My Venus is finished!



I don't think my chest looks so particularly enormous in real life...ignore that. Here are my modifications, if I'm remembering correctly:

1. I worked six decrease and increase rows instead of two, with six rows between each. (My row gauge was a tiny bit off, since I used size 8s--size 9s made a less opaque fabric than I was looking for.)
2. I lengthened the body by three inches (I made the 44" size, so have about 5" negative ease, but it basically fits like a fitted T-shirt--it's not overwhelmingly clingy).
3. I left off the final increase row for the shell, and BO after row 33.
4. The fronts are only 11.5" from the underarm--they were originally WAAAY too long--and are 32 sts at the widest point.
5. I decreased in the back to 64 sts.
6. The back seam is 14" (there's a bit more give in the back than in the collar).
7. For the sleeves, I picked up 72 sts around the armhole, worked two rounds in st st, then worked the short rows that corresponded to my stitch count twice. I worked two decs at the underarm every other row until I had 64 sts, then half an inch of 1x1 ribbing.

In general I think this is pretty successful. I definitely like having sleeves--however tiny, they do make it feel more "office- appropriate". Plus I have big arms. =p





And there are the finished socks--Phineas for Mark in Araucania Ranco (which was supposed to become Spring Forwards for ME!) and Leyburns for me in Plymouth Happy Feet's Lisa Frank colorway. (Just in time for me to not wear socks for six months.) In works-in-progress, the Berlin socks are going well--still can't get that lace pattern memorized!--and the shawl is going great after I decided to frog the acrylic and start again with the cashmere I recycled last year. This is going to be yummy... Oh, and I'm officially 30% done with the afghan. (Did the math and everything. The eighty-one squares alone will be about 84.5" square, and I'd like it to be a minimum of 88". So once I finish the squares, I'll be 97% done as far as size goes. This does not count seaming. Right. Hmm. But I'll be able to do some of that as I go, plus doing four squares at a time is a total life-saver. Factoring that in makes things more complicated.)

The office is almost entirely cleaned out, thanks to lots of work on Mark's part--looks like we'll have an ersatz dining room very soon. It will be nice not to have to eat in front of the television. I'm still not sure where my practice space will be. In the summer it gets way too hot upstairs (think upper 80s), so I don't plan on spending too much time up there during the day. Maybe we'll keep the keyboard downstairs for now. I really haven't been practicing much lately--headaches, back issues, laziness--but I have a lesson tomorrow and ought to have something to show for it... things were really weird yesterday vocally, so I couldn't do much even though my neck is feeling mostly better. Today definitely.

I finally had my neurology appointment! The doctor was nice, and referred me for a sleep study--the headaches may be caused by plain old sleep deprivation. (And if the way my parents and grandparents snore is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if I had inherited sleep apnea.) He also gave me a list of potentially headache-inducing foods to avoid. Which included all the food I like, no kidding. Fresh bread, cheese, chocolate, citrus, tea... I haven't had yogurt in about a week, and it may actually be making a difference. Still, I would much rather go at it trial-and-error than develop some monastic lifestyle where I only eat boiled chicken and rice. Truthfully, food lists do not jive well with my history of eating disorders--"off-limits" foods are so, so bad for my brain--so determining that eating feta cheese gives me a headache and avoiding it would be much preferable to the mindfrack and slippery slope of total deprivation.

We had a low-key anniversary last week, which involved an Outback Steakhouse gift card, spending the night at a nice hotel, then going to the new IKEA in Charlotte. (It would've been much more fun if the guy in the next room hadn't chosed FOUR A.M. to have a cellphone conversation about Snuggies. I am not joking. Are people actually getting MORE inconsiderate?! Maybe I shouldn't be surprised.) We had no real goals for the IKEA trip, other than to possibly address storage in our living room, but we did buy this as part of our grand plan to actually have a dining room in place of my office stuff, which is moving upstairs to the actual dedicated office. Brave new world, this. We're using it on its side so it can eventually double as a credenza, and it mainly has yarn and some scores in it right now.

