Clearing up a few details.

First of all, the slightly (hah) frantic round of children's songs posted yesterday was due to this:

Which has got to be the most annoying toy in the history of the universe. It can be vaguely educational, like when you hit the proper parts it will say 'red nose' or 'blue ear' or whatever. But mostly it sings songs. Songs, including "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" that I used to enjoy before the last ten thousand repetitions. It also does "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and the ABCs and some songs on colors and numbers I've never heard before this and thought was kind of cute and clever for the first fifty or sixty go-rounds.

The baby, being a clever sort, has figured out if you sit on the one ear (where there's a switch), the dog will make noise endlessly, until either the batteries run out or (real goal), some grownup pays attention to you. She will play with the thing for hours, and most days it doesn't bother me unless she gets vindictive and resorts to ear-sitting. Yesterday was obviously an ear-sitting day.


I found this, this morning: a small pink shoe wedged into the top of the magazine rack. I think the baby gates were the last straw, and the cat and baby have finally begun the revolution. This is probably a secret sign to throw all their food on the floor in unison, or raid the knitting-needle jars, or chew on electrical cords together. I will have to be diligent. (Or just put them both in cardboard boxes on opposite sides of the house.)



Belle, in the comments, asked if I used a pink cast-on so that I could tell where I started. Partly, yes. It sure helps me tell what's going on. But really it's so I can find it to take it back out again, later. I dislike cast-ons for the most part because they're either too stretchy (wavy, wonky looking edge) or too tight (great-looking edge that won't move). So I often resort to underhanded-ness to avoid the problems involved. For most sweaters I use hems, and in this case I will be folding over the ribbing and stitching it down (not quite a hem, but not quite anything else either). When I do that, I'll pick out the cast-on so that the edge will have as much stretch as possible. And when it comes to picking out cast-ons, it's easier to do if it's in a contrasting color. For light yarns I use a huge (well, not HUGE, but I bet there's a thousand yards left on it) cone of Cotton Fine, left over from the only knitting I ever did for the baby, which she never wore:




And here is all I've got done on the Blue Shimmer: I've got the first of the increase rounds coming up; after that I'll have an idea just how big a mess this is going to be. But so far, so good. I think the measurements are close. (I sure hope the measurements are close.)

Sorry about the blurry photo... elves seem to have come in and re-set my digital camera to the old, bad settings. I'll try re-resetting them for the next round of detailed photos.