I finished the back and blocked it. I am using steam block this time as Alpaca has so much stretch. First I pin then I liberally spray with water and then I steam. Fun to do, and it makes the lights flicker in my room. I cast on for both the fronts and I am working them on the same needle, at least for the cabling. That is the same on both sides. I am working on the ties as well. Know how these things work, that will be the only thing not done that will be keeping me from wearing this sweater by the deadline. About a foot and a half done of the eight combined feet needed. Less than a month to go. I'm going to stitch up the arms tonight. Which reminds me- tonight's Gilmore Girls is titled- "Knit, People, Knit." The douchbag new husband causes the town's Knit-A-Thon to end early.

I was at the dentist today (great teeth! well done. Thank you Sonicare!) and a woman asked what I was knitting. Not the "Is that knit or crochet?" like I usually get. My friend Pam is making socks on two needles. She started to make them but she read the pattern wrong and for five inches was knitting two rows and purling one row. Doh. So she had to rip it out. Looks good now. Especially since I went in today and picked up her dropped stitch and fixed her last row. Seems she kept slipping the second knit going into the purl.

I finished putting up my lights outside. I hope they stick. I finished just as the sprinkles started this afternoon. Picture to come tonight when it get dark enough to look good. Now I just need to get a tree up in here.

So far on my sweater. 2 more inches on the back and four on the sleeve.

Did some clean up on the back yard today. Filled up the trash can and I'm still not done. Scratched the hell out of my hands on the roses.

I also operated on a few hearts, lasered off polyps, and almost killed a man. Fun!

He got his Wii. Yall, this thing is so much fun. It comes with WiiSports and he got Zelda, and Trama Center, and Excitetruck. In TramaCenter you get to operate on people. Excitetruck is cool- you hold the Wiimote side ways and turn your hands like a steering wheel. I kick Chris's ass at it. He kept turning too much so it would overcompensate on the controller and turn the wrong way. You get to make your own Mii avatar so when you play Sports there is someone that looks like you. LB made hers rock the side ponytail. The sports actually get you up and moving. But the game still reminds you when you are getting read to start where the pause button is- "so why don't you go outside for a while." I enjoyed the bowling. There is also tennis, baseball, and boxing. It actually does respond to your movements! The Wiimotes come with straps so when you start to get crazy they won't go flying.

Reached the stockinette portion of the sleeve. About 4 inches to go before I start the sleeve cap. Same with the back- 4 more before I start the next part. Arm holes maybe?

Its 5:22 in the AM and my brother has been gone from the house since 3:30. Of course he's waiting for the Wii. Say it like you are going down a slide- its more fun. We are a Nintendo family. There was never any question that we would be getting the Wii and not the PS3. The only games I play are Mario types and Zelda. Big Zelda Fan. I've never actually beat the game- Damn Gannon. But on some of them I get really close. Plus it makes me feel smart when I go back and play again- that I already know how to solve the puzzles. I guess he is in line early enough or else he would have come home. I'll stop by on me way to work to see how he's doing.

Two rows done yesterday. Between working all day then eating right after and the 9 oclock bedtime, not much time for anything else. I think I'm back on track as far as stitch count.

On the plus side I expect an easy day today. Rachel should have the tags done when I get in and maybe even some of my job done too. Nothing went off sale. I pulled maybe 30 tags from the entire grocery section, contrasted to the 200-500 that a normal week brings. Next week is going to suck and so is the 6th of January. Everything goes off. At least we both get our three days off next week. I got Mon, Thurs, and Fri. Oh no! We've got movie sign! Once I reach the end of the arm shaping I will have a few inches on both that and the back of plain stockinette to go. Perfect for the movies.

And I just found out that Mr. Bond is going to be Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass. Very very excited. Opposite Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter. But I already knew that. She is going to be perfect. They aren't the main characters. Lyra and Pantalaimon are, and Will. I also found out that they did a highly acclaimed play in England- where Timothy Dalton played Lord Asriel. That Bond thing goin on.

