WIP Wednesday: I'm Back!

Folks, I'm alive! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last posted on here. It's been a doozy of a time since then. I have a really horrific stomach bug all last week (no joke, I haven't been that sick in at least 10 years), and it's been super stressful on top of that. Work is crazy, and when I get home I have literally zero energy. I've been spending my nights trying to catch up on the laundry and cleaning that piled up while I was sick. Not fun. I was even too sick to knit! That's when you know it's serious, lol. I've managed to pick up my cardigan from time to time, but I end up stopping out of guilt from the state of my house. I have made progress though!

I finished one sleeve and am half way through the other :) I ended up not having to change anything about the pattern - not the sleeve length even! The only change is actually a mistake that I just decided to embrace and go with. I accidentally increased one too many times before separating for the sleeves, so I just had 2 extra stitches on each sleeve. I knitted them straight and did the normal decreasing as per the pattern, but I just added in a k2tog/ssk right next to each other in the row before the lace pattern - simple :) It's fitting really great and I'm really excited to get it finished so I can see how it looks blocked. Hopefully I can finish it up soon!

As far as the dress I was working on, I was really good with it until the night I got sick. This is how it's looked ever since ... It looks bad, lol, but the entire bodice is constructed and the skirt is being attached - lining and all :) I just have to finish attaching the skirt, install the zipper, and hem it - I think that's do-able to finish it within the month of May!

I've been planning all kinds of new projects too while I wasn't able to knit - this is dangerous! lol I now have way more things to make than I can work on. One thing I feel is do-able is that I plan on participating in the Outfit Along with Lladybird Lauren and Andi Satterlund. The idea is that everyone will knit a cardigan and sew a dress together. The knitting pattern is Andi's newest, The Myrna Cardigan - seriously this sweater is exactly what I need in my life (and it's 20% off through the end of May!). I wear a short sleeved cardigan with most everything - let's face it, I live in Florida peeps. As much as I love sweaters and winter wear, those items get worn maybe 5% of the year. This sweater will hopefully be the answer to that :) I decided to try out Cascade 220 yarn and test the notion that wool not only keeps you warm in winter but cool in summer - we shall see.

I got the yarn from WEBS as part of their fantastic 40th anniversary sale (only $5.59 per hank!) and it just came in the mail today. It's no fault of WEBS, but I'm not completely happy with the yarn for only one reason - the color. This is the "white" colorway, but in person it is cream to say the least. It's very much off white. I'm not sure if this is just as white as real wool can be or what - anyone know? It's a fine color and all, but I wanted WHITE. Like white white. I have a cheap Target white cardigan that I wear with everything right now and I really wanted to replace it with this new hand knit one, but off white is not white. My wardrobe is not really "cream-friendly." I'm sure it's a sin to ask this, but do you think it's possible to bleach it? I'll do some research on it. Oh and that other skein is just some acrylic/wool blend for my animal making stash.

On the book front, I'm still reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. This is a long book, ya'll. I will confess I've read another book in the midst of reading this, but still - it's long. I do really love the story though. I'm at the part where Marius and Cosette are upset because her dad says she might need to go to England. It's kind of funny to read a book where you know what's going to happen, but it spurns me to keep going because I know when it's about to get exciting. The revolution is just about to start!

So that's it for this week :) Same old same really, lol, sorry I'm boring. At this point, I'm so happy to not be sick anymore that I'll gladly take a little boring. It's nice every now and then, you know? Head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are making this week!