to it. He is so handsome, and I don't mind being part of the knitting cliche of the lady with the cats who is always whipping up something on her needles. ;^)

(chuckles ironically) I've been so busy . . . reading (Our Town, to prepare for teaching it in Sept.), itching (the affected foot and leg) and drowsing (Benadryl, while a great help in the war against urticaria, mostly works by making me comatose). But you surely don't want to read about that. Nor do I want to keep seeing Google ads on my blog for references to such maladies. Suffice it to say that I am getting better, and that the horrific, swollen Frankenstein foot is now just a tired, normal sized, skin-compromised foot that needs me to take good care of it. And stay off it. Which I am.

See? To keep from going stir crazy, as well as to keep my hands away from my foot, I've been knitting. I've even been doing the cable rows correctly most of the time too! I have had to frog so much that I finally printed out the whole eight-row pattern so I can follow it row by row with a Post-It note (I know, I know, it's a repeat every other row until the last, but . . . I'm challenged) and still you can see that I've got the occasional wrong stitch. Not in danger of offending Allah by virtue of my knitting skills, but perhaps I may by my frequent and quite obvious mistakes! Sorry, Allah, I'll keep knitting and hope to get better at this.

Meantime, I am evolving a plan. I think this is not the product of a drug-addled mind--it came to me just before the surgery--but I have become a bit obsessed: I've actually diagrammed it out. Here's how it all started. I took a fruit salad to some friends' BBQ, and, it being the middle of summer, I used these ingredients: blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and green grapes. We were all captivated by the color combination. And I kept thinking about these colors, how cool they would look as a felted bag. Now I need to find yarns that have just the right, accurate colors, and figure out the striping, what looks best next to what.

I also did some measurements and looked at a bunch of tote/purse patterns, to see what dimensions to make it before felting. And I think I came up with a way to start and then cast on the body, so the bottom is rectangular and is attached on one long side to the body. Then I will then sew on the other three sides of the bottom when the body is done. It helped taking a grocery bag and cutting it apart and then seeing the bottom attached. I would not make the sides as big as a grocery sack! and I don't want to make it with the sort of self-handle I see on a lot of felted bags, but rather to make a strap by taking several lengths of three of the colors, tie them in a knot and then braid them thickly together, before felting that, and later attach it to the felted purse.

Any warnings? Any suggestions? Any yarn recommendations? As for the quantities, if I use something like Lambspride worsted (should I?), I think I would need a skein of each of the colors, but wouldn't use up all the yarn on any but maybe one (bottom color and its stripes). I was thinking five colors, or maybe six (peach and something more like mango). Now I am only hampered by my gimpiness and a complete inability to drive myself to the LYS. :^) Not to mention two UFOs I am steadily working on, and should finish first.

I totally forgot! I made this from a leftover bit of yarn that DD1 Rachel gave me (she had made her roommate a hat with it). I don't know what yarn it is, or what it's made up of, but it has a great sheen and stretch. Now, when the cellphone goes off, I won't have to dig in my purse for three or four or five rings to find it.

Happy Knitting, all!