Need to Blog More

So I am a bad blogger. Mostly I am a bad picture taker/uploader. I feel bad when posting with no pictures, as this is a knitting blog and I knit pretty things. Sometimes. I've not touched the Mystery Stole since the last post. I was trying to work late and finish my Tempting. Tempting, she did not get finished quite when I wanted her to be. I was about 2 inches from the end when I wanted to wear it. Oh well.

(visualize picture of almost done Tempting in a purpley-fuschia here)

Also, I did not have the directions out when attaching the underarm stitches for the first sleeve (lazy me). I remembered that you were supposed to turn it inside-out. So I turned it inside-out and kitchenered. Did not work.

(visualize beautiful 2x2 ribbing grafted on the visible {albeit underarm} side with a hodgepodge of purl stitches)

It also left huge gaping holes on either side of the grafting. Apparently my join was not sufficient. The second one, however, was done using the three-needle-bind-off, which went much smoother. The wonky bit is inside the underarm, so I can raise my arm on a roller coaster or something and it's all nice.

(visualize nicely grafted 2x2 ribbing)

I also made sure to close up the holes with the long tail while binding off. They still aren't nice and smooth and beautiful and invisible, but they're much better. I may go back and attack them with more yarn later. At this point, I need to re-attach the underarm stitches of the first sleeve, and then finish the last four rows of the pullover. So it will be done, if not tonight, then tomorrow on the long car ride to New Hampshire. And then I will wear it, probably on Thursday, and dance around all day singing about my nice new sweater. I tend to do that with all wearables when finished, dance around annoying all those who cross my path. Particularly Lee. Though I think he gets more amused than angry when I dance around wearing new socks.

I also tend to dance around singing the praises of knitted garments each time I wear them. As my homemade clothing collection increases, the singing and dancing should decrease. Or I'll just be singing and dancing all the time. One or the other. I'm kinda betting on the latter, though. I think that in a year, I'll be wearing some item of handmade clothing daily. I have two skirts, a couple pairs of pants (pajama and snake skin corduroy) and about ten shirts in the sewing queue, plus two cardigans and three shirts in the knitting queue, and probably fifteen pairs of socks. At least eight, the rest of the yarn I own may or may not go for my own personal socks. I get unnaturally excited when I can throw out a pair of store-bought socks, as that means I am coming ever closer to having just homemade socks, yippee!