Mmmm... I have a nice warm feeling inside. I think it is the shrimp etouffee from Third Thursday at Matt and Rob's. If they ever open a restaurant to go with their yarn business, I might as well just have Josh's paycheck direct deposited to their account.

I'm up to the neck shaping on the entrelac sweater. I decided that the back was actually going to become the front because the color sequence was working out so that the group of purples would end up around my face. I'd be done with it by now, except for the Entrelac Gauge Anomaly: because of the bias nature of the beast, hanging measurements are dramatically different from laid-flat measurements. So I discovered I was going to end up with 13" armholes, and had to rip back and begin the neck shaping again.

I also finally started another pair of socks. They're in Embers LL sport weight superwash, for Mom. They're toe-up (of course) with anatomically correct toe shaping and a little texture pattern on the top of the instep. I did a short-row heel on 60% of the stitches and got the best-fitting results so far. Now, I KNOW that recently I was reading something online where someone was talking about a 60% short-row heel, and I wanted to look at it again, but of course I've forgotten who and where it was. Sigh.

I really haven't knitted on anything else since I started the entrelac sweater, and I've been thinking: What the heck is that about? But I realized, I've been getting my variety by working on a lot of other crafts. I think this is related to the fact that I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time at home. Usually I'm running around all the time, and knitting is highly portable (the distinction between purse and knitting bag is pretty blurred in my world). But since I've had long strings of days camped out on my sofa, I've picked up some other things. In the last few weeks I've finished a crochet pansy doily (um, except for weaving in the ends), three beaded dragonly pins, three beaded Christmas ornaments (I still haven't put away the Christmas stuff properly, although I did at least shove it in a box and hide it under the harpsichord behind the sofa), and a small floral cross-stitch design. Oh, and quite possibly the cheesiest craft project I've worked on since Vacation Bible School: an all-white plastic canvas Christmas village. I didn't finish the whole village, but I did complete the Manor House and the Town Bandstand, plus cut out the pieces for all the other buildings and organize them in plastic zipper bags. I don't know what possessed me to make this thing, but I've been wanting to do it for years. The kit was on sale in an after-Christmas catalog, and I finally broke down and ordered it.

ARGH... My husband crashed the car on his way home from work today. Of course my first concern was whether he was all right. They kept me waiting quite a while at the ER before I could see him– I had knitting in my purse, but I was too worked up to knit. Once he was checked over and released, I could stop worrying about him and start worrying about the financial consequences. I had just reorganized our finances so that I could relax a little, and now this had to happen. It's as if I finally got my ducks in a row but then duck season opened. Now we will have to buy a car, and I am afraid that I will never get to buy yarn again. Even worse, I fear that I might have to get an uninteresting, low-paying, depressing job and never have any time to knit again.

On the other hand, for the moment I have no car to go anywhere, so I guess I will be sitting at home knitting for a little while at least. I knit three or four tiers of entrelac during Sci-Fi Stargate Monday tonight.

Well, it worked. I knit a couple more dishcloths, then picked up the entrelac sweater. I ripped it back to the beginning of the armhole shaping (only about a tier and a half), and tried again with a square set-in sleeve. I indented about 3", which (according to an old issue of Twists and Turns) was the most I could get away with without risking having the corner fall in an unsightly place. By the way, in the meantime I managed to lay my hands on five more balls of Silk Garden in my dye lot, thanks to the ample-knitters list and Pat at Yarn Barn.

I took my latest knitting convert Norma to a doctor's appointment in the city this week and got lots and lots of entrelacking done in the office while I waited for her. After that we went yarn shopping and bought supplies for her first project: one of the Manos del Uruguay block-of-the-month throws, but out of Plymouth Encore. Then we went to knitting group at Borders together.

Sadly, I did not end up going to Fuzzy Feet Workshop at ThreadBear today. Hope and I had discussed going together, but she got sick and I just couldn't face a car trip by myself. I haven't seen The Fellas since New Year's Day and I miss 'em awful. It better not snow on Third Thursday again this month.

I did it! I knit a dishcloth today. Guess I'm back in the saddle again.