It's been a few days since I've spent some quality time with the Blog. So, here we are. There are a few updates to the sidebar, so go take a look if'n y'awn to.
I've not got as much knitting done as I'd like in the past week, but enough to be going on with, I think. I've at least hit some knitly milestones.

For example:
On the foot-sweaters, I finished the heel flap on the 2nd sock.










I started the Snake Skin Socks (S.S.S.) for the 6-Sox KAL. This is my first pair for 6-Sox. Gal's gotta start somewhere, right? Might as well jump right in.










I finished the first fair-isle sock and finished the toe on the 2nd.












And I finished the back and left front raglan shaping on Baby Sweater #1. I haven't got to the left front neck shaping yet, but may be able to do that today. In case I haven't said before, I'm making two just in case. Better safe than short a sweater.










So, there you are. Note the countertop. It's new. Some dudes raided my apartment, replaced lights, doorknobs, faucets, and countertops and they put in a much-needed medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The countertop is alright, I guess. It's not something I would have picked out for myself, but it doesn't entirely suck. At least they didn't just paint over the old one like they did at my last apartment. They had even painted the sink! Who paints a sink?

I want you to know that I absolutely *adore* The Harlot. She's not only a yarn geek who has acheived greater yarn geekitude than I can ever imagine, but she also likes scifi. Not only is she a scifi geek, she plays D&D. No joke. The best groovy knitter geek chick ever.
(Steph, if the D&D was a secret, I'm very, very sorry. I'm blogging under the influence. Hardly anybody reads my blog anyhow. No wukkas. I'll knit you a d4 or a d6 to make up for it. Maybe a d20, but that might be a bit ambitious even for me.)

I love you, man! No, I *really* love you, man.

Gods of the blessed mountain, I must be the biggest dork ever. Y'all (by which I mean both of you) love me anyhow, right?

Okay, so I'm taking a bit of a break from spinning. It is Tuesd...aw dang, it's Wednesday. That means tomorrow I have to go to the dentist. Very sad. Novocaine and deep cleaning.

So, when you first start doing something you suck at it. I suck at spinning. Well, to be fair, I'm actually getting muuuuch better. My thread is more consistent and I'm able to spin something a bit thinner than what I had been. I think my first couple ounces of wool are at about chunky weight (and very inconsistent) and now I'm going to be closer to worsted or sport. I've plied two spindle's worth and the next two spindles will be much nicer.
When I went to buy wool, I got the cheapest bag for practice and the cheapest spindle for practice. Now I've gone from suck to lovely, I hope. I'm not sure what I'll do with all this home spun what varies in size so much, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

I really like spinning and I'm fascinated with processes that go from raw materials to finished products. How do you get from sheep to clothes? How do you get from flax plant to fabric?
I actually researched flax and it turns out that I had planted some in my garden. It has pretty blue flowers and so I was thinking "Hey, this is a pretty little ornamental and it's called 'flax.' Isn't that funny? I bet it's not really flax, but something that's just called flax."
No, it's really flax.

So, I did some research, grabbed a little less than half of the plants and started the process to turn them into fiber and then fabric. I did that and managed to get enough fiber to knit a wee tiny bit no bigger than my thumb.
I just wanted to see if I could and I did. I took a plant from my garden and made fabric out of it. From raw materials to finished product. I love it.

So, as you can see there on the right there's been a bit of progress. One thing I haven't listed there yet is the Ninewoods altarcloth. Here's a picture of the top finished and basted:

It's very cool and very random. I like it. There are nine blocks and each block is a nine patch. Within the nine patch are little ninepatches. I used only scraps from my scrap stash and some from Becky's when I got sick of my fabrics.
Anyhow, the only place I'm stuck is how to quilt it. Not a clue. Should I just work around the squares or do something nifty in the bigger squares or... well, I don't know.


Anyhow, I'm actually making progress on the foot sweaters, aka Husband!Socks. My goal is to be done by his birthday and I may yet get there.









