Comfort

Shockingly, this last week I haven't done as much fibery stuff, but I did manage to spin up half of the Corriedale "Comfort" with sleeping Tater on my lap. I have eight ounces of one dye lot and eight ounces of another, so I decided to ply the two dye lots together. I was nervous about how the yarn would turn out, but I am pleased. The top bobbin is one dye lot and the bottom bobbin is the other. I think the yarn will look great as the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket and will be very fun to knit up. I am probably going to be a little short on the yardage by 100 yards or so, but hopefully I can just shorten the sleeves a bit or even reduced the waistline a bit because it does have a lot of swing.



I never expounded on my fun trip to Cornish, Utah at the beginning of May. I took the two hour trip with my mom and my good friend Cyndi. Upon arrival we handed over out potluck dishes (Cyndi made these delicious chocolate truffles) and set up our spots. I did some spinning and was able to finish up the "Hidden Canyon" BFL that was so wonderful to spin. It will probably become socks eventually, but I haven't decided that yet. I needed something new to spin, since I own no other fiber at home--ha! ha! I ended up buying almost sixteen ounces of wonderful Romney roving, eight ounces in a creamy light brown color and eight ounces in a darker chocolaty brown. Num! I am thinking they will end up either as Fiona Ellis' "Evolving Traditions" or Annie Modesitt's "Cable Colorwork Cardigan." I also participated in the skirting scramble. Between my mother and I we collected quite a bit of wool. I had it cleaned and carded by Spinderella's Creations and it turned out awesome. I can't wait to spin it. Some of it will hopefully end up as an "Elinor Tunic" from Interweave Knits Summer 2008 issue, along with some guild dye exchange yarn from this year and last (see photo.)

Last, I had to throw in this cute picture of Little Peep having a tea party with her new doll by Jessica, which we named Zoe after her hoped for little sister. She's okay with Tater, but still wants her Zoe. After the scariness of Tater's birth and the trauma I experience while pregnant, I feel like my heart is breaking, but I don't think there will be a Zoe. It's not a decision I have to make right now, but it is one that still nags at my heart and one I wish I felt at peace about. I have a feeling, though, that the irony of life dictates a next child would be another boy and then where would Little Peep be?

Mother's Day

I had a pretty exciting Mother's Day weekend. First of all my husband put this wonderful porch swing up for me and I love it. It makes a great disply for the completed Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole too. The stole went very quickly, but that is probably because I spun the yarn bulky weight. I actually didn't have enought yarn to make the stole as long as the pattern said, even though I did do enough repeats. Gauge. Gauge. Gauge. It fits great around Little Peep and it makes a cozy blanket of sorts. Plus, it is very pretty to look at.

This was my other Mother's Day gift. Tater came two weeks early and even though he is really small, I am very glad he arrived safely. Little Peep is pretty excited about him. Chugsworth is a little less enamored, but still curious.

Crossing Fingers

I am crossing my fingers that my brother-in-law doesn't read my blog. I don't think I have to cross them very hard, though. I just really wanted to post his wedding present, instead of waiting until the end of July, because I am so pleased with how it turned out. Well, there will actually be two of them, but I've only finished his so far. I thought I would make his the experimental first one and his fiance's the usually slightly better second one. See, my brother-in-law served an LDS mission in Estonia and when he was here for Christmas last year he didn't really have a stocking. When I saw Nancy Bush's pattern for "Holiday Stockings to Knit" in Piecework Magazine's Nov/Dec 2007 issue, based on Estonian color work, I knew I needed to make him one. Then he became engaged a couple weeks ago to a very nice woman who I thought would appreciate my Estonian knitting efforts too. I don't know her really well, but I'm having fun making them at least. It's hard to believe they wouldn't like them. Personally, I think there is something very romantic about Christmas stockings for a wedding present, but maybe I'm just weird. I double-knit the name on the other side just below the colorwork.

I chose to use Forest Green Heather Lion Brand Wool-ease and I bought some cream and red Plymouth Encore (both acrylic/wool blends) instead of the Dale of Norway Tuir yarn called for in the pattern. I did this because I didn't want them to be made of high-maintenance pure protein fiber (Tuir is a mohair/wool blend). I didn't want to do all that work only to find out that the stockings were dinner for moths two years later. Plus, Encore is really nice to knit with and I thought it was a good compromise. Also, Tuir is more DK (double-knitting) weight, so the finished dimensions in the pattern were 12" around and 12" long. I think that is a little small for a Christmas stocking. By using worsted weight yarn and larger needles instead, these ones are 14" around and 16" long.

For especially Rachel's viewing pleasure, here are my mom's Koigu Dragon Socks for her September birthday. She has already tried them on, so I don't need to wait to post them. The little green blob is my attempt to double knit a small dragon above the heel because my mom really likes dragons. It turned out okay. She says she likes them at least. This was an experiment anyway because normally my mom can't stand hand knit socks. The little purl bumps bug her feet (which I find ironic since the bottoms of her feet are practically leather from all her bare-footed wanderings. She's not a big fan of shoes. I know where I got that tendency from. I love socks too, though. Maybe I got that from my dad, who is big into slippers and socks.) We'll see if the very nice Koigu sock yarn will be comfortable enough.