Today's the day

Well, just another hour before I get in a cab to go to London...

My bag is too heavy, but that's because I'm insisting on bringing the duvet.

Here is an terrible picture of the pinwheel cape that I've started. After Miss Mildred helped me figure out the pattern, it's turning out quite cutely (in my opinion):

Leaving NYC

I don't think it felt real that I was leaving New York for three months until yesterday. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm excited to go to London, but it's also going to be very hard to leave behind my friends. For better or for worse, NYC has been my home for the past twelve years.

But change is good! Right?

Don't say I didn't tell you so...

I had been wondering what to do with this beautiful noro silver thaw that Miss Mildred had given me as a gift a while ago. And, I wanted to knit more mermaid mitts. Et voilà voilà...



Also, a crappy, blurry close up, so you can see the pattern "better":



Rog has been horribly sick, and so we continue the Deadwood marathon. When I went to the video store I couldn't find season 3, but as it turns out, that's because it's in new releases. Phew.

Finally, I just wanted to post a pic of this incredibly cute nose:

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My fingers don't hurt anymore, so I'm knitting some mermaid fingerless gloves for myself. No pictures yet.

I've also seen most of the first two seasons of Deadwood (I'll finish season 2 tonight). One goal I have before I'm off to London is to finish season 3 as well. Totally do-able, as I've been watching two or three episodes a day.

Another goal I had before I left was to do a headstand in yoga without the wall to back me up. I did. As I was doing it, I was thinking, "I'm doing it, I can't believe -" and then I fell flat on my ass. I didn't even have time to curl up, so I just fell flat over. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would - in fact, not at all. And it was totally worth it.

One more baby gift box...

Sick, yet not grumpy...

I had a bad case of either food poisoning or some gastrointestinal bug. Either way, the results were the same. That was Saturday. Today I more or less feel better - as long as I don't eat. So just some fruit and water.

Worse, I overknit, and was developing carpal tunnel syndrome - tingly fingers, glancing pain up my arm. But I had so much to knit! I still have a lot to knit, but I can't.

I finally finished my second square of the secret project. My favorite part of the process was that once it was big enough, it also functioned as a little blanket to keep me warm while I knit:



And I also made this sweater (my third of this pattern) for Max's new daughter:



I added a button hole to the pattern so I could use one of my lovely wooden buttons instead of beads, as the pattern suggests. I used Rowanspun Aran, so I only cast on 81 stitches, and then eyeballed it on proportions.

I wanted to make a little present for the new baby's older sister, but now I think I'll have to buy something. I wanted to make the pinwheel cape from the latest Vogue Knitting. I wanted to make myself some mermaid mittens. And some other stuff.

So my cure has been to read a lot - I'm almost done with Niall Ferguson's "Empire" about the rise and fall of the British empire. It's really good, but I've already forgotten the first half to make room for the second half, so when he makes references to people he mentioned in the first 150 pages I have to go back and reread. I have a book about Marco Polo that my sister gave me for Christmas that I'm really excited about reading. And I guess I can always read about knitting, even if I can't knit for a little while longer.

I've done a lot more wandering around too. Some photos from an East Village wander:





I should mention I didn't take them; Rog did.

I also spend more time just looking at stuff on Ravelry. And, not that I didn't know, but when I look at my projects all lined up like that, it's really brought home to me that I really only knit with mostly two colors: green and a rusty orange. Maybe I'll try to add some other colors to my palette this year.