Here's the first You-Know-What sock (pictured with mini-sock for scale...or something). At first, I was going to do a dark mark, but it required intarsia. I probably could have worked it out somehow, but I do like the stripeyness of these. At any rate, the swatch for the intarsia made for a cool patch on my jeans jacket.

It occurs to me right very now that I haven't got a picture of it.
Bother.
I assure you it is very cool.

I'm also making progress on the General Greivous cloak. I got the fabric and now I'm drawing out the quilting lines for the 'armour weave'. The liner fabric for the front is slightly different than the fabric for the back, but it will be symmetrical (and have kind of a cool effect, I think). I haven't drawn out the pattern for the Greivous symbol yet, mostly because I want to get the lining quilted and sewn in first.

Clearly, I am insane.

My only little girl, four years old, is in Kindergarten. Right now. My only child in the care of the public school system. It is a frightening thought.

So, out of a bit of nervousness last night, I made a gauge swatch. Swatching is not insane you say? A-ha! I shall show you.
















It's about four inches from the heel to the top. It's got an eye-of-the-partridge heel and I'll be arsed if I can remember how I decreased for the toe. I'm proud of myself for being able to do this off the top of my head, but...I made a four-inch sock. Just because.

Here are some pictures of the design process. Note the monkey.

So, I made a new dress for Iree. She's all about dresses right now, so I checked my stash of fabric and cut out a couple dresses for her. I let her pick the first one and she picked the cherry fabric. I have a horking lot of this fabric even after this dress.

But it's cute and she likes it. The other one is a pale green plaid that doesn't look nearly as bad as it sounds. The pattern was pretty easy, I finished the cherry dress in a day, so I may work on the green dress tomorrow.


I made this dress a couple years ago. I guess Iris is about three in this picture. I think that's her Lolly in her hand.

This little baby girl is going to Kindergarten on Friday.















And these are her yellow mittens. They have a bit of I-cord connecting them to go through the sleeves of her coat. Hopefully, they will be easy to keep up with that way. These are my very first ever mittens, so I'm pretty proud of them. Every time she saw me working on mitten #2, Iris wanted to try on the other one. She'd walk around with one mitten on, wiggling her fingers inside of it.

I actually made #2 a bit shorter than #1, so I ended up ripping it back past the decreases and lengthening it a bit. The pictures above are 100% done, finished, complete, post-ripping back and re-knitting.

Here it is just after I ripped it back. Iree said I was very silly for making her mitten two times.
She's probably right.

Anyhow, there may be a hat to accompany the mittens and possibly a scarf as well. I've got a fair bit of the microspun left in yellow and some green that goes with the fluffy novelty I've got stranded in the mittens. I think that right now I want to make a pair of socks for myself.

I have pictures, as promised, and updates.
I haven't been doing much actual knitting the past week or so. I've been very distracted and busy, and Jane, stop this crazy thing!


I did a few TCA blocks while visiting my mom's last weekend, so the stack is a bit higher and the ball is a bit smaller. This will be a TCA before ya know it. I also found the pattern for the ziggy-zaggy wave pattern that's so common as a TCA, so I'm thinking either that or the classic granny square.
You can see in the picture there that one of the blocks is composed of leftovers.



Oh, and here's a picture of the crocheted washrag that I mentioned last time. Isn't it purdy? It's a bit faded 'cause it just went through its second wash. It is to be expected with this sort of thing. It's still lurverly. It looks great wet, too. I love how the variegation turned out. I did another one that's a star shape and about the size of my hand, but I chose not to take a picture of its wet mankiness. This was done on a size G or H crochet hook with the Sugar & Cream cotton in alternate stitch. Alternate stitch makes for good scrubby bumps.


