Of Yarn and Books

I've finally returned to crocheting after a few days of break. Three days of nonstop crocheting sort of takes it all out of you. It was time for a break.

Now that I'm back, I have to actually face the issues with my sleeve I've discovered. Most important being the fact that, at the end of the pattern for the sleeve, I am 7 inches short of what I should have. This is more than a slight problem. It turns out that Cascade 220 wool is a lighter weight wool than Philosopher's Wool...ah well. The problem is easily solved by adding a few rows to the end of the pattern. So far, I have added a row of knurl, a section of diamonds, and two more rows of knurl. After this I'm planning on adding crossed doubles, then two rows of knurl, then if it still is not long enough I will add one or two rows of cables, ending with a row of knurl. That probably doesn't make any sense to those of you who haven't read the pattern. :P

I did buy two more balls of Cascade! A blue and a purple. I realized after buying the purple that I now have three purples in my seven balls...oh well. It still looks pretty. I like the added colors. It gives it a new feel to the top of the sleeve.

I'm hoping to finish the sleeve tomorrow (yes, I keep saying that. At some point I will actually finish the sleeve) and then start on...I bet you'll never guess...the second sleeve! I'm hoping this one goes faster, though I will have to look back at the first sleeve and figure out what the heck I was doing with the colors and in what rows. But I'll worry about that when I need to.

At Knitter's Connection, I got a new crochet book. You've probably heard of it - Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. It has some great patterns in it and I can't wait to start on them. It just is a matter of convincing myself to keep working on the Coat and not shove it in a drawer somewhere like a lot of projects. But that's why I'm doing this blog. So that someone out there will convince that yes, I do need to finish the coat, and no, I can't give up. :)