Suddenly, Autumn

Last week, it was warm enough to wear short sleeves. Suddenly, mystically, beautifully, it became autumn. All my windows are closed in Hampden Place, and it's still lovely cool inside.

And I have a cold. =\ My sinuses hate me.

I have new fuzzy house shoes. They are not slippers, but mocassin-style fleece-lined little shoes. The only downside is that they feel so much like regular shoes that I've had to turn around and come back into the house to put on real shoes a couple of times.

Did I mention how I locked myself out of the house for the first time? It was the Saturday morning I dashed out to pick up Veronica so we could head to Feederbrook Farms. Slightly before 9AM, and as I pulled the door shut behind me, I realized that I was holding the spare car key and not my usual keys. Why do these realizations never strike before one has pulled a locked door firmly to?

In any event, Christina and I had exchanged house keys when I moved to Hampden, and so later that evening after my day of sheepitude, I simply went to her place to pick up the spare, and let myself into my place. Disaster averted! Yay for Christina, whose idea it was to exchange keys lo those many moons ago!

As a result of my cold, I haven't felt like concentrating on charts, so I set aside the Owl Socks until I can knit without snuffling. I'm adding in a variation I saw on Ravelry, which not only adds stitches around (which I need) but also adds length (which I want). Very exciting! I had just gotten in the first row of the colorwork when I set it aside, and will be very happy to stop coughing and sniffling so that I can continue!

Also set aside the Leafy Fingerless Gloves whose thumb gussets look like ass. I plan to rip back that part only and re-knit it on dpns, but don't feel much like doing that at the moment, either. Kate stopped knitting on hers, too, for reasons I can't remember. She's not big on knitting through the back loop, which is what this entire glove is, so that might be part of it. She is, however, making a Swallowtail Shawl in the meanwhile, so go, Kate!

Since I can't not knit, I started up something completely different. Last week, Veronica had a cute little shawl curled up around her throat, and when she explained that it's Simple, I decided I wanted to make one. This is because, prior to seeing her, I had blocked out my Citron shawl and was immediately possessed with the desire to knit another... even though I had said I would never do so. Now, upon seeing Veronica's shawl, I had an alternative to bajillions of ruffle stitches! Yay!

Mine is in laceweight JaggerSpun Zephyr (wool/silk blend); I'm calling this my Jagermeister shawl ;) Holding the yarn doubled, though, as I wasn't feeling up to an itty bitty laceweight project. It's coming along nicely. Mostly, I like that the stitch pattern is whatever you want. My variation has rows of yarn overs and knit-two-togethers. Veronica did her completely differently, without any yarn overs at all. I think that's what I like about knitting. Two people can make the same project, and they can both be entirely different but still beautiful.

Like little snowflakes. =)