A new ball of yarn!!!!

The rows go marching on.  Shortly after last week's post, I finished off the first hank of Phoenix and got to start my second one.  As you may well imagine, I'm *still* on the second hank.  I expect to still be on the second hank when I finish the shawl.  But finishing is getting closer with every stitch! 

This week sees me at round 129.  After round 130, I will tape together the final three sheets of chart and have just 34 rounds left of the border.  Thirty-four rounds.  That's only 40 hours of knitting or so!  And then will come the final bit -- the edging. 

You may think that the edging, while boring, will fly past.  The rows are, after all, significantly shorter than the border rounds.  And that is quite true.  The stitch count for the edging, is 23% of the total.  That's a not-insignificant number of stitches. 

Still, I can say 'just one more row' and have it be a reasonable thing to say.  I can take a break 'at the end of this repeat' and have it be an achievable goal.  Knitting in blocks of an hour or more is not always reasonable.  Or desirable (especially if one has drunk a lot of tea recently.) 

In other, non-knitting life (of which there is a lot going on), I made mustard today, am half-way through my retooling of Kombucha Scobys, have no pile of work on my desk, am caught up on laundry, have been reading good books, and have a reasonably tidy house.  It's wonderful being home.

So - what good movies are absolute 'must sees' for a family with two teens, one of whom cannot stand violence in movies?  Our upcoming list includes The King and I, Peter Pan, The Sword and the Stone, and  Brigadoon. 

Knitting? What knitting?

Row 118.  That's as far as I got in a whole week at home.  How in the world did that happen?  It's not like I'm spending my time caring for a fretful invalid, or constantly whipping up new creations to tempt her appetite.

I'm just not sitting and knitting. Much.  I did make a toddler hat yesterday.  And if I can get off the computer, and not dive into making Pickled Eggs or something else delightfully chock-full of probiotics, perhaps I will get more lace knit.  Except I really should wind off some sock yarn so I can knit during movies and the like.  We are watching more Mythbusters and classic movies lately.  It helps the time in bed pass a bit faster.  So does popping bubble wrap. 

The week has been pretty quiet.  Apart from the positioning restrictions (do not sit), it's as if the surgery didn't happen.  That makes for a nice recovery.  No pain, no antibiotics, no cast, no PT, almost ' no nothing'.  I'm all caught up with knitting submissions, patterns, test knitting, and laundry.  I really should go knit and listen to the wind roaring by outside.

A blog update after all!

We are back from the hospital (barely), I have triaged my e-mail (and deleted 99.5% of it), and everything is unpacked.  Now it's time to start in on the house, which my teenaged son did a lovely job of keeping in functioning order.  Especially if I don't count the 12 empty soda cans left on my desk.  That's at LEAST half of his yearly soda consumption. 

Queen Susan.  I really thought I would get to start the second ball while at the hospital, but I didn't.  I am on round 115 now - solid progress, certainly, although I thought I'd get more done. I usually think I'll get more done than I actually do on single projects, and think that multiple projects will take forever although I often can wipe out a back-breaking to-do list in 1-2 days. 

I think my next post will have Actual Photos of The Queen Susan.  I took some while at the hospital, but they're still on the camera.  Tune in at this time next week!

More New Charts!

Actual progress happened on the Queen Susan this week, despite also starting and finishing at hat.  I am now on round One Hundred of the border -- which qualifies me to begin the last two pages (of six) for each of the corners. I've only 30 rows left until I get to the last section of border charts.  Oooh, progress!

A chart explanation:  The center and the edging of the Queen Susan are nice, simple, and easily charted on one page.  The border is less simple.  The 160-odd (or even) rows of border have no vertical repeats and a 60-st multiple across the center 'straight' section, and no multiples in the mitered corners.  Rather than squeeze everything onto one page, the thoughtful charters wanted people to actually SEE the charts - so the 'straightaway' of the border is charted three pages wide and four pages tall, and each half of the mitred corner is charted two pages wide and three pages tall.  For any given round, therefore, the knitter is working from 7 pages of charts.  Just 5 in the early stages, really, since the corner section is pretty narrow at the beginning and doesn't take up two pages in width.  There are 24 pages of charts in all, and I am finished with 14 of them, using 7 currently, and have but 3 'fresh' ones to achieve. 

It's lovely. 

Filia is finished with 11 more credits of college classes, and did beautifully (especially once the teacher corrected a computer glitch which was wreaking serious havoc with her class grade).  Filii laptop screen died, and he is looking forward to the arrival of a new computer that will allow him to play Skyrim -- when he's not being the Model Child as a thank-you for our contribution to that new computer, that is.  My Kombucha is misbehaving, so I am culturing a Master Race of Bacteria.  At least, that's what the trouble-shooting website says I am now doing.  In reality, I'm leaving some jars of vinegary stuff on top of the fridge for 6 weeks.  And we're prepping for a hospital stay next week.  KNITTING TIME!  (And, quite likely, no blog update.  Sorry.)

Merry May, everyone!  What are you reading, knitting, and doing these days?

New Charts!

Despite finishing round 80 as projected last Wednesday, and feeling like I've knit more on it this week than usual of late, I am in the middle of round 86.  Knitting submissions and miscellaneous computer stuff are keeping me busier than I think, apparently.  And the editing season is about to begin.  I will persevere.  (Remember, my goal for this year is To Be Determined.)

Coursera's CS101 is going well.  Filius didn't wait until Monday to do this week's lessons.  He finished them up on Sunday afternoon, and watches over my shoulder with Helpful Comments while I work on my lessons throughout the week.  My inner computer scientist is rearing its head and I am wondering how, precisely, I can manage to acquire the skills I need to build and operate the perfect database. 

Thousands of other things are happening, but I should be doing rather than blogging.  Tata!