I've got the body done; it's seamed and finished except for a couple ends that I might use to attach the sleeves. AND I've started on the first sleeve.

The initial enthusiasm for this project has worn off a bit...seems like that always happens on these larger projects. Also, I tried on the as-is body and wasn't exactly thrilled with the look. Hopefully the sleeves will redeem it. Also, I think I need some sort of black tee to wear under it.

The GTD thing continues to go well. I'm not quite as exuberant as I was when I was a fresh convert, but I have to say: all my bills have been paid on-time; I am no longer losing important papers; and while I'm not completely caught up on everything, at least I know exactly which things are behind.

Ultimately, the problem I need to confront every day is that I'm a bit lazy by nature and would at most any moment prefer to read a book, knit or even just take a nap.

So far this is a fun and nearly mindless knit. Gauge is good, yarn is nice...

We'll see how it goes with the viking motifs on the front.

I'll be at a family reunion over the weekend and into next week so I might not be progressing as quickly over the next few days.

So now I'm making a third run at it; this time it's Liv:

So far so good - I'm about a third of the way up the back. My gauge is spot on and the drape of the fabric is very nice. Photos soon.

I got the latest issue of Interweave Knits on Friday. There are many tempting patterns in this issue! What really caught my eye was one of the ads:

So far, I have not been able to locate the pattern book on any online sources. Too new, I guess.

The yarn has a bit of cotton in it which I swear I can feel when I put them on. I've become a sock snob, I'm afraid - I only like wool socks now. Even in the summer - I wear only SmartWool socks for hikes and walking and stuff.

Next on the needles is some Trekking stripey yarn. I'm using a pattern from the "Sensational Socks" book - a great resource for sock inspiration.

A GtD update follows if you care to click on the link.

The GtD method promises that your mind will be "like water" once you're into the method. Oh, that is so true. This morning I woke up without a hint of stress. That I actually had time to choose to take pictures of my socks and post them on my blog without feeling like something else was being ignored in the meantime is a testament to how well this philosophy works for me.

I am finding it very helpful to cruise sites like Lifehacker and 43 Folders. The other day I came across a recommendation for Handy Shopper which looks to be a really great tool. Over the past couple of days, I've loaded up a complete shopping list and yesterday I took note of all the aisle numbers at the grocery store. Now I've got a grocery list that's sorted according to where the items are located in the store. WAY COOL!

Willie is a Rat Terrier and has been a member of our household for 10 days now. He's four months old and is adjusting to our home and family just beautifully.

With such a thin coat, of course he needs sweaters for the colder months of the year. I started with an online pattern as a prototype and made a few of my own modifications. For this test version, I discovered that the chest piece was too wide, making the armholes too far down from the neck.

Of course the sweater could be a lot longer (I deliberately quit before it was long enough because I was more interested in troubleshooting the chest and armnoles) and his long neck could easily accommodate a wider neckband.

Now to get going on the real thing. I'll post a pattern once I've got it perfected.

The process of finding and acquiring a dog was rather interesting...

The rescue organizations are a real joke. I have to single out a few for special condemnation: the Evergreen Animal Protective League and the Sunrise Foundation. Just know that before you attempt to adopt a pet from these type outfits that they have incredibly invasive application forms (they want to know how you're going to provide for the animal in your will!) and they look for any reason to declare you as an unfit owner. In the case of EAPL, I didn't make it through their screening process because we keep our two farm dogs outside. Never mind that Kelly and Bart have fantastic shelter from inclement weather; somehow these Animal-Police-wackos have decided that it's unnatural for canines to live outside. Someone go rescue those wolves up in Yellowstone! They'll freeze to death!

Frankly, it seems clear to me that they're all into animal-hording and their fragile self-esteem would be lost if they actually gave the animals away.

I threw in the towel and decided to just pay cash and be done with it. I found Willie at North Washington Street Kennels, a place that I'm sure would not meet any of the Animal Police standards. However, when I took Willie to my own vet, she said he had the most complete vaccination records she'd ever seen and was in perfect health. He seems well-socialized to both people and other dogs.

By the way, Willie (unlike our other dogs) will be a house-dog but will be stylishly dressed for cold-weather excursions. Stay tuned as his wardrobe develops!

That's the family headed down (plus two other hikers on the way up) from Handie's Peak in southwest Colorado. My first fourteener! It was awesome!

The GtD thing is going GREAT. I didn't end up doing much in the way of list generation while on vacation, but boy have I hit the ground running since we got back! I plowed through several piles of crap today and got everything filed away in crisp new file folders with pretty labels. I cleared out a file drawer in my work cabinet and will archive the previous contents into bankers boxes.

Bills are paid. Appointments have been made. Menus planned for the week.

Blood pressure down (I swear, I can feel it!)

Life is good.

I had a rough spring. My stress level went through the roof, in spite of cutting back my work hours and other similar adjustments. It got so bad I started forgetting appointments, blowing off deadlines and other atypical behaviours. I was at the doctor for a couple of routine appointments and noticed each time that my blood pressure was higher than normal. I've also put on about ten pounds in the past year. My house is a mess and I'm behind on just about any home improvement or craft project you'd care to name. Knitting has slowed to a crawl.

What the heck is going on here?

