No, I haven't given up knitting, just blogging for a while. But I'm back now and we'll see how it goes.

Unfortunately, much of what I am working on is a secret, but I do have some finished projects to show.

First there were the babies born this summer. I knit the socks using leftover sock yarn from my stash (baby socks are so great for that!) and the basic toe-up pattern that I've used so many times before.


Then I finished my first Christmas present: felted tiger slippers for Owen.
I'm so excited to see these on his feet! Project details on
Ravelry


Finally, I have to share some Halloween pictures.
Here is Owen the ghost. I'm really proud of how awesome this costume came out. There was no knitting involved and minimal sewing, but he looked so cool.
Nathaniel wore the EZ Tomten cat costume I made for Owen 2 years ago.
Oh, and I quickly knit up a Hallowig for myself using leftover Valley Superwash.

Cabled vest

I actually finished this a couple weeks ago, but my husband, aka the photographer, was in France on a business trip. Then we were on vacation for a week and, no, I did not bring the lovely woolly vest with me to the beach.

Pattern: Estes Vest from IK Fall 2008, 36"
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky, tahiti teal
Needles: US 9 and 7
Mods: I lengthened it by one pattern repeat
Thoughts: I'm really happy with how it came out. It was the first time I ever did I-cord edging and I really like the way it looks. It went faster than I was expecting it to as well. The button staining was successful, too.

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.