The joy of purling

I finished the present this morning and took it in. I had put it in a shopping-bag from work and I was going to claim that it was a return and surprise her with the jacket.  When I got there the line was too long and I didn't want to wait, so I just went looking for her.  When I saw her I said "Oh, there you are.  Here." and handed her the bag like she should have been expecting it.
She loved it and wished it was in her size.  She has promised me pictures of her Little Man in it!

To reward myself I have done a few things so far.  I took myself shopping in my stash.  I came out with enough yarn for 1.5 sweaters, a shawl, some fingerless mitts, and a few pairs of socks. I may have overdone it a bit.  Also, while watching Julia Child hack at a turkey breast (sending bones flying though the air) I ate a giant shortbread cookie.  I am now back to the caplet.
The only real reason I have gone straight back to something big is because I couldn't find the perfect yarn for the Natalie Mitts I want to start.  I have one in the perfect colors, but it is cotton, and I have the perfect yarn, but it is in the wrong colors.
Though, even though the caplet wasn't my first choice for knitting right now, I am very glad it happened.  After so many days of just knitting garter stitch, I am kind of tired of the knit stitch.  With the lace pattern I do a few plain knits and some odd knits (decreases), but on the way back, it is so nice.  I just purl across!  How I have missed purling!

Distracted!

I've gotten about 2/3 of the way through the lace pattern on the girly caplet.  This means that I am some sort of bigger percentage done with the whole thing (since I did all the increases before I began the lace)
This was all well and good until the other night.  My original plan was to finish this and then make a Baby Surprise Jacket for one of the managers at work who recently had a baby.  The other night I found out her husband had been told that he had gotten a good job down south.  I also found out that she had announced this on facebook a week before.  Since I still don't have a good way to get to FB I didn't hear about it until a week later.
So now I have until Friday to finish the jacket.  I also have a plan to make some fingerless mitts once I finish the caplet.  I know I said I had a nice nerd scarf planned, but I think a nice quick project would be a good idea before I take on another big one.

There are only 10 kinds of people...

I have to say that I love that joke.

While I was looking around at random projects I ran into a binary scarf.  I think I want to knit one as my next charity project(once I'm done with the Girly Girl Caplet)
The only thing I can't decide on is what it should say.  It is going to be in manly colors, so I don't want it to say anything too girly or mushy.  I want it to say something about keeping the person who gets it nice and warm.

edit:
Right after posting this I actually found a good quote to use! But you will have to wait and see what it is ^.~

Now I know why it went clearance...

I've been working on my Girly Girl Caplet. I was really excited to get done with the increases and get to the lace pattern. The yarn had a but more fuz come off of it than I'm used to, but otherwise I thought it was soft and cute.
Then I ran into a thicker white spot on the yarn.  I thought that was exciting and wondered if it would happen again.  That is where it all went wrong.
I next encountered a spot where the white was sewing-thread thin.  It was then followed by a VERY thick spot.  I thought that was interesting and kept going.  It then started happening more than the yarn was normal.  I kept hoping that the thin spots would stack with the thick spots and that it would all 'come out in the wash.' (or even that is would just stop) Nope.  Of course not.  The thin spots stacked with other thin spots, and the thick spots were just white fluff areas. While this does not ruin the knitting, it is a bit annoying.
At least the two pinks stay the same thickness.
The good news is that the lace pattern I altered is looking good so far.

Also: Still no word about the needles. I think another e-mail is in order.

Out in the world!

This is what it looked like while I was waiting for my friend Annette.

The caplet and I enjoyed a hot chai latte.  It took a bit, but I got it.  I have a funny story that goes with it.
I got to Saxby's and couldn't find my credit card.  I then knew that I must have left it in my work pants when I had gone and gotten a bagel the day before.  It took me a text message to Annette and two rows before I remembered something else.  I had gone to put my pedometer in my pocket that morning, but I couldn't because I hadn't brought my work cloths in from the day before.  Sure enough, my credit card was sitting in my work pants that were sitting in the back of my car.

You have to start somewhere...

Numbers still don't like me.  I figured my final number for the bottom of the girly caplet I am designing.  I knew that the increases would add to my beginning number by 8 every increase row.  So I took my 229 (final stitch count) and subtracted 8 until I got a number in the area I wanted.
Sounds easy, right? Not for me.
I got 77 half the time and 73 the other half.  I'm not sure how I did it either.
I tried the 77, but it turns out that, while close, is not the number I need.  I've taken it out for the zillionth time and this is how it looks right now:

Time to start again (4th times a charm?)
To make it all up to me for lacking in a math skill that small children can do without thinking about it, my fiance made me this:

It is a rice bake with Italian herbed cheese cream sauce, and Argentine style chorizo.  Why yes, that is also a glass of champagne, I feel it makes dinner so much more fancy.  It also makes me feel like we are celebrating something.
I also helped him make it.  I added more milk when the cream sauce thickened too quickly.  I added the packet of cheese once it was the right consistency.  I also cut opened and crumbled the chorizo.
I did get some odd looks as I took pictures of my plate.  I told him that I didn't want to let down my blog followers!  I know he's just jealous when he continued to give me a funny look.

Another thing....I still haven't heard back about the broken needles.  They do, however, make a good hair stick.

Surprise, it's done, and also a baby jacket!

I know it was corny. Saying it would be a surprise and was a baby surprise jacket amused me.
I took a nice and artsy picture of it to show everyone.

I had fun knitting it.  I love how the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket becomes an odd shaped blob as you make it, but then becomes a cute little jacket with a bit of folding. Knitting + origami = okay in my book.
Not sure what I am going to work on next...probably that caplet I have pictured in my head.