Insert Witty Title Here

It is really easy to get out of the habit of posting! My first excuse is that it was my Mom's birthday last week and we were too busy partying for me to even consider posting! (Mom, stop snickering or I'll tell everyone how old you are!)

Then there was work, lots and lots of work. Spring is definitely on it's way! No, really, it is.

I also ended up having to take the kid clothes shopping. It would have been nice if she could have waited a few more months, when she'll be in shorts and t-shirts, to have a growth spurt, but "Nooooooo". She had to go and shoot up what looks like three inches in a couple of weeks. And she's suddenly discovered skirts and dresses! If she doesn't watch it she might end up being a "girly-girl" after all.

But I have also managed to get in a fair amount of fiber fun. First I need to show pictures of the vest that I made a few weeks ago. (Yes, I finally got around to taking pictures of it!)


This was a really fun project! Because it was done in squares it just seemed to go up really fast. And by the time I was sick of doing squares, it was time to do the angels on the neck and armholes.


The only thing I don't like about it is that the armholes are too deep. But it should be easy enough to pull them in at the bottom without throwing off how the vest hangs.

I spent the past week diving into my "Finish it or reclaim the yarn" container. Two sweaters are now piles of yarn waiting to have the kinks soaked out of them, and two other sweaters are marked to get the same treatment. These were sweaters that I started for the kid over the last few years and never finished. Finishing them now would be pointless because they wouldn't fit her anymore, even if I could find the patterns! (I have since learned, if you put a project aside, make sure that a copy of the pattern and all the notes that I've made go with it!)

One of the old projects I yanked from the box I *did* actually manage to finish! This sweater was a one-sleeve wonder for at least a year. I don't know why. Some sort of weird knitting angst. But I've been thinking that I wanted a heavier weight sweater to wear, instead of feeling like I needed to wear a coat all the time. So I applied myself during the day yesterday and knit my butt off. Fortunately what I had done on the right sleeve was easy enough to 'read' so I was able to copy it on the left. (No, I don't know where the pattern is!)


The buttons were put on while watching The Incredibles last night.

Of course I had 9 button holes, and only 8 buttons that matched! So the top button is different, and slightly too large for the hole. I doubt that I'll be buttoning that one very often anyway.

The original pattern was the free neck-down raglan pattern from
SpinCraft Patterns that I downloaded a while ago. (I have gone on and bought several of their patterns since then. I really, really like them!)

So that's been my life the past week of so. I've also been knitting socks and am close to finishing my first pair in...well...a while. I'm also going to continue my dyeing experiments with some Lion Brand
Fishermen's Wool that has been hanging around in my stash. It has a slightly yellow cast to it, instead of being a pure white, so it will be interesting to see what a difference that will make in the colors when it's dyed.

Hooray! My family just came in from being out in the world, and they brought coffee with them! Hooray!

Funny Kid

(As the small one was walking down the hall to the bus stop)

"I Love you!"
"I Love you too, bunny!"
"I love you more than dragons!"
"I love you more than knitting!"
"And camera's?"
"More than knitting and camera's combined."
"...Whoa...That's a lot!"

The vest is finished! And I am much happier with it than I thought I would be. I do see one thing that I feel like I need to 'fix' on it, but it's nothing major. (I really should learn not to judge my work before it's completely finished.)

I'll have pictures soon! I need to wash it first. You see, the cat has decided that he likes it too, and managed to shed almost every light colored piece of fur on his rather large body all over it!

Completion Issues

*sigh*

I am "thisclose" to finishing the vest that I've been working on. Just four more knit squares and I can sew it together, put on the edging, give it a quick wash, and it'll be good to go.

But I am having a really, really hard time with it for some reason. I mean, I feel dumb to be experiencing such angst over a vest. It is different from anything I've done before, but that shouldn't bother me. I'm just afraid of people looking at it and saying (with "that" tone of voice, you know the one I mean, right?): "Oh...you made that?" Like when you call modern art interesting, because you really don't like it but don't know what else to say?

Or maybe I'm just being moody and irrational because I'm afraid of looking like a tank in a circus tent. Or it's that time of the month. Or I need chocolate.

*sigh*

1, 2, 3

The yarn a-soakin'


The tools

(I used the handles of the ice tea spoons for mixing the dyes)

The results

The two on the left are OK. The bluish/redish skein was done with purple. Once again I'm surprised by how well it took in some spots, but not in others.

The two on the right...I'm less that happy with. The red was just 'red', but the color didn't take well at all! It's just so blah. I tried putting some blue in spots, aiming for a lilac color, with very moderate success. The green, which is a mix of the yellow (orange) and blue, I am trying to convince myself is a "fern" color. Actually, it's just butt ugly. I think that eventually I'll just give them a bath in blue and see what happens then.

I can't believe that we're home having another snow day today! At this rate the kid's going to be going to school until July!