Back in the Saddle

I'm knitting again! It's marvelous, just sitting in my chair, listening to the radio or watching a movie, and knitting away.

I'm working on two new projects, having essentially abandoned the Eliza Bennett until I have the patience to work out the sleeve cap shaping.

Up first, a new sweater! From the Interweave Fall 2007 magazine, the Placed Aran Cable (or, if you'd like, a Ravelry link). A lovely Cascade 220 color, deep blue with flecks of green. This should be a fabulous pullover with a great cowl neck. Lots and lots of stockinette (I'm knitting it in the round), and then some fun cables.
And next, a pair of socks, using Grumperina's Helical Stripes technique. Using the ever-pooling Shibui sock yarn in Peacock and some leftover Shibui in Canary yellow. So far, I love them. I forgot to do all the k2tog I meant to when I switched fromthe ribbing (and size 0 needles) to the stockinette (and size 2 needles), so I'm going to rip back all the stripes you see and start over.

We spent most of the day yesterday working on building a compost bin and a chicken run. (By "we" I mean "Mike with about an hour of help from me") Right as we were starting out, we noticed these little guys in the neighbor's tree.

We know you're getting chickens, and we want your eggs!!

Coming Home to Roost

Pooling = bad.

I started work on a pair of Monkeys using some delicious bluegreen Shibui sock yarn. It was nice to be working on a project again, as I hadn't knit a stitch since finishing the Charades (below).

Unfortunately, as you can see, the Shibui + 64 st pattern = hideous pooling death.

I ripped back, adjusted the stitch count, and tried again. Same result. Boo. The socks are currently sitting in time out in my knitting basket, and I'm again casting about for something to knit.

In some exciting house news, we got a chicken coop tonight!

Now all we need are some chickens! We're debating whether we'll get baby chicks (super cute) or older pullets (fresh eggs now!). But whatever chickens we get, they'll have this beautiful home.

Another thing we have is a really cute cat. I hate when bloggers just post photos of their cats, as a regular feature, but I promise I won't do that.

Hello- I make very cute facial expressions!