Going Swimmingly

The Cap'n called before going to bed and said that his room at the hotel has a small balcony. He opened the curtains, looked out the window and said, "Wow. That's Baghdad." Weird, huh? There he is, halfway across the world. But safely, thank goodness.

Skype has been wonderful so far. I can hear him better over the computer than I could my SIL on the cellphone in New York. And last time we talked, I asked him to check into Baghdad yarn. They've got sheep, right? Someone's bound to have wool...

Meanwhile, Slim and I are staying busy here. It took me all weekend, but I finally finished the necessary cleaning around the house. This is Slim enjoying the Thomas trains at the bookstore on Friday.

The boy and I floated about at the neighborhood pool Saturday and enjoyed a walk with the dog in the 52-degree weather. Sunday we woke up to rain and made our daily grocery store walk in sleet, but Saturday was awesome. Today we've got a grand high of 30. Toasty.

And I'm so proud to say that this weekend I resisted the siren call of my LYS's winter sale. I have a new game: HYS. Home Yarn Store. It's gotta be the way for me...though I won't make any promises about souvenir yarn this weekend from NYC. I think Mim said it wonderfully about why stash enhancement expeditions (SEX) are so tempting...

Brenda of Cast On inspired me when she talked in this last episode about reorganizing her stash. I think I might try to pull out everything tonight (really, it's not that much, Cap'n!) and figure out what I have and what projects I have lined up for them. Those baby sweater ideas are weighing on me as D-Day inches closer.

Silly me cast on for the Mason-Dixon baby kimono with the Dalegarn Baby Ull I got for Christmas, but I didn't think it through enough. I mean, I actually put thought into it: But the train of thought derailed before it made it into the station. Here's how it went:

1. The pattern calls for worsted weight on US6 (4mm) needles.
2. I have fingering weight and a US2 (3mm) needle.
3. I'll cast on double the number of stitches the pattern calls for (80 instead of 40) and figure it out as I go.
4. Hell no, I won't swatch. I'll assume that somehow my gauge will be half that called for.

Sheer knitting brilliance, huh? Anyhoo. After holding up a day's worth of knitting to Slim and noting that it will probably come out fitting him, and remembering that babies are actually quite small, I put it down and am back on the hunt for another pattern.

Besides, Carrie challenged me to finish big on my SAM2 commitment and get that Child's First Sock done before the end of the month. I have not had a chance to work on it this weekend, but tonight I'm going whole hog. THE RACE IS ON!

I've got 2 more pattern repeats on the leg and then it's the heel and foot. Wish me luck...