Each year, on the first weekend of May, the pirates invade. Or so they say. So we caravanned up to Fernandina – my family and our friends down the street – and went to the Shrimp Festival. We saw a couple of pirates. We smelled a lot of shrimp. But we missed the “invasion” and the lines for shrimp that might be delicious and might be food poisoning on a plate were just too danged long. It was a lovely day and so everyone in NE Florida decided to come out and play.

I got a tee shirt out of the mix. I also discovered that I *might* have the power of invisibility. Because I got stepped on, ran into in, and run over by SEVEN strollers. And nary an apology was spoken. This of course leads me to a moral quandry. If I *do* truly have the power of invisibility, will I have the moral fiber to use my powers only for good? Of course the other more plausible explanation is that NE Florida is full of rude rednecks.

The saving grace of the day was the 2 hours the eight of us spent at the beach. There were sandcastles and wave-jumpers and all manners of cute & happy children. And the adults were feeling good as well. The beach is good for what ails you.

My youngest sister (I have three) had a baby on Wednesday. And I have no cute baby knits to show for it. So I’m knitting up the peapod baby set in some lovely wedgewood blue Berocco Comfort DK. I have no illusions that my sister will have the time to handwash anything. So acrylic, here we come! I’m also gonna whip up a baby blanket of some Muench Big Baby. Poor acrylic covered baby. At least he will be cute while he’s covered in petroleum byproducts.

In the really good news department, I’m getting some very positive feedback on the surrey hat. So yay for the good stuff!

Some people I know find mannequin heads creepy. I thought it was a necessary investment for my business. Especially because I seem to have a way with hats.

The hat on the left is the surrey prototype. I’ve done some frogging on it this morning and last night, but I figure it needs to be perfect. I should be back up to the decrease section in no time.

The Misty hat pattern will be published shortly. It only takes one skein of Noro Silk Garden or an equivalent and it’s a fast, fun, (and will be free!) knit.

This morning I’ve been unusually productive and now I’m off to get my hair cut, which it really, really needs. Maybe I’ll have cute pictures of my new haircut later. Eh, probably not.

I am blogging from my college library. Now normally I don’t use the college computers for non-school purposes. But today I am.

Because Clearwire hates me.

I don’t know what I did to clearwire. I give them money every month. I have their phone service. Well, I have their phone service because clearwire used to hate me for awhile before and wouldn’t work with my once beloved vonage*. But now they hate me again. Everyone can see my website but me. Well me and other clearwire users. Kind of sucky, huh? Might be in the karma camp, although I can’t think of anything particularly mean I’ve done lately.

So no pictures today. Once I get this clearwire issue sorted out, I’ll have some cute ones. But not today. In knitting news, the surrey cable brim cap is nearly done. And then I can do the pattern for that and the Bonny cardigan. One more week of school and then it’s all pattern design, all the time. At least I hope so.

Insert large sigh here. Why do these computer things always happen to me?

* I say once-beloved vonage because they were very nasty when I switched to clearwire and then refused to let me cancel even though I didn’t have a contract with them. So now vonage is on the permanent naughty list.

I need to buy a picnic basket. And take some pictures. I have all the ingredients to make a light box to take pictures but none of the oomph. Of course it doesn’t help that it is 2.5 weeks until the end of the semester and I am woe-fully behind on all my schoolwork. And when I saw woe, I mean woe. There might be coffee, and all-nighters. That is if I ever grasp the seriousness of the situation. Which I am not very good at doing.

I’m also seriously considering ditching the school business. What was I thinking? I am an old-ish woman, set in my ways, and “kids these days” drive me crazy. Not my own kids, thank goodness. But I’m actually kind of scared of teaching public school. And the fact that next year I will be paying out the um, arse, to put my kids in Catholic school is not a ringing endorsement of the system.

So what have I been doing instead of schoolwork?

Making this….

