Random Ramblings

So I finished one sleeve on the sweater last week and all I've done since then is pick up the stitches for the other sleeve and do maybe 4 rows. At that rate, it'll take oh, I don't know, maybe 5 months for sleeve 2? To be fair though, I think there's two 'problems' with the sweater:

1- what my notes say about how many stitches to pick up, and how many stitches I count on the sleeve 1 don't match. Not by much, 4 or 6 stitches total, about 1/2" worth. I'm going with the number of stitches I counted, and re-calculate the decreases when I get there, just to be sure.

2- the sleeeves are a little bit narrower than I expected. Some of that is blocking, or lack of at this point, but more likely is the 20lbs I gained since starting the sweater last year.

3 - (ok, so there's 3 problems instead of 2, what's one more or less?) distraction and inertia (does that count as 1 or 2 problems?). I got distracting sewing up some of these . Using the sewing machine and I would've been done in a day or two, but I sewed by hand so that took more days. And inertia as in "a body at rest stays at rest" or the knitting equivalent "a project not knitted on yesterday, doesn't get knitted on today" is there too. I need to get this one in gear, I'd like to actually WEAR this someday!

I saw the Summer of Socks a-long and I'm tempted. I'm going to knit socks this summer, so why not? Especially since I've got a sock in progress now anyway. On the other hand, I still haven't finished the spinning/knitting for Twisted Knitters yet and it's a month past deadline. Actually, I finished the spinning, but not the plying. Or the knitting. I might ply it up this weekend.

I didn't join, officially, the Stash Diet but I have been a yarn stash user the last few months. The only yarn I bought the last few months (that I remember anyway....) has been charity yarn, which can be my exception instead of the sock yarn in the 'official' guidelines. I'm not sure why the yarn stash pile doesn't look any smaller though.

I've started crocheting the 4-Generation Shawl from Spin Off's Spring 2007 issue. I've got 4 skeins of Encore Worsted Weight (14 oz or 400 gms) that I'd like to use, it's just a little bit thicker than the yarn used in the magazine and that used about 16oz, so I'm guessing I'll have enough yarn to make a decent sized shawl (23" long or so). It's an interesting shawl, you start out making a 12-sided circle, which does NOT lay flat, then fold it in half - and it DOES lay flat - then work a lace border on the outside edge. The 12 sided circle is about 7" from center to the edge (the center is the neckline), so I've got a bit to go... It works up quickly though.

And I finished crocheting 2 baby bonnets and got a small garter stitch hat started.