Ugh. I need to frog my Because I Love You Wrap and start over. Okay, no, I don’t really *need* to, but I want to and won’t be happy with it if I don’t. Here’s what I’ve got so far: 
I love how it’s knitting up, and I even watched a video about intarsia and figured out the yarn-twisting bit so there’s no hole where I picked up the teal for the stripe. Great, right? Right! But then I looked at the pattern again and realized that in the second half of the shawl, the stockinette sections are much bigger because of how the shawl grows. I would much rather have the variegated yarn in the big sections of stockinette than the solid teal. Maybe it’s a minor thing, maybe it won’t make a huge difference, but in my mind right now, I’m thinking it will. The only downside is that I’ll lose those two lengths of teal yarn (unless I just use them and have even more ends to weave in). But at least I figured it out before I got even further into the wrap!
Here’s some good news though: remember my Duality hat from yesterday? The designer noticed my project page on Ravelry and asked to feature it on the pattern page!! I love when that happens! You can see it here, and remember, today’s the last day to get the pattern for free!
And more good news (maybe): I sent my first query letters to agents yesterday!! I don’t know if I’ll ever think my memoir manuscript is “done” but it feels done. It feels ready, although of course as soon as I sent the letters I was consumed with doubt and self-loathing. I only did three; they take longer than you’d think. You have to determine each agent’s requirements, tailor your query letter for each agent, then copy and paste the requested materials (and in my case, reformat it when it goes all wonky in the email). I also had to write a brief synopsis, since one agent requested it along with the query letter. Each one is so different, it seems like. And there’s so much pressure to be PERFECT with that one short letter.
Ugh. It’s hard hard hard. But also so exciting. It feels wonderful to move on to this step, to believe in myself enough to send my book out for others to judge. And they will, and most of them will reject it. I recognize that, and it’s okay. I know there are thousands of books written every year and agents have to turn down perfectly good books just because it didn’t call their name. I only need one, one fabulous agent who believes she can sell this book to a publisher. Until I find her, I’ll keep sending out queries and waiting patiently.
And I’ll knit of course, to calm my nerves while I’m pretending to be patient.
Okay, fine, you’re right. Yes, I’ll play with the puppies too. 
This was knit with size 6 needles, as the pattern recommends. But it was too loosey-goosey for me so I frogged that and started over with 5s, and I like it much better. I learned how to do picots and those are pretty darn nifty. But guys, there’s a trick in this pattern that I didn’t discover until I started knitting. When you start the first garter stitch stripe, you do the first three stitches in the other color and then pick up the stripe color. Well, that left a big stupid hole in my knitting! That irritated me so I frogged back (and frogging picots are interesting) to before the stripe. A bit of investigating showed another Raveler recommending the intarsia technique of twisting the yarns at that point. I’ve never done intarsia but I’ve carried yarns up the side of my knitting; is the twisting the same as that? I’ll do more investigating before going back to knitting this but I’d love any advice you have!
I used Malabrigo Rios (the recommended yarn) in color Teal Feather, and knit to 8.25″ before decreasing. I think it’s the perfect amount of slouch and I’ll definitely be knitting this pattern again.
These are lazy pics, sorry. The lighting inside wasn’t great and I didn’t want to go outside, but these still show the awesome pattern. This is the 
This is why people hire yarn de-tanglers, isn’t it? This is fingering weight silk, a skein my husband brought me from India, and at one point it was neatly caked. Then the puppy happened. Thank goodness Grace didn’t chew on it, just played with it and turned it into this mess. This happened a few months ago and it’s been in time-out ever since. But I spotted it last night and remembered how much I love this yarn and want to use it. I don’t have a current WIP calling my name, so I decided to give it a shot. Let me tell you, I would NOT want to be a yarn de-tangler. This is a big pain in my butt. I’m making progress, though, so I’ll keep going. I’m just stubborn enough to win this battle.
The pattern recommends picking yarns with a strong contrast, and this fits the bill. I have some solid purple that would work instead of the teal, but it would be much more muted. Plus, I love that both these yarns have some sparkle. (Side note: this teal yarn is the same yarn as the pink. THIS is what got me thinking about the pink.) So now I have a project planned out, and it’s so far out of what I normally do. It’s fingering weight yarn, not bulky. It’s a paid pattern, not free. It’s a large shawl, not a quick hat. But I can’t stop thinking about it and that means it must be knit, no matter how long it takes. Today I will be winding some silk and casting on!
“Please rub my belly, mom!”
