Toddler Vest for CIC

...is complete, just need to weave in the ends. Since I only worked on it while sitting at the computer, that probably says I spent way too much time on the computer in the last day or two. This has been an unusual weekend for me. Four days off, no work, no travel. I've been dealing with a cold but the miracles of Zicam (honestly they should have me doing their commercials!) have made me feel almost human and I really have no complaints. I have some work I should have been doing, but I really wasn't up to that--no excuses but it's not done. So there!

Went to the movies last night to see Casino Royale, the new James Bond flick. Quite different from the original, which was made in the 60's I'd guess, when movies were a lot tamer. A lot of violence, killing, sex...in short, all the things that were implied in the book but are very explicit here. There were two young boys sitting next to me with their father, probably 8 and 10. They seemed bored and got up and down several times. Annoying to me, but they probably shouldn't have been taken to the movie in the first place. But I'd definitely give it 3.5 stars, and the new James Bond does have the most amazing eyes--like a pair of turquoises. Anyway, I've been to the local Barnes & Noble tonight to get a copy of the book so I can re-read it.

And football has been awful today. Yesterday I knit through most of the Georgia/Georgia Tech game which was pretty exciting. But today I couldn't sit still through the Panthers/Redskins game (I consider both to be "my" teams, but I was rooting for the Panthers) and every time I turned on the Falcons/New Orleans game and the Steelers/Ravens game, my teams (Falcons, Steelers) were getting whomped worse. You can only expect so much from knitting--it can't relieve the stress of seeing your teams get beaten like an omelet.

By the way, there was a knitting-related comic in today's paper. I don't remember which one it was, but there's a snake reading a book titled "Anyone Can Knit." He's got his yarn and needles handy and the caption reads something like "Jack was optimistic." I will have to save it--I have another snake cartoon from The New Yorker that I've been saving because it reminded me of the "snake bites woman" workers comp claim that is currently driving my company's rates up. Totally bogus--it only squeezed her a little.

What is Woofgang Pug?

Inquiring minds want to know: what (or who) is Woofgang Pug? Well, the obvious answer is that we (the semi-spouse and I) have four pugs, pictured here. In the rear is Bluto, and on the front pillow are Lightning (also pictured in my profile), Lucy (left) and Lulu (right).

Much less obvious is why anyone in her right mind would have four pugs. That's definitely a story for another day. Suffice it to say, we're in it for the long haul with pugs. Lightning is 10, Bluto 9, Lucy 3, Lulu 2. (And who's to say there's anything right about my mind for that matter?)

On another subject completely, I'm out of denial about that toddler sweater for CIC. You know, the one I was doing on size 11's because I couldn't be bothered to empty a 10.5? You may remember I characterized the fabric as "loose." Yeah, loose like fishnet stockings. And not just loose--sloppy, floppy. Hated it! So earlier today I frogged it and went to Plan B: remove the 10.5 from the hedgehog WIP and knit a toddler sweater that's my own combination of Marguerite's Cozy in Cables Vest and the Countrywool What's In Your Pocket Vest. This one feels a lot better and will be much warmer for the kid who ends up with it. This one is the perfect project to knit while I'm reading blogs--it's completely mindless. While I can read, watch TV or surf the net while I knit, I'm really only capable of doing one thing that's even a little complicated. I cannot follow a pattern and surf, for instance. That's why this pattern should be called the Lazy Knitter's Toddler Vest Pattern.

And still on the needles is Cooper's gansey from a Debbie Bliss pattern. The back and one sleeve have been completed and now I'm on the second sleeve. (No, I'm not knitting the two sleeves together. I've done it in the past but this time I'm using dark navy and it's hard enough to see the stitches. Put that together with trying to keep two sets of yarn separate and it's not any fun at all.)

Finally, I'm already irritated with Blogger. What's with the formatting? My first post went deceptively simply--now I can't seem to get line spaces in between paragraphs. Oh, well...tomorrow's another day to figure this out. At least I was able to get Lightning's picture into the profile section. One small victory.

Making a Change

I've decided to move my blog (The Yarn Diva, formerly on Typepad) to Blogger. No major problems with Typepad--it just seemed to be harder than it should be. Of course, I've got no idea whether Blogger will be any better.

So far, I've been able to manipulate the sidebar much better than I ever could with Typepad. I took an HTML class years ago and I guess I need to go back and read up on it to refresh the old brain cells, but it does seem more intuitive to actively edit the code than what I was doing with Typepad. I never could get the sidebar to look the way I wanted. Probably not Typepad's fault, but I needed a better fit for my own limited technical skills.

I do seem to read a lot of comments about problems getting photos into Blogger. That should be the least of my problems since I seldom seem to have photos.

On another note, I've decided (belatedly!) to participate in Knit Unto Others. I started a vest for Children in Common last night, using Marguerite's Cozy in Cables pattern. I had some Lamb's Pride Bulky in the stash but, of course, all my 10.5 needles were in use. (Can you say, too many WIPs?) So, I'm using an 11 which is making the vest a little looser than the one I did earlier this summer (although that was knit on two strands of worsted weight mohair and wasn't ideal either). Oh, well, it will fit some child, it will be warm and woolly, and it might be better to be a little loose than stiff from a comfort standpoint. And that's really what counts in the long run.

Given my schedule these days, I won't get much more than this vest done by the deadline. Maybe a preemie hat or two for my niece Caitlin's NICU babies. Possibly a bear sweater for the guild's annual donation to the police at the December meeting, but that's not seeming too likely. We'll see--I'm not going to beat myself up about it. Charity work done with gritted teeth is not charitable, in my opinion.