I've been thinking all week about what to make for someone I know to show her my appreciation of her. Suddenly, the answer is clear: FUZZY FEET. The Feets I start on Tuesday will be gift Feets for this friend. I'm going to a shop tomorrow that just may have some Lamb's Pride, but if not I'm going to go ahead and make them up with the Heather Galway. I have ordered some Lamb's Pride in Limeaid to make a pair for me, me, me. Also some Blue Flannel for Feets for another pal with cold toes.

Zipping along on the second sleeve of the Homespun pullover and the second Opal internet sock. My plate should be pretty clear by Feets Day.

I had to frog the toe of the second Opal internet sock twice because I kept getting so involved reading web pages I forgot to increase. Ack! So, last night I took it downstairs and worked through the toe to the plain stockinette part. Mindless knitting and knitblogs, go!

Am going to participate in Mama Kate's International Fuzzy Feet Felt-Along. I'd like to use the yarn called for in Theresa's Fuzzy Feet pattern (Lamb's Pride): after the last yarn substitution felting incident I swore to always use to yarn called for in the pattern when I'm felting. If I can't get any by Feb 4, though, I guess I'll have no choice. I checked my stash database and I have 2 balls of Burgundy Galway Heather, 1 each of cream, taupe and chocolate Lopi, and remnant Baabaajoe's in cream, red, and "bracken" tweed. I think I read somewhere that cream Baabaajoe's felts okay, but I don't know about the Lopi. I'm leaning toward the Galway. I don’t think I have size 10.5 dpns, either, just 10s and 13s. As tight as I knit, though, I’ll probably get 3sts/inch on 13s with worsted. I’ll have to swatch and see (naturally.)

More Alternate Reality fun. Tonight's Trek du jour on TNN was "Tapestry," where Q gives Picard the opportunity to change a pivotal point in his youth and re-live the rest of his life. It's an interesting episode. A lot of people say that they would only re-live their youth if they were allowed to take the wisdom they'd acquired with age. This story takes that idea and shows how it backfired on Picard.

Also, while exercising this morning, I watched the first episode of Stargate that co-starred the Quantum Mirror. In the Mirror episodes, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter are romantically involved in both Alternate Realities -- engaged in one and married in the other. It seems like, for a while, the show's producers were trying to build up relationship potential between them. I haven't seen any of Seasons 4 or 5, and by Season 6, it appears this idea was abandoned. Season 7 might be a good opportunity to bring this back, if they want. Once Daniel comes back, they can promote and reassign Colonel O'Neill (since Richard Dean Anderson doesn't really want to be there anyway) and he won't be Sam's commanding officer anymore. She, Jonas, Daniel and Teal'c can be SG:1. Of course, I haven’t really heard in what capacity Daniel is going to be returning. Since he's returning from the DEAD, one really can't assume anything, can one?

The Adrienne Vittadini Knotty-But-Nice Trina Raglan Pullover With Cable Shoulder Detail is DONE DONE DONE. And it looks pretty damn good. I did find one more knot as I was weaving in ends. That makes the final count: 18 balls - 8 knots. This pattern featured hemming at the edges of body and sleeves, which was fun -- I'd never done that before.

As an added bonus, when I got done hemming, I was enjoying the rhythmic sewing so much that I picked up the tote bag I made a couple months ago and finally finished putting in the lining. This is the Patchwork Bag from a Classic Elite pattern. I substituted yarn with it -- the pattern called for two strands of worsted, but I used one strand of bulky. It looks quite a bit like a big patchwork pillow. Unfortunately, when I put my gear in it and slung it over my shoulder, the garter stitch strap stretched so that the bag was almost on the floor. Must call in some reinforcements there.

One sleeve of Homespun pullover DONE!

Total yuck Season Three Stargate episode on last night. The only thing worse than a Planet Idyll episode is Colonel O'Neill cut off forever (yeah, right) from the SCG on a Planet Idyll with a woman who ADORES him (see me batting my eyelashes in a mocking manner.) As Staceyjoy Elkins said recently in the Redlipstick Blog, in a similar context, it "makes me want to puke in my pocket with extreme boredom." On the other hand, URGO!! I LOVE URGO!! Dom Deluise is so sweet and hilarious in this episode. "Urgo" is actually one of the few eps I saw on Showtime when it first aired and it is one of my absolute favorites.

