The promo item

A couple of months ago my in-laws handed me a brochure advertising a free trial of an on-line stamp company. I thought of turning it down but reconsidered upon seeing something about a FREE 5-lb digital scale. I decided to make a mental list of the pros and cons of signing up:

• Con: We don't use that many stamps.


• Pro: I have yarn that should be weighed. A scale would handy for this.


• Con: it might be difficult to cancel my account at the end of the trial period.


• Pro: Yarn + scale = lots of new knowledge = happiness...or is it power? Either way, this is something good.


• Con: Who knows what might be in the company's software?*


• Pro: Yarn...hello?

I decided to sign up for the offer.

The free scale ended up not being free at all since I had to wait until after the trial to qualify for it and then wait some more while my coupon was redeemed, and now I'll have to wait until Monday to call the company to cancel my account, but by golly that scale is mine.


Now I can report on the progress of my knitting with even more detail!

The Hana tank top is seamed up, and the only remaining step is to darn in the ends.

Amount of yarn remaining: approximately 1.6 oz.

I knitted half of the Backyard Leaves scarf using slightly less than 2 balls of Karabella Aurora 8.

Mass of a ball of Karabella Aurora 8: 1.8 oz (the ball band says 1.75 oz, so maybe the band itself added a bit extra)
Mass of half a scarf: 3.0 oz

I also worked some more on one of the socks. I don't have any stats on the socks themselves, but there is about 1.5 oz of yarn left.


Here's a gratuitous shot of the scale in action:


*I'm not implying anything about this particular company! But I have heard stories about free software sometimes causing problems.

Spatially challenged, or merely diabolical?

My old computer monitor was a behemoth. The screen size was about average, but the whole thing was really deep and every time I moved I dreaded the thought of packing and setting up the silly thing.

The tabby, on the other hand, loved it. Remember this?

The behemoth was his place for sitting, draping, hanging out, and attacking the cursor arrow while I tried to work. Though I grumbled at its size, he found the proportions perfect.

Then I replaced the behemoth with a nice compact flat-screen monitor. I worried for a few moments that the cat might still try to climb on top of the replacement, but reasoned that he was bright enough to realize that it was too narrow for him.

You see where this is going, right?

He jumped on top of the monitor a few minutes ago, and of course he tipped it over. This was his first attempt, and I hope it is his last. Fortunately both the cat and the monitor are fine. I would chalk it up to the cat not being as bright as I had thought, but I suspect this is simply a new scheme he is hatching to make us feed him. We shall see.

Excuses, excuses

I'm still here! Between work and life I just haven't had the time to post anything, and even now putting up photos is a bit of a stretch. So, here's a mostly photo-less summary of the last few weeks:

1) Despite the cat's best efforts, I finished the cowl neck on my tank top and started on the ribbing around the armholes. It turned into a slightly painful lesson on the importance of reading through the entire pattern before knitting. Last year I had knitted a tank top from a pattern that included slipping stitches at the edge of the armhole for a tidier look, so I thought, "Hey, I know this new pattern says to knit but I'm going to try that slipped stitch thing". Unfortunately, it turned out that later on I had to pick up 140 stitches along that edge, which meant picking up 2 stitches per slipped stitch, which resulted in a really tight edging on my first try. I decided to use larger needles to pick up the stitches on the other armhole and re-do the first one if this tactic worked.

The good news is that the second armhole is indeed looser...but that means now I have to rip out and re-do the first edging!

2) The Knit from your Stash thing also isn't going so well, unless I'm allowed to loosen the definition of "stash" to include yarn that has been in my possession for less than a day before I start knitting with it.

3) I finished my rainbow socks!

Yarn: Socks that Rock, in the "Fire on the Mountain" colorway
Pattern: Wendy's Toe-up pattern, with ribbing on the legs.

Definitely not a magician

The front of my UFO tank top is finished and both sides are being blocked.


For my next trick, I will keep the cats out of the room until the pieces dry.

(2 minutes later) Whoops, too late.