Mellow Monday

Generally, Mondays are a little manic. I'm happy to say that today has been a nice, casual day. Took the Incredible Digit Girl to school, took the Incredible Digit Boy and Digit Dog to the park, picked up Digit Girl and, thankfully, went home to do nothing in particular. A nice change of pace to be sure.
Also nice, the Hand-Dyed Shawl that I'm making with the Muted Berry Lacewight (KnitPicks) yarn. It took a while to find the right pattern....which meant I frogged it a few times, unfortunately. The winning design? The Isobel Scarf by Cider Moon. I tripled the width to make it a nice, comforting shawl. It's got a great drape already and the 100% merino wool means warmth without weight. Can't wait 'til it's done.
Last but not least, an updated pic from last Friday's school field trip. Gotta love the County Fair!

Isobel Scarf by Cider Moon

Cotton Candy & Farm Animals

If you haven't guessed from that title, we're going to the Washington County Fair today. Since it's a pre-school field trip, the Incredible Digit Girl and Digit Boy will it enjoy it even more with all their friends to share the fun. If truth be told, I enjoy it just as much (if not more) than my children.

In a more creative vein, the multi-colored sweater vest is done (see "weekend" post below). Once it is gifted, I'll be able to give the soon-to-be Mom this blog address. I've started a lace shawl with the Muted Berry yarn I dyed with Kool-Aid. It took a while to choose a pattern so we'll see how it goes. And Jewelry Mania will begin soon. I've got to start getting my inventory ready for the holiday season. Plus, I've got an idea for a jewelry/hand-dyed yarn combo that I think might be a good seller. I'll keep you posted!

Washington County Fair

Shameless Self-Promotion

I logged onto my Ravelry account yesterday and found a nice little surprise waiting in my message box.......a request to use one of my project pics as an example for a crochet pattern. The pattern is Baby Dress by Ann E. Smith from the book "Crochet for Kids: Sweaters for Infants, Girls and Boys". I should qualify this statement by explaining that my Baby Dress, so far, is the only project listed but, hey, my dress is being used as the example. Yeah! I had made the dress for the Incredible Digit Girl when she was a baby. I need to learn how to link to other sites but until then: www.ravelry.com (for those with an account) or Amazon.com for the book. :-)

Need A Weekend From My Weekend

Well, it has been a action packed last few days! I'm definitely ready for my regular weekday routine and some knitting time while the Incredible Digit Girl and Digit Boy nap later. I've been working on a sweater vest for a friends soon-to-be-born baby boy. I've finished the main body of the vest and now just need to finish the armhole ribbing. I've used Manos del Uruguay Stria Cotton in a couple of colors. This has been a fun project. Only my second stranded color project but I'm looking forward to more.

Kool-Aid Results

Muted Berry and Fruit Salad. Those are the names I gave to the two hanks of yarn I dyed yesterday. I'm happy with the results and definitely learned a lot. In my haste and excitement, I think I wrapped the warp board incorrectly for Muted Berry. The yarn still unwound ok but in a weird inter-layered way...if that makes any sense. Fruit Salad I just kept a simple circle wind and that was much easier to wind back into a hank. I used Knit Picks Merino Fingering and Lion Brand Wool. Can you tell which is which? Not hard to do, I know. I posted yesterday that I should have used the title "Stained Digits" after dyeing the yarn. The picture is a little washed out but my fingers were a very bright red. Can't wait to try the process again......with gloves.

My First Post

Hello there. I've finally decided to dive into blogville. Thanks to Ravelry for inspiring me to make myself more electronically visible.

I should have titled this first post "Stained Digits" since my fingers are a bright shade of red. Why, you ask. Kool-Aid in various shades of red, orange and yellow. I received my first hank of KnitPicks Bare Laceweight in 100% Merino and couldn't stop from trying out the Kool-Aid method of dyeing. And since I couldn't stop there I threw in a ball of Lion Brand Wool for fun. Photos to follow soon. Too excited to get the blog started to wait for photos.