Now, on to knitting. Here's a picture of Iree's yellow mittens. They're done with Microspun and a fuzzy novelty whose name I forget. I've got quite a bit of microspun left (see, under the mitten? that's all microspun), so I'm thinking at least a hat to go with the mittens. Maybe one of the fair isle checked hats.
I'm thinking about casting them on again so I can get a fresh start. It's been awhile since I knitted these, and it's really not very many stitches. They work up very quickly. Thumbs, by the way, are magic.


Here's foot sweater #1, bottom of the picture, and #2, middle of the picture. They're coming along slowly, but they are coming along. Miles and miles of 2x1 rib. I'm only just now to the calf decreases.
You heard right, calf decreases. I want you to know that I love my husband very much and that if we ever should part, I'm finding a female partner to knit socks for. Someone with size 6 feet.



And finally, here's the baby sweater. I'm about three and a half inches in and I start the armholes at five inches. This is also in Sugar & Cream cotton, using Steph's Daisy pattern from Knitty. Like I said before, I'm going to do the snakey one.








Have you noticed yet?
I'll give you a hint, the lovely wood you see is my dining room table.
It's clean.
Not only is my dining room table clean, but I've cleaned up my sewing area in such a way that I could actually do some sewing. I haven't yet replaced the diaper cart for cotton fabric storage, but I did take the casters off and push it up against the wall. It totally looks like I did it on purpose. I'm still going to replace it, but at least now it's no longer hindering my use of the space.
So, on the sewing front, I've worked on one of the Knight puppets a bit and I cut out two dresses for Iris. She's really into dresses right now. Dresses every day (almost). Today she picked out a pink and grey UT outfit with shorts and buttoned up the shirt herself. She said, "I can button anything!" and that she was proud of herself. I'm proud of her, too.
Yesterday, we registered her for kindergarten. They did an assessment test and she did gloriously. She knew all the letters, counted, read, followed directions, wrote her name, and knew her colors. She had some trouble with the picture of the car and is still not convinced that it was a picture of a car. I don't know why, that was kinda weird. She's both nervous and excited, and I think I'm more so. I got a great kid.

Okay, so it's been a bit since I posted. Becky still has my camera, so no pictures today. You'll note by taking a glance at the sidebar that there's been some progress. I've finished Dragonfly's socks and I can't wait to see how they look on her feet! Another pair of socks finished.

The Husband!Socks are in progress again. I finally got the chutzpah to cast on the 2nd sock. I'm about an inch into it and believe me, that's not very far along at all. these are as daunting as any sweater and possibly more so.

Aaaand, speaking of sweaters, I've cast on this very evening a sweater for the as yet unnamed offspring of my sister. It's Steph's Daisy sweater, though I'm making the one with the snakes. It's in Sugar 'n' Cream cotton in a color called Dark Pine. I've got a variegated green that I'm thinking of doing the snakes in. They'll be nifty and stripedy!! I'm going to need more of the green, I can tell from here.

Oh no. Not more yarn. Anything but that.

Anyhow, there's a TCA in progress as well. I'm using up this light blue Red Heart yarn in a crochet pattern called Lacy V. I figure I'll just make blocks 'til I run out of yarn and then either acquire some other complimentary yarn and keep going or sew up what I've got. I made a crocheted washrag for the kitchen (not a Mason/Dixon Warshrag, mind you, but nonetheless very nice). I plan to try out the M/D Warshrag, but haven't yet. They look very nifty.

Since last I posted, I finished one little mitten for Iris and one of Dragonfly's socks. I'm to the heel flap on the second sock and at the ribbing on the second mitten. I really want to start something else and I have a pretty good excuse now. My little sister is pregnant! Yay knitted baby things!
Of course, what to knit? I have a book with booties, bonnets, sweaters, and blankets. I might make one of those, but I also want to do something different.
I'll either find something or come up with something.

I'm almost finished with one of four iris hankercheifs.

