I finished the gloves

and all I want to say is this: if you are on a time-sensitive mission to make a pair of men's size medium gloves with a lovely sock yarn that knits at eight stitches per inch on size 0 needles, talk yourself out of it. Go get some bulky weight and do mittens instead. ERB's gloves came out beautifully and have been admired by all who have seen them, but they were a week late for his birthday.

Now, for the technical stuff: the yarn, in SY-03 "Brilliant Bouquet," which he picked out himself; and the pattern. Ann Budd's book is great for fiddly knitters like me who want to use yarns with different gauges on basic patterns in several different versions; it's written well enough that adding details like textured patterns, color designs or finishing embroidery seem easy and special. I love a book that massages my creative urges.

And you know what? Gloves ARE like socks, but I'm not making any of either for a while. Flowergirl dresses are the next project. Another little girl has been added, this one bigger than the rest (she's nine, while the others are five, almost five, almost three and two). MFB & I decided that she would get a slightly different style of dress, in a nod to her, um, maturity. This means I have to get more yarn for her bolero and possibly more champagne-colored fabric for her dress. I should have plenty of the burnt orange. --I have until the end of September.

Oh, but there're an interim project: speaker covers. ERB is the sound designer for a big corporate event, sponsored in part by the shipping company UPS. I've been asked to make brown lycra slipcovers for eight three-foot-tall speakers. I did a similar project for him earlier this year (twelve in white, slightly smaller). It will take a long afternoon, I think, mainly for cutting time. The covers go together quickly on the merrow machine. They need to be finished before Monday. The time-consuming part will be making and fitting a test version; ERB will have one of the speakers delivered to the sound shop near the theatre where I work. To know how much smaller then the actual box dimensions to cut the lycra, I have to work out the percentage of stretch. Math. Math makes me feel accomplished and efficient.