And how about Andromeda Sunday? Very good episode. As usual, it didn't all make sense to me, but in this case, I think they were referencing things that happened before I started watching the show, so it was me not they. I am just a sucker for Alternate Reality storylines. I think the idea of every action having impact beyond the obvious is a seductive concept. It gives so much power to the ordinary.

Another, absolute first-class, Alternate Reality story was on tonight: “The Wish” -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Three. Cordelia’s wish that Buffy had never some to Sunnydale is granted, showing us what Hellmouth Town would be like with no Slayer. It was so cool: Vamp Willow torturing Angel, the Council won’t take Giles’ calls, and Buffy’s prophesied death at the hands of the Master STILL comes true (because nothing foretold in Pergamum Codex does not come to pass -- even in alternate realities.)

I used to think I was a slow knitter. Then, someone I know (Lana), who has been knitting longer and knows more knitters than I, told me I'm not. Apparently, I'm pretty fast, just not fast enough to do everything I want, when I want, and have it done immediately.

This is on my mind now because I'm still slogging along on the same old stuff while I have 25 things I want to start RIGHT NOW. The problem is that, although I knit fast, I finish slooooow. And I don't mind seaming. I just hate WEAVING IN ENDS. It drives me insane. It makes me want to poke myself in the eye with a tapestry needle. I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT.

Really. I just hate it.

Apparently, all my fancy calculations and doodles for the Homespun pullover sleeves were a waste of time. They came up short. I have added length and am ready to start the cap of the first one, but, just to be sure, I ran a line of waste yarn along the last row. If I have to rip back the Homespun I don't want to have any trouble finding the right row and I don't want to lose any stitches.

I found a green tam in my closet a couple of hours ago. I made this tam from the Grand Plan Tam Chart when it came out in IW last year, and then I didn't like it. I think it was just a lot different shape than my favorite black beret which I made up as I went along. The green one is more bubble-like than the black, which is kind of plate-like. When I tried the green hat on just now, though, I found I like it a lot. I believe I will put it into circulation.

What sort of terrible things happen to you if you frog eyelash yarn, do you suppose?

There are people, like Wendy (see left), who seem to start a knitting project, work on until they finish it, and then start a new one. I think this would drive me insane. I am, right now, so sick of my WIPS I want to throw them out the window. I want to start something new RIGHT NOW. Of course this is why it takes me a year to knit a sweater. I think I've talked my self into a compromise: get some good work done on one or both of the pullover WIPS and then swatch for a couple of future projects. I've got the seaming done on the Adrienne Vittadini raglan and a good deal of the ends in, although I think I'm going to do most of them over, and I'm halfway up the first sleeve of the Homespun pullover. Unlike the AV, finishing on the Homespun pullover will be minimal, so I'm making good progress there.

What will I swatch? I have some Lion Brand CottonEase that I am going make into a pattern of my own design, so I need to do LOTS of swatching with it, and then some cheap dishcloth cotton is going to be the super-simple hooded cardy in one of my old FCEKs. The cardy was designed by Shirley Paden and has beaded trim. I've never knit with beads before, so this should be fun. One thing though, she doesn't you have string the beads beforehand and knit them in -- you put them in as you go in what looks to be a rather inconvenient way. I'm going to swatch both ways and see what happens.

Buffy party last night. We feasted on Subway and watched what may be January's only new episode. Mutant Enemy pulled a Slayer switcheroo on us: first Dawn WAS the new potential Slayer, then suddenly, OH! no she's not. Instead, it's the girl from Dawn's school who's even skinnier than Dawn, scary when you consider Dawn herself is so skinny she only barely exists. (Does Michelle Trachtenburg have parents? Do they know a doctor?) Even with the "surprise" it was only a ho-hum episode. I think all this nonsense with the Slayers-in-training may have been more interesting if, after they all arrived, they had done each episode from a different girl's point of view, like they did in "The Real Me" when Dawn first arrived. That way we could see the girls as individuals, see how they each perceive Sunnydale and Buffy and their own destiny, hear about their pasts. As it is, all they do is stand around and act nervous. It's boring.

