The Big Reveal

I finally finished the sweater I was knitting for myself; I call it "Hoot Owls".  I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's Easy Percentage System (EPS) to work out the stitch counts according to the gauge I wanted with this yarn; it's a very soft lambswool from one of the thrift-store sweaters I unraveled last year.   Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, but it could be a little less bulky.  Next time I use the EPS, I'll err on the side of decreasing stitch counts rather than increasing as I did this time.  And I might do some waist shaping in the next one.

Originally, I thought I'd do color work across the round yoke as Elizabeth did; I even bought skeins of cream, cranberry red, and forest green to work with the denim-y blue. Then, when I joined the sleeves to the body, I remembered the Owls Sweater by Kate Davies that I've had in my Favorites on Ravelry since it came out. So, inspired by EZ, I found the owl cable chart and started crunching numbers to make it work into the stitch count and decreases.

 I had to change the round marker from the back of the left sleeve to almost the center of the sleeve in order to center the owls.  And I added some short row across the back, between the owls and the neck ribbing.  I only put button eyes on one owl in the front for now, but I think I'm going to put different sets on each owl all the way around. 

After finishing my sweater (and wearing it on three days running), I wanted to do something fast.  One of the attorneys in my office is expecting a nephew in December so I pulled out some baby yarn from the stash and did a Baby Surprise Sweater (BSJ); yet another Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern.  The attorney is a U of O alum and a rabid Duck fan; I think she'll like the colors and the little ducky buttons.

I started this on Wednesday evening and finished it on Friday.  It was easy knitting on the car trip to pick up Chris and Ronda and drive to Vancouver to Faye and Jim's for Thanksgiving dinner and while ToolMan watched the college football games over the holiday. 

Speaking of ToolMan, he coughed hard on Wednesday night and said it hurt his back.  Since then, it has spread across his back and onto his chest.  I was afraid he'd cracked a rib and possibly punctured a lung so we went into the ER on Friday.  After chest X-rays and some blood tests, it turns out he tore the muscles between ribs under his shoulder blade.  He also had some slight lung congestion from not breathing deeply for the last few days.  They gave him antibiotics to keep possible pneumonia at bay and some pain meds so he can sleep.  He should start to feel better in a couple days.

Now that Dancing With The Stars is over (Did anyone really doubt that Jennifer Gray would win?), I'm working on a Ribwarmer for the BSD Project and need to find something else that I can watch while knitting.  Yes, I tried Skating With The Stars and was underwhelmed, to say the least.  I like History Channel, Science Channel, National Geographic Channel; surely one of those has something worth watching.  Any suggestions?