Humidity is not my friend, but it’s everywhere lately, creepy crawling up my neck into my hair, curling it like a wig harpo; making me wear a sweat moustache, reducing my careful grooming to a pile of naught in seconds flat.

So, I huddle indoors and even though the AC is a true blessing, in a weird way, it’s like being cabin bound in the winter time by snow. This time it’s by thunderstorms and the moist curtains of air they leave behind.

And I’m crawling those walls! Here in the Midwest, we wait all the frigid winter to be boiled alive in the sweltering summer. Every winter you forget the summer; every summer, you quickly remember the vile, vile, air of the metropolis.

But there is Something coming out of this confinement: I’ve been compelled to “air out” and freshen the indoors as much as possible. So, I’ve been trying to throw away at least one thing a day to hone the melange of stuff I’ve surrounded myself with. Gail Blanke, the throwaway guru, calls clutter “Life plaque” a cringe-worthy but illuminating thought. She proposes that you gain momentum and energy the more you free yourself from the useless things that might be surrounding you.

I have to say, it feels Good! There goes an old couch pillow; how about that old cell phone(s) (recycle), those useless picture frames, those slightly musty beach sandals! Gone. And good riddance.

(But how about instead of throwing away the unloved, half-bottles of shampoo, per her advice, use it to wash some sweaters?!)

In this vein, there’s been digging in the workbaskets, too.

I’ve finished up my cotton Cerisara (end weaving and blocking looms) and went in search of a project, which around here is much like going to an orchard and plucking ripe fruit from low-hanging trees.

Above, you see my in-progress TWIST cardi, started, drumroll please: JULY 28, 2009. (That, my friends, is either ironic or pathic, or as I’d like to think, epic.) This little number has been marinating for a whole year and its time has come once again! There are two sleeves and the Left Front already in-waiting and I’ve gotten even further this weekend. Am up to the underarm BO area.

Sorry. That’s really a terrible joke, isn’t it, but just the nature of the humidified brain.

What else has been lanquishing? To the right, a beautiful turquoise partial sleeve in gogerous mercerized cotton. The main part of this sweater is finished but will the sleeve grow into more or is it just a random piece of lace for the ages? Who knows. Its too hot to call.

Ah, but that slightly yellow-hued horseshoe shape is very interesting and probably will go far. Prototypes made with luscious Rowan yarn tend to have more of a siren call.

But really going to the limit will be the WIP that’s last in line: my navy cotton stole. Now that I’ve finished the Cerisara sweater, it’s my steady diet of yarn overs and chart love — always need a lace project to balance out the more simple things not even in the picture…

  Monday Morning Mirth  

I can’t explain why, but every time I pass my ironing board (big) and see the lil’ iron at the ready on its lil’ board, I get all grinny ;p

(But that may be because I’ve been cooped up in this smallish apartment for too long! Anybody else do their ironing in a hallway because that’s the only room there is for the board?)

These days, if I’m not out shooting, I’m shipping! All of the fall 2010 patterns are in and are going out the door as fast as we can box them. What a feeling!

I love this part – but then again, I love mattress stitching ;p

And when I picked up new Fall Chic Knits patterns from the printers, all the shop-guys were totally crushing on the cover models. Yeah baby!

This weekend there was some time for some knitting and several inches later on Sleeve #2, we have something that looks like this:

Because I’m an eternal optimist, I thought I’d be done with #2 by now, but it is going well all the same.

You can see I’m using the Magic Loop Method to do knit this — it’s become my favorite way to do knitting in the round, especially on smaller or tight spaces.

CarolD writes:
“Hi Bonne, I have purchased the Mondo Cable Cardi and it is going really well, all the increases are done, I can’t believe how neat the raglans look, I am so enjoying this pattern, just one thing though, can I use circular needles for the sleeves instead of dpns? I’ve just treated myself to a set of those lovely interchangeable needles and wondered if there are any pros or cons for using the circular needles or the dpns for sleeves. Regards.”

I love this question — because the answer is so easy to give (and to do)!

When a pattern calls for certain way of doing things, it just might not be written in stone and this is a great example.

It’s about the tools.

Like a lot of knitting, there exists many ways to accomplish the same, or similar things.

QUICK! Somebody tell me how many kinds of cast-ons there are!

In this case, a sleeve in-the-round from the top down, starts out as a tube and continues to get smaller and smaller incrementally over a range of rows. Lots of patterns tell you to start with a circular and switch to DPN when the work becomes unmanageable (too tight, too small, too stretched out) with the original needle.

Well, in my case, it becomes unmanageable if I use DPN! I just never got the hang of it.

SO, perfect solution? Another technique that can substitute for the original instruction.

The Trick?

If you can determine whether changing a tool or a decrease or increase, etc. is going to change the Appearance of the garment.

If it doesn’t, you can happily and safely substitute whatever floats your boat!

I’ve been know to enjoy a Two Circ outing once in awhile myself! :)