Second Wave

We survived the first wave of Snowmaggedon.  It was very strange to hear people telling me "Oh, I heard about London in the news."  Now a second wave of winter weather is heading our way, with up to 25 cm of snow expected every 12 hours.  Yikes!

A lot of people asked me if I got more knitting done, since I was snowed in.  Well, no... because I'm a telecommuter now I don`t really get snow days. However, I have found some time to knit.  I've been as busy as an elf, finishing up a whole slew of Christmas gifts.  After I finished the obligatory socks, I decided to stash dive for odd balls and knit them up.  It's been fun! I see them as bonus gifts.  I knit what I like and if it happens to end up in a pretty gift for someone then good.  I can't stand the pressure and guilt of traditional Christmas knitting.  That sounds odd, but you know what I mean, right?

So, in no particular order, here is the second wave of holiday knits.  I guess you could say I've been knitting up a storm.  (Oh groan!  Bad pun, I should be ashamed.) And all links are to Ravelry for details like yarn and needles.

Dad's Christmas Socks

I love that detail on the bottom of the foot.

Brother-in-law Stand up Comic socks

Tudora Ruff (niece)

 Estonian Lace Scarf

This is just a little scarffette, based on a shawl pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Estonian lace.  I had just one skien of an bamboo, merino and alpaca blend (from an alpaca named Cheri, so you know it's for someone special).  I can hardly wait till it finishes blocking to see the softness and drape of it.

I knit one edging, put it on a holder, then knit the other edging and continued into the middle lace until I ran out of yarn.  It worked beautifully and I think with a pin to keep it closed, this will be a cuddly accessory for my mother-in-law.  I hope she doesn't mind that I didn't make her socks this year.  I was feeling all socked out. 

How's your Christmas knitting coming? Right now, I feel a hat coming on...

And so it continues...

Another snow day for Jim and the kids.  Here's what accumlated on the picnic table today:

 That's about twice as much as there was yesterday.  I took Dexter out for a brief walk at lunch, but the snow was blowing in my face, so we turned for home.  The accumulation on our house was amazing.  I went to the front door to ask Jim to hand me my camera so I could take a picture for you all.  But as I was speaking to him in the doorway, there was a sound, a slither and a slump! as all the snow on the roof slid down on top of me and the dog. 

I took a picture anyway, and it looks like kids were using our roof as a toboggan run:

We're supposed to get another 10-15cm of snow tomorrow, and the school board has already declared the schools closed. The mayor of London very nearly decided to declare a state of emergency, but didn't. Instead, he's asked that everyone stay home so that road crews can work unhindered.

For more amazing snow pictures, check out the gallery at the Weather Network. You can run a search on London Ontario.

Blog Worthy Weather

Remember that winter storm I mentioned yesterday? Well, it's still here and looks like it will be staying around until tomorrow.  It is snowing hard.  All the schools were closed, so the boys were home.  It was too snowy for Jim to be working outside, so he was home.  And me, I was home: working!  Every one else got a snow day, but not me. One of the perks of working at home I guess. 

You want to see how much snow we got?  The guys had to go out shoveling twice yesterday and twice today.

Oh yeah.  And it's still snowing.  I had to take Dexter out for a walk, regardless of the conditions.  Fortunately I have all the gear I could need: snow pants, good boots, lots of woolies for feet, hands and head. Even Dexter has a super great winter coat, from Chilly Dogs. 

Not that he cares. He loves the snow!

And tonight, we made Rum Balls.  I published this recipe before, but it bears repeating:

Chocolate Rum Balls

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 eggs slightly beaten
pinch of salt
1 3/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
2 tbsp dark rum

Combine butter, icing sugar and chocolate chips in a double boiler. Add beaten eggs and salt. Stir until chocolate melts and mixture thickens and is smooth. Remove from heat and add rum and crumbs. Combine well. Refrigerate at least three hours. Shape into balls; roll in chocolate shavings, coconut or nuts.

A Discovery

We had a snow storm in the merry old town of London, Ontario!  So what better thing to do, besides knit, than to decorate the house?

So gaudy, and yet so effective at chasing back the gloom and chill of winter snow and wind.

