First, big thanks to J. for the dye party yesterday! Whenever I get together with the local knitting gals, I always enjoy myself and this was a terrific afternoon. I brought two balls of Patons Classic wool to dye, but first they needed to be skeined. One was taken over by Jo's daughter (a precocious nine-year-old who spins and knits and knows more about fleece than I ever hope to). She niddy-noddy'ed it whilst I wrestled with the other. Note to self - you suck at skeining. Leave it to those who know. Big thanks to Jo for getting me untangled.
So we did Kool-Aid dying, which is fruit-smelling fun. As per my usual impatient mode with dye things (generally, tie-dye tshirts), I did not make nice stripes, or interesting patterns. I squirted on blue, green, purple, and pink and then smooshed it all in to a kind of muddy mauve. However, it's dry now and rather pretty - I'll take a picture and post it later. I was thinking socks, but now it may become Fuzzy Feet slippers because I think the felting will make the coloration look even better.
Peter's neckwarmer, which I had mentally designed last winter, is now knit up and ready for this winter - I just need to sew on the velcro closure. Basically it's a variation on a triangle shawl - I cast on 20 stitches (Patons classic wool, doubled) on an 8mm needle and knit in 2x2 rib, knit two rows, increase one stitch each end for the next two rows, knit two rows, and so on until it was deep (long) enough, then doubled and redoubled all the ribs (with a few work-even rows interspersed) until it was long (wide) enough to wrap 'round his big ol' manly neck. Only problem is, the ribbing makes it kind of... ruffly. Like an Elizabethan ruff. BUT - I knit it deep (long) enough to actually fold over at the top which pretty much flattens out the ruffle. Anyway it's for warmth not looks. :)
Still working away on Kid's shawl, which she made ooh-ahh noises over this evening - that's my "in the bag" knitting. And slow but steady progress on the blanket - White Buffalo, for our queen-size bed. This may be a long WIP, folks...
Now I have a NPD - New Project Dilemma. I want to make a ribbed/striped scarf for me, to match my new toque. I also want to make a pair of the aforementioned Fuzzy Feet slippers because our floors are very cold and we won't have a furnace for at least another three weeks (grumble). AND I have an idea for a pretty pink scarf for a friend who's gone off to school - it'll be chunky weight, with the Freshisle Fibers softspun held together with a strand of Vespa shiny boucle. Supergirly and super warm. Besides, R. is one of the few people I know over the age of sixteen who actually looks good in soft pink.
So I'm torn three ways - I suppose I could start them all and rotate through them an hour at a time or something. Actually that might be wise because they're all different needle sizes and my hands would like that. I should swatch up the LB Homespun I got today for Sandy's shawl too so she can pick which colourway she likes. Thank heavens there's a long weekend coming up! Although I have course readings to do too... okay, here's the plan: For every hour of reading, I get a half-hour knitting break. That's fair, right? Right.
Pictures later in the week, I promise. I'm not working nights at the store right now so I have more time (yay!) for blogging, and reading, and knitting. Life is good.
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