One step forward: I knit most of a sock.

One step back: I realized I knit it on the wrong size needles.

Another back: I ripped it out.

Step forward: Knit entire new sock, foot on smaller needles, cuff on larger needles. The cuff on size 6 needles, just like the first sock. Theoretically I should have a pair now.

Back again: The cuff is waaay too small, as in nearly an inch smaller than the other cuff. I need to rip it out and do it on needles even larger.

It is my dratted gauge-of-the-hour problem again… I just can not seem to stay consistent from one day to the next.

I think I’m stressed way out. When I am tired I knit tight, I think I’m fighting the instinct to sleep… and it has been a week with almost no alone time. I do NOT do well when i don’t get to sit alone a few times for a few hours each. This was a week with none of that. I usually get Monday and Tuesday mornings alone, and often Friday midday as well. With the odd life I live, I rarely get a whole day off but I cherish my chunks of silence.

I guess I’m a good friend, because I did a lot of things this week that helped out friend after friend after friend, guild after guild. I did these things because I chose to do them, and I really did want to do them, and I enjoyed the week, though it was very different than a typical week for me.

But now I’m wiped out. This week needs to be “selfish week” for LynnH, or poor Brian will take the brunt of my tired psyche. And our 10 yr anniversary is next Thursday. I want to be a pleasant roommate and spouse!

The good part this week was that when I was here or there or the next place doing things for guild or friend or guild again… I knit. A lot. And I am really finishing up some things, finally. I still have so many unfinished items that they are tangled together in spectacular messes, at least a few which are pretty amazing. I’d like to untangle a mess or two.

And I still really want to sew together the Sally Melville Funnel Neck I made a almost a year ago. I made it on the knitting machine, which made the knitting fast but the edges defy my sewing-together skills though I really enjoy sewing as a whole.

Not all of the challenge is the selvage (or lack thereof) but the diagonal seams where I have to make judgement calls as to where the sewing would work best. I’ve started this a few times and it took more focus than I had. I’d really love to finish it. After all, we are definitely into wool weather again.

Meanwhile I did spend time with Brian tonight trying to figure out my new shopping cart. Aaaaargh! It’s not frustrating to Brian but I just don’t have the patience for it after the week I just had. I need more knitting! Knitting is worry beads, but fuzzy. My sort of pastime!

My friend who called herself Yarnfairy, died last week. This was not unexpected but it is sad, oh so sad.

Since my Yahoo email is still messed up I just found out today. Fortunately, today was a day folks who loved her online set aside to honor her. It was a memorial service all over the continent at the very least, maybe the world given the nature of the online knitting community. Folks released balloons, blew bubbles, wore silly tiaras (this was a favorite thing for our Yarnfairy) and did other things to honor her spirit.

I was working during the timeframe which was indicated by those who wished to do this together. However, I came home, had dinner, and then lit a candle for my friend. It felt like the right thing to do.

I’m comforted by knowing that if we feel strong emotion when someone passes on, that means that we had a connection that was meaningful. You don’t grieve for those who did not influence or affect you in any way. Only those we love can bring real feelings of loss. I was lucky to know her, she was a generous and caring soul.

May you rest in peace (and giggles?) Yarnfairy. I miss you already.

Photos: The candle I lit tonight; a group of us from all over the USA (Indiana, Illinois, California, Texas and Mass. in this one photo if I remember right), wearing tiaras and knitting at Bloomiefest 2007. Yarnfairy is seated, second from right with red sweater and matching sequin tiara.