I was working along on the cuff of the Opal internet socks when I reached the midpoint where I like to change to a size larger needle. I got the 3s out and prepared to knit off the 2s then realized -- my 2s are 3s! As I dug through my bag of dpns I thought of all the ways I could have started this sock with 3s, believing the were 2s, but, strangely, it appears that my 2S ARE ACTUALLY 3S. Both my sets of 3s are accounted for -- this is indeed my true set of silver 2s from the size 2 card and they are exactly the same size as my 3s. How odd. Odder yet, I was getting the gauge I expected from a size 2 needle. Maybe there is a slight difference, but now I've got them all mixed together and can't tell which ones started out as my faux 2s. I'm interested to see what happens with the second sock. Will I get the same gauge? I went ahead and finished the rib of the first sock with size 4 needles.

The AV pullover finishing is driving me crazy. Seams are good, but the spots where I'm trying to weave in ends are not so much. I just don't like the way it looks on the right side. I've tried three different methods of weaving in and I'm getting closer to a satisfactory result, but I'm also getting extremely frustrated. About an hour ago, I decided to put it down and let it go for a day, and cast on a sleeve for the Antique Homespun pullover. I had intended to knit these top down, but I haven't done the research yet, so I'm just going ahead the old-fashioned way.

Stargate tonight and a new episode of Buffy tomorrow. UPN's teaser for this ep reads, in part, "Willow performs a spell that reveals another unexpected Potential Slayer is living in Sunnydale." Do they think we don't know it's Dawn? The only mystery here is how they are going to substantiate this. How could she have been born a Slayer when she was never really "born" at all?

Finished more finishing on the Adrienne Vittadini Knotty-But-Nice pullover today. Final count: 18 balls of yarn, 7 knots. Although, I've just barely used ball #18 so there may yet be a knot in it. After I had all the seams sewn, I tried it on and IT FITS! I still don't know what it's going to look like on me because I tried it on inside out with all the ends dangling all over. This really seemed to disturb my cat: she jumped up and ran away. My poor cat -- she's even more neurotic than me. She's been freaked out all week because we got a treadmill and set it up in the living room.

Watched brand-new, never-before-seen, Stargate SG:1 last night. Do I have this right? They brought a Strange Glowing Energy Device to Earth through the ’gate and, by touching it, they were suddenly able to see red hummingbirds and blue centipedes that exist in another dimension. Then, by taking out the Device’s crystals, rearranging them, then touching it, this second sight thing just went away. PLUS, the second sight was spread to other people by touching, as was the “cure.” Is that what everybody else saw? ’Cause that’s just stupid. Also lame. Did I mention silly?

Speaking of silly, I wasted a lot of this morning on my Opal internet socks. I got to the cuff and decided I wanted a 2x2 rib with mock cables. I had finished four cable rounds when I realized it would look better if I only cabled on every other k2 column, so I dropped and picked up all those columns that I wanted plain. I really think it would have been a lot faster and easier to just rip and redo.

I've finished sewing the sleeves to the front and back of the AV raglan pullover and it looks GORGEOUS, though I say it myself. Frankly, the yarn does all beauty work. This is just beautiful yarn. Seaming the sides and the under of the arms will take a good while longer than what I've done so far. I think now that it will fit okay, too. If not, I can take in the extra I added at the sides. It will make a thick seam, though. We'll see.

My Opal internet socks did a cool thing: I accidentally started the short-row heel at just the exact right spot so that the colors changed at the apex of the heel, making the bottom orange and the top black. No matter how hard I tried, I could never do that on purpose.

I'm thinking of putting the sleeves into the Homespun pullover by picking up stitches at the shoulder and working them into the armscye, top down. I've never done that with set-in sleeves before. I'm going to re-read Barbara Walker's book to refresh my memory before I try it. I just hate seaming Homespun. The AV Trina is wonderful to sew: soft and smooth. Very soothing. Not much soothing about sewing Homespun.