I can't pinpoint any one thing. Maybe it's just the accumulated effect of raising four kids, working a job and maintaining a varied assortment of interests and hobbies. For a while I considered that maybe I was depressed, but I feel basically happy and am sleeping well - that kind of thing.

Anyway, I decided I needed to get a grip, and the other day I stumbled across this book. And then I found out that there's an entire time-management industry out there related to "GtD". It's really inspiring to see what others (mostly men, incidentally...) have been able to accomplish with GtD.

I think this might be the answer for me. It's sufficiently geeky to capture my interest. And it's a mindset rather than a method, and I tend to do better when I have a framework as opposed to a set of rules.

I've already implemented a couple aspects of the system and was able to quickly wrap up a whole bunch of little odds and ends that needed to get done before we leave on vacation on Saturday.

And while on vacation, I'm going to spend some time with my laptop - brainstorming, creating lists, outlining projects, etc. (And getting back to blogging will be on one of those lists!) When we get back, I'm going to take a couple of days to overhaul my filing system.

I've got some socks on the needles and am starting to think about knitting a sweater to have ready in time for fall.

I feel better already.

I've got about four inches and the border left to finish.

They're a bit scrunchy, having just come of the dryer (and oops, that's generally not a good thing to do with handknit socks.)

I'm too lazy to go look at what kind of yarn it was.

The pattern was from from the afore-mentioned "Sensational Socks" book. This is a "Twin Rib" from the six-stitch repeat chapter. I found that it was easy to make a mistake on this pattern (well, without reading glasses it was) so I spent more time than usual ripping out and re-doing stuff.

While I was on blogging hiatus, I really trimmed down the number of blogs I've subscribed to. The ones that survived several rounds of cuts are the ones that have regular postings but which are short and to the point. This is something I shall strive for.

I've felt like any time I would have spent knit-blogging (normally in the morning) should have properly gone to various work assignments. But I am now re-claiming life and reducing work to the extremely part-time job that it was intended to be in the first place.

Here's what's on my list for the next couple of weeks: I need to make an appointment with the eye doctor to get bifocals or something (one of the hazards of being in my mid-40's, I suppose), I'm going to clean my house from top to bottom and clean closets and the office and stuff like that, I'm going to play my piano more, and I'm going EXERCISE EVERY DAY. Wa-hoo!

Even though knit-blogging had to go by the wayside, actual knitting did not (although output was reduced). Here's a recent FO:

These are knitted with my new favorite yarn, Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock Yarn, and according the instructions in my new favorite book, "Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch - the BEST SOCK BOOK EVER.

These socks are intentionally a bit big and even baggy so that they are more of a slouch-around-the-house kind of footwear.

I'm taking a break between knitted projects to crochet a baby blanket for a friend who's expecting:

Yes it's a cheap acrylic yarn, and yes it's not that attractive but they don't peak before the baby's born so I had to pick something that was suitable for either a boy or girl.

See you again real soon!

The pattern is from Knit Picks - I have never seen so many errors in a pattern before. It's a mess. I'm only relying on it for proportions because none of the rest of it makes any sense.

As I mentioned, it's going on an auction for our church. It will be fun to see how much it brings in.

I'm starting to get psyched about my next project - I'm going to pull stuff out of my stash and see what I can come up with. Stay tuned!

I finished the Fanasaeter sweater on Saturday and presented to my sister-in-law, who attended my son's football game.

I elected not to put on the braid trim - I was afraid it would pucker and pretty much ruin the whole thing.

Fortunately, Baby Abby is a tiny little thing and the sweater is still too big for her. Any other baby would have outgrown the thing, it took me so long to finish it.

I've got another baby sweater as a WIP at the moment. I think I'm going to offer it to the church ladies for an upcoming auction.

Knitting seems to have resumed - a combination of the cool weather, completed projects, and renewed interest (it had waned for whatever reason). So stay tuned - maybe knitblogging will resume as well.

It's plain stockinette, but the color patterning is intarsia (click on link for appropriate sound effect). How bad could it be?

The pattern calls for double strands of yarn. The tumbling blocks have four repeats, so I needed four balls each of double-stranded yarn for each color. The yarn in the kit came in hanks, so I had to wind each hank into eight balls, and then combine the balls in pairs to make double stranded yarn. There are seven separate colors in the pillow. Do the math - that's a lot of annoying ball-winding.

Here it is, about ten rows into it. I hate it already. Note that I'm using little strips of velcro to hold the yarn balls together.

I'm having a lot of problems lately with knitting projects that aren't satisfying.

I hate the sock that I'm knitting because I can't remember the twisting pattern when I don't work on it for days at a time.

I hate the baby sweater that's not done yet because I need to use a sewing machine to apply the trim.

I hate the fair isle sweater I worked on last winter because doing a fair isle sleeve in the round is brutal, brutal I tell you. It's a lovely sweater, however.

I need to chuck all this crap into the closet and get out some simple worsted weight yarn and knit myself a simple sweater. I've got this pattern lying around, and some yarn that would work with it:

Sadly, the yarn I would use for this is in hanks, not balls, so that poses yet another dilemma.

I'm not knitting much these days, and won't be able to pick up the needles again until October. So I don't have much to chat about on a blog that purports to be about knitting.

The site will stay up for a while - who knows, I might resume posts when I resume knitting. But I suspect my blogging urges are going to send me in a non-knitting-related direction.

Until we meet again, Happy Knitting!