In yarny news, actual finishing is going on! Mark's socks were done in record time--about five days, considering I couldn't work on them over the weekend--and he seems to approve the color choice. My Venus sweater is finished as well--I made a whole bunch of modifications, which I will catalog here once I have pictures--and I even finished my Leyburns (Lisa Frank) and a crochet dishcloth I put aside a while ago. I actually got some work done on the afghan this week, and started more socks for myself (pretty!) with some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill in shades of purple and brown that I got in a swap some time ago. Yesterday I started the Fountain Pen Shawl from the latest IK--so far so good, but I fear the anonymous cone I'm using is less mohair than acrylic. Hopefully it will still block well enough. I was never a particular fan of triangular shawls, but I love the way the model wears the shawl wrapped around her neck. Very chic.

Earth Day was Wednesday! I spent the day watching Doctor Who on Netflix because I had a back thing (still hurts, ugh) so I wasn't able to do anything particularly earthy. But today is Arbor Day, so this still works: contest for free steel bottle and shopping bag. I was a devoted Nalgene user until all that nasty stuff came out about the leaching... I could definitely use something to replace it.

I get so sleepy at work... I'm beginning to wonder if there's a carbon monoxide problem in my office. Why else would I be so tired? I do actually get enough sleep. And once I leave the office I'm much less tired. Perhaps it has to do with the dark green walls.

Anyway, thanks for your comments about my yuckiness. I have good days and bad days with the headaches. Sunday (my birthday) was a pretty bad one. Of course Mark wanted us to go on a two-mile hike (aka forced march), and we were in the parking lot of the park before the headache got bad... Not a great day in general. I am finally getting Options, though! Woo! No more crappy inflexible cords! No more needle points wearing down! I'm really looking forward to getting started with them.

In the meantime, there was this. On size 15 needles.


There's a reason I named this COOKIES!!! on Ravelry. It's a basic belted cardigan pattern, with lots of extra shaping, a change in gauge and a crocheted belt. If I have an issue, it's that the right arm is taking a beating from my purse. (The yarn is Fleece Artist Curly Locks, which has lots of little loops that catch on things. Not particularly fun to knit with, even on size 15 needles. Then again, those present problems of their own. My wrists are still sore.)

And just in time for warm weather, here's my new house sweater:


You'd think that I'd be really vigilant about counting my stitches at the ends of rows, considering my bad track record with crochet, but no. This is kind of wonky, and the yarn is particularly awful to frog in crochet (Red Heart Symphony--stay away!). It is warm, though, and the kilt pin is just right for keeping it closed.


This was a better crochet project. Isn't it adorable? It's actually a hybrid pattern (found here). Sewing in the filling was harder than you'd think. It took me a while to get it to look okay.

Another hybrid project; this is an elephant (duh) for my friend's daughter. It would've been cooler if I'd had enough bits and pieces in coordinating colors to stripe it, but no such luck. Still, so cute.

In Cotton-Ease news, I decided to try on my St. James when I finished the waist decreases. It was five sizes too big, no kidding. I must've misread my gauge swatch: I was clearly getting 4 stitches per inch instead of 4.5. I think that means my sweater was about ten percent too big. So I'm making Venus instead, for which I get spot-on gauge if I go down a needle size. I'm about half done, but I had to put it aside the other day when I remembered that my anniversary is next week.

They're going way faster than I thought they would. (The pattern is Phineas--modified for a 64-st foot.) At this rate I may have two days to spare...

Blarg. I had been losing a pound a week on No S, until the middle of March when things stalled. I chalked that up to my cycle, but three weeks later I'm still stuck. Plus I've been feeling like crap. Maybe I do need a snack in the afternoons. I don't know. I've been having headaches nearly every day for more than six months--probably due to TMJ disorder (which I've known about for years, but I didn't think it was that bad), plus possibly migraines on top of that--and I have an appointment with a neurologist in a few weeks (TWO MONTH lead time for that appointment, which made me very upset at the time--now I'm just irritated). Just not having a lot of fun here lately...

Much knitting and crocheting going on chez moi (including a crocheted cardigan that showcases my spazztacular crochet skills), but no pictures. I should be able to enlist Mark this weekend.

Speaking of which, Sunday is my birthday! And we have no plans so far, other than my customary ice cream cake. That's how gross and unmotivated I feel. I'm sure we'll figure something out--it's supposed to be gorgeous weather.