I was working on a pair of stranded socks for my dad, when I accidentally switched which hand held which color.  You've heard of Yarn Dominance?  For some knitters, it can make a dramatic difference which hand the yarn is held in when working a stranded pattern.  I always thought it didn't affect me, but look at this:

You can clearly see how several rows are more predominately black.  I flipped when I saw that!  Then I took a look at the public side of the work:

Oh.  Yes.  Well I guess it doesn't affect me all that much after all.

Cute, just as is

Some people are so ambitious!  Nadine has beautiful plans for her winter holidays. Nannette has pages of links lined up for gifty knitting. Me, I'm trying to simplify my holidays, but I'm constantly having to fight my own impulses. There's so many fun things to do!

I thought I'd have some wonderful socks to show you this weekend, but I got distracted.  So, there's this instead:

A hand spun, hand knit hat, knit up in one evening.  It's fun knitting with my handspun!  It's got it's lumps and bumps, but don't we all?  Especially in the early stages.  Like this fourteen-year-old, needs a shave and pimple cream at the same time, 6 foot tall, man-boy:

But ain't he cute?

Stand up Comic?

I like to knit my socks at a firm gauge, for maximum durability, but perhaps this is going too far?

Then again, as socks they sure stand out.  They're for my brother-in-law as a Christmas present and he's a stand-up sort of guy.

These socks sort of look like they're ready to take a walk off on their own. Too bad they don't knit themselves...

Home Improvement Reveal

It took quite a few weekends, but the exterior of our home is finally finished. Here's the before, in all its minty green glory:

And here is the new, neighbour approved, maximum curb appeal, improvement:

Hooray!  We decided against putting the shutters back up and eliminated the screen door.  I think it fits in better with the design of the house and looks more modern.  Some how the house looks bigger now. 

And thanks to Jody for the spinning tip, I've decided to keep practicing my thicker spinning.  If I make an effort to learn both at the same time, perhaps I can avoid being stuck in only one kind.  It can't hurt and it might help.  So, here's some black welsh in progress spinning:

I love the yarn this made.  It's thick and cushy.

Laughing my Face Off

When I began to learn to spin I stated to many and all that my goal was to learn to spin fingering weight.  It's my favourite weight of yarn to work with.  But I was met with a lot of skepticism from well-meaning friends.  They all told me that once I learned to spin fine, I would find in extremely difficult, impossible was implied, to spin thicker again.

Well, I'd say, you just draft more fiber, use a heavier spindle and off you go.

Oh no! said my friends with a laugh.  It's not that simple, everyone has this problem.

Mary Jane said "Laurie, when you come crying to me that you can't spin thicker yarn, I will laugh in your face."

Well, look who's laughing now.

I just decided to give it a try and got these results on my first attempt. I imagine I could get better with practice. Here's a comparison with commercial Shetland fingering weight on the right:

Mwhahahahahaa!!

Wipe the Slate Clean

Nosevember is finally here in all its gray glory.  The first time I walked out of the office at 5:30 after the Daylight Savings Time weekend I had a horrible shock, as it was pitch dark!  Their seems to be a heavy expectancy in the air; the trees and fields anticipating snow, the people anticipating the Christmas rush.  It's time to be still and marshal one's strength.

Just because I haven't been blogging the knits doesn't mean the knits stopped happening.  They've backlogged into such a jumbled pile that I don't even know where to start in recording them all.  I've neglected updating Ravelry too.  Actually, my husband noticed that my Ravelry project page is prettier further down that it is at the top.  I don't know quite what's happened to my knitting lately, but I don't think my most recent batch of projects will help pretty up the page much.  It's all utilitarian, chill blocking stuff.

So, I'm just going to come clean with all my projects and we'll start fresh.  Works in progress abound and the next big thing is will hit me soon enough.

Let's start the parade:

Details on my Ravelry project page.

Too tired to blog

I had good intentions to write a blog post this weekend.  I was going to talk about the serious case of startitis I've got, driven by the November wind and a desire for warm woolies.  I want a chullo, maybe a Thorpe, for keeping my ears warm when I walk the dog, and a new pair of slippers, snugger than the felted clogs.  But what's on the needles are oodles of socks and some Christmas gifties.

I was going to take photos to show you the socks, and talk about the my latest crush, Stephenie van der Linden.  Her book Around the World in 26 Socks has fed my fever and I've cast on multiple socks from her book.  Two have stuck, one having the neatest and easiest short row heel I have ever worked.  Ever.  The other one the first stranded sock pattern I have worked that actually fits my foot.  I'm so thrilled and it's so beautiful, I can't wait to show it off! But I don't have any pictures.

