In all of my excitement of sweater month and boredom with the 13 stitches of a button-band for the Cider House Rules vest, I started the Bianca jacket on Friday night. I received the yarn (Debbie Bliss Tweed) from Knitbrarian in October and have been wanting to start this sweater since I received the fall issue of Interweave Knits. In a promise to myself and Bryan, I was going to finish the Cider House Rules vest before starting this project. Friday night, I just couldn’t even look at the 13-stitch button-band that needs to be 400 rows (60 inches), so while we were watching The New World, I started the Bianca jacket. I started with one of the fronts of the jacket just in case it wasn’t going to turn out the way I’d hoped. It’s almost like the universe said, “Don’t waste your time with the back, you’ll hate it anyway and end up irritated with yourself. Start with the front so you won’t hate yourself tomorrow.” After three hours of knitting, I wasn’t really keen on the way it was turning out. I couldn’t even see where the decorative decreases were. Bryan being his ever-supportive-self said, I think it looks great but I still wasn’t sure.

Yesterday, I got together with SK and K for some knitting and asked them their opinion. I think they knew I was unsure about the sweater, but that’s what knitting friends are for - to give you their honest opinion. They agreed with the universe and now the sweater will be taking the plunge into the frog pond. I’m not even sorry about it, I’m actually relieved. This sweater needs a yarn that’s light in color with some lovely stitch definition, which the Debbie Bliss yarn doesn’t have. I think this yarn will become a lovely top-down cardigan in it’s future. For now, I’m putting the yarn away and I’m going to finish the Cider House Rules button-band, I’m more than half way through and will soon start the Martha sweater (from Rowan Magazine 28). Wouldn’t you know it just before I started the Bianca jacket, the lovely Phoebe pullover from Knit Picks caught my eye. Thursday night, I went to sleep thinking about it and even had a dream about it. It’s a pullover but I plan on making it a cardigan. I love the color that it’s knit in on the website and when it’s feasible, I plan on buying the yarn and adding it to my almanac list.

For now, it’s back to sweater month. I’m so excited about this year and the potential that it has. Having a plan for each month has motivated and reinvirogated me and my knitting, it’s given me something to look forward to each month.

And in case you’re wondering how the lesson with the sock-knitting machine went. SK showed me how to use her antique sock-knitting machine yesterday, which was a bit of a frustration for me. I managed to drop half of the stitches off the cylinder and wreak havoc on poor SK’s patience. Someday, like everything else that I’m determined to learn, it will become another accomplishment. I just need to give it some time and take frequent breaks.

Thank you all for your lovely comments about the Hobo sweater, the new haircut and birthday wishes. I’ve already worn my sweater twice and after the second wearing it reinforced the idea of it being a special occasion sweater. It’s already starting to pill slightly under the arms. It’s such a luxiurious feeling sweater that I want to wear it more, so I’m sure I’ll wear it out to dinner when we go to a nice place.

My birthday was a lovely birthday, low-key which was perfect. We went to dinner at a really nice place in town and then went to see The Queen with Helen Mirren. The film was wonderful and I highly recommend it. The only thing I knew about it before seeing it was that Roger Ebert said it was one of the best films he’d seen all year. It has made me think about how we deal with celebrity deaths and people close them grieving.

It’s been a busy week, besides my birthday we went to two holiday parties last weekend. SK, the sock machine knitter, had a housewarming on Saturday and then Sunday was a party at the library. Monday evening, SK and I got together. She worked on Christmas gifts on her machine and I started a long-overdue scarf KidSilk Haze scarf in black. Yesterday, SK and FQ came over for a little knitting and chatting. The Monday night scarf has grown from a mere 6 inches at the end of the night to over 44 inches as of last night.

I’ve also been working on Bryan’s vest but it’s mostly on the armbands for Bryan’s vest (photos to come soon), which aren’t too exciting. They’re 13 stitches with a slip stitch in the middle for 20 inches on size 3 needles. The first one and the second armband is about 1/3 finished, then there is the 60-inch piece for the button band that still needs to be completed. I knew these would take me longer than knitting the vest did.
I keep thinking about starting a new sweater (the Bianca jacket) but the idea of starting another sweater before Bryan’s vest is finished is giving me the willies. That seems sort of funny to me considering that two years ago I didn’t have a problem having more than eight projects going at once. Now more than two or three makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. Yes, there are the projects that I’m modifying/reknitting to fit better, but those don’t count in the total works-in-progress count.

