Happy and Sad, Frustrated and Mad

Hi all, It seems that January has gone by so fast and I have accomplished some things that I had set my mind to and not others. Such is life and I don't want to dwell on all the minutia that doesn't make much difference, like not cleaning out my closet of summer clothes. Instead let me share with you my seeming accomplishments and my other challenges related to knitting.
As I have said previously, I am going to be on the class schedule in March and April at my favorite knitting shop in town, Kiwi Knitting. This is a major exciting thing for me.I will be teaching a vest made of noro silk garden, the felted clogs from fiber trends and knitting with your handspun.
I have been concentrating very hard on getting the Noro Vest knit up for the class example. I am behind by a week from my original goal of having it done and now I will be further behind. Here is why:
Today I finished binding off for the arm holes and went to count my stitches. You know, you count your stitches when the pattern puts them in, right? I was so surprised that I had only 70 stitches after doing the proper amount of decreases, when I was supposed to have 84. I recounted. I counted my rows of decreases. Finally, I counted the cast on number with the help of the easy to read stitch pattern of 4 x 1 rib. I only had 90 stitches, not the 100 I needed to fit me. I sat, stunned and open mouthed for a full 2 minutes. Then I remembered: I had re cast on to be sure that the color on the bottom would be continuous. I didn't do the right number that second time. I still can't believe that I made such a bone headed error.And it was due to my being a prideful knitter. You know what I mean. I want people to say, "Wow, you made that!" Not, "Oh, did you make that yourself?" Plus, I feel that I have angered the knitting gods by not finishing my brother in laws d*mn toe socks.
So, the poll today is "What should I do with the vest?" Please leave a comment as well, with your experience and strength.

A Few good Sales

Thanks for your comments and encouragement Annie and N! I have sold two houses in two days since I wrote my last blog post! I knew I was due. Sales are like that. Both are quick closes and will boost the bank which is good. I love what I do, but the up and down nature of it does get to be a drain sometimes.
I had a bad night last night due to doggie sickness. I went to an extra early Monday sales meeting and I was really tired. I have learned what my limits are, as my friend Joan said today. "You're old and now you know you limits" I gave her a playful slug in the arm and she quickly recanted the "old" part! But truely, I will no longer go more than 10 days in a row. Tomorrow is day 12 and I feel like I won't know what to do with myself on a day off. My car seems on auto pilot every morning 30 minutes down to Sahuarita. I was so low on gas the other night, that when I filled up it went to 17 gallons rather than 16 and cost me $50 bucks. Ah well.

It has helped that I have the pleated vest coming along really well. It is heavely to knit and I just did the decreases for the back arm holes and have several relaxing inches of stockinette for work knitting. I also bought myself a little cube basket at Fry's to keep one knitting project at work all the time. It is dark green and hides under my desk. I have the supplies for a pink baby sweater for a co-worker ready in there. It was part of my "can't get gauge" problem last week, but now I have the smaller needles with it to do another swatch.

It will be nice to get settled in my work space in the coming week. Today I spent a while at the other office writing up another sale, so I still felt split. But since I could sell one of those homes today, I did. I loose the right to sell all 3 products on Wed. when I am officially the full time site person for my section. It will be fine and I will enjoy putting pictures of my kids up!

Happy knitting and I will try to take pictures this week of us cleaning the cotton for spinning!

New Years Swatching

Well, it has been a long stretch at work. Today is my 10th day in a row. And I haven't sold a house yet. Go figure. People that consider my homes are also considering resales. Or if they really want my home, they have no money or poor credit. I am due for several in a row at this rate.
On my days off coming up (Wed & Thurs) I will get to be around knitting friends both days. Wed. some of us are getting together to talk about the upcoming knitting guild elections and then work on cleaning some of the great cotton my friend Joe gave me in Nov. Then Thursday is the knitting guild meeting with a special speaker. Then lunch out with a new friend. I will probably stop by the yarn shop too, and speak some more with the owner about the classes I will teach.
I began swatching for the top down sweater by Pure and Simple in Silky Wool by Elsbeth Lavold. I didn't have the right gauge so still need to do some more with that. I realized that I have two needle sizers and one is less accurate, so I may have to dump it. The reason the swatch didn't look right is the needle I thought was a six, was a seven.
I swatched for the pleated vest from Blue sky alpaca and got gauge and began, but decided that I need the large, not the medium. So yesterday I ripped back, cast on a few more stitches and got the dcenter ribbing done. I just love knitting with that yarn! Then I grabbed a larger needle for the stockinette and have done a few inches, but am not on gauge. My swatch has no notes on it. I listened to "Knit Science" podcast yesterday about gauge and she mentioned the trick of putting the needle size in code in the swatch by using yarn overs! I will be doing that in the furture!
I have not done any spinning for weeks and I miss it, but I just feel compelled to keep knitting so that I can get something finished! My hope is that by the end of this month I can have several projects going strong and some good spinning done. I think all of this swatching is making me a bit blue, cause I can't get it right and I have sooo many needles, but don't ever seem to have the RIGHT one when I need it.
Well, on the positive side, I have met a personal daily goal I set for myself for 4 days in a row. And yesterday I borrowed the book "7 habits of highly effective people" and reading that will be good for me.

New Year's Clogs for Paul!