which may or may not be a good thing…

I bought a Bond Sweater Machine thing a couple weeks ago while dh was out of town. I was doing ok with it for a while, but then it kept missing stitches on the ‘cast on’ row, so I haven’t used it for a while. (I’m attempting a baby blanket with some of the random ebay acrylic that’s in the stash).

I’ve also started buying the yarn for the the sweater in KnitSimple. I thought I liked it when I first saw it, and then after seeing Trillian’s Olympic success, decided I definitely wanted to make it. I’m being boring and making it in the blue (cuz it’s more likely to get worn than the other yarn color options).

what else? oh, I scored a large box (think the size that copy paper comes in) of coned yarn at the thrift shop for $5. lots of odds and ends. one rather large cone of (dirty) white acrylic, a rather large cone of a light pink really thin 100% wool, and lots of other stuff that I’m not sure the fiber content or size of cuz the labels aren’t very helpful, fell off, and/or are in weaving terms (size 2/11 type stuff). Thankfully a couple of people on the knittyboards led me to some sites to help decifer all that. Pics to come, probably not til Flash Your Stash day though.

on the knitting front, Eli’s sweater has the shoulders attached and a collar added. I tried attaching the sleeves, but that’s really hard to do while on the bus. so it’s back in project limbo.

the legwarmers are still stalled, thanks to stitches in the ribbing jumping off the needles. too difficult to fix on the bus, so it’s also in project limbo.

I’ve pulled the cat bed sides out again and have been working on it while watching movies/TV. not much progress being made, but it is progress none-the-less.

oh, and since I got frustrated with the above ‘not suitable for the bus at the moment’ projects, I’ve pulled out the socks again. I abandoned left the first sock just above the heel shaping cuz I’m not sure what I want to do for the leg. I figure I’ll sort it out by the time I get the second sock to that point. So I started sock #2 earlier this week. got frustrated with the figure 8 cast on, then realized there was logically only one place to start knitting from. got annoyed at the M1’s cuz they seemed impossible. consulted the pattern - oh, that makes more sense, and resumed happy knitting. got a few rounds into it and decided the holes from the M1’s were bothersome. figured out how to make (twist) them properly and continued on (leaving the holey ones in the earlier knitting). this morning, I pulled out sock #1 for comparison. wow, that’s a lot smaller than the first one. is my gauge off? (it has been 4 months). attempt to count stitches between the two. consult pattern. A-HA! I cast on 12 loops total instead of 12 per needle (24 total). DOH! ripped it out (the M1 holes were bothering me anyways) and cast on the proper number of stitches, making sure to properly twist the M1’s. ah, much better now!

I also swatched the KnitPicks Wool I bought for Samus. I changed my mind - I’ve decided I want to use it for Chic Knits’ TWIST instead. I think the color will suit it better. (and it gives me an excuse to buy more yarn to make Samus at a later time). anywho, I think I’m close to gauge. I have to experiment with the next size needles a bit to be sure though. and then I think I’ll be good and abuse the swatch to be sure all is well. (or so I say now.)

in site news, I’ve updated a bit - adding and deleting pages & categories to reflect the 2006 changes and to clean up that which was getting stale. more updates to come soon, I hope. (like maybe getting the WIPs back in the sidebar. and adding pics.)