Ordning och reda

KE got revved up this morning and randomly started cleaning without even telling me, which got me cleaning too, and golly we got a lot done. One task was cleaning out the bins in the hall that are filled with winter gear. I washed everything -- machine washed the things that could be, and filled a bathtub with the handwash knitted items. They're all spread out on the lawn now drying in a most satisfying fashion:

With the fabulous summer weather I've gotten a lot of small things done: massive amounts of laundry (drying on a rack goes much faster in the sun), shifting of boxes out of the storage unit (for the first time in 3 months we can shut the door!), sorting of recycling (before it got to be too much to manage easily), and putting out bark in the flowerbeds (not quite done, but maybe this evening when it cools down I'll finish the job), for example. Feels great!

The long weekend has been productive in terms of knitting too, though not according to my original plan. I had the best intentions for starting up on the Whisper Cardigan again, but I realized after I got it out that I don't actually have the right needle for the ribbing band. I was shocked, as I really thought I had a complete set of circular needles, gathered over many years. I have to admit that I wasn't all that sad about having to stuff it back into time out. Instead, I decided to improvise a very basic pullover with some of the yarn I bought in Madison last month. I'm borrowing bits and pieces very loosely from two different aran weight patterns to make a plain picot edged pullover. So far so good. I'm of course anxious that I'll run out of yarn. Here's how far it's come in 3 days of knitting (gotta love aran weight stockinette!):

I wonder about whether I should have made set-in sleeves instead of the dropped shoulders I'm planning. If I have anything left over after finishing the body and the neck, I may still do it. My plan is to make a picot edge around the neck opening too. I'll knit in the round up to the armhole openings, then separate front and back. I'm doing the waist shaping from the Hourglass Sweater to make it a little less boxy. It's been years since I designed my own pattern, though I used to do it all the time in high school. I don't know why I stopped, or why I suddenly decided to try it again. It seems like a reasonable risk with such a quick knit. I probably wouldn't be as willing with a fingering weight project.