Hmmm...Happy Leap Day!

Snuggle failure!  Still have about 4 inches to finish, so I am definitely not winning anything in the podcasts that are doing a snuggle prize. 
I had a choice between putting the snuggle aside and work on my step moms cartridge stitch cowl for two weeks or be late with my step moms birthday...  Even though I would love to win a prize, had to get my priorities under my belt and do the cowl.  I am not a fast knitter and can't do the epic speed knitting without my carpal tunnel going into the shoulders in trying to do that!  So I figure that I have about two weeks of knitting, washing, maybe blocking, then mail it out to get to her by the 17th.  If I get lucky I can probably do a vanilla pull over the head cowl in the process. 
I have to admit that the Martha Stewart yarn is easy to work with.  Only problem is that I have to keep my hands lotioned up because it tends to snag on my cuticles if I am not paying attention.

Martha Stewart and Bamboo Needles

It could be me and cheap bamboo circulars but Martha's yarn didn't agree. So I had to upsize a needle and switch to metal circulars.  Eghad!  The blend of Martha's yarn and the bamboo/plastic part of the circular just made the damn yarn stick to it.  Oy vey!  Bamboo things are fine but it just seemed like it wasn't going to work. 

I forgot to mention that two out of the three skeins I am using for this cowl have some sort of knot either at the beginning (outside) end or the interior end.  So I am not sure if its just the ones I grabbed or its the whole lot.  Why is it that Martha Stewart hates knitting but has a yarn line?  In ready the fine print on the label, I wish that it was made in the US instead of China but its still soft squishy yarn all the same.

Yippy Skippy

I have about 4 more inches on my snuggle.  Wahoo....  I also stumbled onto some half off Martha Stewart Crafts Yarn at Michaels, 65% acrylic and 35% wool extra soft wool blend in the green eucalyptus colorway.  It's not seafoam but its a nice green for a cartridge stitch cowl for my step mother.  Trick is to finish it and mail it off to my step mother before her birthday on March 17th.  And also to finish the bloody snuggle before the damn contest is over.  Keep your fingers crossed.

A Harry Day

Decided if ABC Family was doing a Harry Potter weekend, I could just play the videos and knit without putting up with the commercials.  Had to take a week off so I didn't rant about Whitney Houston.  I admit she has a great voice but all the coverage just ranks up there with Michael Jacksons death.   But I digress.  So as I am watching my version of the Harry Potter Weekend, I am trying to get through some of my ufo's without losing my mind.  I have had a medium and a small washcloth on needles before Christmas, which I was supposed to finish for my step mother, but guess again.  Plus the snuggle.  And I think I have the beginning of a vanilla shawl that I am going to just cut off the needles and get rid of the evidence, flogging chenille is biting my tukus yet again....Never ever get too much chenille that you don't know what to do with it, don't even think about putting it on a wish list unless you know you can bang a project out of it right away.  Have I mentioned how much I hate chenille lately?
One thing I want to do is to go to my local diner/funky hobby corner and see if they still have some of that peaches and cream stuff left, or it could be some sort of something and cream... Haven't been there in a couple of months, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I think I might even frog the damn arm warmers for something else.  The wool I am using for that project I can be using for a cowl or something.

Wow....

Sorry that I have been missing in action.  I have been a bad bad blogger.  I had gotten Death Comes to Pemberly by PD James and I have been a little distracted.  But I have been watching vidcasts for the last couple of hours and decided to drop a line or two.  Still working on the snuggle.  Am at about 8 inches and still going.  After I finish this one, I am thinking of doing one for my boys.  They love sleeping on my dresser in my closet, yes it tends to be a catcave, and am thinking of modifying the pattern to work for the top of my dresser. 

Amd to quote from Robin Williams Hook, I think I have had an apostrophe on those blessed arm warmers that wouldn't work to save my life on decreases.  Instead of k2p2k2, then do the decrease k2 then decrease again every 8 rows., I am going to try the k2p2k2 until I get to the center of the needle decrease and do it every 4 ish rows.  I will let you know if my theory works or not!  Don't know of it's an ocd problem but I just don't want this pattern to whip me.