I’ll be honest: I thought about blogging through the weekend. I did. I thought about it for about ten seconds. Five seconds were devoted to “you should, you should write every day” and five seconds were spent persuading myself that I should take weekends off because weekends mean something to me now. (Not every week, but this past week it very much did.)

The downside of my decision is that I did very little this weekend, and thus have nothing much to report.

We took the cats back to the vet on Saturday, and I’m happy to report that all four are disease-free and in excellent condition. This second trip proved more trying for the kittens and for Gypsy. She spent most of the time under a bench, while Jayne shivered his way through it. Not at all like his usual antic self.

Jayne is not the cuddliest kitten, but I think he’s getting used to being held (and honestly, what kitten loves to be held? They all want to play! And eat! And attack feet! And play more!). He vocally protests most of the time I pick him up, but he doesn’t always squirm out of my arms right away and sometimes, if I catch him just as he’s waking up, he will even purr for two seconds. It’s soft, but it’s there.

He is, however, proving to be extremely entertaining. He almost plays fetch! That is, he will chase after a toy, carry it back to roughly where I am, play with it for a little bit, and then wait for me to throw it again. I have attempted many times to capture this on video, and this is the best I could do.

(I tried three times to upload that video here, but either I couldn’t get the code right or it wound up embedding sideways. So I posted it to Tumblr directly from my phone. Hopefully that will work. Not that it’s so important that you watch it. But it’s pretty damn cute.)

And other than playing fetch with Jayne, all I did was watch TV and knit, which is all I wanted to do this weekend, which is what I declared at the outset (didn’t even change out of pajamas on Sunday. It was ideal). I sailed through Downton Abbey for the second time, in preparation for the second season (which I can’t even start until Thursday, and it’s killing me!) and then watched the second part of The Forsyte Saga (the more recent adaptation), which I recommend for those who need more British period drama in their lives. The first part is on Netflix, which claims to have both seasons, but they lie. At any rate, I’m about halfway through the front to Dan’s sweater — couldn’t take a picture this morning because SOMEONE thought I meant for him to PLAY with the yarn I was holding — but I’m in good shape to be done by my self-imposed 2/14 deadline.

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Oh, they’re not done yet. But they will be before the year’s out. I solemnly vow this to be.

I started a sweater for Dan over Thanksgiving break; got a sleeve done in Chicago, knocked out a huge chunk of the back on Lord of the Rings Day (most of you know this day as “Christmas”) and finished it before New Year’s Eve.

I love knitting complex cable patterns. They’re the perfect blend of art and math; something logical and rigid becoming fluid and beautiful.

The pattern is Rhapsody in Tweed, by Kathy Zimmerman, originally published in Interweave Knits Fall 2004 (and now available through their online shop). The yarn is from Ireland, bought with the express purpose of knitting Dan a cabley Aran-y sweater. It’s a lot like Tahki’s Donegal Tweed (which is the pattern yarn), so much so that I wonder whether it comes from the same mill.

It’s sort of washed out, but here’s a close up of the cable pattern:

My goal is to have the sweater done in time for Valentine’s Day. Another arbitrary date! And a faux holiday that I’ve traditionally actively opposed! But … I don’t know … I must be going soft in my old age. (Also I don’t mind celebrating Valentine’s Day with Dan because we do regularly do nice things together, and no, that’s not a euphemism, but doing something special on Valentine’s feels neither forced nor contrived.)

2. I’m also tinkering away on Laura Chau’s Thermal. I bought the yarn for this when the pattern came out, so I’ve had it for five years, nearly six (Knit Picks Gloss in Cosmos. It’s a discontinued color, so there’s something to be said for stash hoarding), and while I started the sweater at least three years ago, it was one of those stop-start-rip out and start again patterns, and now I am determined to finish it — both to put the yarn to use (an ongoing new year’s resolution, to use the yarn in my possession) and because I’m excited to wear it.

After 6.5 inches on the body I can honestly say I’m no longer reluctant to knit an entire sweater in sport weight yarn on size 3 needles. The worst part — 2 inches of twisted rib over 280 stitches — is over, and the waffle stitch pattern is gloriously easy and I can work it without looking too much at what I’m doing, which means it will be perfect for the upcoming new episodes of Downton Abbey and Sherlock. Can I have this done in time for my birthday in March? That’s the plan. (Preferably sooner, but I doubt that will happen.)

When I’m done with either one of these (so basically, when I’m done with Dan’s sweater), I’m going to start on Nikol Lohr’s Sally Cardigan, which I have been wanting to make since I first saw it last June. I love it so much.

It’s made with Valley Yarns Sheffield, which is mercifully affordable. And after obsessing over color combinations to the point of saving each yarn thumbnail and moving them around in Photoshop, I finally settled on this combo:

I’m into teal shades lately, and the monochromatic look. This combo feels vintagey enough for me while still being colors I wear — or would, if I owned more. I was also considering a red/pink and purple/periwinkle combo, but I kept going back to the teal. I hope this is enough of a contrast.

It’s strange, last year I hardly knit anything, even during the usual winter nesting season, and now I can’t stop myself.

