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Playing Catch Up, As Usual

The trouble with waiting so long between posts is that there's too much to say so consequently I don't say anything.  As I go through my week, I take photos and write posts in my head.  Unfortunately, the ones I really like go to a quick Instagram post and never make it here.  Every so often someone (my sister today) will check my blog and let me know that it's way behind.  So here I go trying to catch up again.

The last post showed my newly spun blue and white yarn.  That yarn quickly turned into this pair of socks.  Knitting socks with handspun usually goes quickly since it tends to be a little thicker than commercial fingering weight yarn.  I'm happy with them.  I just did a regular vanilla sock with a Fish Lips Kiss heel.  I made these toe up to make sure I had enough yarn and reinforced my dislike of toe up sock knitting.



While we're talking about spinning, I spun a batt that I bought at Stitches West last year.  I separated out all of the colors and spun it as a gradient two ply.  It came out pretty fine; I got over 500 yards from 3 ounces of fiber.  And it's sparkly!


I've started making a shawl; A Certain Slant by Susan Ashcroft.  It's easy and the size can be made to fit any weight or amount of yarn.



I've taken a little break from baby knitting.  I went home in mid February for the shower and delivered all my gifts.  Since they're no longer secret, I'll give them their 5 minutes of fame.

Chevron blanket:  For an easy pattern I sure managed to mess it up a lot.  It came out very bright and soft, though, and is a good size for carseat or stroller.



Gramps sweater:  This is the cutest thing.  I only had one skein of the green yarn and a partial of the off-white, so I left off the pockets and elbow patches.  I like how it came out, though.  I used The Plucky Knitter Trusty and I really love this yarn.  It's a workhorse yarn, worsted weight and all wool but is soft enough and is great to work with.  I made a beautiful chevron gradient blanket with it last year and am working on a plain striped one out of desert colors now.





Baby vertebrae sweater:  Even though DH didn't get it, this sweater looked very handy because it doesn't really have a front.  I keeps the baby warm through his back and arms and leaves the front to snuggle with mom or dad.  It also avoids spills down the merino sweater front!  I used a sport weight sock yarn for this, one I had received in a club from Zen String years ago.



Another basic hat since I was warned that this kid might be extra big!



I guess that's it.  I might be working on some requested leg warmers....

Winter in the desert has been a trip this year.  It was extra cold for awhile (not "cold" per se if you know what cold is, but "cool") and then got up into the 90s for awhile.  It's cooled down again and we had a "storm" blow through...windy yesterday and a few sprinkles today. These clouds looked so cool yesterday morning!


This is what we usually see when we look outside:



 I'm feeling pretty lucky to be here since the Pacific Northwest has been a sogfest this winter.  When I was home last month it rained every day but one of the ten days. Raining or not, it's beautiful.







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