Why?  Well, because our home renovation project ate my blog post.  This is the biggest UFO of them all and as much as a new hat will keep me warm, a finished house will be even better.

That toothpaste green at the top is the color of the old siding.  It's the original 30-plus year old stuff that's become full of holes.  The grey at the bottom is the new stuff.  The blue in between is the styrofoam insulation Jim is adding to keep us warm and toasty.  This house reminds me of Pinochio. It's becoming real!

And just for the record, I'm not the one doing the work, it's this goof-ball:

I just have to take on his share of the weekend chores in addition to my own and that's what's left me so pooped.

My Regrets

I regret that I haven't written this sooner.  I have completely finished my Noro blanket and I am underwhelmed.

Perhaps there are too many beautiful versions on the net.  Perhaps my expectations were too high.  Perhaps in skimping on the cost of wool by buying my skeins on sale, I short changed myself.  

I regret getting so caught up in the process that I neglected details like gauge.  Even the gauge on my edging is wrong, resulting in an untameable curl.

You know what, I don't care.  I'm willing to live with my regrets.  Because at the end of the day I have a warm, colorful blanket that my family has already been enjoying.  Bring on the winter!  We has a blanket.

Gone Shoppin!

As you may have noticed, I've been bit hard by the spinning bug and this weekend was the Woodstock Fiber Festival. The WFF is a cute little fair that included an exhibit of our lovely fur-bearing friends. Sheep, and rabbits, and lamas, oh my!

Lots of people would have been willing to bring this cutie home.  Those big brown eyes are as soft has his fleece.

Inside the building was a good variety of vendors that included basket weaving, rug hooking, wheels, fleece and wool.  I had a definite shopping list in mind that included spindles, all Forresters of course.  I'm lucky to have such a resource in my area.  The festival had no other spindles of this caliber and in such a variety of weights, in my humble opinion.

The are two for spinning fingering weight singles that I can then ply off from onto my larger first spindle.  And the wee holey spindle is for laceweight. 

Of course I also bought fiber, like this pretty.

And romantic fiber like this black welsh,

And some more fiber till I accumulated this stash.

And finally niddy-noddy was crossed off my shopping list, to help me manage all the beautiful yarn I'm going to make.  Hopefully this will be enough to keep be busy through the year.  I'm not as good a spinner as I'd like to be and I only know one way of getting better.  Practice.  And that requires fiber!

It's all about the Yarn

Knitting is happening, but these days I seem to be all about the yarn.  Spinning does that to you. 

I was working on my Koigu Braid when something just clicked.  It occurred to me that when I let the twist enter the fiber to pinch just ahead of the part I'd drafted.  In other words, to leave some of the drafted fiber out of the twist.  This made it easier to draft the next bit of fiber.  And from there I flew!  I don't even know if I'm still doing that any more, but it was the magic moment.  I am now beyond park and really drop spindling.  I feel like the training wheels came off my bike.  

Oh, I still have so much to learn though!  Consistency for one thing.

I still think I can make something out of this yarn.  Especially if I stretch it with some commercial yarn.

I got some beautiful batts from Paula at All Strung Out that I'm not ready to spin yet. One is a merino/silk blend and the other is a merino/cashmere blend.  I think the merino/silk should be socks and the merino/cashmere should be a shawl.  But I can't spin them yet.  I want to finish my Koigu braid first, but I also need a lighter spindle.  No worries, because next weekend is the Woodstock Fleece Festival!!  I'll be there with bells on.

And in other yarn news, I'm very pleased to show off these naturally dyed beauties:

These were originally natural-colored wool I bought at the Waterloo Farmer's Market.  Mary Jane cooked them up with some natural dyes and now I've got these coordinated skeins to play with .  I love them. 

I'd better get back to knitting though.  The stash is experiencing a growth spurt.

Catching by Breath

I'm barely on top of it all these days.  Work, family, home improvement, knitting, spinning and oh don't forget to walk the dog... whew!

Last weekend I drove my mom in the rain to Toronto to get her pottery supplies at Tuckers.  We had fun in spite of the weather but I caught a cold and that's why there was no blog post. 