Last night, I watched the 1932 version of The Mummy and played with my Magicord machine. I asked for -- and got -- the Magicord machine for Christmas because I love to make bags. I thought it would be handy for straps and ties as it is basically a Barbie Knitting Machine for I-cord. It works really well. The only bad thing about it is that it can’t be used with any yarn heavier than sport weight. The other day, I got the idea of using very light weight yarn to make a few yards of I-cord and then knitting the CORD up into a swatch. So, I used the fingering-weight pink acrylic practice yarn that came with machine and now I have a little swatch of super-bulky pink I-cord yarn. It was interesting, but I’m not sure how practical it would be for a large project. I’d have to crank for A Very Long Time. A hat, though, might be possible.

I woke up this morning at 3 with an upset stomach (was it the lunch sushi or the Chinese Buffet Feast I had for supper?) and started thinking about Adrian Paul. I first saw him, when I was in high school in the 80s, in a syndicated TV show called War of the Worlds. This was a great show. Definitely B grade, though, with the whole production changing in the second or third season. The aliens' physical appearance, for instance, began as lumbering Snuffleupagus-like creatures with huge goggle-eyes. Later, they were in human form, albeit expressionless and paler than vampires. Adrian Paul appeared about the same time as the New Improved Aliens, and I can’t remember a lot about his character except that he was a mysterious Bad Boy type. I looked him up on the Internet Movie Database this morning to see if I could find out more about this show and discovered two things: there’s a rumor that it is going to be released as a DVD set later this year to promote a War of the Worlds movie event in 2003, and, the actress who played the little girl was Rachel Blanchard! I think I have one episode on videotape somewhere in this house which I will look for today. I used to have several but this is an example of a Lesson Learned. If you don’t take all your crap with you when you leave home, all your videotapes get taped over. Children take note.

I ate some yummy sushi today with my cousin Lana and we talked about blocking. I finally realized the true meaning of the words "block to measurements." When the wool is blocked, it "freezes," say, the sleeve cap and armscye, into pieces that fit together almost exactly. Thus, when they are sewn, they go together more easily and fall correctly when the garment is finished. My funnel-necked AV raglan will go together pretty much row-to-row PLUS the yarn is almost half acrylic (microfiber). An hour ago, I started sewing it together without having blocked it, which is pretty much what I had already decided to do, so all of the above may be pure rationalization.

Also, this afternoon I reworked the neck of the Homespun pullover with a needle two sizes smaller: I like this version a lot better. After I finish the sleeves and get it all sewn together, I may decide to make the neck a little taller, but, for right now, I'm happy with it.

SciFi Channel premiered a new show last night: Tracker starring Adrian Paul, and guest starring The Artist Formerly Known As Chyna, Joanie Laurer, as the villain. I think it has potential. The premise is good: Ultimate Bad Guy (I didn’t catch his name) opens a wormhole to Earth so that criminals can escape their home planet by taking over human bodies and blending in here, all the while causing mayhem and destruction. One presumes the Ultimate Bad Guy did this for Personal Gain. Adrian Paul is the alien here to track them all down. “Track,” -- TRACKER, get it? HA HA. Anyway, the production values aren’t exactly “B” -- I’d call them “A-” -- and I could really do without the British-accented, navel-baring girl who seems to be channeling Christina Aguilera, but I plan to keep watching.

The custom adjustments I've made to my Blog seem to have worked. I'm so glad -- particularly since this is what I'm doing instead of dwelling on my Knitting Frustrations.

I put the neck in the Homespun pullover while watching Stargate Monday night and it looks bad. It's been sitting on the dressmaker's dummy since I finished so I can stare at it and try to decide how to make it better. Meanwhile, the AV pullover still needs blocked and I'm so worried that it is going to be too big that I've been thinking about basting it and trying it on to see. (Avoidance is a perfectly legitimate coping strategy.) I cut up my felt tote to re-sew it and discovered that two layers of felted worsted is too thick for my machine. Argh.

