Yesterday evening I surprised myself by how much energy I seemed to have. I knit several (well, at least a few) rows on one sleeve of my sweater, carved an eraser stamp, and carved a jack-o-lantern.
I started the sweater in the middle of last winter and got the body done, then sort of bogged down with the sleeves. It was at a standstill most of the summer. Part of the problem is that I was doing the sleeves two sleeves on two circulars, and it’s a Fair Isle project so there were four balls of yarn to keep track of. I was spending half as much time untangling yarn as knitting. Now that I’m in the shoulder part, after the sleeves have been bound off at the underarm part, and they’re flat. They’re going a lot quicker now. Of course, having some stitches bound off helps them go quicker, too. It’s at a point where the end is in sight. Unfortunately, I didn’t increase the sleeves enough all the way up and they fit awfully tight. I’m not 100 percent convinced I’ll be able to get the thing on when it’s done, or if so, that I’ll be able to get it off. It would be sad if I have to get it off with a scissors. I guess the worst-case scenario would be undoing the shoulder seams, taking it off in pieces, and redoing the sleeves. Or, waiting until one of Gena’s kids was big enough to wear it, but I doubt they’d want it (not kid-like colors.)
The eraser stamp is a broom, for the Red Sox sweep of the World Series. Arlene thinks it’s good enough to work up to a production stamp. She says she has had African-American customers ask if we had a broom stamp, for weddings (see jumping the broom).
The jack-o-lantern pumpkin comes from Maine. We bought it Friday at Smedberg’s farm stand between Oxford and Norway. I figured I wasn’t going to have time tonight (Tuesday) to carve it after klez, and I didn’t want to leave it to Halloween proper. I tried to copy the design from a recent New Yorker magazine cover. Although the magazine cover was immediately recognizable, and the pumpkin isn’t a bad copy, there’s a lot in the picture that didn’t transfer well to a real pumpkin. Maybe if I gouge shallow lines for the hairline and jowls. Pictures to follow, when the thing is lit.