Out of this…

I would consider myself an advanced knitter. This is the Summer Chevron out of the More Big Girl Knits book. Lovely book by the way! But just to let you know, if you don’t get row gauge on a chevron top pattern… well you probably should pick another pattern. I’m sure the summer tweed would look lovely as something else entirely. But hey, trying the top on six rows to make sure it still fits is only slowing down the knitting process tremendously. Fortunately I’m nearly to the waist on this one. But I think my summer chevron won’t really look that much like the original. Can we call it inspired?

In other true news, I stalked a woman in the Publix tonight. I was minding my own business, squeezing the avocadoes when I saw a woman. She was a vision in a cabled vest! So cute was the cabled vest that I kind of followed the woman around the store so that I could memorize the shaping and the details. I came right home and sketched it out.

I hope she doesn’t report me to store security. That Publix is like 2 minutes from my house. That would suck.

I know, I’ve been a horrible blogger. But I have discovered the secret to finishing projects. Wait for it… You pick one project. You work on only that project until it’s done.

It’s a sucky secret I know, but it’s working for me.

There’s been others too, but my picture software is giving me gas. Right now I am working on a lace cardigan in cotton fleece. It needs a name. Must finish it before I move on to something else.

And yes, I’ve been drinking the Ravelry kool-aid. I’m rincaro over there too. Come friend me!

It was a good idea. I have four sweaters that are like 75% done. So I finish one each week in January. I was in the homestretch on the Sandy Cardigan. All I need was half the edging and half a sleeve.

I’m running out of yarn. I’m in negotiations on Ravelry to get a smidge more. Mind you, I already eliminated the collar in anticipation of this. The pattern lies. Or is misleading. I don’t know. It’s late and I’m tired.

So I move onto Juliet. And decide to try her on.

She’s too big. And considering that I’m the biggest I’ve ever been, she ain’t gonna fit. I will not grow into her. And yes, I’ve tried her on before. I don’t know. She gained weight with me? Who knows.

So now I’m down to two sweaters that are about mostly done. Mr. Greenjeans and Tomato. Both of which are too small right now. But it’s the new year. A good time to walk, and eat healthy, and knit sweaters that are too small? Geesh, I don’t know. The more I type it out, the worse of an idea that it seems. What I really want to do is cast something on. Something easy, something happy. But that will kind of mess up my happy finishing plans. Such a bummer. Knitting isn’t supposed to be a bummer.

Maybe I’ll work on my vintage velvet. Scarves fit no matter what size you are.

Why is that important things fall out my brain but totally inane things remain forever? If you must know my current earworm is Elmo singing about five. And the sand? Dude. I was doing laundry yesterday and I cleaned like half a cup of sand out of my washer. Yes, I live in Florida, but I live like 40 minutes from the beach for goodness sake.

Five sweaters. I have five sweaters on the needles. Four of them are nearly done. Not to confused with nearly dead. I’m trying to finish the Sandy Cardigan before the end of year (yes in 15 hours) but of course it won’t happen. But if I keep working on it I can wear it this winter.

So you wanna hear my crazy (new) ambitious goal?

I wanna finish four sweaters in January!

I said it was crazy.

Sandy Cardigan – halfway through side 2, needs sleeve 2, collar and edging.

Mr. Greenjeans – needs sleeves and ribbing

Tomato – needs about 3 inches on the bottom and sleeve ribbing

Juliet – needs about six repeats of the lace pattern

I honestly think this is doable, plus it would make me feel way better about my pile of wips.

Oh wait. You want an update on the goals I made less than a week ago? You’re silly.

Fuzzy Feet still need a bath
Celtic Tote is completely knitted. Needs seaming (no biggie) and embroidery (which is sucking the life out of me!)
Splash Scarf is no more.
Block 6 of the MQW is done and the bag o’yarn is back with Kathe and off my wip list for the near future.
Sooper Seekrit had to be frogged. Not enough yarn for the pattern I chose.

So there you have it. I’m working on stuff, and I haven’t cast on anything new. My official wip count is fourteen. By the end of January I should be down to eight, not counting if I cast on. Which is just awesome. In theory anyway.