What a nice week - I didn't work late at all, went to the gym twice and had a fun dinner last night with Ryan and my friend Stacy. I'm sad because Stacy's moving to Chicago next month, so it's good to spend time with her before she leaves.

I also spent some quality time on the sofa with HoJo. I made it past the branching cable rib back into the overall rib pattern without any disasters. I did have to undo a bunch of rows of knit and turn them into purl, but I find that kind of satisfying, so I didn't mind. If we aren't running around too much this weekend I'll probably finish sleeve 1 by Monday morning. Here it is so far.

I am so toasty today, wearing my MiniChic over a long-sleeved cotton tee. Bonne Marie, you are far better than the wind beneath my wings - you are the warmth atop my shoulders.

The MiniChic is complete! I look absolutely awful in these photos - post-gym, post-shower, no-makeup. Goes to show how excited I was to show off my latest project!





Now I guess I will be focusing on HoJo for a while.

Well, I made it to the 3rd-to-last row of the branching cable rib before my head started to spin and I put it down. I get all edgy with the "increase in pattern" thing. I think I'm OK, but the pattern is complex and lazy me didn't actually think it out COMPLETELY. So I am worrying that in 2 rows, when I switch back to the regular rib, it'll be messed-up on the edges and I'll have to figure it out again.

So I put it down and went back to the MiniChic. I finished the front and back and sewed it all together, then started on the collar. I followed the directions carefully and that thing looks way the heck too short to fit around the whole neck opening. I can't tell if I perhaps did the neck decreases too early (don't think so, because the pieces came out perfectly matched in length, which means I followed the pattern AOK) or what. Or maybe there's some mysterious secret I am unaware of that makes the collar fit in that space. I think I am going to just add some rows into each piece of the collar until it fits in there. Hopefully I can get that done tonight. I want to wear my cute little poncho soon!

Look at me, getting the branching cable rib chart right! OK, don't look because I haven't taken any pictures yet. But I'm on row 20 and I've got it figured out now. Just was making stupid careless errors before.

I decided to start on the HoJo sleeve even before finishing my MiniChic. I was fine until I got to the branching cable rib chart. I have the left twist just fine, and I feel like I was following the chart to a tee, but 12 rows in, it just doesn't quite look like it's supposed to. Boy am I glad this is the sleeve rather than the front - it'll be less painful to frog!

I think what's messing me up is increasing while working the chart. You're supposed to increase in pattern, but the damn pattern changes every row, so it's hard to fathom. I'm going to go rip it back to row 1 and try and concentrate a bit harder. Maybe having had something to eat and drink will help.