However, I ordered A Treasury of Rowan Patterns and it arrived today. So many gorgeous things I want to make. Book is $40 but HUGE and crammed full. The only thing that could make it better is better pictures -- some of the patterns are really shortchanged as to good visuals. On the whole, though, I love it. Last night, while avoiding my WIPS, I looked through all the books I ALREADY have (many, many) and thought about what I'm going to make next. I think it helped clear my mind.

On the subject of confusion, I watched Buffy Tuesday and since when can Buffy and Willow speak their thoughts into each other's minds? This show has been on for six and a half years and now, suddenly, they have some sort of physic bond that has never been mentioned before? Good grief.

I haven't mentioned much here about my other PIP (pullover in progress.) It's made of Lion Brand Homespun. I have a really dysfunctional relationship with this yarn. Its soft lustrousness seduces me so easily, but, GOD DO WE FIGHT! It splits like crazy, I can’t see my stitches, my feeding line backs up and bunches, the fabric wiggles when I try to measure, AAARGH! It drives me crazy and yet I keep going back for more. Are there shrinks for this? Perhaps a self-help book: Hateful Acrylics and the Women Who Love Them.

To add to the level of difficulty on this project, I am using a pattern for a turtleneck shell to make a mock turtleneck, long-sleeved pullover. During my coffee break at the office this morning, I worked on the problem of sleeves-from-scratch. I measured my wingspan from wrist to wrist, subtracted the width of the back piece I’ve already knitted, and divided what remained in half to get the length of each sleeve. Then I sketched out the sleeve cap, and deducted for the ribbing at the wrist and used the remaining length to plan my increases. Surprisingly, I only got stumped while trying to decide how big around to make the wrist. I decided on nine inches. When I got home I checked the pattern for the AV pullover and it used nine inches, too, so I’m going to go with that.

Brand new episode of Buffy tomorrow, then NO Buffy at all next week. Only one new episode aired in December and now I wonder if January will be the same. And what we’ve seen hasn’t been all that great. I was thinking the other day that if Buffy Season Seven were a novel I would have read the last chapter and taken it to the used bookstore by now. Season Three DVD collection will be available in stores tomorrow, too. Ah, the good old days.

I found a TOAD in the laundry room today. This summer, I think July, I decided to knit a felted bag from a pattern in Interweave Knits. It was my first real felting project and I made a mistake when I substituted yarn. The yarn I used felted A LOT differently than that of the sample and the dimensions of my completed tote were way off. The bag isn't really awful, but it is almost twice as wide as it is tall and I just don't like it. I had had such high hopes for this project that when it went wrong I was SO disappointed. Now my Wider Is Not Better Tote is sitting with me here in the hobby room, and I've decided to cut it up. Using the felted wool just like fabric, I'm pretty sure I can sew a decent bag out of what I've got. Bonne Marie Burns has a similar project outlined (with pictures) on her knitting site chicknits.com. She made a little fancy purse out of an old sweater she felted by accident.

The pieces of the AV pullover should be done by tonight, so I've been reviewing all the information I've collected on blocking. Blocking is not my best thing. I read a book once that said high-intensity work in this area is a waste of time. The author stated that every time you wash a garment and lay it out to dry it is "blocked," so all this pinning and shaping to measurements is useless. That sounded reasonable to me. The only thing I ever really tried to block was the Landscape Shawl and I made a mess of that. Instead of pinning and spritz-dampening it like I should have, I got it wet and then tried to pin it out. The garter sections spread like crazy, the stockinette and reverse stockinette portions spread half as much, while the seed and moss stitch just laid there. YOU CANNOT FORM A PERFECT TRIANGLE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS. This I know.

