Knitting Musings

Any Time You're Ready, Little Monster...

I have a few more items on my "to-do" list, but mostly I'm just biding my time until the Little Monster decides to come. So I'm chugging along on all of those "it would be nice to finish this up" items on the list.

So that explains why I finally pulled out my long-neglected Alpine Lace Scarf, which has sat in "I'm bored" time-out for probably the better part of a year. After a few false starts while trying to figure out where I was in the pattern, I'm moving right along - I have a couple more repeats of the center motif, and then the bottom border. Who knows - maybe I'll manage to get this cast off before the Little Monster puts it into another extended hiatus!

I also spent some time this weekend preparing some undyed yarn for the dye pot... I had some expert help with the skein-winding process.

But despite the over-enthusiastic helper, I did manage to get all of the yarn wound... that's a bunch of Blue Faced Leicester worsted weight that may become a February Lady, or may become a basic raglan (depending on the results of my over-dye job today), and sock yarn for 5 pairs of socks for S, who has been wearing out his older socks at an alarming rate. I guess they all reached their expiration date about the same time!

I took advantage of the 66 degree weather yesterday and was able to set up the drying rack outside. I was also able to dye on the screen porch with plenty of ventilation, and only used the liquid dye stocks I had made up previously, so there was very little danger of me inhaling any particles. Plus, between the mask, the glasses, the gloves, and the apron, I was pretty well covered!

I had intended to do the dyeing this weekend, but I had an unexpectedly long lunch with a few friends on Saturday... lunch that turned into a surprise baby shower! They are VERY VERY sneaky and totally surprised me, even though EVERYONE knew, including my parents and S! It was a blast, and there were even some sneaky knitters in attendance... so now the Little Monster has a Baby Surprise in luscious koigu thanks to the lovely Elspeth! It may suck for the Little Monster to have a birthday right around Christmas, but it is PERFECT timing for all of the extra-cute teensy-tiny little handknits!

I also finished a second little ribbed hat, modeled here by a member of the Little Monster's personal sheep herd (complete with a border collie to keep everything in order!) And see the sheepie on the far left? That was hand-knit by the lovely (and very sneaky) Kati who flew down from Boston to help pull off the entire shower surprise. She thinks the ears are kinda "wonky," but I think they are perfect.

Meanwhile, Cricket has discovered that there are certain advantages to all of this "baby stuff" that keeps getting brought into the house. For example, she got to thoroughly test the warmth of both the blanket I made for the Little Monster out of flannel and fleece, AND the cushioning provided by the changing table pad. Somehow, I doubt she's going to be spending much time in that particular spot once it begins being used for its intended purpose...

Abby, meanwhile, spent the weekend supervising S, chasing squirrels away from the bird feeders, and barking at the various delivery people who keep driving past the house on their way to deliver holiday packages. All of that work makes for a VERY tired doggy who wishes we would turn off that stupid light and let her go to sleep already!