Too Many Scarves

Central Park update...among other things

It's the end of the month and here's the current state:

Darn close to finishing the main pieces. When I went to lay the pieces out I remembered I have to come back to the right front piece. I abandoned it when I reached the armhole shaping because I needed to work on something that didn't require me to reference the pattern. I think I was taking it to work or on a little road trip and the 2x2 rib of the sleeves was more doable.  Of course, here I am now, all excited because I am sooo close and then I realize I still have to finish that up.

And there is a small error, which I feel I need to cop to, just in case anyone felt compelled to tell me after seeing this picture. ( And seriously, if you even noticed, damn you're observant.)The sleeves do not match. I know, I know. But I've decided I don't care. Really, I don't. I originally started the sleeves at the same time, but all the yarn tangles and forgetting which was the front and back or right and left and whatnot was too much for my little pea sized brain. So, I finished one and then came back to the other. And that's when I started doing the cables more often. Whoops. But I don't care anymore.

I hope to finish this in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully by the time I go home for Christmas so I can show it off. We'll see.

In other news, Randy got a job. It's official. I didn't blog about it till now because I was afraid something wasn't going to pan out, but it's safe now. Yay! Now we can make plans, look for an apartment and whatnot. It looks like we will be in the Los Angeles area. Yay for traffic and smog! Ha ha!

Post Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Do I have a completed Central Park Hoodie?

Nope...but I am getting close. I have the back, both fronts and one of the sleeves done. Just need to finish the other sleeve, do a little seaming, knit the hood and edging and seam some more. Actually, one I put it like that it sounds like I'm not really that close to finishing after all. Oh well, I have high hopes for this Friday when I am off.

No pictures of the progress so far because it is sitting in a balled up mess of pieces and unwoven ends on the bookshelf.  Doesn't make for a pretty picture.

(Sidenote: Cher's version of "Baby, Please Come Home" is on the radio right now. It is not pretty.)

Tracey and Kevin came up for Thanksgiving. I made everything except the mashed potatoes because Randy makes the best. I think the potatoes are what swayed Tracey and Kevin to make the trek up, really.

We lounged around a lot during the day. I knit on the CPH while everyone else played the Wii:

 

The turkey:

Unfortunately, I think it looked better than it tasted. I'm just not a huge turkey person. Actually, I don't know if anyone at dinner was, but it's tradition damnit! I felt we needed a turkey.

There was some great conversation at dinner. You know it's good when Tracey is laughing so hard she's not making any noise:

We played a little Trivial Pursuit (pop culture edition, of course) and then they had to go home :(

It was a really nice day, all the lounging around, playing games and spending time together. I'm really looking forward to when Randy and I move so we can see them on a more regular basis.

Wow...

Well, that came sooner then I thought it would. A mistake on the Central Park Hoodie, that is. Here is what it looked like on Saturday night:

That's the back, you know, the piece I was flying along on. Well, I finished it up on Wednesday and moved onto the front piece. As I was finishing up the ribbing for the front I referenced the pattern.  "Switch to larger needles."  Hmmm...how odd, I thought, that it would tell you to do that on the front pieces but not the back.   

Yeah, anyway.  So, I've been doing great on paying attention to the cable twists but not so much with the pattern itself. All that time spent on the back while i was home last weekend...gone. Sigh. Oh well, moving on...

It took me a few days to get up the nerve to rip it back. As of today I am up to the armholes again though so I am making good time. I have delusions of finishing this (and by finishing I mean all the pieces, not seaming and everything else) by the end of the month. We'll see how that goes.

A new project...

I caved. *I bought more yarn recently. But I have a purpose!

The ubiquitous Central Park Hoodie!

Between seeing Lara's progress and hearing that Sarah was making one, I decided it was time. When I bought the yarn I knew that I would be seeing Sarah in a matter of weeks. I figured I could start it and if I ran into any problems I could ask her for help...in person!  What a concept! You see, I've called Sarah for help on numerous occasions, but as I'm sure you knitters know, knitting can be hard to explain over the phone.

I cast on and got through maybe 2 inches of the ribbing before I flew home to see her. I knit while I waited for my flight. I knit on the plane. Nicole picked me up from the airport. I knit in the car while we headed to our destination. We knitted (knit? I have a hard time with this one. Neither sounds right to me.) together after dinner on Santa Monica Blvd.

Here's Nicole working on her first scarf:

   

Here was my progress at that point:

I forgot to bring my stitch markers so I improvised with some scrap yarn that I had with me. 24 hours in and I was already on my first cable. Woo hoo! A brief side note: It was soooo nice to sit outside and knit wearing flip flops and a tank top and not get cold. Actually, it was just nice to wear a tank top and flip flops. I miss warmer weather. I never thought I would say that. Anyway.

Fast forward to the next day when I met up with Sarah. This deserves it's own post so I'll just stick to the Central Park Hoodie for now. Now with real stitch markers:

I've been very careful with the cables. After my mishap with Gretel and hearing about Lara's small mistake I have been super aware.

I made a lot of progress on Sunday. Monday morning was spent running a few errands and spending some time at some places I like to frequent when I am home. Then I had to head to the airport. I knit before, during and after my flight. Here is it's current state:

I will be moving on to the front before the day is over. If I kept up at this pace I could be done by Thanksgiving...but that is unrealistic. The only reason I've done this much is because over the course of the past 5 days I had a lot of free time. I had at least 2 hours of knitting time on Saturday and Monday because of airport and flight time and about 8 hours on Sunday. If only I could have that much time more often. I always dream of spending my days off with my feet up on the coffee table knitting for hours on end, but it never happens. Instead I end up doing laundry, or cleaning or maybe blogging or maybe fostering the love/hate relationship with Ravelry. (The hate part being that I could spend my whole day on there but I know I can't. Otherwise, it is fabulous.)

I'm bending my "one project at a time" rule for now because it's Christmas knitting time. I've got a few projects that can't be blogged about right now because the recipients read this here blog. And what a better time than now to start my first real sweater! Stay tuned for the fun, I'm sure there will be some serious screw ups at some point. Woo hoo!

*I should mention that Debbie and Jerry kindly gifted me with a KnitPicks gift certificate for my birthday way back in May and I have been holding out for the perfect project to blow it on. Copper colored Swish Superwash it is.

A little this, a little that...

I don't know about you guys, but I love getting my hair cut. LOVE it. I feel like a new person. Here's the latest:

And are you ready for this? Here's the back:

Sex-ay!  Woo hoo!

Although, the more I look at that picture, the more I am convinced I have a freakishly long neck.

In other news, there has been more knitting.

I give you the first pair of mittens ever:

Oh, and another Asymmetrical Cable Hat :)  Here's a slightly better picture of it:

The colors are fabulous. Nice rich jewel tones. The yarn was Manos Del Uruguay. More stash busting. Yay!