This weekend's Wildly Amusing DVD Purchase Award goes to: "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe!" Yesterday at Sam's Club I scored two collections of old Sci Fi on DVD. One was a collection of movie action serials. Chapter One of Flash Gordon opens with Earth's population being decimated by The Purple Death. How do you know if you have The Purple Death? You die with purple spots on your forehead! Somehow (I didn't understand this part) Flash and his cohorts determine that Flash's arch-nemesis Emperor Ming the Merciless is responsible for the plague and track him to his palace on the planet Mongo. Their spaceship is to die for. On Mongo, Ming takes Flash captive and Chapter One ends with Flash plummeting to certain death at the bottom of a huge pit. Of course, Chapter Two opens with Flash's miraculous rescue. From there, they travel to the snow-and-ice-world Frigia to find the only known antidote to The Purple Death sickness, Polarite. Polarite is easy to find -- it melts the snow above it. Naturally, Mind sends "horrifying explosive mechanical men" -- yes, ROBOTS -- after Flash and the gang. Flash's girly-friend, Dale Arden, is a pretty good movie heroine. She's a chemist, radio-operator, and "most trusted agent." She does have a lamentable tendency to fall down, placing herself in Mortal Danger. Need I say that the costumes are FABULOUS?

Watched "The Omega Man" last night -- Charlton Heston as The Last Man On Earth. How is it that The Last Man On Earth in these movies always manages to get laid by the end? I submit that The Last Man On Earth does not exist; instead, it is always The Last Man On Earth Plus A Woman Who Looks Like A Supermodel. This is actually a very good movie, although I also often wonder why so many movie writers and directors choose to place their stories of post-apocalyptic mayhem within a stone's throw of modern time. The Omega Man was released in 1971, and the events therein take place in 1977. I suppose in 1971 the concept of video store movie immortality was unheard of, but what about The Terminator? That movie was made in 1984, and it places the almost-total destruction on mankind beginning in 1997. Surely in 1984 they knew this movie was destined to be rented in 2002? Of course, that story involves time travel and the changing of the future and let's not get started on that: I already have a headache. My husband likes to watch The Omega Man because of nostalgia -- when he was small, he watched it on late, late night TV with his cousin Nancy while on vacation. He says he was Very Scared by the freaky albino chanters. He thought they were going to come to the hotel and get him.

I need to start some new socks. I've gotten to the cable portion of the second AV pullover sleeve, and I now have to pay close attention, making it unsuitable for Internet knitting. I had the idea to use the rest of my Red/Yellow/Black/Blue Opal and the Dark Charcoal Dale Baby in combination. There is a beautiful pair of socks in Ethnic Socks and Stocking by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts that has a foot of exquisitely detailed stranded pattern in red, black and cream, and a leg that is plain cream with cable detail in the ribbing. I LOVE THESE SOCKS. Not only are they gorgeous, but I love the idea of socks where all the fancy is hidden in the shoe. They epitomize one of my favorite concepts -- beauty that has to be discovered. SO, taking off from that idea, I am going to use the charcoal Baby Ull for the legs of my socks, and use the striping Opal for the feet. We'll see how it goes. I hope I don't come up short of yarn. I hate starting projects using remnants and then having to go buy more to finish. It's very silly.

Happy New Year! Is it possible to be hung over from food? I woke up this morning with a rumbly, queasy belly, and this feeling that I Never Want To Eat Again. Maybe I should switch to alcohol.

Front and back of the Knotty-but-Nice Adrienne Vittadini Raglan Pullover With Cable Shoulder Detail are DONE. Second sleeve is started. Regia stripey socks are also FOs. I think I will wear them out today in spite of the fact that they don't really go with the Starfleet Academy tee-shirt I am wearing. Isn't it superstition that whatever you do on New Year's Day you will do all year long? Wearing Star Trek gear and handknitted socks are good things to add to my list. I've already been knitting.

Here are some not-knitting-but-knitting-related things I would like to do this year. I already have a database of my yarn stash, and I would like to create one for my magazines so that I will know what patterns and articles are in which issue of which one. I want a scrapbook of yarn I have used with a ballband, a sample of yarn, and maybe a swatch, so I can refer back when planning future projects. I also intend to work harder on something I've already begun but neglected: A notebook of "useful information." Items I would put in would include an ease chart, a yarn amounts chart, my favorite afghan dimensions, etc.