Day Six - No Pix

I know, I promised pictures. I'm a filthy liar.

Actually, it's that I'm all snarly and snappish and so fiddling with the digital camera and then fiddling with the pictures and then fiddling with Blogger to put them up? Way beyond my levels of patience right now.

All this week, there's been construction going on around my apartment. Monday and part of Tuesday (the part before we took the kids out to play in the warm sunshine, of course), it was the razing of a bunch of the trees behind my apartment which make this... ahem, place palatable. (Yes, the italics would be where I'm self-censoring out a lot of "colorful" descriptors of my two-bedroom apartment with a single lonely little phone jack and a half-size dishwasher (and me with two toddlers) and a kitchen with practically negative counter space and no drawers wide enough to be a silverware drawer (oh, how I wish I was kidding!) as they're all half-size drawers (to match the dishwasher, I'm sure) and the smoke alarm directly in front of the stove.)

Anyway, so Monday was spent trying to knit despite the pounding in my skull (from the woodchipper outside my window) and counting how many times Caz or I said to the other, "Are they still cutting down trees?" Eventually, I gave up and napped the afternoon away in sheer self-defense.

Tuesday was spent trying to wrangle the kids and Caz out of the house (how come having two adults around to help get the kids handled and out the door actually takes longer than when I used to do it on my own?) to go play in the sunshine, despite the fact that the woodchipper got fired up at 8:30 and had been shut down 15 minutes before we left.

At least it seems they're done chopping down trees, and it seems they even left a few up. Which is something, though I've got a bad feeling the remaining trees aren't here for long.

Today, though, was something new - apparently they were out in the corridor outside our apartment putting up chair rails and otherwise beautifying the halls. So all day there's been a circular saw (wow, I really am my dad's daughter - how on earth can I tell the difference between the sound of a circular saw and say, a band saw? Weird) running outside our door, plus the usual drilling and pounding and hammering which would accompany such a project.

So, like I say. My head is pounding. My patience has worn thinner than thin, and I'm beginning to feel hustled by this sweater.

The back panel was easy. Honestly, it was alarmingly easy. I even got the cast-on right the first time. That /never/ happens! But now I've moved on to the front panel and well... the tides are turning.

First I forgot to switch my Denise Interchangeable circ from US8 to US6 to do the hem ribbing on the front panel. So I'd cast on and done the first couple stitches before I realized my mistake, had to start over. So I switched to US6, cast on, did the ribbing. But then I forgot to switch back to US8 when I finished the ribbing and moved on to the stockinette section. Did four rows before I realized my mistake. So picked up the stitches on my circ (okay, gotta admit, I looooooove that trick), frogged back, switched to US8 and started the stockinette again. Since then, it's been all right, but I'm on my guard now. The trust between me and this sweater has taken a hit, and it's going to be a while before we rebuild it.

So, I'm about to go back and try to knit now that it seems the sawing in the hallway is complete (please, Knit Goddesses, grant me this one request), the kids are down for naps and Caz has been banished sent out to run a few errands.

But to end on a much more upbeat note: Congrats to Scout who was among the six winners of the Jaywalker KAL contest! I'm sure you'll pick out something extra-yummy!