Forgetful me (Day 56)

Rescue line.

Always a rescue line.

Got gauge? (Day 61)

I do!

I just feel so much better that I've started something. It's like...well. I can't come up with a really socially acceptable analogy, but there is certainly relief. I've done 18 rows already, and while I know I've got about sixty bajillion to go, I do feel better.

I was paranoid about approximating gauge, because the pattern does not specify the yarn weight, my needles are smaller (I'm using #3s) and I suck at gauge. I checked the yarn band, and the gauge it states is 7-8 stitches on a size 0-3 (American), which is 2-3 stitches more per inch than she was making when she knit her shawl. While I have between 75 and 25 yards more than the pattern calls for, I was seriously worried that I was going to have a really short and narrow shawl. Then, today, during my lunch websurfing, I rechecked the pattern. The yarn she used is almost the same weight as mine, and her needles are only one size up. I knit loose, so I realized (in a sudden, rare burst of intelligence) that I should be hitting gauge. So I looked at the pattern again, and realized her gauge was measured across the lace sections. W00t! I ran home (well, waddled--I've done up a knee again, and, in an embarassing turn of events, ended up with some uncomfortable friction burns in places where friction burns should not happen) and trotted out my little start again (being, as I am, a Disciple of the Great Eunny Jang, I decided not to swatch for this lace). I forced a non-knitter to hold my wee little dragon patch and measured. 5 stitches per inch across the lace.

I am so da bomb. Let's look at it again, just for giggles:

Beauty!

Well, stone the crows-I'm back! (Day 62)

I've been moving around and doing things, just not doing things here. Nor have I been knitting much--I'm still all fluttery and anxious about settling to any one task. So today, I just stabbed out and chose a new project:

I'm going to be doing the Dragon Scales Shawl next, if only because 1) I've already got yarn and needles, 2) the pattern is free and 3) I want to but have felt guilty about wanting to start it, because I have two things that I should be knitting for others. I've decided that yeah, I'll keep working on the Who scarf, but let's face it, it's July. He doesn't need a scarf right freakin' now. I also have to start that baby bag for my friend's grandbaby, but that's another project that's...gestating. Baby's not due until October, so I've probably got a month before I need to worry about starting it. So I'm going to let go of the guilt for now and just start something, for the love of Jobu. I had been thinking of dolling it up and somehow figuring out how to put beads in to make it sparkly, but then....eh. Nope. I will trust in the inherent beauty of the yarn and the cleverness of the pattern to make of it something utterly fabulous. Because it is beautiful yarn and an incredibly clever pattern.

I also just realized today that I have way more lace weight yarn than I realized. I got three different colorways when they went on clearance on Knitpicks, three skeins of each of the above (Red Hat, Caribbean and Trail). Which I was adding incorrectly as somewhere south of 1,000 yards in each colorway. However, Knitpicks laceweight skeins (just like these, as I noted when I went in and checked the labels) are 440 yards per skein, meaning I have 1,320 yards of each colorway, or 3,960 yards total lace weight. That's way more than I thought. I have plans for the Red Hat and Caribbean bunches (a generic mesh shawl with some beads and fringe and the Cheshire Cat Stole, respectively), but I'm lost as to how to deal with Trail. I'm thinking, maybe something with a forest theme? Yes, it's obvious, but honestly, I'm not the Stephen Hawking of knitting here! I'm just not sure what particular forest theme I want to involve myself in. But I am reassured that when I find a suitable forest pattern, I will have more than adequate yarns to have a real good go at it.

Anyway. Ghost Hunters is on, and I must go make dinner before the new one comes on at 9. Yes, that's an hour and a half away, but I'm not very speedy in the kitchen (or at the edits). So here's my new proof of Who:
That's the scarf laid out by a full size hard back (The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston--great book, you should give it a read. I'm not much of a non-fiction reader, but this one is incredible) and two trade paperbacks (North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and Boris Akunin's Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog). As you can tell, I read widely. And knit long. ;-)

Day 73--I'm about to run barking.

Day three of trying to recover my computer to the place it was pre-virus, and I'm working on restoring my iTunes (note: The system sucks, big hairies. It is predicated on your never having to reformat your hard drive in an effort to restore from a fatal infection, and really. In this day and age, is that really likely?) The worst part? I'm going to have to go through, listen to each track and reconstruct the song title and band name information. I. Hate. iTunes. Seriously.

I was going to upgrade my iPod later this year, but now.... I don't care what anyone says, this format is the world's biggest pain in the butt ever. Unless you have a removable hard drive, or excellent anti-virus software, you're just screwed. Well, screw that! I have better things to do with my time than bugger with this crap.

Sigh. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. A very, very long day.

In knitting news, I've made several rows progress on the Who Scarf. I'm itching for something new to do that involves purling, just so I can remember what it's like. I'm not sure if I want to go back to my shawl in the red hat (I've actually done a swatch, sort of, and I want to pull it back and then redo it, only with beads on) or if I want to work on my Sweeney Todd mitts (I think I've found the stitch I want to use) or if I want to pick up something else altogether. Oh, the choices. I should finish the red shawl with beads so I can get it out of the way and move on to a Cheshire Cat Stole. I've got yarn for it. Alternately, I've got several other options for secondary projects. I've even got stuff on needles. I'm really crap at figuring out what I want to do. I have a baby bag I should be working on as well, but I need to figure out if I've got the circulars for it...yeah, I've got a circular in the right size. I just don't know if I want to use it for the mitts or the baby bag, first. I probably should do the baby bag. Just to get it out of the way.

Sigh. So many opportunities. So many options. What shall I do?

So da bomb (Day 74)

I'm on holiday today (being as it is a holiday in the States, which is where I am), and have spent the morning undoing the bad thing I done to my computer. I haven't put my personal files back on the hard drive yet, nor have I replaced my iTunes software (thank Providence I was able to download all the songs I ripped from now not in my possession cds--although what I'm going to do with the large number of CDRWs I used for this is beyond me. THIS is precisely why I resisted, for so many years, the urge to move to iPod. What a massive, massive pain in the ass this whole thing has been.) I'm just so tired from the garbage I had to go through this morning to reformat my hard drive (the only and best cure, as far as my inadequate virus software could determine--virus software, by the bye, that didn't even notice when I downloaded the virus; thanks for nothing, guys) that I don't think I can actually be bothered right now to restore all my files.

Isn't it a good thing I'm paranoid and always, always, always, always back up my files? I just hope I didn't inadvertently back up the virus, and if I did, I can only hope my new (and expensive, crap it all) virus software will spot it. And kill, kill, kill it, like my last bothersome software package did not do.

I think I need a nap, first.