Sydney

Yes, I know, it's been weeks since I posted anything. That's partly because I took a few days off from knitting to do laundry and gardening and housework. And it's partly because my progress has been slow on the projects I have been working on. But I finally have an in-progress picture of my latest: Sydney Claire!  It's about 18 inches long, and I'm planning on making it about 40-45, so I've got a long way to go.

 It's a baby blanket for my newest niece, and it bears her name.  I'm using KP Brava (100% acrylic), which is better than most acrylics I've tried, but still acrylic. Which means it's not among my favorite yarns to work with. But since Sydney's mommy is not a knitter and probably won't have the time for special care fibers, since she has a special needs baby, I decided washability was more important.  Sydney was born almost 7 weeks ago, and just went home from the hospital right before Mother's Day.  She was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome.  She'll have a lot of challenges ahead of her, but she's a fighter. And isn't she adorable??

My brother Steve and his wife Mandy are so happy to finally have their little bear cub(they're huge Chicago Bears fans) home! I've got to get this blanket done pronto, so I can go meet her!

Olympics are over...what to do? what to do?

I haven't knit a stitch since Saturday, when I finished my Olympic project. I spent Sunday afternoon moving furniture. Hubby had helped a friend move on Saturday, and in exchange for his help he was given a large TV, a small TV with VCR, and a HUGE entertainment center to hold the big TV. Some of our neighbors(big, burly men) helped Hubby put the new-to-us entertainment center in place in our family room. Then Hubby and I put the entertainment center that had been in the family room...in the bedroom, to hold the TV that we had in there. Then Hubby took a nap. He wasn't feeling well; I think he picked up a cold somewhere. While he took a nap, I moved the old entertainment center that had been in the bedroom....out of the bedroom, through the family room, down the hall, UP THE STAIRS, down another hall...to the playroom, to hold the small TV that Hubby's friend had given us. And when I say that I did it, that's exactly what I mean. I did it, by myself! I am woman, hear me roar! That thing was heavy, for this little, out-of-shape woman. But I did it. I was surprised that my bumping up the stairs didn't wake Hubby...I guess Dayquil isn't as "non-drowsy" as the commercials would have you believe. My muscles were incredibly sore yesterday as a result of my efforts. But I got that darned thing up the stairs! (I'm still pretty proud of myself)

On Monday, I was chatting online with my friends, who are also conservative knitters. We like to bounce ideas off of each other and encourage each other. After some discussion, I was encouraged to frog a project that had been hibernating for a year. It was a top-down raglan v-neck cardigan, with columns of cables all around the waist. I still love the design, and intend to remake it sometime, but with better yarn. You see, I had bought this yarn before I really knew the difference between inexpensive(cheap) acrylic, and good wool. I hate working with acrylic now, which is why this has been languishing in my hibernating-projects bin for over a year. Also, it wouldn't quite fit me now anyway. After some debating with myself and my friends, I decided I wasn't going to finish it in this yarn. So I took a picture, so I'd remember how it looked, then I took out the needles and began frogging. (For any non-knitters who may be reading, "frogging" refers to the ripping-out mantra: "rip-it, rip-it") Here's the "before" picture...

Sorry, I didn't take an after picture, but when I was done, I ended up with three liberated needles, and two balls of red acrylic yarn. It would have been three balls, but the third one got all tangled up when I was taking it off the winder, and after wrestling with it for a little while, I gave up and chucked it. I didn't need that third ball anyway. I gave the yarn to Angel, who promptly asked me to cast on 18 stitches for her. Then she knit one row and got bored and ran off to do something else. Go figure.

Anyway, I decided that the other five skeins of this yarn, which were unused, would go on Ebay. Then, having made that decision, I went and dug through my stash for more yarn I could sell, giving my friends fits of giggles in the process. You see, I found a huge bag of yarn I'd picked up at a thrift shop, when I was a brand-new knitter. It was also acrylic, and not very soft. There were 32 skeins of this yarn, all one color, all the same dyelot. I don't know what I was thinking, buying that yarn. So it went into the put-on-ebay bin, separated into two smaller bags of 16 skeins each. Then I asked my friends if they wanted to hear the really funny part. Between LOLs and hahahas, they said yes, so I told them: I have 16 skeins of this yarn in another color! What was I thinking?!? Anyway, all of that icky acrylic went into the bin, and I found a few other yarns that I was tired of, so they went into the bin as well. I got pictures taken, and the listings written up, but didn't put them on ebay last night. This morning, I got an email saying that listing fees were 50% off just today! Woohoo! So I'm off to put all that yarn on ebay now.

Maybe I'll get some knitting time today...