Fall's A-comin...............Yay!

Can I say more than that? It's been such a long, hot, humid summer here in New York City - the kind we haven't had for years - that I'm very relieved to know tomorrow is the first day of Autumn. We'll still get some hot weather, but at least the end is near!

I finished up the red baby outfit I was knitting in Norwegian Sport DK superwash wool. My friends helped me out with the sewing up (V just couldn't stand that I was doing it so slow!), and crocheting a few little flowers to apply (crafted by S). I improvised a headband that came out looking very cute. Then a quick Friday night trip to the button store, and it was all ready for gifting on Saturday. I took some pictures of the set, but not digital, so it could be some time before I get any pictures posted to the blog. Mommy and Daddy were ecstatic because it was red. It's 3-6 mo. size, so it's possible it could fit baby by Christmas.

Now I'm back to working on the secret sweater I started for J, my other half. Making good progress. It's a pattern from the Vogue International Knitting, Special 2002, Men, Special Collectors Issue. Woo! Gotta make sure I get in all the right info. It's pattern number 30, designed by Cynthia Rowley, a "loose-fitting raglan sleeve pullover with center cable panels." I'm making it in Dalegarn Free Style, 100% machine washable wool, color # 5651, a nice charcoal grey. Gauge is 16/24, so it's a pretty fast knit. I'd started it last winter, but then some baby things came up, and then it was too hot to touch wool. Also, J doesn't know I'm making it for him. Every now and then he says "how come you've never made me a sweater?" I'm hoping it can stay a secret until I gift it for Christmas. He's soooo hard to surprise.

The shawl I started - Seascape Shawl in Jaggerspun Zephyr - is coming along. I finished the first four charts and am now up to 234 stitches. It will be slower going now that the stitch count is climbing, and also because I'm committed to finishing the J sweater before all others, so I only knit on the shawl when I'm totally bored with everything else. I really love the Zephyr, and it's looking good.

But I have a little secret about the shawl. You won't tell anyone, right? I'd never done a provisional cast-on before, and the only dp needles I could find when I (needed) wanted to start the shawl turned out to be much too small. Well, I totally ignored that fact and started it anyway. The resulting rectangle was a bit (tiny) small, but I thought 'what the heck, I can always rip & restart later'. Well, I'm here to tell you, once I'd done some (a lot) rows, I was hooked and couldn't bear to rip out what I'd done. So, for better or worse, my shawl was started with a tiny rectangle, and built from there. Nobody (so far) has asked me why the shawl kind of bends in the middle instead of lying straight. And I'm not tellin. I'm just pretending it's supposed to do that. Anyway, I can block it out, right? Right?

I never knew lace could be fun.

So I believe I've brought my unfinished list of UFO's down to 14. Oops, I never added the shawl to that list. So it's 15. (And there's a cotton baby dress that I'm not even admitting to myself that I started - cause maybe I'll just send it to the frog pond.) But I'm workin on it! I feel the need coming up to start another baby something, but I'm fighting it. Gotta get some stuff finished first.

One other good thing - I'm working on changing the spending on yarn. I balance-transferred all my credit cards to one, and wow! Now I have a better grasp of what I've been spending. So I'm trying to make a big commitment to not buy any more yarn and stuff. I mean, who doesn't have enough yarn to knit for a few years without buying more? However, there is one book I (need) want to save up for: "Knitted Embellishments" by nicky epstein. It's so cool.

I've borrowed (with option to buy) a digital camera from someone, and am testing out my (dumbhead) ability to get into the digital mode. So far I've managed to take pictures, transfer pictures to computer, copy pictures to email. If this person isn't asking too much for the camera (I think it's a 2000 model), I'm seriously thinking of buying it. It's only 2 megapixels (look at that, I'm learning the tech jargon!), so I think it's a good starting camera. I figure if I really do keep up my interest in it, such as actually posting pictures to the blog, then maybe later on I can save up for a more updated camera.

My kids think I'm crazy to buy a low end one to begin with. They say just go for a better one from the getgo. But I know myself, I often buy something and then lose interest, so in the end the money's wasted. So I'm gonna listen to my own counsel, and probably buy this one.

Pictures could be coming up!