With a mere six hours to go before I celebrate the start of a New Year, I cannot express how profoundly blessed I feel for my life.

The Travel Channel is running coverage of New Year's Eve celebrations around the world, as well as a Anthony Bourdain No Reservations marathon. Finally, I watched the episode I had twice avoided -- No Reservations: Beirut.

If you have seen that episode, I do not need to tell you how compelling it was. Nor do I need to tell you why I found it particularly touching today -- as the world slowly turns into a new year. Let us hope and work towards a good one...

Happy New Year!

Sharyn and I met at Yarn Central today for the purpose of "getting our knit on". I manhandled Beryl for 10 minutes before switching to the Montego Bay Scarf.

With roughly 1/2 of the yarn "cake" used, Montego is measuringa mere 35.5" inches, and the fabric is more "sproingy". As I am knitting with Schaefer Anne, I would expect a slightly different drape than the original.

Ravely revealed others who had substituted a variety of yarns, including Anne. However, the subbers used a size 8 needle (as per the pattern!) versus my size 6. The resulting fabric is far more drapey and airy than mine.

That feeling. Those voices. I am going to knit a few repeats with a larger needle to see if I prefer it. If so, I suppose this could be my final "frog" of 2007.

Buying buttons without a garment is like buying a hat without a head is a popular saying at my local yarn store. After purchasing four "perfect" buttons for Beryl there, I discovered (in the big black knitting bag, naturally) five vintage yellow buttons that might be perfect for Beryl as well.


Upon closer inspection, the vintage buttons are too big for Beryl's buttonholes, and I am not re-knitting that button band again. Also, two of the buttons are faded, and the inconsistency would drive me b-o-n-k-e-r-s. I am almost convinced that the texture of the buttons compete with, rather than complement, the texture of the seed stitch.

Top button it is!

The sleeves are not yet set into the garment, and I am having a devil of a time of jiggering the fit that handing it over to a professional finisher is most tempting! Is paying another to help you finish illegal in Clean Slate by 2008?

Yesterday started on a low note. My plans with Nancy fell through as neither of us were feeling well. My knitting group had decided not meet, and my plans for yoga were squashed. The high note was being home to receive my UPS delivery from Nancy...

It is not what you think.









I wouldn't dream of letting you do this job.

Prior to Christmas, the darling Tanya had sent me two mixed tapesCDs and a hunk of Malabrigo Lace in a pretty color (deep pink, purple, green and yellow are present) for which I am unable to find the name. If my knitting pace on the Montego Bay Scarf (which doesn't count in the Clean Slate by 2008, by the way) is any indication, this Malabrigo may find life on my knitting needles in 2010.

Once I dated a man who too often said that if it weren't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. What an optimist! Generally, I am a lucky person, however, I am not feeling lucky today.

The much-anticipated and long-awaited Annual Dark Lady Christmas Break Bonanza with Nancy was cancelled due to that lovely combination of soupy eyes, burning sinuses and heavy, feathery lungs that started brewing yesterday in Pittsburgh.

As for the knitting that I brought to Pittsburgh... As usual, my mental knitting far outpaces my actual knitting. I had packed the enormous black knitting bag (the one that keeps spontaneously generating projects) filled with with various yarns, knitting magazines, and knitting needles for nothing.

I worked on the Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 2007, and I have not made much progress in spite of the easy pattern and several hours of knitting time.

The yarn is Anne from the Schaefer Yarn Company, and the color is either Emily Dickinson or Minnie Pearl. Which makes me giggle. For many reasons.

In roughly 12 hours, Joe and I will embark on a nine-hour drive to Pittsburgh, and I do not have a knitting project for the trip.

While I love to laugh, most comedy films leave me cold. Groundhog Day is one of my favorite comedies, and it is the scene with Ned Ryerson that gets me every time. Watch out! That first step's a doozy...

Let me just say that I suffered quite a doozy last night. First, I quickly learned that ripping out a garment knitted with one row of stripping in three different colors is quite the hellish project. Later as I was gathering the Bella oddballs from the bowels of my big knitting bag, I discovered...Frilly Milly!

Sweet Christmas Fruitcakes! Will there be no end to these excavations? No sooner do I wipe one project from the slate than another one appears. I do not have Starteritis. I have Project Dementia.

The process of ripping Bella proved to be too arduous for one evening's work, so I neatened the armholes of the long-neglected Tank with 3D Crochet Embellishments. This baby is finished. All embellishments will be bought or scrounged from my current brooch stash. There will be no 3D crochet of embellishments. The tank and I are done. Done.

