B*ll*cks

Sorry for the expletive, but the buyer backed out of the sale. I found out just after Isobel and I had crossed the border into Massachusetts and would have turned around and headed back to NYC (through a crazy snowstorm - what is it about the stretch between Hartford and the Mass. border that always makes for an awful drive?), but Isobel really wanted to see Peter and he was at the house.

The upside to continuing the journey was her getting to see her father (though that has plenty of emotional baggage for me) and going to the bestest Knit Night I know at Yarns in the Farms. Isobel was a little nutty thanks to no nap, so we only stayed an hour, but it was fun to see such wonderful people again, and I bought some yarn.

Apparently, I can't actually upload pics to Blogger right now, so you'll have to wait to see my gorgeous yarn, but check this out. I bought the blue (surprise) and am planning to knit a baby blanket with it, but if that doesn't work out, I could make a sweater for myself with the 1200 yds. I got. Fifi, perhaps?

And I'm extra miffed that picture uploads aren't happening right now, as I have a finished pic of my brother's sweater, and I am quite proud of it. Hope he likes it (and that it fits).

We'll just keep on keeping on with the house and keep our fingers crossed that someone else comes along who loves it.

Moving Forward

We've accepted an offer on the house. Assuming the inspection goes well (we fixed pretty much everything our inspector pointed out when we bought the house, so can't imagine any big problems will come up), we are to close at the end of the month. Yes, this month, which means I will be spending a bit of time up in Gloucester going through things and deciding what to do with them. Isobel and I are headed up there this morning to start working on a game plan and bring back the rest of my cookbooks and her toys and whatnot.

It is a bittersweet moment. The buyer plans to turn the house into a museum, which is good because (hopefully) lots of people will get to see the house and appreciate it's history. But it's also sad because this house had been lived in continuously since 1739. That's the way the cookie crumbles, though.

For you Massachusetts folk, I will give more advance notice for the next visit, which may very well be next week.

In knitting news I'm working away on the Swallowtail Shawl, having taken a break from my brother's sweater, as it's taking a toll on my wrists now that the whole shebang is on one needle. I appreciate seamless garments, but once the sleeves and body are united, it can be heavy, especially when it's for a tall, handsome fellow like my brother. I think my next sweater may be pieced, now that my finishing skills are somewhat improved. I'm considering that Drops sweater jacket that everyone's been knitting - "they" say it's a really quick knit.

I'm also thinking about knitting a Pi Shawl, since I've been re-reading Knitter's Almanac before bed, adding in some lace patterns to make it exciting. I've been combing my Barbara Walkers and have found some likely candidates that meet stitch and row count requirements as well as having purl-back rows. I am finding lace, the structure and balance of it, more and more intriguing.

A Fifth of What?

Yes, our house has been visited by Fifth Disease. Isobel had a fever Sunday; Nick received a call Monday that his son had the tell-tale "slap" rash on his cheeks; and then Monday night Nick started to feel ill. In the usual progression of things, I should have started to feel crummy yesterday but seem to be resistant (or am going to be beaten with a pile driver tonight - who can say).

It's a funny virus. By the time you get the rash, you're no longer contagious, and the fever is low-grade and other symptoms seem like the symptom for almost anything. The only thing is that it's usually a kids thing - the fifth of the classic five diseases that the little guys (usually ages 5-10) used to get (measles, scarlet fever, rubella, the brilliantly named fourth disease, and fifth disease) - and when adults get it, they say it's worse, which is the case chez Purly this week.

So, I haven't gotten much knitting accomplished in the last few days, but I do have a snap of the Swallowtail Shawl:

I'm a little further along now, but it's more of the same. I love this yarn, and the body pattern is pretty easy (though I still consult my chart now and then). My only problem with the yarn is my own problem - my right index finger is a little rough, probably from cooking, cleaning, etc., and it snags the yarn a little sometimes. Not enough to really be a problem, but I need to exfoliate!

Speaking of cooking (and baking), I've been doing a lot of it lately: shortbread from Cook's Illustrated for Valentine's Day, chocolate loaf cake from How to be a Domestic Goddess (along with a recipe for fudge that was not to my taste), mussels from the Sunday Farmer's Market a la Aquitaine, apple crisp with Farmer's Market creme fraiche, white chocolate brioche bread pudding (my own adaptation of a Joy of Cooking recipe), couscous salad with butternut squash (also from the Farmer's Market), lemon-thyme-garlic roast chicken (bird from the Farmer's Market - sensing a theme yet?), stock from the chicken carcass, and pan-fried squid (from the FM) with lazy aïoli (mix minced garlic into good mayo) from Nigella Express. Sadly the kids won't eat any of it, aside from the chocolate cake, but Isobel likes to "help" me in the kitchen and has an adorable apron to wear.

We'll probably have squid again tonight or leftover chicken, depending on the health of the patient.

Look, storage!

A belated Valentine's Day post, as my love got me an Expedit bookcase from Ikea to store the stash. What do you think? He's a keeper, isn't he.

Of course, this means I have to organize it a little. My darling non-knitter thought I might do it by color. I had to gently tell him that by yarn weight is usually a better way to sort things. This means I have to get the rest of the stash from Gloucester, too.