I'm still spinning and something just clicked this week.  I'm getting a fingering weight now on my 50g spindle which is awesome, plus I'm past the park and draft.  I'm not trying to make yarn for a project with the Targhee Koigu braid. Instead I'm trying to learn to make good yarn.  Easier said than done, but I'm getting there.

I knit my first handspun into a hat, which has already been adopted by a teenaged girl.  It's my fault because I asked her to try it on and she squealed.  Who can resist a squeal for hand knits? 

Top down on a 6mm needle, I started with 5 stitches and increased 5 stitches every other round until it seemed big enough around.  Then I knit till I ran out of yarn and used a sewn bind off to finish it.  It's a cute little hat, but no good on me what with all the curly hair.

I've also finished another pair of socks.  I'm getting a supply in before the really cold weather hits so that my family has warm feet.  This pair will be going to Luke, who very much appreciates his handknit socks.

I was trying to use every last bit of yarn in the skein so I worked these toe up with an afterthought heel.  I was too aggressive though and ended up short by just three little rows at the end of the heel.  So I subbed in some Trekking and you can barely tell.  At least I think so.  Can you see which sock I had to fudge?

Things I learned at my Spinning Lesson

A mnemonic for twist direction.  S-twist goes to the left so it's sinister and therefore counterclockwise.

Draft to the fiber you want to spin.  It's not enough to just open up the fibers, the amount of fiber present will determine the size of the single.  Want a smaller single? Then draft less fiber (split it, or take more time during spinning to put less fiber in the single).

The spindle will spin less long on a thicker single because more fiber absorbs more twist.  The fiber acts like a shock absorber.  It absorbs the energy of the twist faster.  To spin that heavier single, use a heavier spindle or be prepared to spin the spindle more often.

You can spin a terribly fine single on a rock. Tabi did this.  I watched her.  She used a nice smooth beach rock, about the size of an apricot.  A couple of fine sticks were wound into the yarn around the rock to anchor the thread being spun.

There is no single right distance between the hands when spinning.  The length of the staple determines how far apart your hands should be.  Your hands should be slightly further apart than the staple length of the fiber.

If you want to spin a thick and thin yarn, then draft thick and thin.  Though in spinning thick and thin, one must be careful to put enough twist in the thick part and not too much twist in the thin.  The physics of the thing will want naturally go to the opposite extreme.

A badly weighted whorl spins funky because it's got two axis.  Which is sort of like astronomy when a planet wobbles in its orbit.

When the roving gets sucked into the spinning cry "the vortex!"  It won't help anything, but it's fun.

It's all in how you look at it

Having confessed my disappointing yarn to all the world, my brain kept spinning with the topic. (Oh yes, that pun was intended.)  I finally caved and dived in to my bag of Black Lamb pencil roving Saturday afternoon.  I had no idea how to draft such fine fiber so I didn't bother.  Instead I just spun the stuff, straight up.  And you know, it was a pretty straight forward process.  I got some nice singles that way.

Then things got a little crazy.  Instead of stopping half-way through, I spun up the other half of the fiber Saturday evening.  And in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, I woke up and was unable to sleep.  You know what happens next.  I plyed.  Both sets of singles. 


What's your view? 

Is it stubborn mulishness and an unwillingness to be less than my best?

The kinder among you will say it was persistence in the face of difficulties.

Either way, I made a rather nice chunky yarn.

But you know, I'm still disappointed!  It should have been a lovely fingering weight.  I'm telling myself... next time I'll make fingering weight yarn.  Cause you know there will be a next time!

Now to knit it.  I'm imagining a nice hat.

Fric Frac Farg!

Fiddlesticks.  What a frustrating week.  Spinning is a disaster.  It's not even acceptable art yarn.  See:

Over spun, under spun, horribly plied.  The book said plying was a snap compared to spinning.  They lied.  Each little balls of singles went into a coffee cup and was tensioned around the handle.  Things were going okay until I found myself plying three strands together.  What the fric? The outside of the ball got caught on the wool coming from the inside of the ball.  That's when I discovered that spinning is not like knitting and you can't rip back your work.  Unplying is not a word for a reason.

But I'm not giving up.  Oh no.  I'm angry-frustrated.  Frac it! I'm going to learn to do this.  I have a deep want for my own handspun yarn.  I'm disappointed that it's not going to be the effortless process it seems to be for some.  Pat, I'm looking at you.  Though I did go back to your blog and note that you had lessons from others.  I think that's what I'm missing. So I've signed up for some spindling lessons and the Forest City Knit Club will be doing some spinning for their first meeting.

