Where Did March Go?

Wow!  I didn't realize it's been over a month since my last visit here.  I didn't mean to be away that long.

I finished Chaika and am very happy with the end result.

Getting there was not quite so easy.   After knitting the body, I knit the long sleeve version of the sleeve in my size.  As I knit I started having my doubts about it and decided to try it on with one sleeve.  Good thing I did.  The sleeve was extremely tight and I knew I would not be happy wearing it.  I ripped out the sleeve and then did a hybrid of the 3/4 and long sleeve patterns.  I knit straight for 7 inches per the 3/4 sleeve pattern, did 4 sets of decreases from the long sleeve pattern, and finished with 7 rows of 1x1 rib a la 3/4 sleeve pattern.  When I tried that on, it was much more comfortable.  

As I tried it on I was having my doubts about the length.  I'm not a fan of cropped sweaters. This wasn't as cropped as the pattern called for as I knit the body for 7 inches before doing the bottom rib.  I thought once I got the second sleeve finished, I would rip out the bottom rib and add to the length to finish up my yarn.

As it turns out I played yarn chicken with the second sleeve. This is all I had left.  Not enough to bother reworking the body.  I also realized I would not have had enough to finish the long sleeves if I had stuck with the original plan.  The knitting gods were looking out for me.

When I blocked the sweater I was able to coax a little more length out of it.  I've now worn it a few times and absolutely love it.

On St. Patrick's Day I pulled out my Marycrest Cowl, but saw that a moth had snacked on it.  

Fortunately I was able to find the leftover yarn and do a little surgery.

After I was done, the repair is hardly noticeable.

I haven't gone through all of my shawls to see if any others sustained moth damage.  That is a task for this weekend.

Trisha is through the first trimester of her pregnancy.  I've started working on a quilt for the baby.

It's going to be a simple whole-cloth quilt made out of linen and quilted with long running stitches.  I think Trisha will like it.  She likes minimalist things.

Life has been a little hectic lately.  I won't go into details until things settle down a bit, but suffice it to say I'm probably not going to have a lot of knitting time this year.

My job is keeping me busy.  I'm really not liking working full-time.  Last year I had from the beginning of February through the end of October to pretty much do whatever I wanted during the day.  Now that I'm back working full-time, I see projects progressing at a much slower pace.  The hint I gave above really doesn't have to do with work.  But I am hearing rumblings of maybe having to go back to an office, which I really don't want.  The commute alone will take an hour out of my day.  Add in the another hour to shower, dress in appropriate work attire and pack a lunch.  I'll also lose the ability to quickly toss a load of laundry in during a bathroom break or unload the dishwasher at lunchtime.  Little bits of time like that have really helped with keeping the house manageable.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that if I have to go back downtown, it will only be a couple days a week.

And the worst part is I'm sure my office mates won't be as sweet as the one I have at home.