My Clean Slate by 2008 status is coming along.
Basic Camisole Completed 12/15/2007.
Bella Partially ripped 12/17/2007.
Beryl Seam sleeves. Set in sleeves. Sew on buttons.
Frilly Milly
Mary Jane's Pithy Hat Ripped 11/09/2007.
Point 5 SuperBulky Scarf Completed 11/05/2007.
Tank with 3D Crochet Embellishments Neatened armholes 12/17/2007.
Tubey Ripped 12/15/2007.

If there is one thing that is sure to make Joe and I quarrel, it is my insistence that he give me an opinion about my knitting projects. You think I would have learned after he "wasn't grabbed" by Weekend, but I have to make the same mistake several times before I learn.

Last evening, I asked Joe for his opinion on Bella. Rather than addressing the issue (Does this convey my personal style and flatter my figure?), he addressed the fact that the shoulder seam colors did not match and that there was a strange "blip" in the knitting -- right between my breast. Funny that he'd notice...

Bella is not being shown to her best, I know, but I am having serious reservations about this one. I know I was nearly mad with desire to knit Bella last year, but I have the niggling feeling that I have misjudged.

The fact that I feel as if I am wearing a knitted wool cervical collar is easily fixed. However, there is something about this particular garment that makes me feel like a dowdy clown. Is it the striping? Could it be the lack of neckline?

What do you think, is Bella a pass or a pardon?

Beryl accompanied me to work several days last week, however, she is far from completed. The sleeves must be seamed and set in, and seaming is so tedious to me. As Beryl languishes, Tubey perishes. After months of second-guessing my color selection (charcoal) as a tad too harsh against my skin, I pulled the plug on Tubey. The color would be better suited to a cardigan, not a pullover.

Alas, there is some good news!
Basic Camisole, Knitting Lingerie Style
August 3, 2007 - December 15, 2007

yarn
Katia Ceilan #5869 (muted peach) 5-1/2 balls
Katia Ceilan #5855 (muted sage) 1/2 balls

needles
#6 camisole
#4 camisole waist shaping
#10 collar

This simple project is a testament to my laziness as a finisher. Finishing the armholes and sewing on the collar turned out to be a three-month exercise in avoidance.

Actually, the armholes was a breeze, but the collar was another matter. I agonized over the appropriate stitch, and Tanya suggested I whip-stitch it. Whatever stitch I did, it is anything but pretty on the inside. In fact, I would call call it sloppy on the inside -- the opposite of Courtney Love, no? Wearing it will be the test.

The Clean Slate by 2008 stats are improving:
Basic Camisole Completed 12/15/2007.
Bella Seam sides.
Beryl Seam and set in sleeves. Sew on buttons.
Mary Jane's Pithy Hat Ripped 11/09/2007.
Point 5 SuperBulky Scarf Completed 11/05/2007.
Tank with 3D Crochet Embellishments Crochet border on neckline and armholes.
Tubey Ripped 12/15/2007.

Look who came to work with me today.

Beryl!

I did not, nor did I have the desire to, knit in Pittsburgh.
I did not, nor did I have the desire to, visit a yarn store in Pittsburgh.
I have not, nor have I had the desire to, knit since my return.
I have not, nor have I had the desire to, visit a yarn store since my return.

I am thinking about skipping my Knitting Group tonight.

Planes Trains & Automobiles

In spite of the crappy weather in Pittsburgh, New York City and the Hinterlands, my flight Sunday went off without a hitch. Joe was concerned about driving to LaGuardia, so I decided to run the transportation gauntlet from Queens to Manhattan to the Hudson Valley.

My flight arrived 27 minutes early, and as I contemplated the formidable taxi queue, the Q33 bus arrived. The math was simple. No wait + $2.50 fare = Hell yes.
From the bus, I connected to the 7 subway with a mere 2 minute wait.

The 7's first stop in Manhattan is Grand Central Station, and I was standing at the Metro-North ticket vending machine with 7 minutes to spare before the 11:48 train departed. Two sets of buffoons (one set of which cut in front of me but my Spanish is nowhere good enough to have cursed them properly) were unable to work the machines properly, and time was ticking away.

If I failed to catch the 11:48, it would be a full hour's wait for the next train. Hell no. Thankfully, Buffoon Set #2 gave up, and I secured a ticket and a seat on the train with 2 minutes to spare.

My time in Pittsburgh was delightful. My Internet-free visit was wonderful. I am dreading the 521 blog posts that accumulated during my time away. What did I do in the Steel City? I read, I took yoga classes, I walked. I did not knit. Not a stitch.