Still going back and forth on the house. It will be very bittersweet to sell it but for the best. At least I still have a little antique cottage in Bath, mere blocks from Halcyon Yarns!

Progress continues on Michael's sweater. I'm about two-thirds of the way up sleeve two (yay!) and will soon be joining that one to the rest of the gang. And I'm slowly working on the Swallowtail Shawl whenever I know I'll be able to concentrate a little more (or whenever I can't take any more stockinette!).

FO: Slouchy Cardi

This one has been finished for so long that it is a wardrobe staple now. I think I've decided not to do the hood, though I have enough yarn for it. I really like the points on the front, which you can see in the second pic. Whaddaya think of my armscyes? I'm very proud of my seams!

Pattern: Slouchy Cardigan from Greetings from Knit Cafe
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk DK from the good folks at Halcyon Yarns in #6 Steel Grey
Needles: US6
Mods: Even with checking the errata, I ended up with too-deep armscyes and had to rip back, but all turned out well in the end

Scenes from the life of Mommy
Mommy: (Exasperated at the end of a long day and trying to get some dinner ready for someone small) Isobel, this is the last time I'm going to ask. Do you want your pizza hot or cold?
Isobel: Warm.
Mommy: Nnngggh.

A few days later at bath time...
Mommy: Come on, sweetie, your bath is almost ready. Let's get you undressed.
Isobel wriggles and attempts to get away in her room. The usual.
Mommy: I have to check the bath. Get your shirt off, please. (Turning to leave notices the patch of blue crayon colored on the wall by the door) How did this happen? Why did you color on the wall? You know we only color on paper.
Isobel: (Collapses in tears and stays that way, dramatically, for many minutes) ... Sorry.
Mommy: Thank you for apologizing. Please don't do it again. You know better. Let's get you in the bath.
A few minutes later during the bath...
Mommy: Sweetie, why did you color on the wall? I don't understand.
Isobel: Mommy, we already talked about this.
Mommy: Nnngggh.

The coloring was the result of Mommy not paying enough attention to Isobel due to spending too much time on the phone with all the people who own the house with me, as well as my family, due to our getting an offer (!!). We're in the midst of negotiations, so I don't want to say much more. If you're in the habit of praying or sending up positive thoughts or any such, send them up Gloucester way. I'll let you know what happens.

Semi-FO: Cable Ribwarmer

So, Tanya nudged me out of my petulance, and I ripped and re-sewed seams yesterday. I still have to pick up and knit around the whole shrug edge, as well as the armscyes, but the little thing can be worn. I have to finish my brother's sweater before I can free up the US7 24" needle called for. It does need to be reblocked though - those pin pulls are not terribly attractive.

Pattern: Ribwarmer #28, Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Queensland Collection Llama Seta (88 yds.), 3 skeins
Needles: US6 Bryspun, US7 mystery aluminum 24"
Mods: none

This is a cool pattern, though it would be interesting to see something similar that doesn't rely on the sewing up for its shape. And I like the yarn, though it's not a construction I'm used to working with. The Llama Seta is a ten-ply yarn made up of five double plies. I thought it would be more splitty than it was, though ends and sewing up bits untwisted quite a bit.

Next up, Slouchy Cardi pics!

Malaise

We're down for the count chez Purly. Nick and I both seem to have come down with some odd ailment, while Isobel is healthy as a horse. It's not the flu. The best way to describe it is that we don't feel like ourselves, we're tired (I took a three-hour nap on Sunday, and I do not nap), and we have low-grade fevers at the end of the day.

So, yesterday I needed a break from the yummy but endless stockinette that is my brother's Malabrigo EZ EPS Raglan and decided to do some of the finishing work on the Cable Ribwarmer from VK. It was such an easy knit, but there are a lot of seams to put this strip together. It's cool. But apparently I have created some sort of useless mobius somehow:


See that? Not right. Well, not left. It shouldn't twist like that in the upper left corner of the photo. I discovered the problem when I decided to slip it on yesterday out of curiosity now that it was in it's final shape. And discovered this twist. So, now I'm going to have to rip out my lovely seams.

That center rib in the back is seamed together. Could you tell? You probably could, but I'm still proud of how far my finishing has come along thanks to Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English.

Anyway, in my malaise I threw the offending object across the room and am thinking of casting on that Drops jacket everyone is making. It is very cute, and I have decided to frog that top-down raglan sweater I made last spring. It really needs some short-row shoulder shaping to be wearable. I was thinking of doing another Hourglass, since I've seen some lovely Hourglass sweaters in Malabrigo (100purewool is very similar) on Ravelry. But I have two Hourglass sweaters already; I've been wearing the heck out of my two cardis this winter; and the Drops jacket seems to be a fast knit, which is always good.

But I do have to finish my brother's sweater first. I'm about two-thirds up the torso and have one sleeve done to the join. My Ravelry estimate is that I'm about 60% of the way there, and I've only used three skeins of yarn so far. I think this will use less than six, so I'll have two leftover to play with.

E.T.A. photos! It looks like the problem may have been user error (impatience). Oops.
P.S. Blogger is not playing nice, so I can't seem to add photos. Will do so ASAP.