A busy week

Last week began with a birthday. Can you believe my baby turned one already? The precocious little guy has been walking since Memorial Day weekend so we're in full toddler mode now.


The big knitting event of the week was that I finally finished all the knitting for the Estes Vest. Here it is blocking.
All it needs now are buttons. I had some difficulty finding toggle buttons. Neither of my local yarn stores had the kind I wanted. I was directed to the local fabric store, which is sadly going out of business, but they did have nice wooden toggles. The one positive of the store closing is that everything is on sale and I got 7 toggles (one extra) for about $3. They weren't the right color (too pale), but I'm experimenting with some tea staining.

before

soaking in tea

We'll see how it goes. As soon as the vest is dry and the buttons are on, I'll post again. I've been wishing it were finished already during all these cool rainy days so you can expect summer to truly begin in the Northeast as soon as it is finished.

Happy Memorial Day!

Of course, around here in western Massachusetts, Memorial Day weekend means the MA Sheep and Woolcraft Fair. The family and I headed over yesterday for a couple of hours. We all were very excited to see the sheepdog competition. We also spent lots of time watching our wool producing friends.

I seriously do not need any more yarn right now, but of course I couldn't resist this:It's from Sojourner Design.

I think I mentioned before that I've been going to a knitting group that meets on Wednesday nights. My most portable project was the Elizabeth Zimmermann mystery blanket squares (started last summer). Well, knitting this project regularly paid off and I now have the needed 24 squares.
The next step is to weave them all together. Sadly, the project is no longer portable, but I did manage to weave 8 squares together already. A third of the way there!

Ravelry is not a toy!

This adorable 3-year-old boy happens to be a computer menace. He already has mastered the mouse and has recently graduated from the Jump Start toddler computer game to the preschool version. I just discovered that on Sunday night, shortly after returning home from a weekend trip, Owen found himself not being watched by his distracted parents for a few minutes and managed to LOG ONTO MY RAVELRY ACCOUNT. It appears he left a few blank comments and messed with my queue. I just had to delete a few items and the order is all different. GAH!
I think that is all he did before being discovered but let me apologize if you happened to be the recipient of a blank comment from me. That'll teach me to save passwords on the computer. Sheesh.

Striped socks

I finished these socks just in time for a heatwave. I only put them on for the picture.
Pattern: Sock Recipe: A Good, Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, colorway 4253
Needles: size 2
Thoughts: Self-striping yarns are so much fun to work with, but the results leave me feeling a bit disappointed. Certainly I'll wear them, but on the whole I prefer solid or mostly solid sock yarns. The Yarn Harlot's recipe is great since it really made me think about the construction of a sock. I'm especially proud of the heel I did this time.

Bad Spot!

Last night I was reading, for the umpteenth billion time, Happy Birthday, Spot by Eric Hill, one of the many sequels to Where's Spot? There is always one page that really annoys me in this book and I decided to share it with you.



Do you see what it is? Why is the yarn ball not attached to the knitting? Is it just sloppy illustrating or did that rambunctious Spot just break the yarn? I always wonder about this and either answer is upsetting.

Project update

Sorry for the long absence, but I haven't finished anything in a while.

For those of you who guessed that I was starting the Estes Vest from IK Fall 2008, you were correct! Unfortunately, I haven't gotten very far. Lately I haven't felt like knitting anything that requires much concentration.
I have been working a lot of the mystery blanket that I started last summer. I only have 4 more squares to knit before the weaving begins. My progress is largely due to a Wednesday night knitting group that just started (thanks Annie!). I will finish it in time for next winter, if only to keep my husband from complaining about how cold he is while sitting on the couch.

However, all my works in progress might have to be dropped because I just got home from my LYS, which is having an anniversary sale.
I'm afraid most of what is in that bag is a secret for now, but I can show you this:
I'm super excited to knit the Vintage Vest.

New bag

Pattern: Felted Tote Bag from Hip to Knit by Judith L. Swartz
Yarn: Cascade 220 (the orange and beige were new, the blue from the stash)
Needles: US 8
Thoughts: Felting is so fun! I'm eager to try it again.



Already the new bag is being put to good use. Can you guess what my next project will be? (Hint the yarn is the one called for in the pattern and I even chose the same color as the sample. Boring, I know, but you can't mess with a good thing).