In which I whine

I've been thinking about this post for a few days now. How especially to make it sound really non-whiney.
See, I finished the socks:

So both girls have a pair.

And I started my lace project for when I have free lace knitting time. And I wanted to start a sweater, that I could work on while I watched interesting tv. I was reading a forum or something where someone was dying to make Oblique but had yarn too thin. Well, I should never have clicked through the link because then I had the very same problem. I'd love to knit this, but I just can NOT get gauge. I'm at 3.5 inches for 17 stitches--when I need to be at 4. And NOTHING I have looked at so far is suitable. The yarn is a DK and I'd like to make a cardigan in something a little more complex than simple stockinette. Ravelry says there are over 500 items that fit this criteria. When I limit it to patterns in my library it suggests a sweater from A gathering of Lace that calls for size 3 needles (and is not clear on what I should be testing my gauge). And I think might be a little out of the league of tv watching.

But I should not be knitting at all because there are a mere 47 days until halloween (and I'm guessing costumes might be needed before that too).

However, I spent an hour today in frustration trying to piece in some curves on Glenda's dress. The most frustrating part--there seem to be no reason for the curves. I could have easily made a pattern out of the pieces I cut--gluing them the way they are supposed to go and then using that for a pattern. Right now my MIL is setting in the curves as I was told that if I cried over the costume, we were going to buy costumes next year. Have I mentioned that the only year I ever bought a costume for the girls was their first halloween when I was not sleepign more than 4 hours at a time and could barely write my name, much less find a pattern. Too bad too, because baby costumes are terribly cute.