the seven deadly cozies

someday, kid, all this will be yours

The baby sweater.  Roughly 3.5 inches done, 3 inches to go before I can start working on the sleeves and neckline.  I. am. bored. to. tears. with all this garter stitch.  But the color?  Loving it.  And the texture?  Smooshy-yet-ridgey.  Loving that, too.  I do love the simplicity of this pattern.  I think the simplicity is what makes it so sweet to me.  The intended recipient won't be born until late December, so I've got plenty of time.  Which is good, because sometimes knitting on this puts me to sleep.  Ever wake up from your little train nap with knit marks all over your face?  It's not pretty. 

Speaking of pretty, there will be no photos of the socks in progress.  Nor finished.  They're red-hued Koigu, and the color keeps going all wonky on the camera.  But trust me, they're something. 

This weekend there are 784935 Halloween parties in the Bay Area.  It takes on an almost religious significance here (by "almost" I mean "more than" - this really is bigger than Christmas and Easter and St. Swithen's Day combined).  Me?  I'm hiding.  I have no costume.  I have no plans to have a costume, mostly because planning said costume last year led to this weird little fit of mania with me not sleeping for a couple of days to work on my vision.  I will go to one party, that one being thrown by the person I'm sleeping with (hi, mom!), and that is all.  I will avoid clubs like the plague, there will be no revelry in the Castro.  I now officially own my curmudgeonliness, so please be so kind as to get outta my rutabagas. 

And, you know, have a happy Halloween weekend.

falling on my head like a memory

It's raining again.  At least, I think it is.  It was this morning, with no wind, which made the walk to the bus stop rather pleasant.  But I haven't been outside in broad daylight yet, so maybe it's stopped.  It's weird, this going to and coming from work in the dark.  I lose track of time.

It was a food-riffic weekend.  While the roommate was in Sonoma for the weekend, taking a cooking class and having a little something to eat, the boy and I took part in a group dinner at the house of some friends, with tasty-but-simple food and an eye-popping assortment of desserts.  Got to see some people I haven't seen in months, people who forgive me for dropping off the face of the earth from time to time.  Monday evening a small group of us got together for Peruvian food.  I don't think I'm going to need to eat for the rest of the week.  I keep making noises about having people over for lovely little dinners, but that would cut into my goofing off time. 

While I'm really rusty in the writing department, I'm making up for it in knitting.  In the past month, I've broken my knitting slump with a pair of gloves, a scarf and one sock.  That sock's going back whence it came, though.  The pattern's lovely, but I'd like to remake it with plain knitting for the sole instead of 2x2 ribbing.  The ribbing just feels funny underfoot.  In the meantime, I'm working on a sweater for a friend's soon-to-be-born baby.  I'm using the baby kimono pattern in the summer 2005 Interweave Knits and Baby Cashmerino yarn in Apple, and so far, so good. 

Also?  I love the color so much I want to paint a wall in my bedroom to match.   

and other fancy stuff

I've resisted knitting lace.  My grandmother could tat lace, and her finished product was a thing of beauty.  My mother crochets lace, from ornaments to doilies to Psalm:23, in a handy 3'-by-4' size (which won a blue ribbon at the county fair) to bedspreads and tablecloths.  The woman's a lace machine.  Me?  Not so much.  I don't tat, I don't crochet, and my two previous attempts at knitting lace have left me swearing and crying, hurling tangled masses of threadlike yarn across the room in defeat.

No more.  Behold:

Branching Out, in Olive Silky Wool.  Take that, lace!  I win!!