The struggle continues

Blocking rugby sweater
Originally uploaded by eusebius24

Having finally made it out of three months of being fairly constantly sick, I am now, at last, making some knitting progress. The Rugby sweater is blocked and drying - next is the polo collar and button bands (I hope I have enough yarn left!!)

Sewing has been at a standstill since I finished the Madison Avenue dress in October. I hope to resume over the holidays, with a Dora nightgown for my daughter and maybe a T-shirt pack from Wazoodle.

On the performing front, I played a good recital with a flutist last weekend, attended by exactly 10 people. Blah ... I have to get my publicity skills working. Being depressed and sick didn't help, but I think I should be able to manage the next one. The choral concert I'm playing on Sunday is far better advertised, and should attract a good crowd. I had to practically rewrite a couple of brutal organ parts for piano. We'll see how they come off.

You know you have a blog called PianoKnits when ...

... you're playing the piano part of Schubert's "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and you start wondering how the heck anyone could knit with any fibre spun like that!! And I'm not even a spinner. Yet. (Feel free to convert me.)

Thanks to Non Sequiturville for putting me on to this great image.

The calm after the storm

This past week has been insane. Hence, the lack of posts. But I have made some progress:















On the left, a nearly-completed Sleeve #1 of St Brigid which will have a full extra pattern repeat in it. On the right, the Eleanor sock in Fleece Artist.

Also some stash enhancement:















From left to right: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Fairgrounds; Naturally Tussock DK, for a polo-neck pullover for DH; various colourways of Meilenweit Meeting, from the lovely Robyn of Red Bird Knits.

In other news ... planning for DD's birthday proceeds apace. I've stencilled a treasure box for her party ... costumes and the like will fill it ... but I don't want to post a pic yet for fear she'll spot it. So that will have to wait until after the party next weekend. I have a choir gig on Sunday and possibly some more accompanying work in May, but otherwise things are calming down. I've completed Week 3 of C25K as of today, w00t! I hope to be back to half-marathon form by the fall.

Resources for freelancers

Check out the new series on freelancing over at the Collaborative Piano Blog. I will be following with great interest!

St Brigid underway again

I have finally ripped out all of the moth-eaten St Brigid pieces, and started re-swatching with 3.75mm bamboo circulars (Kertzer) with a ball I hadn't used up yet. Tomorrow I'll wash the used yarn and hang it to dry.

I'm getting about a half-stitch wider than the recommended gauge, but I think that will just accommodate my piano butt ;) My row gauge is, as usual, short, but so am I, so that works out OK.

Today I played a song by John Corigliano for the first time: "Christmas at the Cloisters". It's really an excellent piece and I hope I'll have the chance to do more.