I...don't know what to say. I'm still in shock, I think.
I finished it- **finished** done, blocked, and it's now neatly folded in my drawer out of reach of kitties or kiddies. I finished the Mystery Shawl #2.
I'm going to have some ice cream now.
Here's the proof:

Here it is blocking on my bed. I have a Queen sized bed, this shawl is freakin' huge! I was really worried about the tight bound off edge along the neck, and while I'm not pleased that the top edge is so inconsistent, it blocked fine. I would rather liked to have had a consistent edge worked along the top, but what is one to do?







And here is the shawl completely blocked and hanging on my VanGogh print of Cherry Blossoms that my most awesome mom got framed for me.
This is the cleanest place in my house.












note the cat up to mischeif as usual. No, he didn't pull it down, that was an attempt at artful draping. If he had pulled it down, the next finished project you would have seen here would be a lovely grey fur hat.


Also, I finished MladyM's socks! They are perfect sockly twinkies. Which is to say that they match just perfectly. See?
My feet are pretty close in size to the intended feet. These are a bit big on me, so they should be perfect. I'll be mailing them off to Canada just as soon as I can get to the post office.
I hope they fit okay. I really liked working with this yarn and I've got a weee ickle bit left over and I don't know what the frell I should do with it. More pictures of the socks here.


I've started on Dragonfly's socks (formerly known as Wintermoon) and they are going very quickly. I thought I would try the eye of the partridge heel, 'cause it looks neat and I've not done it before. I wasn't sure how it would look with the self-striping yarn, but it turned out just fine. (...goes to take picture...)
(...returns from taking picture) Well, as you can see, the heel flap turned out fine. I think I like how that looks even better. There's also a little preview of the picot edge for the cuff. I figured that since they were short socks, they needed something other than ribbing.
The thing in the background is a glasses case I made for myself because I suddenly needed one. I've got contacts now. While I wish they were the kind of contacts that could get me a job (I'm looking for one this summer), they are not. They are, however, the kind that I poke into my eyeball so I don't have to wear glasses. It's weird to just see my face in the mirror. I haven't seen that since 5th grade and I look a bit different. I like it. I can wear sunglasses that cost me all of a dollar ten cents.

I must tell you something. I had just finished the vinyard socks the day or so before I finished the MS#2. When I finished the shawl, I had nothing on my needles for five, maybe ten minutes. It was weird, let me tell ya. As it is, I've only got Dragonfly's socks on the needles right now. The second foot sweater isn't cast on yet and I've not got the pattern for the flower basket shawl yet either. I'm considering getting something from the stash and just casting something on. A hat? A scarf?
Can't be having one project at a time, now can we?

Summer is for Socks

Do you know why Summer is for Socks?
Because it's hot. Really, really hot. In fact right very now it's 34*. That's 34*C. It's 94*F and, just to round things out a bit, it's 307*Kelvin. Really freaking hot.
A sweater is going to lay on your lap like an evil sheep that wants to cuddle you 'til you pass out from heat exhaustioun. Afghans are right out - evil *HERD* of sheep, plus the sheepdog and shepherd. I'm finishing up TDS, I'm only fourteen or so repeats away from casting off and I am so done. Sweat + wool = sad. It's going to be a very nice shawl. Iris says I should give it to her Granny, but I'm not sure.
"Here, mom, I made you this grey lace shawl. Isn't it pretty? Now you can really look like an old lady!"
Umm, no.
I may be wrong. It's been known to happen. I'll have to ask and see how she feels about it. Can I be sneaky about it? Is she going to read this blog? Only time will tell! Tune in next time for...
pictures?
maybe?

