Satisfying an uncooperative muse

I have been attempting a fitting of Kidlet's WIP sweater for several weeks, but have been met at every turn with the unflappable stubbornness of a two-and-a-half-year-old's desire to do everything but what is asked of them. Sigh. She finally relented the other day during her post-nap viewing of Arthur. The body is a bit generous, but that was planned; I hate to see hand knitted garments get two months of use, then packed away. It's true, you know, how they grow like weeds. The one thing I was saddened by is the arm length. If the pattern sizing is a foretaste of her growth to come, we are in for an arm-stretching couple of years. Wow.

(BTW, I am now a backwards knitting diva. :-D )

Since this discovery, I have not been motivated to keep knitting on the body length of the sweater. I'm trying to decide whether I should leave as is and cuff the entire lace end of the sleeves back, rip the arms back and reknit shorter, or frog the whole sweater and go down a size. Another sigh.

So, to distract myself, I took up some leftover Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (from last year's Fetching phase), and started free knitting an iPod cover. Tricky, trying to leave spaces for the rectangular display screen and round navi wheel. It's not an eyesore, and it certainly feels delicious, but I need to swatch and play with the shaping of the decreases and increases. Now I'm whipping out an I-cord lanyard for it - completely brainless, and I can't seem to do it for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Another project I have stewing in my head is a pair of Renaissance stockings for Kerry, one of the men I work with at the Ren Fest. He is currently wearing a pair of black hand-knit wool socks that are about five inches shy of the desired height. I chided him about his short stockings, and he shared that they had been knee height, but he had laundered - and dried - them by machine once or twice. As his residential status is never predictable and hand laundering is not always possible, I thought I could make him a pair in superwash merino. I've been thinging out pattern possibilities and trolling for sport or DK superwash wool. With the excitement of the sock craze, the knitosphere is full of lovely and tempting hand-painted and self-patterning choices. It is not easy to find yarn for socks in plain, solid colors these days. The quest continues.