EvilJulie.com

When I got home last night, I discovered that I did in fact have another skein of Cascade 220 to match the first. Apparently I need to do two things: get my fixation with Cascade 220 under control and stop collecting it and ALWAYS check that colors match when knitting in dim lighting.

So, faced with 7 inches of a scarf knit in the wrong color and a skein of the right color, I did the right thing and frogged the 7 inches. I won’t lie, it was painful. But I will be much happier with the finished product since I’ve done it right. The pattern calls for the scarf to be 55 inches long, and it’s currently 47 and a wee bit. I’ve taken the day off to get it finished (what the hell good is annual time if you can’t use it when you want?), and since it’s only 10:45, I’m confident I can get this scarf done, the labels for it and my sis-in-law’s scarf done, everything wrapped, packed up, and to the post office by the time it closes. And while I’m there, I’ll pick up stamps so I can get the Christmas cards out tomorrow. Then I just need to finish four more sets of stitch markers for the girls in my SnB by tomorrow night. Then it’s all downhill, just finishing Lori’s present and knitting some fingerless gloves for the Youngest by Monday morning.

Totally doable.

ETA: Big Brother’s scarf was finished at 3. The whole package for him and the sis-in-law was wrapped, packed, and off to the post office by 3:30. Unfortunately it took an hour waiting in line to get the damn thing posted, but the nice man at the counter assures me that the box will reach them by Friday. This is good. Now my hands hurt.

Anyone who hasn’t sent me their address but wants a Christmas card should click the little button on the right with my email addy and do so. I’m not guaranteeing that they’ll be there on Christmas, but what the hell, you’ll still get a card.

Vince and Boogie, who are obviously my tech gurus: when you use another program to import CDs, is it easy to transfer it all over to iTunes? Because even with the CD error repair on, I’ve still got skips. According to the iTunes forums, this is a common problem with 7.0, but I don’t feel like listening to songs with five million skips. I need a way around. Help?

Two fine examples of Murphy’s Law:

1.) In anticipation of opening the 80 GB iPod Mom got me for Christmas (which I will not let myself open before Sunday), I spent part of yesterday uploading my massive CD collection. I got through about 30 CDs when I thought “Hmmm, I should listen to one of these.” iTunes had recorded it with more crackles and pops than a box of Rice Crispies. Apparently what I neglected to do was check the “Repair CD errors” box before importing. You guessed it, I’m starting from scratch tonight. This will definitely keep me occupied until the weekend, since by checking the box, I have slowed down the recording speed. *sigh*

2.) Last night I was knitting big brother’s scarf while watching “The Devil Wears Prada” in the glow of my Christmas lights. In other words, it was dim. I reached the end of one skein of yarn and went over to the stash to grab another. I did not compare it to the first skein, since I saw that it was heather blue, the color that I needed. This morning on the bus, four inches into the new skein, I noticed that it was indeed heather blue, but not the same color of heather blue as the first skein. What remains to be seen is if I actually have a skein of the same color as the first one at home (I heart Cascade 220 and tend to collect it, so this may well be the case), or if I accidentally bought non-matching skeins at my LYS. At this point, I think I’ll continue to knit and play it off as a design choice. I will now call it “Asymetrical Irish Hiking Scarf” and repeat my new mantra, “Only Allah is perfect” as I knit it. Because I have to have the damn thing in the mail by tomorrow. D’oh!

I would say “At least all the Christmas shopping is done,” but at this point I think Murphy would consider that “taunting” and call me on it, so I won’t.