Well, This Took Longer Than Expected

It took much longer than expected, but I finally put the finishing touches on my Aurora Shawl Collar Cardigan!



I started this the day after I purchased the yarn, so that would be February 7, 2010.



It languished for a while ("for a while" = "about 3-4 weeks") because I wasn't sure if the circular needle I had would be long enough to handle all of the stitches on the collar (it was, but it was a bit tricky for a while).

Then I was lazy about blocking it, because that would require moving some stuff around in the back room to make space to block it.



Then I only had the button loop and the button to put on it, but I was pretty lazy about doing that, too.



(Speaking of. . . that button loop looks a little bit stressed. I think my epic boobage is putting that to the test, or the loop itself is trying to tell me "Fuck You, Fattie!")

Now that's it's done, I can jump up and down like a monkey:



(Yes, I was doing a monkey imitation there. I don't think I can ever stand for photos without doing something goofy.)

And I can hold a fat cat:



Mike pointed out that it's the first photo of me holding Ellie. I hadn't realized that. I suppose I usually only hold her briefly, because as soon as I pick her up she says, "MRRRRAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!", which, I don't think is her saying, "Don't pick me up!" usually because she's quite a chatty cat, but it does often make me put her down. Plus, she's, um, kinda chubby. You may have noticed that.

So, back to the knitting. I was hoping to have this sweater finished within a month, and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids!!! Oh, wait. I'm not pretending to be a ghost. The only reason I didn't finish within a month is because of the excuses I listed above. But I'm not complaining. It's still cool enough to warrant wearing such a sweater; it was, in fact, 33 degrees when I woke up this morning and our heat was on. That's something to complain about. And I would complain if it wasn't expected to creep up into the high 70s by this weekend.

I'm still working on the Bacon and Lattice socks - I have about 1.5 pattern repeats and the toes, and then I'm done! Done, baby!!!

I switched my progress of the Swallowtail Shawl to "hibernating" on Ravelry, because I don't anticipate getting to work on it any time soon. I'm anticipating being a bit preoccupied for the next month or so (I'll disclose the reason for that as soon as is practical, but I can't yet).

We went to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend, and I did take photos - they just aren't on Flickr yet. I also purchased a few things, but haven't taken those photos yet (which I should do, because I got just a small amount of yarn, but it's beautiful yarn). I'm hoping we can get to the NH Sheep and Wool as well as the MA Sheep and Wool, but I can't make a solid date of it yet.

Oh! I also want a close up of the button on my sweater! It's quite pretty -- it was in my collection of old, dusty (and, in the case of one jar, stomach-turningly stinky, but a soak in pine cleaner helped out with that) vintage buttons. It was painted black, and lots of the paint was chipped off and just didn't look good. I used some nail polish remover to clean it up, revealing a lovely faux-tortoise shell button underneath! I'll upload that photo soon as well (gotta take it first).

The Flashing of the Stash

I know I'm late doing this -- two days late to be precise. I had taken these photos last Sunday, but hadn't had time to edit and upload them.

I got bored with dragging all of my stash out of the hutch, spreading it out on the coach, and taking photos. They look the same year after year because - hey, I'm a slow knitter and have had stuff in my stash since I started knitting in 2004.

Between that boredom and the hubbub that started over my Dickenson Pullover, I decided to do something a little different for FYS2010. That incident actually empowered me, and gave me more confidence in my body. Yes, it is the body of a 41-year-old woman, and it's not the Hollywood/fashion perfect body, but it's my body and I love it, my husband loves it, the cats love it, and anyone who doesn't love it can just look away.

Here I am, flashing my stash:









I have a collection of mint-condition (in many cases, new deadstock) vintage nighties from the 50s and 60s. I thought this to be a good time to show one off:



I also get to show off Mike's fantabulous legs too:



And, finally, a flash of the pussy:



Have a great weekend! We're off on a hike today to firm up these legs a bit more!