It's raining. Call the Midwife.

OMG, to quote a friend, "Where are my ark building tools?".   It has been pouring practically non-stop for the last two days.  The Sunshine State can be a bit moody that way.

Between the weather and my mood (bleak of late), I have been sticking pretty close to home lately.   I did make it out to meet the girls for KAL knitting yesterday.   Kerri made an interesting observation, which I think could apply to a lot of us ("us" meaning knitters).   She told me to keep knitting, said that she could see me visibly lighten when I was knitting but when I stopped, it was like the weight settled back on my shoulders.

Since Hubby hung around long enough this morning to take T2 to school, I decided to go back to bed.   Since I could not get back to sleep, I treated myself to another episode of "Call the Midwife".    I am so enjoying this show.   It is in it's third (?) season.  I don't know why it took so long to hit my radar.   BBC series are usually top of my list.    Anyway, now that I have discovered it, I am enthralled.

It is about a group of nurse midwives, living in a nursing convent, seeing to the medical needs of the poor in the depressed Poplar district of East London in the 1950's.   However, with 80-100 babies being born each month, their primary work is delivering babies and pre/post natal care.  One of the main characters even knits (the crazy one, hmm) which has an obvious appeal.

One step forward, three back...

What you see here is the almost completed first section of Knit, Purl, Hunter's April KAL.   I would love to be able to tell you that it is mine, but that would be untrue.   This is Kerri's.   Hers is bigger than mine because she has actually put some time into knitting it.   I, on the other hand, have alternating between "I will get to it later" and "Poop!  What do you mean I have to rip it out again" (except that I don't usually say "poop").     At this point, mine looks only slightly bigger than it did this time last week.   Of the nineteen, repeats (at 12 rows each), I have only successfully knit one and a half.    For some reason, I can't really get into the Zen of knitting this pattern, but I will persevere (at least that is what I have told Kerri).

Get with the program

Ridgely KAL 10Apr13

Two thumbs down, a sad face, and a crying face, that is what I got (via text) when I admitted to my cohorts that I have not touched the KAL since Friday.

Apparently, I have been very, very naughty :-)

WIP diving rocks...

The Purl Bee: Linen Tunic

I realized the other day that I would need something other than the KAL to work on over the next month.   The weather in NE FL is finally warming up, which had me thinking of summer knits, specifically a tank top, maybe in linen, maybe blue.    Which brought me to the realization that I had an unfinished blue, linen, tank in the WIP stash.   A short dive later, and I had unearthed the Linen Tunic from The Purl Bee (one of my favorite LYS before the move).  

Not only did I find it in short order but apparently I abandoned it in nearly finished condition.   Were it not for the fact that it had slid off the needles and run back a bit, I could have started on the armholes right then and there.   It was a bit fiddly getting the stitches back on the needles, and working them up (including the last set of decreases) but by Saturday night, the deed was done and I was on my way.

I remember working on this the summer before we moved.    It is knit from the bottom up and  love, love, love the picot hem right at the beginning.   For the life of me, I can't remember why I put it aside.   Possibly it is just another casualty of our move.   In any case, it has my attention now and I can't wait to wear it.

We interrupt this knitting...

Well, after all my big talk, the Citron Grande is a goner.   I just  could not deal with the oh so very delicate yarn.   It certainly looks lovely and feels lusciously soft but it requires very careful handling or it splits and/or breaks.   Having to handle it carefully, meant that I had to pay attention to what was supposed to be a zen knit.   In the end, I ripped it out and shelved it.   I think maybe it would lend itself to a "knit only" project but I am still deciding whether to try something else with it or just pass it along to a good home.

After some, admittedly short lived, consideration, I have decided not to replace the project in my queue right now.   Rather, I am going to spend the rest of the month working, and hopefully finishing, a couple of already on the needles projects.   In April  I am going to be doing a KAL (a story for another day) with a couple of friends and this would clear the decks a bit before we begin.

By way of proof that I can do this, here is the original Citron that I knit a couple of years ago.   I remember this being a quick knit.  Why did this one handle so differently?   I have no idea.