Susie Cupcakes

The day dawns on a new sock.

Yes, friends, I have been out of blog touch (dirty!) but I have thought of all of you fondly. I have mused over the good old days where I could be relied upon to generate more than one post a month. Perhaps those golden days will once again return! Possibly when my brain cloud has cleared up.

Despite the cloudy days, I did squeeze out another pair of socks. For me. MEEEEE! Yarn is Opal Lollipop (dirty!) in an unknown (to me) German colorway. Pattern is Nancy Bush's Oak Rib sock on size 2 needles (2.75mm). I wore these all weekend. Dirty! No, literally, now they're dirty.

Good pal Rebecca came to visit from Massachusetts with daffodils and chocolate and plan to find some new yarn. A delight! And look what Rebecca sent me in the mail last week.

It's Grumperina's Odessa, and it's perfect! There are beautiful beads knitted into the hat.

I feel fab-u-lous wearing this hat! Very roaring '20s.

Our good pal Jenna has suggested a new quiz for us--an Austen quiz:

Take the Quiz here!

I totally knew that would happen. But as luck would have it, Jenna came up Marianne Dashwood so we're totally sisters now and we'll have to figure out how to marry well in order to support our family and I will have to be all practical and good-naturedly scolding and Jenna will have dramatic fits of anguish. That's pretty much what happens whenever we get together anyway. Especially if an afternoon of Bridezillas and mimosas are involved.

I used to work with a guy who, when presented with something he didn't agree with, would simply say "False."

"Are you working tomorrow?"
"False."
"Duke University?"
"False."
Or sometimes...
"Cigars smell bad."
"Falsification!"

Folks, I have encountered a falsification in my knitting.

The deets: Chicknits' Twist pattern, a cardigan with cable detailing on the front. The yarn is Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Superwash in Ocean Sky, a really lovely opally purple blue. I saw it in Mystic River Yarns in Mystic, Conn., on a recent weekend jaunt with Mr. Cupcakes.

I'm starting with the back. Very simple stockinette. Good times. Then I picked up my needles again, and three things happened:
1. I started shaping for the shoulders.
2. I joined a new skein of yarn.
3. Graybaby came and sat on my lap, making me hold the needles awkwardly on my right side. (I can't push her off. She had diabetes!)

After a nice evening of knitting, I looked over my work and recoiled. Yes, RECOILED.

There's a weird joggy row followed by oddly shaped stitches that do not match the previous stitches.

Hypothesis 1. New yarn is secret agent of doom, looking identical (down to dye lot) to the other skeins, but actually possessing powers of wonkiness.
Hypothesis 2. Holding needles awkwardly on one side of body pulled the stitches oddly.
Hypothesis 3. I am hated by world, God, etc., and am being punished.

Regardless of the scientific explanation, it's time to frog. Rip-it rip-it!