Been away from the blog

These few past weeks have been busy ones so I haven't been blogging. Firstly, I had a dress to finish for a Valley Division meeting in Gettysburg, and it did take me awhile with the ruched trim on the skirt and all. I absolutely hate this picture, I don't like bonnets (though it is called for at my age and with the day dress), and think I look horrible in them, and make up isn't period correct so I have none on which makes things worse. The fabric for the dress was beautiful on the bolt but I just don't think it's becoming in a dress whatsoever. It tends to accentuate any wideness, and as you'all know I've been doing weight watchers the last month and have been fairly successful, so seeing myself in this dress really makes me feel like a whale! And though that Civil War fashions are very short waisted by design, I think the next time I wear the dress I'm going to use a light blue belt, the gold one matches the buttons and the pattern (there are little yellow berries on the print) but I think it's too abrupt of a color change. True, CW fashion sensibility calls for huge contrast, not matching, but I live in the 21st century so I have to work with what's correct as well as what I think looks ok. I'll wait until I've lost a bit more before I decide if I'm going to keep the dress or not, after all that work on the thing, I hate to not wear it at least a few times before I put it up on ebay.

The 3 kids also keep us busy, I just had to rescue Rosie the Calico from behind and between two bookcases. I came home from work (oh yeah, I'm flying a full schedule again) and couldn't find her but I could sure hear her wails of distress because she was trapped! She's become quite the acrobat but she doesn't always make the leaps she's attempting! Grace still isn't "playing well with others" and there are fights going on pretty intermittently. Thankfully nobody seems to be getting hurt. Here's Belle trying to figure out how to drink the water out of this glass, even though she has a water fountain just for cats on the floor right below where she's standing. I guess doing the obvious and simple thing just isn't any fun.

I've been feeling better after getting off some medication for my ears and sinuses that had been affecting my moods and how I was feeling. I didn't feel like doing much at all, but managed to sew a bit. Now I'm back to knitting too, and this scarf was one that I made in the last few weeks. It's a 2 ply of my own handspun, one ply is a light grey CVM and the other is a yummy chocolate CVM (California Variegated Mutant sheep breed) from fleeces I've bought from Myrtle Dow of Black Pines Sheep in Colorado. This fiber is very spongy and springy and has a nice feel. I did the scarf in seed or star stitch and it goes well with the brown down jacket that hubby bought me for Christmas. I have plenty of fiber left, so I was thinking about doing solid grey and solid brown as well as more of the heathered ply for maybe a fair-isles hat. But that's in the future as I have plenty yarn in my stash to keep me busy for a very long time until I get around to spinning again.

I just finished this pair of socks a little while ago this morning. My dear friend Lorraine got me two skeins of this fantastic sock yarn about 15 months ago and though I started both skeins, I put the socks away because I didn't like the pattern I was using so much. I just took out a bunch of unfinished projects that I'd stashed all around the house, refound the socks, ripped out the area I didn't like and started again. I've been taking the socks to work to knit on when I'm sitting between flights and actually finished both socks in about 2 1/2 weeks. This one is called "Pirate's Booty" and you'll see that the yarn looked nothing like the finished project! The yarn is from "Socks that Rock" at Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and I just love it! I'd never gotten the opportunity to fondle any of the STR yarn in person, just read about it on blogs and looked at it on their website, in person it's really nice yarn, kind of similar to my beloved Koigu. And though the color choice was a little brighter than I usually am attracted to, I got intrigued by the way the colors repeated and grew to love it more and more as I worked with it. Judging from the way they turned out, I think the choice was perfect!

As is true with most of my hand knit socks, these are fraternal, not identical twins. I was surprised at just how different the two ended up because I was careful to start at the same place in the repeat. I guess I'll just chock it up to the differences in hand dyed yarns. I think having them be just a little different is kind of fun anyway. The other skein that my friend gave me is called "Purple Rain" and I have one sock done down to where the heal flap starts. It'll be the next portable project and it's already in it's traveling bag in my purse.

I also was overjoyed to actually get a spot in the 2009 "Socks that Rock" club, I'd tried for several years to join but there were never any spots left. I got an email response letting me know that I could get a spot for 2009 and that would entitle me to future years if I wanted. I will expect the January package in the next couple of weeks and will post what that looks like. The club sends a new project every 2 months, so I will have to see if I can get it done before March comes along. Since there are discussions on the blog for the projects, I will start March's when it comes so that I don't get behind, but I'll have to work on January's to get caught up. I can't wait! The patterns are usually more difficult than the easy and simple one I used on these so I might have my comfort zone pushed but that's ok. I want to improve and learn.

In the meantime, I "refound" this skein of chunky Noru that was in my stash. There are only 120 meters on this ball and I don't seem to have another skein or ball anywhere...any suggestions? I was thinking of weaving a narrow scarf but I don't know if that would be enough with the loom waste and all. Maybe I'll just wait and work on my other pair of socks and hope that I think of something. :) It's really thick and bulky so if I knit it, I'm going to have to use tree sized needles...still not sure what to use it for.