Long time no post. I've kind of had a week and everything is just thrown off kilter. I haven't done a whole lot of knitting this week (due to off-kilterness) but I did get a hankercheif finished in memory of my friend who passed away last sunday. I started on another one and my goal is to make four for the four sisters who lost their dad.
I'm making progress on the Mystery shawl #2. I've turned the corner and now I'm on the home stretch. Me and Becky are just about in the same place now. We have a quart of Ben & Jerry's each in mind for when we finished. Cherry Garcia for me, something involving peanut butter for her. For all the cussing and frustration and whatnot, it's going to be a beautiful shawl that I'm never knitting again.
MladyM's socks are nearly done. I really like how they're turning out and I'm going to try to get a picture of them before I mail them out. I'm at the gussett of sock #2 and nearly done with that, so I'm very almost at the catfish puppet stage.
About a week ago, I went to the Knaughty Knitter and picked up some stuff so that I can teach myself how to spin. I'm certain that it's not the most wonderful, consistent, perfect string in the whole world, but I took the fluff, made it go roundy-roundy, and now it is string. My plan is to keep spinning until I feel like there's enough on the spindle, then do it again and ply. Whee!
I like spinning. Spinning is cool. I make string.

Okay, still no pictures. Man, do I need to get my camera back.
So, I've been a bit distracted by life happening around me. I'm kind of at a zen place with it all now. But, anyhow, on to adventures in string.

(looks at shawl) Yep, I feel like I've got about 20% of the whole thing to go. I'm one pattern repeat past the middle and if I bust arse on it, I could have it done by... July? Maybe? I'm loathe to set an actual finish date because I don't actually know how long it's going to take me. I'm certainly going to be doing the happy dance of joy when I finally do finish. As an additional motivator, the only other thing I'm working on is a pair of socks. When I finish those (and that should be soonish, I'm on sock#2), I've got another pair for someone not me and then it's on to a pair for me or else to finish the Husband!foot-sweaters. We'll see how adventurous I'm feeling. Anyhow, only shawl and sock until shawl is done. When sock is done, sock gets cast on. Then another sock, then another. Such is the way of sock-knitting. After this pair, I'm going to try toe-up ala Wendy Knits.
In the meantime, I plan to re-chart the fair isle for Iree's cardigan. I may even move the needles a size or so up, I don't know.

Still no pictures. My sister has my camera 'cause I, like the dork I am, forgot to get it back from her after we got back from Eden's birthday party. Lots of birthday pics, and a pic of the current sock-in-progress ala Harlot.
But, there is progress to be had. Check the sidebar.
The bridesmaid's dress is **DONE**
She liked it, it fits, it looks great, and she gave me pennies.
Didja get that last part? She gave me pennies.
Sock #1 of 2 of MladyM's socks is done. 2nd sock is cast on.
The Husband socks are stagnant because I can't get any more of the Essential in black until June. I've finished the 1st sock and I have two skeins for sock #2, but I know that it's going to take more than that. I have a third skein that I was considering for another sock, so I'm thinking I may weigh it and split the skein.
Bored now. I need encouragement. I need to work on MS#2 (aka T.hat D.ang S.hawl). Perhaps with that as the at home project and the MladyM socks as the while I'm out project, I'll get them both done. What I don't need is to start something new and different and shiny.
Time to work on TDS.

Okay, so no pictures today, but a lot of update. The MladyM socks have suffered a major setback. My working gauge was 3/4 a stitch off, making it waaaay too wide. It was bad. I ripped the whole thing back. Monday I thought that I had put in a size 2 amongst the 1's, but it turns out not to be the case. I just had a looser working gauge. I'm about six stripes into it rather than being almost done with the first sock. No worries. It's only a sock.

No real progress on the MS#2 because of the sock issues.

But I cut out the bridesmaid's dress today. I had thought at first that the wedding to which this was to be worn was at the end of the month, but it turns out that I have a week to finish. Hence the busting arse on it today. I want to get some of it sewn tonight, but I'm going to have to read and reread the pattern to make sure I'm doing it right. It's a sleeveless thing with a shaped bodice and boning. The skirt will be easy-peasy; it's two pieces. The bodice is a bit more fussy and I want to approach it with caution. At least there are no weird sleeves.

