Minor Update II

Knitting
Horrible. I washed and blocked all 16 of my TKGA Master Hand Knitter L1 swatches over the weekend and to my utter horror, learned a tragic lesson in gauge and why it is so important to wash and block gauge swatches before beginning any projects.

My swatches GREW. Enormously.

My four-inch swatch became 5+ inches upon hitting the juice. Dear God. No amount of scoonching and squinching would make them conform to anything close to four inches.

With much resignation, I dug out smaller needles and worked up two swatches of garter and stockinette and washed and blocked. Huh. I used the same yarn—different color—and needles one and two sizes smaller... and got two swatches that are perfectly four inches. Shouldn't one be smaller? (Or was I distracted watching Sid & Nancy for the 45th time and didn't notice I used the same size the second time?)

I IZ KORNFUZZED.

Oh, well. I guess I'll reknit a couple on the #7's in the off-white yarn and see if the results match. This means, sadly, that I will not make my self-imposed deadline of one year by mailing them on the 31st. Oh, well.

Homefront
Cleanliness. Organization. Words that, when used in a sentence along with my name, used to invoke giggles from my friends. I'm pleased to report that the small bathroom has achieved a state of dirt nirvana. It is CLEAN. It was swept AND mopped. OK. So I've managed to sweep and mop an entire 24 square feet of a 1400 sq ft house, to take out five bags of garbage, and to sweep up dustbunnies from the kitchen and utility room. It's a start. One room down. Nine to go.

The Big Secret
Getting closer to The Reveal. The timetable shifts now and then, but otherwise it's going as planned. My phone bill may be enormous. Is 7.5 hours a long time to chat?

Music
Success! The drum tracks for the test file arrived, my bass part went down easily, I uploaded it to the brand new Wiki the keyboardist set up (we are SO techie it's disgusting), and the guitarist has downloaded it and is working on his aspect. I just picked up a copy of Cubase Studio 4 recording software, and I'm learning to use that. Why, when I have a 24-track digital recording machine? Uh... because everyone else on this project has it? So file transfer will be easier. Move over, graphics software. The audio software has taken over.

Other Changes
Somebody actually made it to the gym four times in two weeks. Somebody actually might stick with it this time. It helps that the community center is so nice, clean, modern and accessible, and that there is rarely anyone in there during the hours I prefer (I like to workout pretty much alone).

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Labels: boring household crap, music, the band, the big secret, TKGA Masters Level One

posted by Jeanne @ 12:57 AM