Good Morning Everyone!
The sun may be out, but man is it freezing. Bernie and I just got back from our walk and my legs are like icicles. All I could think about is being in Florida in 20 days wearing flip flops, shorts and a cute handknit tank top. Until then, it's fleece lined leggings, Darn Tough socks, a wool sweater, hat, mittens, my parka and I'm ready to sit in the family room under a wool blanket. Good thing I have a bottle of Smuggler's Notch Maple Bourbon Irish Cream and a pot of hot coffee to start warming up from the inside. I realize we've experienced much colder temperatures. But, you know how it is when that cold just creeps into your bones? Today is just one of those days. My instincts were right at 5:30 when Bernie was trying to convince me to get out of my warm bed, no good will come of this. At least I can see that the darkness is fading earlier and this of course means, warmer days are soon to come. Until then, I'm counting down to VERO BEACH and cruising along on TWO flower power sweaters!!!
Yes, cruising along, I SAID IT and have likely jinxed myself. Andra has finished, blocked, posted and worn her Pressed Flowers cardigan, salt in my wound...I grew up obsessed with watching downhill ski races. First and second places are determined by 100ths of a second, I'm finishing strong after her, next month. This race wasn't even close AND she stopped long enough for me to catch back up after my little "incident". I even blew out my knitting callous BAD trying to keep up with her. The initial split in the skin wasn't enough to keep me down, that's what Band-aids and Neosporin are for, right? I had to expose the battle wound even more, demonstrate my stubborn tenacity and peel the callous away, OUCH!!!! Seriously, what was I thinking? Apparently I wanted to join the ranks with Bernie who is recovering from a shredded front paw pad injury. I've always said, misery loves company, and I guess I can't resist any form of competition. Someday I'll learn...
So, yes, Pressed Flowers is coming along quite nicely. I'm almost finished with sleeve numero uno, which is a bit embarrassing, what is taking sooooo long??? I blame garter stitch, I knit and knit and knit. Hours later it's shorter than when I started, I'm embracing this. I'm also extremely impatient and get irritated when things aren't progressing as quickly as I would like. The solution? Start another project, which I kind of had to do. One cannot be an active participant in a KAL if you're not actually working on the project that was to be cast on LAST month, correct? I also feel a certain sense of obligation being the fearless leader in that I should be in the position to lead. The Drawing Sweater is not difficult. It only looks and feels a bit daunting with it's 20 pages of directions and 4 pages of charts that you work one at a time but simultaneously.
If the tubular cast on isn't enough to deter you, then you shouldn't have much trouble negotiating the short rows, raglan increases and color work. It's all laid out for you, plain as mud in those charts, JUST FOLLOW IT, LOL!! Of course I had trouble figuring out what I was supposed to be doing until I had a short consultation with Andra. Dumb-Dumb me didn't realize that I had already knit the first 10 rows of the chart, I missed that memo. I was simply following the written instructions on the other page (yes, I ignored the fine print, duh). I get to rows 11-21 and have no idea what I'm doing, shocking I know. Those feelings of despair getting more intense as I think about the thousands of FINISHED DRAWING SWEATERS I've seen posted all over Instagram, OMG it's me, I'm stupid. Andra quickly dispelled my stupidity and had me feeling warm and fuzzy in a matter of seconds, phew...Her reassurance got me through and I am now watching those flowers take life right before my eyes. So if you're feeling not so great about your sweater, have no fear, it's only temporary and I CAN HELP!!! Remember, safety in numbers, we work great as a team and learn so much from each other, which you can do this Saturday, February 25th from 9-11:00, it's KAL!! If that isn't enough, you always have me and can learn from all my mistakes...
We will be meeting tomorrow evening, Wednesday, from 6-7:30 for Stitch and Bitch. I will warn you, I'm still relying on space heaters to keep warm. That said, it is still warmer than it ever was when I was downtown, THERE'S NO DRAFT! The good news is, I'm just waiting for the part to come in and I should be up and running soon. It's not like we don't have beautiful handknit sweaters to keep us warm, so layer up ladies. I almost forgot, I just preordered a new book called Only Yoking Book, it's by Olga Putano, OMG I'm in love. I follow her on Instagram @olgaputanodesigns and her sweaters are simply lovely and I just had to jump on the bandwagon. Take a look, I think you'll absolutely agree it's the perfect addition to your knitting library. Make it a great day and I'll see you soon!
Katy
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