Na'ama's skirt is being mailed right very now. It's a week later than I had planned, but it's on its way to its owner. She sent me popovers as part of my payment. I asked for something you can't find here in town and she sent a box full of these wonderful pastries that are hollow in the middle and just want for fruit and cream or something to fill them. They came with apple butter. The label read "Ingredients: Apples. That's it!" Amazing how good food is when it doesn't have all that extra crap in it.

So, I've been making progress on my Mystery Shawl #2. Go me.
I'm about halfway to the center mark and I seem to be moving along rather quickly. I'm doing four, five, maybe more pattern repeats per day. Each pattern repeat (for the MS#2 uninitiated) is one of the ickle triangles there on the edge. I suspect that I'll peter out somewhere in the middle part of this clue, but if I keep going at this rate, I should be done *before* Ragnarok.











So, to take the edge off, I did a gauge swatch for a potential Iris sweater. I like how the colors worked out and how it's all chromatic (and Iris likes that part too), but I'm going to have to re-work the chart so that it's...less, no, more, erm...something. Well, I'm going to have to rework the chart. I'm really liking the fair isle greek key theme and I may just do that all over or switch between two different fair isle keys (the other one is in the yellow and green, so you can't see it very well). The gauge is alright. I used #6 straights with MicroSpun that Becky gave me in trade.

Pictures, as promised!

First, Na'ama's skirt:







And here are the hankies I've been working on:

Look!! Over there! In the sidebar!
I finished the pants>skirt, I'm ripping the doily, and I finished the sun hanky. It's sister hanky the moon one is about halfway done. I just have to do the hems.
Pictures forthcoming (My camera is still at A Woolly Discipline)

SQUEE!

I'm making progress, but I'm entirely too distracted by too many things. I worked on Na'ama's skirt today and I got the front panel sewn on and patches sewn down. All I have left is one patch and the back panel, but I'm also going to put rear pockets on, so I've got to cut those and sew them on. That shouldn't take too terribly much effort. It looks mostly done and I'm moving forward, so that's good.
The MladyM socks are progressing nicely as well. I had totally frelled up the gusset and had to rip it back, but now I'm at the foot and less than two inches away from the toe decreases. I'm very nervous about this because I've never even clapped eyes on these feet and I hope all to goodness that they fit. My plan thus far is to mail the first sock out to see if it fits, and if it doesn't, have her send it back so I can either rip it out and do it again or make up an entirely new sock.
I've also got some new handkerchiefs going on. Currently, I'm working on one with a sun design and it's going pretty quickly. I've got another one that I've drawn a moon design on to go with the sun one, so maybe I can sell them as a pair. I've got two more butterflies, and one that's a geometric design. I think I've got another one in there, but I forget.
I even worked on the MS#2 a bit. I haven't got far on it, but I did a little. The random doily is sitting inside the book with the pattern. No progress on that.
No pictures today. I'm hoping that I can finish something soonish because my finish list is looking pathetic.

Done! Next up: MladyM socks.
This line of yarn is being discontinued, so I should totally get some and its brethren.

Progress?

On the Daughter!socks anyhow. I should finish them within the next couple days. I'll be able to cast on the MladyM socks then. One of my goals for tonight is to clean the table really well and cut out the fabric for Na'ama's pants-skirt and maybe work on the patches some more. I have *got* to get that done so I can start on the bridesmaid's dress.
I've had enough beer to feel okay about cutting that lace. Yeah, no problem.
(meep!)

So, I'm having a bit of fabric anxiety. You know when you get a really lovely fabric and you have to take scissors to it, but need to have a lie down at the thought?
Yeah.
I've been working on Na'ama's pants skirt. The fabric she sent me is this goooorgeous eyelet lace tablecloth. My solution is tand am getting ready to transform them into a really coolo work on the patches while I screw my courage to the sticking point about the fabric.


