Sailing away

Working on getting myself mentally and physically ready to go on this cruise.  I have lists all over the place of things not to forget, and lists for my kids of things for them not to forget, like the trash cans and pills for the cats.  I'm pretty sure nobody will starve before I come back, but I know a lot of cleaning won't get done.

I finished some things - like this bunny, who was a special order.  I'll make two more with some DK yarn combined with angora for the fundraiser.

This designer does such nice patterns, and gets such realistic bodies and poses with some skilled shaping.  I should do a better job with pictures, though - go to the pattern for a better view.

I finished a scarf, which still needs to be blocked.  I used this pattern, with Malabrigo laceweight wool in a blue/brown variegated.  I started the Latvian Socks pattern out of the Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book from the library, but ran into problems as soon as I started the second row. It took some doing, but I finally realized that there are 5 lace charts with this pattern and they numbered them backwards, so instead of the chart I was supposed to be following I was following a completely wrong chart.  And at this last Yarnworks we found yet another example of a published pattern from a book that was just plain wrong - this one had a chart, but the chart and the words didn't match, so you couldn't do it by just following the chart.  This is why I like Ravelry - you know that a pattern thrown out to the public online is going to get all of the kinks worked out, and the corrections can be published.  But in the last two years I have come across at least 5 patterns in publications (books and calendars) that were full of mistakes.  Best to take every pattern with a grain of salt and a skeptical eye until it proves itself to be correct.

I started my summer sweater with a sleeve so that I could get an idea of the gauge without committing myself to a whole back's worth of stitches.  Oddly, although my gauge says I'm getting 22 stitches in 4 inches instead of 19, the width is correct.  I think this is a feature of the cotton - if it was wool, the springiness of the fiber would pull the stitches together and make it smaller than I want, but cotton tends to be more limp.  I think it's going to work out, even if the gauge doesn't.  I have some looong flights and some stopover time to kill, so I'll have this and probably the socks, depending on how much of my carry-on I want to fill with yarn.  And maybe a hat for when these bore me.

I won't have much internet access until I come back, so I'll catch up then.  I found yarn stores in Juneau and Ketchikan near the docks, so maybe I'll come home with more yarn than I leave with.  See you on the 20th.