What's going on?

I've been rather silent of late, here on the blog. That's because I've been super-busy elsewhere. Working, mostly, but also creating.

As we get closer to the tax deadline, things at work get a bit more intense, which means I have to work even harder to balance all that number-crunching with something a little more artistic.

Like hand-quilting my chicken table runner (left) or knitting a bulldog (center).

That's right, I said knitting a bulldog. My SIL got me this super-cute book called Knit Your Own Dog, and my grand-niece begged me to make her the English Bulldog. I couldn't resist. Even if the child hadn't been so darn appealing in the way she asked me, the cuteness of the patterns would have done me in anyway. I've got the legs, and one side of the body done so far.
So seriously cute. I think I want to make the Afghan Hound next. Or maybe the Old English Sheepdog. Or maybe the Poodle.
No, wait, the Scotty dog!

In the meantime, I also cast on for another cowl (on the right), this time in a lovely mix called Purple Jewel Heather. (Yarn is Cascade 220 Heathers, color 7811, pattern is a test knit for another MMMar'11 participant.) Had to cast on twice before I got the count right. It's hard to count to 220 (purely coincidental number) while listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (they slammed wool again today - for shame!). I counted it twice before starting on the first round, came up both times with 13 extra, took the extra off the needles, and started counting as I stitched. I came up with 10 extra, didn't believe myself, did another round, and came up with the same 10 extra. Counted again, this time without knitting, and still had the 10 extra, so I had to believe it. Frogged the whole thing and started over, this time putting stitch markers on after every 20 cast on stitches, double checking to be sure I really had 20 in each section. Counted again as I knit the first round, and this time, thank heavens, came up with the right number. Not all a waste of time, though, since my second cast-on was much smoother and more even in tension than the first had been.

Boy, it's a good thing I've got something creative like knitting to get me away from all these numbers....