As far as spinning, last Sunday morning, I woke up and decided that I had this massive bobbin of light pink yarn and I was going to ply it. The one goal I had for myself this week was to ply that yarn. I ended up with 300 yards of plied yarn just from that one bobbin. It may be another scarf in lovely merino and tencel scarf. I’ve received so many compliments on the scarves that I’ve made for myself recently that I’m thinking of many more for myself.

This coming Saturday, we’re heading to Kansas for Christmas. Our first Christmas with my parents since we’ve been married. I can’t believe I haven’t been home for Christmas in three years.

Our trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving was an uneventful one. The seven hour trip wore us out. Note to self, in the future don’t drive seven hours the day of Thanksgiving and then attempt to be social for several hours. On the way to Kansas, I was working on sewing up the Hobo sweater all so that I could wear it at Thanksgiving dinner. About two hours into the trip, I’d finished the overarm seams and it was all ready to wear. What a delightful sweater to wear, the cashmere silk blend was so nice against my skin. (Sorry no photo yet, I didn’t take my camera to Kansas. I promise one soon.) I was so relieved to find out that this yarn hasn’t been discontinued because it’s so lovely for scarves. Thanksgiving dinner was small for our family, there were only 11 in attendance. We’ve had over 20 some years. Eleven was just right. Friday, we had the family day-after-Thanksgiving lunch at Winstead’s and then shopped a bit on the Plaza. I bought buttons for the Cider House Rules vest and a cardigan that I finished several years ago but never put buttons on. Friday evening, we had dinner with my dad’s family. Then Saturday we headed back to Illinois. It was a quick trip but nice to get away for a few days.

While we were in Kansas, my mom gave me some cat toys for George and Chloe since her cats wouldn’t touch them. Bryan found them in my suitcase in a plastic bag and asked what they were, as he said that both cats were looking at him as if he’d just brought in the most interesting thing. I said, “Ask the kitties, they know.” The toys were little fuzzy egg-shaped toys with feathers sticking out of one end. He took one of the toys out and Chloe immediately went crazy playing with it. By the end of one day of playing our living room looked like a bird had blown up in it.

In the car, I’d planned to do so much knitting. For some reason after finishing sewing the Hobo sweater and realizing that I hadn’t brought an extra yarn ball with me, I just wasn’t in the mood to knit. Sunday and Monday, I worked a lot on the Cider House Rules vest for Bryan. I love this yarn so much, as I’ve mentioned before, that knitting this vest was a real pleasure. It was such a pleasure that the entire vest is blocking as I write this. Monday evening, I started the edging for one of the armholes and managed to knit about 9 1/2 of the 20 total inches (50.8 cm) required for just one armhole band. Once I get to the neck/button band, I know it’s going to take me a while because I have to knit 60″ (152 cm) and it’s a 13 stitch band on size 3 needles.

The idea of the Cider House Rules vest being finished has me so excited to start another sweater. Yesterday, I finished reknitting Bryan’s Christmas stocking and swatched for the Bianca Jacket from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. Since I’m feeling a bit adventurous, I’m also tempted to start the Martha sweater from Rowan Magazine 28 in deep red Felted Tweed. Hopefully, I can exert a little self-control and make myself only work on one sweater at a time.

Now that Thanksgiving is over I need to get into full swing with the library school application once again. This year, I’m finding it hard to work on because it’s my third time through. I think once I get going on it, things will come together pretty quickly. My letters of recommendation this year are very good and I think my library experience will help. If I don’t get in this time, I think I’ll have half the staff of the library at the school demanding an answer.

I just realized I haven’t posted anything about the new yarn that I’m spinning. I started spinning it about two weeks ago and am slowly making headway. I decided to try using my wheel’s double-drive capabilities and just see what I can do with it. The tensioning seems to be a bit more precise with double-drive, that’s just my opinion after using it for a little over a week. The fiber is one of my Maryland Sheep & Wool purchases from Stony Mountain Fibers. It’s so beautiful when it’s actually plied together, it looks like fluffy neopolitan ice cream.