Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

It has been a tiring week. I need to get home as early as I can, settle in for the big College Football game tonight, then go to bed as soon as we figure out which Big East team is going to remain undefeated.

What has kept me so busy, you ask? Well, here's a summary:

Monday night, my (work) friend Lori and I went to Disneyland to see it all decked out for Halloween. Three cheers for annual passes! We had FUN. Above picture is me at Pooh Corner. It was after dark, so the characters were not there for photo-ops. Bummer.

And, this is the kick-ass Halloween Mickey that was at the end of Main Street USA. Again, very fun!

I had totally forgotten how much fun Legos are. Then Lori dragged me into the Lego Store at Downtown Disney because there was something specific she was looking for. I was drooling over Star Wars stuff that was too expensive, but was resisting until I saw these awesome pumpkin kits at check-out. The 3D one (smaller, rounder) is my favorite. The 2D one isn't quite "correct" but instead is built out of the leftovers from the 3D pumpkin kit. I would have had to buy a third kit bag to make the "correct" 2D pumpkin. Not worth it.

My other purchase of significance at Disneyland was inspired by my friend Linda (who I also work with). Linda recently showed me her photo album of a trip she took to China over the summer. While there are a good number of photos of her and her traveling companions, there are also several pictures of Chinese landmarks featuring Eeyore ... well, a small stuffed Eeyore who Linda uses as a "Roaming Gnome." What a great idea!

So I got myself a little Tigger to use as a roaming gnome. Of course, now that I'm sitting here, I see I have two other candidates on my desk. I'll take some audition photos later and my fearless readers can help me choose.

Anyhow, on to actual knitting content! After my help trip to Beach Knitting on Sunday, I came home and was on a mission to get various pieces-parts of sweaters finished.

First, I finished the front of my purple V-neck sweater and did a three-needle bind-off. Looks much better now that it's steamed, huh? Sleeves are up next! ;-)

Then I moved on to my Countess V-neck. Love this yarn! This is the first time I've used a sweater pattern that has side shaping (you can see it ... that's not just a curl on the sides, it's intentional!) and the first that has a collar bind-off on the back, not just the front.

I cast on for the front of the Countess last night. The theory being that if I got through the first repeat of the cable, I could take it over for Irma to check on Sunday at BK. I did OK through the first six rows of the cable pattern. THEN I realized that I was supposed to be doing side shaping simultaneously.

I'm gonna have to rip it out down to the rib. SHAZBOT! Couldn't face that last night, so I pulled out Fuzzy Foot 5 (first half of pair #3) and finished it off. I'll rip and re-knit Countess while watching football tonight.

So that's about it from my little corner of the world. My mom and aunt are coming in to town on Saturday, so it's going to be a busy week coming up. It's worth it, though. Totally worth it!