Yes, I know; it's Tuesday, and I didn't post at all yesterday. I was suffering from allergies, a headache, and an extended bout of extreme grumpiness. Rawr. However, I would like to fill in the gap that I left yesterday by not posting. Here, in random order, are five things that make me happy:

• Zyrtec (cetirizine): It's like the nuclear weapon of over-the-counter allergy medications. One a day, and all my sniffles are gone. Unfortunately, it can have the side effect of putting me in a coma, so we'll see how that works out today. So far, so good.
• David Eddings, author: I just got finished reading Belgarath the Sorcerer for I think the 30th time, and it's just as fun to read every single time. What a wonderful character. Warning: read all of The Belgariad (5 books) and all of The Malloreon (another 5 books) before reading this one. It's an in-depth look at one character from those stories, and reading it without reading the others... well, it would be a shame. Follow this one up with Polgara the Sorceress, you'll be glad you did.
• Air conditioning: seriously, how did anyone ever live in the desert before air conditioning? It was 104° F here over the weekend. I think I would have expired. Seriously. At least the humidity was only about 10%, so the swamp cooler worked wonderfully.
• justinguitar.com: I'm (slowly) learning how to play my new guitar, and since I can't afford lessons at the moment, this guy is awesome. Step by step videos for the absolute raw beginner. I love it. I now know three whole chords, and I may be stringing them together into a song after a bit more practice.
• Ravelry: Have I mentioned Ravelry lately? I haven't been knitting much because of the heat, but if you knit (or crochet), this is the place on the internet to go for all your fibery needs. If you don't feel like knitting (or talking about knitting), there's a forum there for everyone, on just about every topic under the sun.

I'm having a love/hate relationship with this sweater (The Fog Sweater by Tiennie). I love the yarn, I love the pattern, I love the way the fabric feels. What I hate is k1,p1 rib. Endless swaths of k1,p1 rib. It's going to make a beautiful sweater, but I'm having a really hard time with it. I've taken a break from knitting for a few weeks, since my fingers and hands were unhappy with the ribbing. I really need to start up again; I've told Brian his sweater would be ready before Christmas. Unfortunately, this is all I've knitted so far: I'm about 1/3 of the way up to where I need to be before I start shaping for the armholes. If I'm going to get this done before winter, I really need to start working on it.  I really shouldn't be complaining... I was looking for an "easy sweater" for my first sweater, and this is definitely it. Drop shoulders, basic shaping, nothing but ribbing. My only worry is if I got my gauge correct, as I'm using a different yarn than Tiennie did for this sweater. My swatch looked ok, so my fingers are crossed. Oh. Word of advice: Don't use black yarn on anything that requires you to actually see your stitches. I've lost count of the times I've had to fix my errors because I was watching TV and knitting... it's really easy to lose your place with black yarn and k1,p1 ribbing.

Another Monday! Where does the time go? It's already time for another Happy List post, so here, in random order, are five things that make me happy.

• Knitting. I'm really getting back into knitting lately, and I've realized just how much I've missed watching a ball of yarn become something new. I can't knit for long periods of time anymore, but it's a great way to keep my hands busy while watching TV or listening to an audiobook.
• Audiobooks. Why haven't I discovered these before? Probably because I never thought to use them while knitting. I'm listening to Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and enjoying the hell out of it.
• Getting a good night's sleep. I actually went to bed at a decent hour last night, and slept for eight hours in a row. It was awesome.
• Hearing from my kids on Mother's Day. Not my favorite holiday, but it was good to hear from Tony and Jeffrey, even if it was just to say hi, happy Mother's Day, and I love you, mom. Definitely made me smile.
• Retail therapy. I was feeling really cooped up on Friday, and Brian "made" me go to the mall. I bought a new case for my Eris, and picked up few necessities at Target, and I felt a lot better. Just getting out of the house was a good thing.

I could add a bunch more, but I'll stick with five for today. These are definitely in random order... hearing from my kids this weekend definitely topped the list. I miss them.

Progress has been made on Brian's sweater. I finally found a pattern I liked, that would work with the yarn I had. The sweater is called "The Fog Sweater", based on a sweater the designer saw in the movie "The Fog". It's a simple drop-sleeve sweater with a LOT of ribbing; the body of the sweater is all 1x1 rib. It's not too bad now that I've done about an inch of it, but I can see that it will probably drive me crazy before I'm finished. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="470" caption="The Fog Sweater by Tiennie"] [/caption] So far, I've done all the bottom ribbing and about an inch or so into the main body of the sweater. I haven't been able to do it as fast as I like, because all that ribbing hurts my hands. So, maybe I'll have it done by Christmas. I'm using KnitPicks "Wool of the Andes" worsted in Coal (which is about as black as you can get yarn). If I could buy the yarn again, I would choose a lighter color, because knitting black yarn in anything but bright sunlight is a pain in the butt. Oh well, live and learn, I suppose. I really like how it's coming out, though. It's a nice fabric, not too heavy, and not too scratchy. He'll probably be able to wear it without a shirt underneath if he wants to. We shall see. [caption id="attachment_480" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The Fog Sweater bottom ribbing"] [/caption] It'll be fun, right?

Yes, I've actually been knitting lately! I've made a couple of hats.. one for William, and one for Brian. Will promptly lost his after having it for less than a month. I've told him if he wants me to knit him another, he's going to have to buy the yarn himself, and it's NOT allowed to be acrylic. Knitting that hat with acrylic really hurt my hands a lot. I think I can possibly convince him to buy a skein of some nice baby alpaca or some ultra soft cotton or something. Baby alpaca would be awesome, but I think I would covet it for myself and not let him have it once I was finished. Speaking of coveting... I have finally started a project with some of the yummy Malabrigo that I have been saving for a few years. I really liked the hat pattern (Woolly Wormhead's Ribbed Beanie), so I made one for myself out of the Dark Earth Malabrigo worsted from my stash. I finished it last night. The first picture is almost exactly the color of the yarn. The second picture came out much lighter because of the flash. It is a wonderfully warm hat, and it fits beautifully. I made this with two strands of worsted held together so I could approximate a bulky yarn. I think it worked out well. I changed the patterne from a 6x2 rib to a 5x3 rib, and I changed the crown shaping so it would be "rounder" instead of decreasing so quickly. Details on my project page, if you have a Ravelry account. I basically added a "plain" round, knit in pattern, in between decreases. Now that I'm done with that, I have two half-balls of yarn left over to play with. I started a new project this morning with the leftovers; the Single Cable Scarf from One Skein by Leigh Radford. I took a picture this morning when it was really short: I've done about 8 more inches on it since then, though. I shall have to take another picture later. On the down side of life, Will has a cold with a nasty cough... and of course I'm in the process of getting it. I suppose I can use it as a good excuse to stay in bed and knit. Thanks, public schools, for being such wonderful source of entertainment for my immune system.