In sock-land, I've finished one of the Daughter!socks and started the second. They're in Knitpick's Dancing, Ballet. There it is, right next to the pansies and on top of the catnip.
I've swatched for MladyM's socks and have the measurements, so I can start once I finish the Daughter!socks. They will be in Knitpick's Simple Stripes, Vineyard than you can see in the picture and soft as a baby's behind. These are going to be really nice socks.. The yarn is more beautiful She's trading me some hand made Christmachanuyule cards for them and they are going to be *ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS* She's even making some different ones for Yule, some for Christmas, and some for Chanukah. My holidays are complicated.
So, things are moving along pretty well. I'm only focusing on two projects right now rather than four or five. I do still have that damned shawl to work on, but I've put it on the back burner because I think I'm too stupid for lace right now. Best to get caught up on all the socks. Of course that means that Iree's groovy cool (I hope) cardigan is going to have to wait. I've not even swatched it yet. No worries.

I want to swatch that fair isle I charted. I want it baaaaad. Sooooo baaaaad. It's all Greek and it's going to be rainbowdy and so very cool. I've got to pull it together. I've got to work on the projects I've already got going. Have you seen the sidebar? Have you seen how many things I've got going? That reminds me - I need to add a couple things.

Gods above and below, save me from myself.

Okay, so I've returned from the gathering and guess what - I have another project to do and more yarn to order.
Oh no. Not more yarn. Please Brer Fox, don't throw me into that box full of squashy yarn. Anything but more yarn.
(We must increase our stash, it is our precioussssssss)

Oh, I got Steph's new book. Gods bless that woman. I'm only on chapter three and laughing my ass off. Totally worth it.

Yes, Beck, you can borrow it.

Down to the wire. We're short on Bardic Olympics prizes by maybe one or two.
Hmm...
Embroidery? - too distracted
Knitting? - no time.
a garment to sew? - umm, no.
crochet? - maybe. I've even got a project half done.

Then the inspiration hits. I have a canvas that's been half-painted for the longest time. I couldn't even say how long. So I throw a couple crows onto it (which is what it's been needing) and then stop before I overwork it.
I really like it, it's very cool.
Maybe I shouldn't give it away?
No, I should totally give it away.
I hope it doesn't suck.
What if they're not into crows?
Is this a self portrait? Am I being vain?

...you'll have to forgive me. I get a fair peice more emotional over something I've painted than any of the needle crafts I do. And I'm going through all the "I've just finished a painting" emotions within the space of 20 min rather than drawn out over several days or weeks.






So, yeah. Here's the photographic evidence. I hope the photos do it justice.

One down.

I finished one of the Husband!Socks. He has yet to try it on, but according to my calculations, it should fit perfectly. Here are pictures:













The second picture has my hand there to get an idea of the scale of this sock. It's 72 sts in all, but the yarn is double stranded to make the gauge reasonable. Single stranded would have been over a hundred some-odd stitches per round.
Love in every stitch...and there are lots of stitches.
Perhaps it is just as well that he doesn't want a sweater.

Oh, and knitpicks is out of the yarn until June. I'm going to need two more balls of it before I can finish. So, that's six balls of Knitpicks' Essential. I'll have some left over, but that's alright. I'm good with that. I could make myself at least another pair from the leftovers.

I also finished these for a Bardic Olympics prize:























Both butterflies are native to Tennessee and I have embroidered them as best as I could so that they would be identifiable while you were blowing your nose and looking at butterflies in the wild. 'Cause you might.
One never knows about these things!

As long as everyone remembers to make and/or gets made in time what was promised, we'll be in business. By my count, I think I lack only one prize, but the CoWs may yet surprise me. They usually do and in the most pleasant ways.

So, a quick update.

Iris knit one more row tonight, more or less by herself.

I've made a little progress on the Mystery Shawl and I'm approaching the end of clue 4. I actually have nine more rows to go on this clue.

We got our KnitPicks order today, which means I can make more progress on the Husband!Socks (which I've nicknamed foot-sweaters) and then start on a pair of socks I'm making for a lady. She has size 6 feet, so that will be a fair sight quicker than the Husband!Socks.