In other news, I cannot count. I wrote down all that changes I made on the first sleeve but I can't follow them. Mainly because I can't count. I have been working for the last hour under the assumption that I somehow had 111 stitches instead of the 105 that I should have had. I counted more than once, even after I added stitches. Grr. The back looks fine, I picked up the stitch just fine.

Oo yall, I just got back from seeing Casino Royale. And I must say I enjoyed it. Daniel Craig was fabulous. If I had taken a date, he would have gotten lucky thanks to the steely blue eyes of Daniel Craig. Yummy. Whether its the sexy Bond music, all the tuxedos or the very handsome man with the British accent, I always feel very sexy after watching a Bond movie. I want to drive fast and wear slinky cocktail dresses. While wearing gorgeous jewelry and shifting gears. (I have a little thing for standard transmissions)

I brought the back of my sweater to the show and I only cocked it up a bit. I noticed most of the way through the movie that I dropped a stitch so I just stuck my needle in it to stop the bleeding and put it away. The rest looks fine.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!

You know, it was "Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife" that I read and own. Now wonder I couldn't think of an alternate title. I also have "Darcy and Elizabeth" Very good, I enjoyed them, I hadn't even read "Pride and Prejudice" then.

I just separated the sleeve and the back to separate needles. I think I am going to try to work them at the same time still. Work one group of increases and then the other.

I'm off to get paid and do Christmas shopping!

Here I am at 5:30 in the morning again. Sundays when I get up for work I just don't want to knit or read like I normally do. Because normally I get up two hours later.

We survived yesterday. Mostly not that cool. I wish there had been more fiber and less bull sperm. But we all thanks to Tara the sweater spotter we found fiber. We all got a pound of merino top roving for 16 bucks. Green for Jessie, Purpley for Tara and Grey for me. If we had wanted a natural color it was 8 something. We all wanted colored roving for the yarn that we don't know how to make yet.

Watched the kids (almost 8 and almost 15) last night we had dinner like we always do. Of course we were there for 2 hours. My aunt and uncle got there at six and ut our names in. We didn't get seated until 7, we ordered at 7:10 and the food came at 7:50. It was all hot and tasted good. But needless to say LB wooped some ass and we got to eat for free. Twenty extra bucks for me! I think I am going to buy my Secret Santa gift with it.

Went and saw Flushed away yesterday - v good. Probably will go see Stranger than Fiction today.

PS- Gave the 8 year old a ball of yarn and her own needles last night!

What was in front of Kroger today?



A Salvation Army Bell Ringer.

The only good thing about that is I don't work right next to the door anymore, so I don't have to hear it.

You Are A Fig Tree

You are very independent and strong minded. A hard worker when you want to be, you play hard too. You are honest and loyal. You hate contradiction or arguments. You love life, and you live for your friends, children, and animals. A great sense of humor, artistic talent, and intelligence are all gifts you possess.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Almost halfway up an arm of Ivy from Knitty. I'm using the Alpaca with a Twist that I originally bought for a Elizabeth Zimmerman Percentage Sweater, before I had an epiphany. "Hey! Alpaca is really, really warm- I'm a naturally hot person- Maybe I shouldn't make a pullover sweater from this." But I figure a wrap sweater that I will wear with a cami will be ok. Its like knitting with butter. I keep rubbing it to my cheek. Of course I had to modify the arm a bit for my freaky shaped arms. But since the author of the pattern isn't stupid like the last sweater- the arm size is 19 and not 16.

I finish the blue sweater coat but I am going to redo the collar. I don't like how it looks on me but it looked great on Holly and Lucinda. Maybe once I redo the collar I will be happier with it- I'm just too close to the mistakes to really enjoy it.

I've got Saturday off. Yay! Sheep. We'll make definite plans on Wed.

I love watching the Top Songs of the 80's on VH1. Love is a Battlefield is the best video eva!