Saturday..not in the park...

Its a chill rainy day...dark and dismal. Lots of TV and videogaming going on here by the guys. Hman is away to a funeral. I knit awhile on my Da's mittens (halfway through first mitt after 3 false starts). My left hand is complaianing though. The lowest joint in my thumb, just above that fat part of the hand, is very sensitive lately. To touch at it is to feel discomfort if not a flare of pain. The rest of the hand is showing the signs of Carpal Tunnel that was diagnosed as in its early stages 4 years ago when my Right hand was requiring surgery. Piss me off.
I binged a bit last night after knit night. Was just so munchy and the first sensible snack led to less sesible snacking. Oh well.
I am going to make a playlist for my iPod with peppy tunes for when I can get my ass in gear and move it (walking).


In happy knitting news, I set aside seven skeins of yarn at the shop last night for the creation of a patterned yoke cardigan sweater for my Mom, who has been taken off the xmas knits list. Instead, I will give her a nice card with the sweater promise inside. It will take a couple of months if I stay faithful...longer if I stray into other knitted territory. Thank gods she's such a tiny ol' lady. Medium sized will be plenty big. Isn't it weird that such a fat person (moi) came from such a tiny ol' lady? Mom never got terribly large. I think at her heaviest she got to a size 14 and size 14's were smaller then. I miss size 14...le sigh.

The colours are dusty rose for the main body since she wants a plain pink cardigan, and the yoke and other accents are done in ecru for the funky accent and work up through dark grey, dusty blue, pale blue, and pale pink for a subtle striping. Based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's pattern and percentage system and inspired by the sweater in this picture above, which was also based on The EZ pattern.

Its going to be made in Nashua's Creative Focus Superwash wool so that it's machine washable. The yarn is not especially sofy but it can soften up with wash and wear and will be excellent as an everyday cozy sweater. The collar will be a simple rounded collar, not a turtleneck because its going to be a cardi not a pull over and my Mom hates tnecks with a passion. Why suckh a fancy sweater when she has stated the desire for a plain pink cardi? There wasn't enough pink for the whole sweater and none of the other pinks were a Mom pink. This sweater may look super hard and fancy but in actuality it will be very simple. I get to play with colour again, work my first yoke style sweater, and do my first ever STEEKING!!! For those who know not of what I speak..steeking is a technique that freaks most knitters out because its the actual cutting into a garment with scissors to creat an opening like armholes or in this case, cutting the sweater right up the cfront to turn a pullover into a cardigan. Ooooooohhhh...the fear. Smell it! I'll need to cue up Jully Black's "Dj Play My Song" to work myself up to it (I change the lyrics to be about steeking rather than 'freaking').

This could either be the most lovely sweater I have ever made or well thought out and executed DISASTER. Tune in sometime in the new year for the outcome.