One more...

Here's one more little sweater...


... for Finn. Finn is about two months old now. He was born on the Summer Solstice and is the second child (but first son) of my friend Kathy, in Wisconsin (who loves green). He's adorable and this sweater ought to fit him perfectly sometime around Christmas.

Knitted from Classic Elite Classic One-Fifty in the color 'ivy', it turned out great and was far less expensive than the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran the pattern called for (I'm not at a place right now where I'm willing to spend $50-60 on a baby sweater which will surely be puked on). Very fun and quick to knit, I'm sure I'll make this one again.



Now, I'm off to find an unfinished sock.

By the skin of my teeth...

... I'm finished with my Must Have Cardigan. It turned out very well, I'm very happy about it and I even finished it before my Ravelympics deadline (apprx. 9:00am tomorrow).

Now I must go. My house looks like crap (it's been neglected since 8/8/08- the start of the Ravelympics) and so do I (I'm very, very behind on my sleep).

As soon as I get the house back into livable conditions it will be time to dive back into the roving. My wheel has been staring at me reproachfully for days.

I'm very much looking forward to fall.

Food is better than wool...

... Well, at least today it is. I'm thinking I'm going to have to stay up late to get the cardigan done. Though I'm nearly to the part where I'm done increasing (about half way done) for the second sleeve and I think I can get it done before bed if I put on a pot of coffee and overindulge (just a little).

I had to take some time away from the knitting to put food back in the house again. So this afternoon my little one and I went to the natural foods store and got the makings for a wonderful dinner. My husband is working late tonight, and though I miss him and wish he didn't have to work so late, I also enjoy the nights he's not home for dinner, because then I get to make things that I really like to eat. I really enjoy eating healthy foods. He doesn't.

So tonight we got to eat this...


Sri Wasano's Infamous Indonesian Rice Salad from the Moosewood Cookbook.



Along with some Gypsy Soup, also from the Moosewood. It was great. Much, much better than knitting the last few inches of the second sleeve on my cardigan. Ha.

Oh, and here's some wool. Some very pretty 70/30 SW Merino/Alpaca sock yarn. I added it to the shop a couple of days ago and forgot to mention it.



More handspun will be on the way as soon as the cardigan is done. Cheers.

Ravelympics 2008

Guilt has set in. I've been doing a terrible job with the blogging lately, but I have been so busy with this....



This is my project for Ravelympics (specifically the WIP Wrestling event) which are during the summer olympics. It's a Paton's Must Have Cardigan. I picked up what I had done so far (which was about 1/3 of the back piece) on the first day of the summer olympics and I've been working on it nearly every day. By the way, when I say working on it, I'm not saying that lightly. When I pick this up and knit, I don't stop for hours. I'd be really sad if I failed to finish this on time. I'm so close.

The picture above was taken just a couple of days into the ravelympics. As of now, I have finished the back, both fronts, and I'm just a few short inches away from finishing the first of two sleeves. I have through Saturday (roughly) to finish it- I think. I've also blocked the back and one of the fronts and tonight, once I finish the first sleeve, I'm going to block that with the front that hasn't been blocked yet. If I cast on for the second sleeve before I go to bed, I think I can probably have it done by Friday afternoon. I've also planned on sewing up the shoulder seams and knitting the collar/buttonband while the last sleeve is blocking to save some time. Then I'll just have to set in the sleeves and finish seaming it up.

I'm not going to give up. I really think I can do this. Admittedly, I want to cry a little whenever I pick up the cardigan to work on it. However, seeing how much has been accomplished in such a short amount of time is amazing. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I now know that I can knock out a sweater in under three weeks. I didn't think I could knit fast enough but now I know the truth: I AM fast enough... I'm just too lazy.

Whoa...

Time warp...

Ever since the new wheel came, I've been spinning...

And spinning...

And spinning.



And this is only about half of what I've done. I think that going without a wheel for what seemed like such a long time has really made its mark on my spinning speed. Thankfully, the new wheel and I are bonding very well (though my plying experiences have been only marginally better than with the Joy, so I know I'm going to be shopping for a WooLee winder very, very soon).

I've been spinning so much lately that today (for once) I don't even really want to look at the wheel. I think if I do anything crafty today, it will be to pick up a baby sweater I've been working on and finish it.

The home-improvements are still crawling along at a snails pace, though Paige is going to be starting all-day Kindergarten (new here in WA state) in just a few short weeks, and then I think things are going to start barrelling right along. Today's agenda includes finding boxes while I'm out running errands so I can pack up the books in the den.

Speaking of which, I'd better be off. I've got to get to the post office early today.