In other news, Noro Blankie is a backstabber.  I spent an entire evening with her, sewing up one of her seams.  There's only one more to go.  When I started to put that one more to the rest of the blanket, it was too long.  This is the panel I ADDED length too.  Farg!!  So now I've got to take out what I added, and then take out what's too long. 

This week has caused me to wonder at my own abilities and decide I'm not much more than a fumble-handed hack.

At least I can still knit socks.

A Great Big YES!

It was the knitter's equivalent of Christmas.  Remember as a kid, counting down the sleeps till the Big Day?  Do you remember wondering with excitement what presents you might open that morning?  Speculating on if you might get that big item you've always wanted, but hardly dared hope for?  The thing your secret heart wanted, but you never spoke aloud because you knew it was so unlikely you'd ever get it.

Saturday was the Kitchener Waterloo annual Knitter's Fair.  This is my Christmas.  The day that gets me excited and happy and is full of fun. This year I headed down with Isa and Barb which made for a very fun road trip.  I had a pocket full of guilt-free cash and a resolution to only buy what I loved.  Again the Fair filled two large ballrooms at Bingemans and again it was packed with wonderful vendors and happy knitters.

I had resolved not to buy sock yarn, but there seemed to be an awful lot of it this year and some of the prices were too good to resist.

The Noro Silk Garden was only $7 a skein and since I love my Silk Garden socks so much, I just had to get some more.  The natural yarn is also a silk blend I want to use for dyeing. Then there's the Starry Night.  Who could resist silver in your yarn?  I later noticed that a lot of vendors had hand-dyed skeins with silver in them, but none had as good a price as the Needle Emporium. And finally the wool-hemp is for swatching for a sweater idea.  I think I can make a swatch cap out of this big ball.

I also bumped into a ton of good friends at the Fair, both new ones I've made at the K-W Knit and Chat evenings and old ones from London who were so wonderfully enthusiastic about my return to the London knit group. 

One of my new friends is Pauline from All Strung Out.  When I was asking around for a spare bedroom to rent for my over-nights in Waterloo, she volunteered her place. What luck! (Jim quaked a bit when I told him I'd found a room with a lady who owns a yarn store.  I was thinking how jealous my knit-friends would be. :p) Pauline had a booth at the show and I stopped to say hi, and meet her mom, and ask about her vacation, and we both said how much we were looking forward to our own knit nights when I start staying with her. (Have to wait till after Pauline's mom's visit is over.)

As I was leaving, Pauline happened to ask if I spin.  "No," I replied.  "Why do you ask?"

"Oh," says Pauline. "Because I have a spinning wheel you can use if you want."

My heart leapt!  My heart knew what it wanted!  Oh yes.  A big YES.


So now I knew what this Christmas-Fair was going to bring me.  I headed over Gemini Fibers and came away with book, spindle, and fiber.  I said to the cashier that I felt like I had a new baby.  I guess it's all so new and exciting and a bit scary too. 

At a different booth, I purchased some fiber to aspire to, which is the superwash merino pencil roving in those pretty pinks and oranges.  

I believe it was Wendy at Gemini Fibers who guided me through spindle selection, and the very beginnings of a tutorial.  She was very helpful and encouraging.  My learning fiber is Coopworth and my spindle is by Thomas C. Forrester.  It's a Linum whorl, made of maple.

I started spinning right there at Bingeman's, and then again when I got home even though I was so tired.  I always said I'd wait to learn to spin till I had more time, but with weekly access to a wheel...  Seriously, how could I say no?

Today, I feel like the happiest kid on Boxing Day.  All set to play with my new toys.  But first I had to show my friends what I got for Christmas.

Going through a phase

Noro Blankie and I had a falling out this weekend.  Maybe she was in a snit because it had been a while since we hung out, but that wasn't my fault.  She's too hot for warm summer weather.  Well, like whatever....

At first I thought she was glad to see me.  I started working on her seams and we enjoyed some fun time together.  We played some tunes and discussed our new favourite band.  Everything was going along smoothly, and then wham!  She threw a hissy fit at me.  As I approached the end of the seam one of her panels was a whole repeat short.  And as if this wasn't bad enough, it was on the cast on side. The witch. I mean, if it had been the cast off side I could just undo it and add more length. 

