Satur(yawn)day

Let's see....

Knitting-wise, Autumn Rose's neckband is still being difficult. As you can see, turning the fake-seams into real seams took care of a lot of the shaping problem. The neckline looks like a normal shape, it fits reasonably well (although the underarm is a little lower than it should be, thanks to that wonky gauge of mine), but everything should be happy . . . The sweat should be done, even . . . right?

Well, not so much. Because the added bulk of the real seams--in addition to the bulk from the steek--is wreaking havoc on the one, specific spot at the neckband near the front shoulder. It's hard to see in the picture, but when you look along the surface, there's what looks like a weirdly-gathered "bump" right at the seam on both sides. Everything else looks fine, but this? Um, no . . .

So, I've been stalling. I'm either going to need to seam this spot further to make it lie flat (kind of like a dart), or I'm going to have to rip out the entire neckband (again) and re-seam that front seam to take in more of the bulk. Except, of course, that that means I'll have move of the bulk IN the seam, so the problem might still be there anyway. Unless I machine-stitch (or really thoroughly back-stitch) the seam and then cut the seam allowance to get rid of the excess bulk. Which is a little intimidating.

And, really, I entirely admit that I do NOT want to have to knit this neckband a third time. So . . . stalling.

So far as spinning goes, I'm plugging away at plying my STR singles, but it's taking forever (grin). 9.25 ounces of three-ply at something like 28 wpi. I've spent about four hours treadling away at this stuff and, while it's looking just lovely, I still have a long way to go.

Of course, last night, I had to break the yarn and when one of the plies somehow got completely out of whack with its buddies. (I mean, really, I even had to put my book down and use BOTH hands to try to fix things.) So now my lovely bobbin has a knot in the middle of it . . . sigh. And that did, of course, slow down the process for about 10 minutes. Still, though, look how much more I still have on my bobbins.

I don't think I'm ever going to get this done. And the thought of trying to wind off that much yardage is starting to intimidate me, too. I've said it before, but my Majacraft skeiner sometimes behaves well and sometimes behaves very, very badly. My 3-ply is kind of over-plied at this point . . . which is to say, it definitely twists on itself right now, but it hasn't been washed and whacked and abused yet, and I rather like the way it looks (although it's not as soft as I suppose it could have been). But the point is that if the skeining process doesn't go smoothly, this yarn, at this stage, is going to badly . . . and I mean badly . . . tangle. So I'm a little worried about that yarn-skeiner thing.

For the record, using my niddy-noddy is NOT an option. Because, one, the yardage is going to require a LOT of turns and, two, my right shoulder is still sore from the shingles and has already informed me that it is NOT willing to wind yarn around a niddy-noddy for that long! And the horizontal swift/skeiner from Knitting Notions is a little unwieldy for winding such large quantities, too . . . and just as hard on the shoulder from all the reaching to turn it (not to mention trying to keep it level, which is harder than it should be).

Oh, and I think I've decided that the sniffly thing playing with my sinuses is a light cold--it's followed the normal course a cold would follow for me, and while I've felt mostly okay, I'm just a little more tired than usual ... and more tired than I was last week with the Shingles rash, and I couldn't see how that would be making me more tired as the rash heals. And, allergies, of course, wouldn't be making me tired at all. The plus side, though, is that as colds go, it's a very light one. I don't feel miserable, and my nose is past the drippy stage, so I don't feel that cranky. Today, though, since I didn't have to go to work, I spent most of it on the couch with Chappy and even dozed off into three, little naplets ... nothing as real as a full-blown nap, but still more than I usually do. I've never been a big one for naps--when I was little, Mom could tell when I was legitimately sick and when I was exagerrating to get out of school by whether or not I napped. So, if I nodded off three times today when I'm not even feeling that sick? Yeah, it's got to be a cold.

Besides, there are two other symptoms that sound a litte weird. One, my hair isn't as curly as usual, and that only happens right after I've colored it or when I'm sick. And two, each morning when I've woken up, Chappy has intently sniffed at my breath, which he only does when I'm sick and congested. He doesn't do that when I've got allergy issues, unless they evolve into an infection or some kind of serious, lung issue. In fact, if I'd been smarter . . . two weekends ago, as the Shingles rash was starting to rear its ugly head, Chappy was sniffing at my breath even though I felt mostly fine at that point and didn't have a visible rash. I even joked to Mom that since he was, maybe I should call the doctor, but what would I tell him? My dog thought I was sick? Then, two days later, I had the rash and I still waited a couple more days before calling the doctor and I really should have called sooner . . . So . . . Chappy's been keeping close tabs on the way my lungs smell this week, like a good, caring, little boy. Yeah, it's got to be a cold.

Comments

[lisa]

Well, some dogs sniff out cancer and such, and even I notice when my breath smells 'sick', so I think the doc would take the dog's word, er, nose. Cute pics of your mom and grandmother.

[Marcia Cooke]

The breath thing I'd believe, but your hair is probably more a result of more normal (cold, dry) November weather! I say I have two totally different heads of hair: the summer, curly, frizzy hair, and the winter straight as a board hair! By the way, there really isn't a reason to knot when you are plying: that's one of the exercises that Judith MacKenzie has you do in her plying classes. Break one single and feed it in between the other ends. It will hold, especially if you break it rather than cut, and make sure that there is enough left from the wheel end. It just blends right in and is not detectable. (Detectible?) I thought of you today, by the way, when our local newspaper arrived with a glaring example of incorrect grammar in THE HEADLINE! Sheesh.

[Sue]

Sorry about the cold and the stalled sweater, but the yarn is looking great! Just keep plying, just keep plying... And hey, we have the same lazy kate! Great, isn't it?

[Ina]

Dogs know. Take good care of yourself and feel better!

[Chris]

That's pretty cool about Chappy's cold detection skills. I'm sorry to hear that the sweater is still giving you trouble. It definitely needs a time out.

[--Deb]

No, seriously. When I'm sick, my hair goes limp. And if yesterday's weather had affected it, it was so damp it would have been curlier, if anything.

[Carol]

doggie doctor isn't as weird as you might think. I heard about one dog that could tell if a mole was cancerous! He would intently sniff one that was while ignoring the normal ones!

[Kim]

Sorry to hear about the Autumn Rose continuing woes. The Carbon looks beautiful. Chappy is so smart!

[JessaLu]

Hmmmm...I wonder if it's a design issue - Cate is having problems with her neckline, too. :o(

Feel better!

[Micky]

Even if it is a pain in the butt, it's still very beautiful.
:)