Oy. This dog. So yeah, she was in the doghouse (figuratively) for the rest of the day. At least until it was time for me to stretch out on the couch with my blanket. Then both puppies thought it was cuddle time with mom. Fine. They’re warm and snuggly. 
Fortunately, I did have some good to counteract the bad. The yarn store was indeed open yesterday and I did indeed find some yarn. More than I meant to find, honestly. (That’s always what happens, isn’t it?) Last night I hid in my craft room and wound yarn. It was lovely. Please note: not all of this is new yarn! Some of it was in the stash and I decided it needed to be wound. Mostly to make room for the new yarn. 
This is the new yarn. Yes, I have plenty of cotton now, in a nice variety of colors. 
The three on the left are Berroco Weekend, which my LYS has for 35% off. It’s a crispy yet soft cotton/acrylic blend and I’ve made several hats with it in the past. The two on the right are Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme, which is a deliciously soft yarn. I’m hoping to get one adult hat and one baby hat out of each skein. I don’t have patterns picked out yet, so some of today will be spent perusing Ravelry.
Ravelry notes are 
But this head is pretty slippery, plus it doesn’t have any hair to fill out the hat. Why not try it on a person, you say? What a novel idea! Nobody was around when I finished it, and somehow it didn’t occur to me to try it on myself. And right now it’s upstairs and I’m downstairs and it’s not worth it to go fetch it. It will fit someone, I’m sure. And it’s pretty and I had fun making it. You can find the details on the 
You might remember I mentioned I was going to babysit my wee nephew yesterday, and I was afraid he’d be very cranky? Well, I did and he wasn’t!! Sure, he had a few fussy moments but overall we had a lovely time. He’s about 8 months old and desperately wants to be more mobile than he is, so he gets frustrated. But he seems to be warming up to me and has a perfectly charming grin.
Speaking of Jack: he’s pretty sneaky. Both pups sleep with the girl at night, but they think they want to sleep in my bed. Every night they sneak in when I’m getting ready for bed and jump up and make themselves all cute and comfy so we won’t have the heart to kick them out. (It never works. The husband is stern in this regard.) Last night Jack jumped up and promptly claimed my pillow.
“Dis is pillow for me, right?” Ha. Right. (Actually if it weren’t for the husband, I would let him have it. Even though I don’t sleep well with puppies in the bed either. He’s just that cute.)
I’ll also be driving right by the yarn store again today. And I’m pretty sure they’re open on Tuesdays.
The pattern is 
Yes, that’s a knife on my couch. Grace is a knife thief. Usually it’s butter knives, because she’s obsessed with butter, but we’ve gotten pretty good at keeping our sharp knives out of her reach. Last night we must have gotten lazy (I was watching the Oscars. I couldn’t leave to wash dishes. Seriously.) so sometime this morning she was probably thrilled to reach the chicken knife. She’s fine. She didn’t have it very long, and I know that because the handle hasn’t been chewed on. She’s grown up a lot but I guess she’ll never lose her love for knives.
We had a Captain American movie marathon last night and I got most of it done. This morning I finished the last four rows of ribbing and bound off. And now I have a gorgeous new cowl to wear! (As soon as I block it, that is.) So THANK YOU, Lissy, for giving me the kick in the pants I needed! The yarn was wonderful to knit with, I loved watching the colors emerge, and I know I’ll wear the heck out of this cowl. 
What about you? Do you hoard your favorite yarns? Do you save things that you should really just use and appreciate?
Buttons were 40% off, and I managed to restrain myself to just ONE button! (There was a woman in my way so I didn’t get to browse very well.) 
I also went through the button stash my mom gave me and there were some fun ones in there. These were my favorites. 
Today we took the boy out to a new (to us) art supply store downtown. He and my husband are both amazing artists; I’m a wannabe. I have no drawing/painting talent whatsoever, but I desperately want all the art supplies. I typically console myself with pens and notebooks and today was no exception. 
I have a problem. I freely admit it. It’s an addiction I have no desire to break.
The bad: it itches!! I have sensitive skin, so really any wool around my neck isn’t great. I can tolerate some with less prickle, but this yarn, as gorgeous as it is, has more prickle than I’m comfortable with. But my brilliant Knitting SIL suggested lining it, and I love the cowl enough that I think it’s a fantastic idea. It will make it even cozier! I want to find some fuchsia fleece, I think.
The rows don’t match up! That bothers me a lot. My knitting SIL said Kitchener is always off by half a stitch, so maybe that’s part of it. I’m not expert enough with grafting to know how much is operator difficulty and how much is expected. Regardless, at this point I wish I had just done the 3-needle bind off the way the pattern instructed, and the way 
bonnyknits 