But she was all like "Well, it's not as if it were my fault.  You knit me."  Like I didn't know that.  She didn't need to use that snotty tone of voice.

So like, what could I do?  I wasn't going to let her diss me like that.  I dumped her in a closet and walked out on her.  Yeah, maybe I was a bit sulky.  I'll admit, I started wanting to hang out with other projects.  There's this friendly cardigan see...   I even spend an evening chatting with a merino/alpaca scarf. But these new friendships just weren't as satisfying.  All the time that Noro blankie and I have spent together means a lot to me.  We just need to get over this hump. 

So we've made up.  She very nicely agreed not to hold the closet time against me and I agreed to just pick up some stitches instead of ripping out all my sewing.  In the end, our friendship is going to look a bit patchy,  but at least we're still speaking to one another. Which is great, because we still have a long way to go together...

First Day as a Telecommuter

Today was my first day of working at home.*  My perks include:

• Zero commute: just roll out of bed and cruise down the hall.
• Superior break room: not only does my kitchen have anything I want for lunch, it also includes my family to enjoy lunch with. I played Rock Band during my break with my son, then took the dog out to the yard to play ball for a few minutes.
• Quiet: almost too quiet.  I found myself singing out loud to myself.  I've had to train myself not to talk to myself out loud at work so I wouldn't disturb my co-workers. I don't want to unlearn that skill!
• Music: I can play my music out loud instead of having to wear headphones.  Which could be a cure for the previous perk.

I got a lot of work done, but I did miss my co-workers.  My office assistant kindly helped me out by coming over for a pat periodically.  

*Actually Friday was my first day, but it's a bad memory.  I couldn't get my laptop to connect wirelessly.  The fix involved some highly technical shenanigans that included resetting my router. 

I couldn't remember the router's password and so I called Jim at work to ask him if he could remember.  Then my eldest son said that he and his friend had reset the password and he explained that the reason was because they could never remember the password.  "Well good!" I exclaimed "What's the password then?"  His response: "I forget."

And.... Switch!

I had a very exciting week.  I've been hired full-time at my job in Waterloo!  Yippee!!  And the best part is...  I get to work part-time from home!  I just have to be in Waterloo on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Fortunately, we've a spare bedroom just waiting to be converted into a home office.  Here's my new workspace:

Notice my office assistant?  He's going to be very happy to have me at home.  Oh, of course, some other people might be pleased too.  Maybe Jim and the boys,  my extended family and possibly the London knitters.

Oh, I'm just kidding!  If they're half as happy as I am the grins will split their faces.  Look out London!  I'm back.....

Dang Hot!

It's been too hot for much of anything this past week.  Too hot to steam block, but I did it anyway, for all six panels of my Lizard Ridge blanket.  I didn't want to wet block it and leave it home to dry all week in the care of my husband and teen-aged boys.  The steam block worked just fine and it was quite the thrill to see how the Noro softened up and how the panels looked flat with all their glorious colors on display.

It's been too hot to seam a wool blanket, but I did work up two seams anyway.  I love mattress stitch, but this is a bit fiddly because I want the waves to line up.  Plus, there's the yarn I carried up the edge confusing things a bit, and some of the colors blend to the point that there are no waves.  Only three more seams to go, but I'm waiting for the cooler weather.

It's just too hot for the Lizard Ridge blanket.  KnitTech wanted to know how long my Lizard is.  Ahem.  It's long enough to satisfy me, but I think Jim would like it to be longer. 

So what does a Canadian knitter work on during the sweltering mugginess of an August weekend when she wants a little fun? Cat mittens by Jorid.

Oh yeah!  That hit the spot!

And, if you'd rather see some hot lace, go check out the new pattern by FishyKissKnits. Lace and beads and colors, oh my!

The Knitting Phase is Over

The past three weeks at work have been intense.  On Friday I finished up the last bit and I told my co-worker it felt like a load off a guilty conscience.  Similarily, in my knitting I worked this weekend to finish up the knitting on my Lizard Ridge Blanket.  I like how it looks as a mess:

But all laid out, and even unblocked, I can see the potential there just waiting for me to unfurl it.  No worries about ugly strips, they all go together beautifully.

I've been puzzling on how to block it out for sewing.  A full on wet block would be proper and correct I think, but a quick steam with an iron would be faster.