JessaLu Knits (and Spins!)

That would be me. Screaming. In anguish.

I had the back done on the CPH. Done. As in ‘did the bind offs for the shoulders’ done. Then I realized that I had too many live stitches to put on a holder.

I looked at the beautiful, almost complete, evenly knit piece I had before me and had a head-banging-into-a-brick-wall moment. When I began the decreases for the arms? I only bound off 4 stitches to make the armhole, not 8.

I had to rip back 9 inches of knitting.

No, really. I did. I tried to figure out some way to fix it without having to rip but I just couldn’t wrap my brain around making knit stitches disappear into thin air. I’m pretty sure it can’t be done. If it can? Don’t tell me.

Yay.

…what did you think? (ETA: I fixed the link to Kelli’s blog - sorry about that! Don’t take away my award, k? *grin*)

I just finished watching tonight’s ‘Mansfield Park’ - this week’s installment of ‘The complete Jane Austen’ on PBS. I’m not sure if I like it or hate it or am just ‘meh’ about it. Mostly, I had trouble getting over Billie Piper portraying Fanny. I kept expecting The Doctor to pop out from behind a shrubbery to whisk her away to the Tardis for a fun time-travel adventure where they save the world from the Daleks. Also, if she had picked a color other than purple, do you think Edmund would still have realized that he had fallen in love with her? ;o)

Next week is ‘Jane Austen Regrets’ and the actress who will be playing Jane is none other than Olivia Williams who played Jane Fairfax in the 1996 version of Emma. Which I own and watched again today (RR’s getting a little sick of all the period romance and can’t wait for NASCAR to start up so he can get a good hit of testosterone. I think I saw his eyes actually glaze over tonight, poor guy). Hopefully I won’t get all confused about which Jane is which - with my memory, I may have to take notes. ;o)

If you’ve been watching the series, please let me know what you think of it so far - I’d love to hear your opinion!

In knitting news, I’ve completed the back of the CPH and cast on the Left Front. Moving right along! :o) Also, my Aunt received her socks on Saturday and loves them - AND they’re not itchy! HA! ;o)

In blogging news, waaaay back in November, Kelli aka Knitterbunny nominated me for a Nice Matters award! It is very much appreciated and I am very sorry that I didn’t’ have a chance to mention it before now. Part of being nominated is getting to pass the award on - so, now I get to choose seven blogs from my Google Reader list to nominate.

This is no easy task. It’s not that I can’t find a nice blogger - it’s that I find too many nice bloggers! I went through my list a few times and narrowed it down. I went with Kelli’s example and tried to choose bloggers who take a moment to respond to comments. It really is important - at least, it is to me. It was one of the main reasons why I chose to self-host and use WordPress - so I could respond to each comment individually, even if only to say, “Thanks!” ;o)

So, without further ado:

Betty - Elizzabetty Knits

Cynthia -Cygknit

Heide - Serendipitous Opportuknitty

Karen - Needles and Wool

Kathy - Knitigator

Katy - Knitterpated

Ragan - Ragan Knits

I wish I could have chosen more recipients! Thanks again, Kelli, for nominating me - I’m very honored! :o)

After I finished the ‘Grinchy’ yarn, I pulled out some merino/tencel from the Sheep Shed that I had purchased at Rhinebeck ‘07. I somehow managed to spin up 4oz of it in a day and a half and gave it a bath (and a whacking) on Wednesday night. Here it is basking in the (weak) sunlight Thursday afternoon:

The details: 4 oz (two hanks) of merino/tencel from The Sheep Shed in the colorway ‘New England’. I spun this thicker than my usual and when plied together it makes about a sport weight yarn. I also prepped it a little differently than I normally do in that I spun one hank from end to end and ripped the other into smaller pieces before pre-drafting. This made for shorter color repeats on one bobbin and longer on the other so when I plied them together there was much barber-poling. I like it.

On the wheel now I have some superwash merino from this etsy seller in the colorway ‘Fairpoint Dairy’:

Oh and a Jazz update - RR watched her trot into the fiber room last night without a care in the world, pick up a hank of roving and walk over to her bed on the couch with it like it was a chew toy and she had every right. He took it away from her after she landed with it but still.

He watched her do it.

At this point, cute might not save either of them.