Transition Time

Last night, as tradition, I cast on for my next sweater project before finishing my current one: I'm passing the torch from Tangled Yoke Cardigan to Amused. At knit night last Thursday, I took out the three-needle BO on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan's collar and later sewed it down instead. SO glad I did -- it looks significantly better. No puckering or ridging, and it won't cut into my neck. Now I only have the buttonbands left. So, last night I pulled out the Amused pattern and yarn and CO. I got two rows past the provisional CO for the front cable panels. Not a bad start. It always feels nice to get started on a brand new project to have something to look forward to when finishing up another one!

I took a day off on my Pomatomus socks to focus on my needle case. This was on Wednesday. I remember because it was a wasted night of knitting! There were too many little mistakes, all having to do with the twisting at the DK pocket edges. So, I frogged the whole thing and CO again, hoping to be consistent and invisible in my twisting. Well, I still didn't get the twists right. So, I frogged it again and put it away to hibernate until I can find out more about what I'm doing wrong. The designer PM-ed me on Ravelry about a week ago, letting me know I could tell her if I ran into any snags. So after frogging, I did PM her and also posted for help in the Double Knitting group. Now it's just wait and see. I can't continue that project until I learn the proper way to twist pocket edges with MC and CC that lie next to single knitting in MC.

Knit Picks has new Imagination colors! I'll be looking for the stash pictures that show up on Ravelry before I decide which of the new colors I like. You can click on each colorway's thumbnail to see a larger picture and description. But, I'd like to see the new colors knit up. It's not new, but I'm loving Lost Boys right now. Too bad that colorway is being discontinued!

In non-knitting news, I've finally made pizza I liked, thanks to my Pampered Chef stone. I've used it mainly for wreaths and braids. But it's also great for cookies and pizza! Using a "just add water" crust mix, I topped my pizza with Del Grosso New York Style Pizza Sauce as well as pepperoni, lite sausage, mushrooms, onion, and cheese, making sure not to overload it. That stone is like magic I tell you! I'm never using my pizza pan again.

I'm finishing up re-reading the last Harry Potter book, thinking ahead about what I want to read next. My brother Doug and his wife Melissa got me a Dan Simmons novel, The Terror. So I might read that. Usually this time of year, I think about re-reading Unfinished Tales, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion (in reverse, actually). After reading Children of Hurin, I've stayed away from Tolkien for a while since that book is a heavy version of stories told in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. It's also been a while since I've perused The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. That book is great as a supplemental reference to any of the stories of Middle-earth and Aman. It's most useful when reading The Silmarillion because of all the numerous story backdrops, journeys, and battles. I love looking at Valinor and the elven kingdoms in Endor, as well as the maps that bridge The Silmarillion and LOTR. Fun stuff! At least for me it is ;-)