Wheeeeee!!!!

At least Brandi and Rhett think it’s fun.

Looks like the pics from early December, huh?

There’s one major difference.

December was snow.

This is all ice. Sleet with layers of pure ice between from the rounds of freezing rain. But we dodged a major bullet – just a few miles away they’re dealing with a half inch to two inches of solid ice. Brr!!

So what in the world do you do when you’re inside listening to it sleet all weekend? Especially when you’ve apparently come down with the same crud that had your husband knocked out all last week? Hmm… I wonder.

You break out the Russian Prime and work a little more on the sleeve. As you can see, the pattern carries visually right on down the sleeve from the yoke just like promised. Once it’s blocked the little blip you see now will smooth out.

I’m worried though. I finished my second Chain Link sock this weekend, and the second one – done while on and just back from vacation – is noticeably larger than the one done in the weeks leading up to vacation. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised – 11 days in Paradise will do wonders for your stress levels – but I’m thinking I’m going to have to redo sock number one. I’m also going to take another look at the pair I finished while I was on the plane going over – the more I look, the more I dislike them and think I need to start over. We’ll see.

Back to the worried though. I’m afraid my gauge will change enough to be noticable on this sleeve too. I need to work a little more before I decide for sure. Although the way it had tightened up before, maybe it wouldn’t be bad if it relaxes a little for the sleeves. That will make future blocking easier.

And then there’s the new project.

You’re absolutely right, I have zero self control.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  But I saw a quote not too long ago that said promiscuity was perfectly acceptable in knitting and something else.  Don’t remember what the something else was though.
I got Victorian Lace Today right before I left for vacation.   If you haven’t seen this book, go take a peek.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  I spent days just drooling.  Then I went to Kinkos at lunch and copied the 8 or so patterns I had narrowed it down to.  I also went to Gourmet Yarn Company and got a cone of their lace weight alpaca.  Very nice stuff, extremely nice price, very easy to work with.

I really wanted to do the biggest Sampler, but good sense finally took over and I chose to do the smaller one.  Started off with a couple of different bamboo needles, but decided they were just too dull for the lace maneuvers.  So, out came the Knit Picks needles again.  They go from 3mm to 3.5mm, so I’m actually working at a bit looser gauge than the pattern calls for.  That’s okay – I don’t mind this being a bit larger than the specs say and I’ve got plenty – more than plenty – of yardage available.

As with all lace, it looks pretty pitiful right now.  Lace doesn’t come into it’s own until it’s blocked severely.  This project has a long way to go before blocking, but it’s going to be just gorgeous.

So cross your fingers for me on the crud.  If I don’t wake up tomorrow morning feeling significantly better, I’m going to work from home in the morning and hit the doctors walk in hours tomorrow – assuming her office is open.  Luckily I can do almost anything I need to from here, so it’s not that big a deal.

Off to knit a bit more lace, and watch 24.  Got hooked last year.