Band girlfriend skips shows, bad girlfriend?, and How do I stop being whiny about my boyfriend going on tour?, at Ask Metafilter. Luckily Scott and I have been together long enough that he doesn't feel bad when I don't go to his shows. (Right?)

More I Am Not A Plastic Bag backlash: I am not a sheep, at Chez Pim. Via Chow.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion at Things I've Bought That I Love.

How do you take a compliment? at Ask Metafilter.

Create a motivation chain just like Jerry Seinfeld, at Life Hacker.

What to do about too-low cleavage? at Sundry Buzz.

Sound proofing materials for creating an at home recording studio, at Ask Metafilter.

Tee Nuts, what they are and how to use them, at the Told Oldham Studio blog.

Driftwood sunburst mirror, I'll have to keep this around. I bought a convex mirror from Target that I'm going to surround with some sort of DIY sunburst. AT Happy Mundane.

How to make your home Shelter Mag picture worthy, at the Chicago Tribune. Also read about the experience that Alicia from Posie Gets Cozy had when a magazine come to photograph her home here.

Transferring a desing from a drinking glass to the walls in a room, I like this a lot. At Oh Joy!

Random thing I learned this week: I like Krylon glass frosting spray paint far better than American Tradition or Rustoleum.

from Apartment Therapy sites:

Bach garment holder, I want a bunch of these for the bedroom and bathroom.

How to make an outdoor awning.

A wee bit too late for my problems: repelling cats from your garden using cinnamon.

SmartNozzle, a brush that attches to the end of your hose, this would be great to help knock the spiderwebs (renewed daily) off my deck.

All about Paperstone recycle countertops, I've been eyeing these for a while now.

Point. Click. Design., easy room layout software online, nice.

aMAIZEing Biobased Sovent, safe for you and the environment. See also: SoyGel Paint Stripper at Mirror Mirror.

Green Clean, the environmentally sound guide to cleaning your home.

the sweater: Ribby Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns
the yarn: Cotton-Ease in charcoal

I had begun the armhole shaping on the back of the sweater while we were watching the last few episodes of the first season of Doctor Who. I was about ten rows in when I noticed that I had different numbers of stitches on either side, and that a few decreases were slanting the wrong way. I blame my mistakes on being distraught over the departure of Christopher Eccleston. I decided to rip out to just before the shaping started and do it over again. I was tempted to rip everything out altogether and start over using larger needles for the cast on, but I'm waffling. Whenever I actually hold it the cast on edge seems plenty stretchy, but when it's not right in front of me I convince myself it could be better. In the name of sanity I decided not to start over. If it turns out too tight, I'll know for sure.

I'm already planning on making a second Ribby Cardi using the instructions for doing all the body pieces together and the sleeves in the round (see those in my previous post). Maybe the next one will be Stone? Or Lime? Too bad there isn't a solid red among the new Cotton-Ease colors, I don't look good in warm colors, so Terracotta is out. Anyhow, I'm really eager to discover the differences between the sweaters with different construction - both in how they knit up and how they look and act when worn.

This week I also cast on for the left front using the smaller size needles. For this I did a 2x2 rib tubular cast on all the way across, ending with one purl and one knit to get the end. After that I started the pattern and the cast on edge fell into place with all the 2x2 and 3x1 ribs. I worked on the rows up until they call for the switch to the larger needles.

For the right front cast on I'll have to double check whether to do to purl one and knit one at the beginning of the cast on or the end to get it to line up correctly. I suspect it'll be at the beginning, but I don't quite trust my suspicious.

I think I'm going to miss Christopher Eccleston's Dr. Who more than I'm going to miss Harry Potter.

Previous sweater entries: first, second, third, fourth, fifth.