Life is like...

Even though today is a national holiday, it feels like Saturday, but on Wednesday instead. This afternoon I dropped Mr. Strange off at the airport so he could visit his mum - she is recovering very well - so it felt even less holiday-ish. Just to give myself a little summer treat, I bought cherries and have been eating them all day. But wait! Lets rewind a bit...

Yesterday after work, I needed to kill some time before my Pilates class, so I drove over to Knit Wits to see if they were open (they were) with the thought that I would buy the Mission Falls 1824 Wool I need to finish LTL. Well, they had the exact color I wanted, a dark eggplant, that goes perfectly with the squares and Kaffe Fassett fabric I bought a few weeks ago.
Since I was in no rush, I decided to browse and fondle. At one point, as I was hovering near the cash register, chatting with the owner, I spotted a skein of Rowan Calmer in the clearance bin (50% off!!!) in a lovely shade of lavender that I have been looking for. I kept talking and found another skein, oh! and another! and another! oh boy! more! I found 8 skeins in all. The owner said that she'd just put them in there before I arrived. Get this, the color (#484) is called Lucky! Since I was feeling pretty lucky and delirious from yarn fumes, I also snagged 3 skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed in Summer Berry (#537). More on that in a minute.
As soon as I got home from class, I rifled through all my patterns, magazines and books for a summer sweater to use with the Calmer and had no success. I then turned to my favorite knitting pattern resource, Google. I briefly entertained Audrey, but then remembered that an entirely ribbed sweater made me look like a pinup girl (lesson learned thanks to Tempting). I also liked this free pattern (pdf link) from Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. (courtesy of Knit Powers to Peace). But suddenly I clicked on a link to the Sexy Knitter's Club, and wouldn't you know, their next KAL is Fifi from French Girl Knits using Calmer?! Before you could say "charge", I downloaded the pattern and cast on. In the middle of all this excitement, Mr. Strange offered me a beer (trouble).

Without giving away any tricks, the pattern recommends the cable cast-on method. Now I personally dislike this method and disagree wholeheartedly with claims that it is "very flexible". I find it difficult to maintain even stitches and anything buy flexible. Even so, I followed the directions.

At this point I should mention that I've been reading Yarn Harlot's new book and recently finished the chapter "Interesting Sights" where she cautions knitters:

double-checking a circular cast-on for a twist is not "totally lame"...

I also should confess that these words were uttered from my very own mouth, "Honey, can you bring me another beer?"

Yes, I twisted my first join. Dang! I frogged the first round, cast on again and, satisfied with my ability to follow directions and join circular knitting, I proceeded to finish 6 rows and a third beer before I noticed that I was knitting a mobius.

Crap!
Yes, I know. The beer. Obviously Mr. Strange does not know that he is not supposed to let me knit after one beer.

This morning I decided that my mojo was still out of whack and cast on for Ginger from The Rowan Summer Tweed Collection. I knit Rosehip a few years ago from this book, so I was prepared for knitting with the Summer Tweed. It's lovely to look at and wears well, but is a bit like knitting with cork. I'm willing to suffer for short periods because the color is just so....red! It reminds me of cayenne pepper. Despite that, this is really mean yarn, so before long I had to work on something totally different...

I finished the 80 blocks for my Cobblestone quilt!
After seeing the photo in my last post, I decided that I didn't want so much of that dark rose color and substituted some more neutrals instead. This isn't the final layout. I've switched some squares around since taking the picture, and I still need to square them up. This is the easy part. I have no problem making quilt tops, I have a problem finishing them. I swear that I will finish this one. Really.

Half birthday update:

Day 5 brought me purple suede mocks and a cute pen from Annie
along with a pair of socks (they call me "Princess" - it's a long story).
For day 6, Winnie gave me a freezer pack and divided plastic containers - perfect for a picnic!
My mom just called to tell me that the Yardgoods Center in Waterville is having their summer sale. She's such an enabler! Can I resist? We'll see...

In celebration of independence, I rented 2 movies from Videoport, my favorite independent store in Portland: Closer and The Painted Veil (two films that Mr. Strange doesn't want to see).

I leave you with this (an unfinished wall quilt started in 2001):

Happy 4th of July!