Here are just a few phrases and circumstances that I experience right after I've worked about 1/2 row of any project. I experience at least one of these right after sitting down to crochet/knit or whatever, every single time. Sometimes I think they hate me.

1. I'm finiiiiished.
2. I can't find it.
3. It's not working.
4. NO!!! Shut up you booda head!
5. I'm telling.
6. Five minutes after dinner time is all wrapped up, "I'm thirsty."
7. The sound of running water in the background that goes on and on and on when there are no fountains in the house.
8. Utter silence.
9. oooooOOOOO....

Being Careful Not to Twist Stitches

OK, enough of the learning new things for now. Remember that silk yarn that I bragged about and picked up from the stitches convention in February? Well, it has a new purpose. Many of you have probably seen this tank from interweave knits. This pattern is free on the interweave website! Well, it's about to be mine in a minute.

I had to start over once I realized that I had NOT been careful not to twist the stitches.

My "100% premium quality silk" could have been knit up on size 4 needles to meet the gauge, but I decided to change to the 3 just because of the smoother join that my Boye and Knit Picks Options needles offered over the Plymouth. The snagging was killing me and was in part why I didn't take care NOT to twist the stitches. This means more knitting, but I think it will be worth it.

So, I finally have something to get excited about because this pattern has given very few problems. That waist border is one by one ribbing, and it seems I've casted on one more stitch than I needed to. Fuey! I'm not turning back now. That's not even my biggest problem. I was only able to wind half of my silk skein into a ball. The other half looks like this. It makes me sick to think of the precious knitting time untangling this mess will take.


I think it'll be worth it. The yarn label didn't list a color. I think I'll call it African Sunset. For some reason, it kind of takes me to a place I've never been when I gaze at it. If you make this tank, can you let me know?

Food Instead?

I wonder what everyone else eats for dinner during the week. Are most people on some kind of food plan, or is dinner time a really important time for expression and bonding. I've tried this week to mix it up enough to distract myself from the tragic parts of my life. The crab quiche worked the first night. On the second night it wasn't as effective.
Tonight I tried to grill some pork ribs. I'll have to finish the ribs in the oven tomorrow.

They were meatier than I thought, so in order to finish with dinner before bedtime, we ended up with spaghetti.

It was tasty but not what we had our mouths ready for, and it didn't mask my....but I digress.

I've tried to create a variegated skein out of strawberry kool-aid. It was supposed to be kool-aid version of the dip-dye method seen here. But it turned out like this. Notice how I tried to steep the last piece (at the top) for a shorter amount of time in a last stitch effort to achieve something close to what it was intended to be. I don't even mind the orange instead of pink (I still can't understand how this happened). It should work fine on my little coco brown.

I'm not too concerned, because I've seen even the most jacked up looking skeins turn into beatiful works of art. Let's hope this once does justice to the Baby Surprise Jacket it's intended for.

I can DO this.

I CAN do this.

I can do this.

I can do THIS.

Ok, so the truth is that by the third pattern repeat, I was able to figure out how to work in my mistakes. Can you tell? Well, even if you can, I moving on.

Regarding the spinning. The lady at the LYS said that my first strands would be clumpy. Boy was she ever right. I'm using the Park and Draft method, as suggested by Harlem Purls, which when incorporated with the spindle instructions yields progress. Still very challenging though. My wool is not very slippery, but I'm getting the hang of it. This is what I have so far.


I'm not getting how to rid the strand of these spots that are too coiled but at the same time rid the strand of spots that aren't coiled enough. Truthfully, I'm surprised I have a strand at all.

I'm having to mix these new things with some extremely simple projects like this just to keep my confidence. Ciao for now.