Last week was a bit of a rough week. I had a yucky cold. Our landlord forgot to come over to fix the leaking bathroom faucet. The Tigers lost the World Series (wah!). I had to confront someone at work and I hate confrontation (though happily, I felt quite empowered afterwards. Yay me.)

On Saturday I was feeling much better so we drove down to my friend's Halloween party. We had a pretty fun time and G. was even voted best costume for his hilarious Bob Ross getup, which was a big hit.

I thought this week was starting off on the right foot. Then I came home today to find out that the landlord had dismantled the leaky faucet and then just left it there, unusable. I swear he had better come and fix it tomorrow...I assume he needed to get a part or something, but at least make it usable before you just take off for the day! Of course this is the same guy who has his own airplane, waterfront property, etc but still can't scrounge up a few hundred bucks to replace the 1960's-era energy hog refrigerator in our kitchen. [/gripe]

Well, at least I finished up the convertible mittens which were becoming another thorn in my side.G. was so happy to have them that he even showed me his spirit fingers!

As I've mentioned previously, these are based on the Broadstreet Mittens pattern from Knitty, but I made them double-knit rather than single knit. It took me a lot of rip outs and re-do's to get all of the sizing right, due to the fact that I was just winging it when it came to figuring out how to make them in G's size and make them double knit. As a result, they are a bit shoddy. For example the finger lengths are different on the two mittens and the i-cord loop for the buttons are a bit big. But G wore them for work today and they got the stamp of approval, so I guess they'll do!
I was particulary happy with this tubular cast on for double rib, which I followed from Montse Stanley's "Knitter's Handbook." It really blends right in!
Pattern notes:
Double Knit Convertible Mittens, based on the Broadstreet Mittens pattern from Knitty.
Knit with 2 skeins of Gems Quartz merino yarn in color "Finch" (discontinued color)

I am glad that I took copious notes as I altered the pattern, which will make it much easier to knit next time. The pattern is a bit challenging since (a) it is only in one size and (b) it is one of those infamous "make second mitten, reversing all shaping" type of patterns. But I muddled through it and managed to tailor it to my own ideas to boot. See, things are looking up already. Hope your week is looking up too!

I just loved reading all of your comments about your funny celebrity crushes! Isn't it great to look back and laugh at the utter silliness that is adolescence? Though of course when you're going through it, everything is deadly serious!

I discovered that I was um, a wee bit optimistic thinking that I might be done Flirty Ruffles by this past weekend. I still have 7 or 8 rows, so at the pace I've been going at I might be done sometime next week, unless Columbus Day weekend turns out a bit less busy than I was planning. Like if it rains all weekend or something. Don't worry though, you all will be the first to know when I'm finished! (You'll probably here a loud "WA-HOOOOO!" echoing from the north Maine woods.)

At least I managed to get some fingers onto G's convertible mittens:They look a bit funny on my small hands, but you get the idea. I tried doing the fingers in double knitting but it was way too bulky and uncomfortable, so I re-knit them in single. The thumb is still double-knit though. I've started the second mitten before doing the flap top part, so that I can make sure I have enough yarn to make those in double knit fabric as well.

My knitting time has been cut back a bit because I'm trying to finish canning two big paper bags of apples that we bought. Here's some of my apple butter:I also made apple chutney (which came out kind of eh) and apple jelly (not really worth the effort...I got three measly half pints out of a lot of work). So I think I'll be making apple butter out of the rest, cause it's yummy and easy.

Here's a couple more fall photos for you to enjoy.

Thanks everyone for your very kind comments on the Trellis cardigan! Tonight was the birthday boy's party and the parents (and all the guests) were very impressed! Dontcha love impressing people with your knitting? (Especially when you know it was pretty easy to do, ha ha).

Well, we still haven't gotten a frost here but most of the trees here have at least a quarter of their leaves changed! And the maples are pretty much completely changed already. The cold weather we've been having the last few weeks has really pushed things along.

I'm very excited to announce that I've started the ruffles on my shawl:
I was trying to figure out how many stitches are on my needles, 'cause it sure seems like a lot. If I calculated correctly, the last row before the ruffles was about 430 stitches. For the ruffles, I will be increasing 152 stitches on each of the first six rows and then knitting straight for the last six rows. Which I think means that at the end of the increases, I should have something like 1,300 stitches on the needles! Yikes...that's gonna be a fun cast-off! I've already done the first two increase rows and it's taking me over an hour to do a row now.

I also started yet another new project...convertible mittens for G. He has a store-bought pair that he frequently uses in the spring and fall for work (he has an outdoor job but he still needs to be able to write and stuff), but they are full of holes and falling apart. Here is the start of the first one:
I am basing these on the Broad Street pattern from Knitty, but with one significant difference:
If you can see here, the inside is the right side of stockinette too, because I'm double knitting them. I wanted to try to make them thicker since single-knit sport weight yarn doesn't seem all that warm to me. I'm not sure how it will come out, but they're moving along pretty quickly so I should know soon. And the fabric definitely feels really warm. The yarn I'm using is Gems Quartz merino in color "Finch" (now discontinued). It is a three-ply yarn with black, red, and gray, and I really like the way it knits up. The only annoying thing is this yarn likes to twist, but I'm dealing with it.