Ever have to make up your mind?

Here's a link to the article about making up your mind; its not about choosing a yarn color, but I think there are a lot of transferable concepts. I guess I had this on the brain because on 2.14.07 I was having an NPR binge at work, and this interview came on, and then I went to pick out a yarn color, and had a fairly bad case of option paralysis. So here ya go, Knit Nookers - I did make up my mind to post a link to the article, after all. It's a strange article; I had no idea.

In other knit news, today I took the sweater with me to lunch at Arbies, cuz I'm realizing if I don't start taking advantage of small increments of time, I'll be giving it to myself as a birthday present (mid-summer). I think it was Shizknit who told me she loves to knit in public. I dunno, about it, though. The Arbie's manager came over and started asking me about knitting. Then we swapped war stories about broken ankles; he and I agreed - broken ankles are the freakin' worst pain in the world. Jus' chop my foot off and get it over with, thanks.

Instead of knitting tonight, I did three weeks worth of laundry - folded and put it away,vacuumed my room with the shop vac (it was lifting the carpet off the floor - feel the clean!), boxed up all the books from the past six years of school and put them in the attic, organized and shelved the books I still want to read/re-read (including the Human Development books which make me feel like an emotionally crippled social-retard), washed/dusted all the woodwork and furniture in the room, finally installed the videocamera software so I can video-Skype me pals overseas, flipped the mattress, made the bed, gave Mad Max some attention, fed the fish, and then wrote this blog entry instead of going grocery shopping. All of this was obviously fueled by the three large Diet Dr. Pepper's I had at lunch (it really does taste like regular Dr. Pepper, by the way - flavor: awesome).

Now, I'm gonna read a bit before going to bed. I can't knit before sleeping - I won't put it down. But I can't read about knitting - I won't put that down either.


My first E. Zimmermann book and the yarn for my first sweater.
Choosing the book: easy. Choosing the yarn: RRRGH!! (insert Leo sound here).


Two of my fish in the 55g.

So far, so good.

In advance, I'll apologize for no pics - there isn't enough of the Cobblestone sweater finished to warrant that at this point. The sweater is coming along; I started it on 2.14.07, and I just used up my first ball of Rowan Scottish Tweed today - only 6 more to go. Like Erin, I had some trouble getting the gauge right - I started with 7's, tried 8's, and then finally went with 7's. What the heck?

Its been some slow knitting lately - Jan. and Feb. haven't been a great time, but I think I've got the nose up - the months almost over anyhow. Yeah, and it feels really good to be accomplishing the goal I had when I started knitting: to be able to make a sweater.

It may sound dumb, but I had a crazy difficult time choosing a color for the Cobblestone - I mean, it was my first sweater, I didn't mind spending the money to get a good yarn, but by golly it had to be the right yarn. Kristin, Cindy, and Jan were a big help... without 'em, I'd probably still be in front of the yarn rack agonizing over it. I wanted to make a green sweater, and it had to be tweed. I had a few good options, but the one I wanted the most was in the wrong weight. There was a really similar green in the right weight, and I literally had to force myself (with plenty of encouragement from others) that it was "okay" to choose that color. Kristin finally got really serious and said, "Kev, there will be other sweaters." That put it in perspective.

I don't think I generally get affected by "option paralysis" a lot... but then again, I probably do. I'm generally a decisive guy - I know what I want, come up with a plan, and work like hell to make it happen. Maybe its just things that involve elements of uncertainty - things I can't control... agh, enuf! I'm going to bed!

I like this hat a lot

I finished the Thorpe hat Monday; what a great hat. It was my first go-around with fair isle and also my first top-down hat. I've got plenty of yarn left and plan on making another hat soon.


Thorpe hat by Kirsten Kapur 2.9.08-2.11.08 (slightly modified)

• cast on 88 (instead of 80) on DB #8 (which means I made the front bind off 33 instead of 30, and each ear flap is 16 wide, not 14).
• Cascade 220 yarn worsted (dark brown, grey, tan)
• using my own simple fair isle pattern (thanks to Kristin for telling me to increase to 88; the fair isle knits thicker, I knit tight, and I have a big noggin'. The hat fits great, btw. On the next hat, I'll prolly use 88 even if I don't fair isle it.)

I'm getting geared up to make my first sweater. So far, everyone I've asked has unanimously (and independently from each other) suggested the Cobblestone, so, I'm gonna make Jared Flood's Cobblestone sweater. I gotta admit, when I first saw it, I immediately thought, "that is a kick ass sweater." Soon, I too shall have a kick ass sweater. I just need to get some yarn; more on this later.