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First, a big hearty cheers to anyone venturing over here from the Five O’Clock Cocktail blog, where I have a post today. *clink*

Second, hi! I’m here. Been letting the blog lie fallow for a little bit in the hopes that it will eventually yield . . . you know, I’m not a farmer. Do I want to say “bumper crop”? Because right now I’m thinking this whole metaphor is failing. “Bumper crop of blog posts”? Yeesh.

Instead of writing here I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading and writing book reviews — here’s the latest, for Eleanor Brown’s Weird Sisters. It’s a book that’s apparently been receiving a lot of positive buzz, and while I had some reservations about it, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Look for my review of Elly Griffith’s The Janus Stone tomorrow — also very, very good (or to use a review cliche, “gripping”). (I have totally used the word “gripping” in reviews, FYI. Not trying to be all “Oh I’m so great at this.” Just, you know, it’s kind of an overused word.)

And I have a slew of books to get through before my trip to Ireland next month. (OMG did I tell you I’m going to Ireland?!) And speaking of Ireland, I got it into my head a few weeks ago that I needed a new sweater for the trip, regardless of the likelihood that it won’t be done in time. But with 26 days to go, I do have a finished back:

A word about this color. Difficult color to photograph, red, and even more so when you’re kind of a crap photographer. The first photo I took of this yarn (Wild Apple Hill Farms, purchased at Rhinebeck, for all you knitters out there) made it look brown; the second made it look hot pink. I took my knitting to a friend’s over the weekend and everyone there exclaimed over how different the color looked in person. I think, based on what I’m seeing on my monitor, that this picture is pretty true to life, if a little dark, but honestly — I have no idea. It’s supposed to be a pomegranatey sort of red — like a violet red.

The pattern is Thea Coleman’s Collins. Here’s the Ravelry link.

And I’ve also been going crazy with the cross stitch. For the past couple weeks I’ve started each morning playing around with my cross stitch software, coming up with various pop culturey designs. Most of them make use of antique patterns that can all be found on this site. The charts are compatible with my program so it’s easy to cut and paste and then play around with the color schemes.

So this is what I’m working on now — this photo might give away what the finished piece will look like, for those who have the same taste in TV shows as I do:

I love the border. LOVE it. I had to tweak it a little from its original layout so that it would fit my text, but I’m pleased with how it’s turning out. And I feel no shame in telling you that I chose these colors because they match my couch.

I’ve also got a Doctor Who sampler in the works that I am very excited about.

You heard me.

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I had this great plan to write something for this blog every day this month. And now it’s the third of May and I’ve already blown it. It’s like my favorite thing to do in the world is come up with not even remotely grandiose plans that I subconsciously know I won’t carry out just to set myself up for disappointment again and again.

My excuse this time is that I spent most of the weekend in a fog of illness and all I could think about writing was “wah wah wah I am so miserable” and I really dislike those kinds of posts.

So instead I watched all of Season 7 of Buffy and knit.

– OMG is this going to be a blog post about knitting?

– I wasn’t planning on it, but um, yeah, I think so. It’s been a real long time, hasn’t it?

I finished these socks:

– OMG she finished a pair of socks. Do we even know her anymore?

— I know. I think the last pair of socks I finished was — hang on, let me refer to Ravelry — June 2008. These babies, to be specific:

And oh, I loved them.

Then the moths came.

Every single pair of socks I’d knit — gone. (Well, not GONE gone. But beyond repair.) And the tragedy left me without the will to knit on and re-sock my sock drawer for a long time.

(I still have moths. They come in waves. At this point I don’t know what they’re eating because what’s left of my yarn and knitted items hasn’t been attacked and isn’t likely to. Paper? Dust? Bad porn novels?)

But I kept queuing up patterns in Ravelry, shoring up for the time that I would once again get the sock knitting jones. Over the past year I’ve been accumulating sock yarn (exempt from the Unified Yarn Sanctions Act under the Replenishment Clause) and I have half-heartedly started several pairs of socks, but this is the first pair I felt strongly enough about to commit to and finish.

The pattern is Yarnissima’s “Firestarter” (a free Ravelry download). There are a number of elements that appeal to me as a sock knitter — toe-up method, interesting stitch pattern, a new technique (I’ve never done a heel flap/gusset from the toe up before), but what instantly got my attention was the way the cable pattern splits apart for the reverse stockinette gusset and then rejoins at the leg. So clever and elegant.

I used yarn from The March Hare that I picked up at Rhinebeck. (Wildflower colorway. I figured it was appropriate.) Knitting these took hardly any time at all, partly because I scrimped on the top ribbing. I wasn’t afraid of running out of yarn (I have so much left over) but I was getting bored. I knew that if I bound off the first sock and immediately started the second, I’d have a better chance of actually coming through with a pair.

So I finished the second sock at on Saturday (sometime before the girl I will only know as Millie learns she’s a Potential Slayer) and then immediately grabbed new yarn and needles to cast on for another pair. But then I realized I also wanted to knit a different pattern. And I’ve had an idea for socks for a couple months and I wanted to cast on for that as well.

Guess what I did.

– You cast on for all three.
– Bet your ass I did.

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