I got the materials and measurements for a bridesmaid's dress I'm making for extra pennies.

I'm distracted by random cross-stitching.

I still don't have the fabric I need to finish cutting Miss Kell's cloak that I wanted to have done by now.

I feel some startitis coming on. I think I caught it from Becky

By the by, Thanks to all the CoWs for their booty-kicking efforts in providing prizes for the Bardic Olympics.

I have to brag. Check this out! She's four and a half and knitting. Not to mention reading. She still needs a little help on both, but I am so amazed. I'm going to cry, I think.



















She can only do the knit stitch right now, but this is so amazing to me. She'll sometimes call it cat barfing because of the knitting rhyme we do.

In the front door
Grab your scarf
Go out again
Before the cat barfs

At this point she makes a fake burp sound and giggles. She loves knitting!


She did one row of ten stitches tonight and probably another row tomorrow night. She says she's making a monkey scarf.

Just a shortish post today.
I've started making two embroidered hankies. I did two designs with butterflies that are native to Tennessee. They're pretty cool. One's a southern dogface, one of the sulfurs, and the other is an Appalachian azure. I chose those because of their names and because they're not just monarchs or even zebra swallowtails. Those are very pretty, but not everyone knows these other ones.

I'm making slow progress on the Mystery shawl 2, but it is progress and I only actively hate it when I'm on the part where I have to knit lace on the purl row. I'm actually quite proud of my knitting monogamy, but it's slow going. I want desperately to finish the Husband socks and move on to...smaller socks. I also want to maybe make a fair isle cardigan for my little one. She'd totally be cute in such a thing.

Okay, so today and yesterday we worked on the Ostara quilt and in all our virtue got maybe three or four blocks done each day.
We're not getting it done by Ostara. It is too much. Right now, due to the cessation of usability of one of Becky's captain's chairs, we've had to put it on folding chairs and sit on the floor to quilt. Soooo, we've asked Mr. Carl to make feet for it. It hurts us, precious.
From stem to stern, my right side hurts. Wrist, hip, ankle, and head. This does not make for much quilting at all.
On the upside, Becky finished her contribution to CoW prizes and I think she's going to have another one as well. I'm thinking maybe a set of embroidered hankies 'cause I enjoy doing those.
So, our plan is to set the quilt up for Ostara for to work on and hope we can get it done by Beltaine. It'll be okay.

tired now.
I got three, maybe four rows done on Mystery shawl#2. I want to be done with this...thing. I'm certain it will be lovely except for the places where I frelled up and it looks like poop on string. I've seen poop on string, very nice string, in fact. It's not a pretty sight.
I got one and maybe a quarter of a second block quilted on the quilt that CoW is doing for Ostara and I am so done with that quilt. It too will be lovely when it's finished, and I've got others doing this with me, but we have little time and much to do.
I did manage to wrangle a Bardic Olympics prize out of Herr Jim. That makes...(counts in head) five? Which means we need five more which means oh ye Gods I'm stressing out way too much over this, I think.
I don't even have a birthday present for my sister. Perhaps I should rename the blog "A lame mace is in jest" if just for today. I'm feeling whelmed.
tired now.
(isn't this where we came in?)

Just a short post today. I've added a few things over on the sidebar there, not the least of which is my OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL! Go me!
I've also added a list of items that are currently in progress. woot!

I managed a small paid job yesterday. A lady, a transplant from New York, was hanging out with her sister and her sister's grandbabies at the park yesterday. She had this groovy leather vest with all kinds of Vietnam-related patches on it and she asked if I could sew some on for her. I told her what I charge and hooray! Pennies for me! I'll have to get some more button thread for this kind of thing, but it's totally doable.
I've also got a pair of pants that is going to be a skirt from my friend Na'ama that she's paying me to fix up and a bridesmaid's dress from a friend of my L.A. Bill (that's John's stepdad).
Go me!
I guess it's more mystery shawl today, but I'm okay with that 'cause it needs to get done.