The Sunday Update

Did you know that the hotlink tool in blogger doesn't work if you're running MAC OS? Now you do. So when I blog from home there will be no linking, just web addresses in the text. I figured that you should know that. Okay, on to the knitting/life update.

First, in case you were worried, the check that was lost in the mail? It somehow made it to its final destination. I don't know how since most of the envelope came back to me, but it made it. Now we're just waiting to see if it cashes in spite of the stop payment order we put on it.

In knitting news, I've done several things. I completely finished the Latvian mitten, including weaving in the ends and blocking it. It's beautiful and lovely and I'm going to make a second one. I may not have enough yarn, so the second mitten may be more of a fraternal twin then an identical twin. In addition, I plan to subtly fix the mistakes I made in the first mitten (as best I can.) To wit: I will cast on 72 stitches instead of 75, I will not attempt to make a jogless join since the failure of such attempts in the first mitten were spectacular (see the picture up there of the palm of the mitten and the severe zigzag that the blue line/black line alternation takes? Yeah. Bad idea.) Lastly, I may actually attempt to follow the directions with respect to the thumb patterning. Because it will be prettier that way. Oh, also, the yarn bloomed beautifully in the blocking, meaning that the mitten fits me perfectly and does not cut off my circulation anywhere.

After I finished my mitten, I swatched for the dragon hat. I made the cutest little 45 stitch, two color, circular swatch, using the dragon motif that Stephen drew. Which reminds me. If you're making a garment that will require two or more color stranded knitting, please, please swatch using at least two colors. That's why my first latvian mitten could have fit a five year old. I swatched, but only using one color. That came back to bite me in the ass. So, yeah, I swatched, I blocked my swatch, and the dragon looks good. It has a real chinese new year dragon kind of feel to it. I've started the hat. It will have a picot brim and fair isle dragons traveling all the way around the brim. If I can figure out how to make it work there will be little peach splotches above the dragon at regular intervals. I have to think about how to make it work with the decreases though.

Lastly, while I was waiting for my swatch to dry I started another pair of Fuzzy Feet (www.knitty.com) for my sister-in-law to be. I'm using the same teal ball of LP as I used for my fuzzy feet and I turned the heel on the first one during Friday night's chess game. I won. Stephen was crushed. That's the Sunday update. Stay tuned for a more in depth discussion of the Latvian Mitten sometime next week. I know. I can't stop talking about them. I admit that it's a bit obssessive.