Give me coffee or give me death

Bruce,

May I present to you the most blurry and frought-with-cats photography you have ever laid your eyes on? I finished my Backyard Leaves scarf!! Here is a close-up. A "detail" shot if you will.

Pre-blocking of course. I'm thinking that after I block, the leafy shape will be more distinct, as will the two halves of the scarf be the same size. Here I am wearing it:

I love it!! I just wish I'd finished it in time to wear it yesterday. The high was 68! Hello, fall.

Anyway, you might not think the above photographs were that technically difficult to take. Well, you'd be wrong! Just try and take a picture of yourself in the bathroom mirror with this monster attacking your camera cord and leaping into the shot.

By the way, do you see the giant band-aid on my hand? That morning, as I was leaving, I noticed Oscar with his head in my fruit bowl, gnawing away at a nectarine. I picked him up to put him on the floor, and I must have scared him or something, because he tore into my hand, and now I have stigmata-like gashes in my palm.

Even though he's a little more of a gentle giant, Fred wasn't behaving any better. The answer?

Pick him up and hold him for a second, aka cat torture.

Well, finishing my scarf has really kick-started my fall knitting revival. Admit it, everyone. We all lapse a little during the summer. For me, summer knitting includes a few cotton dishrags knit while sitting directly in front of a fan, drinking a cold cold beer. But those days are soon over for me! After weaving in the ends on my scarf last night, I started swatching for a new project....the puffed sleeve cardigan from fitted knits!! Hooray!!!!

I have been wanting to make this cardigan ever since I bought the book, but couldn't pick a yarn. I decided on the silk-wool yarn that Karida sent me. I love the yarn, and I love the pattern, so I'm hoping for the best here regardless of my giganto-gague. The pattern calls for size 6 needles, so of course I swatched using size 4's. The swatch still came out a little big, so I'm going down a size. Good thing I can try on the sweater as I knit it, so I'll be able to make adjustments as I go.

That's all I got for today. Your seams look amazing! I'm very impressed.

Love,

Brax