Perfect Nap Blankie

I had a different blog post planned but when hunting down pictures for it I found this:

It's a photo of my eldest granddaughter, Kaylen, all cozy under the Pentagon Blanket during an impromptu nap at Grandma's. I couldn't resist showing this off first. The "real" post I had planned can wait until tomorrow.

Crying Uncle!

Okay, I've had enough. I'm giving up! But I refuse to call this a complete failure.

I learnt a lot.

• I learnt things like how to painstakingly pick back several rows of machine knitted lace.
  
• I learnt to remain calm and quickly grab a crochet hook when a stitch drops and runs like an escaping toddler in a busy parking lot.
• I learnt that a small crochet hook catches stitches faster and more reliably than the transfer tool or the latch hook.
• I learnt that I can see better close up with my graduated lens glasses than I can with my contact lenses.
  
• I learnt that the beads will all break if you tighten up the stitches so much that the carriage hits them.
• I learnt that a knitting machine will knit a stitch when it is supposed to create an eyelet just because it darn well feels like it!----and then it will hide the fact until you have knit several more rows.
  
• I learnt that it takes at least 30 times as long to undo a machine knit row as it does to knit it incorrectly in the first place.
  
• I learnt to check my end stitches every row.
• I learnt that every 8th stitch in every 7th row is a lot of beads.
• I learnt that beaded rows are not fast.
  
• I learnt that too little weight causes problems.
  
• I learnt that too much weight also causes problems.
• I learnt that even though a knitting machine can knit a row incredibly fast, the actual process of getting a finished article from a machine can be very slow anyway.

I also learnt that a beaded, machine knit lace curtain could be breathtakingly beautiful----but right now I'd rather move on to something else.

Some day I may try this again. Some day.

Pretend Hungry?

My granddaughters should be able to whip up some awesome pretend meals with this bounty.

Kaylen's big enough now, but Kenzie will have to wait a couple of years. By then her older sister should be a master of plastic cuisine and can teach her the fine art of preparing pretend food.

Good Friday Indeed

Good Friday is a great day to welcome a new grandchild into the world!

Kenzie Joan, born April 10th at 1:06pm and weighing 9 pounds, 12 ounces.

Egg Dyeing

Has anyone else found that the Easter egg dyeing kits are scarce this year? My daughter and I went looking for them last week and couldn't find the paint-with-a-cotton-swab type that are the most fun for a toddler to use. All we could find were these egg dip type which amount to an adult dropping eggs into the dye bath (or like we did, allow the child to do it, smashing many eggs and splashing dye everywhere) and then the child sitting around and waiting and waiting and waiting for the dye to intensify.

Then waiting and waiting and waiting for the eggs to dry before being allowed to colour a few faint lines, attempt to stick on some not-so-sticky stickers, and then the best part.......

.......crushing most of the eggs in your tiny fist so that you can eat them instead of dinner!

Long Journey

This project is taking a while. It seems I've been spinning this merino/mohair blend forever!

POUNDS of the stuff!

I stay with one wheel spinning project at a time.

And prefer to tackle large batches of the same thing so that when I'm done I actually have enough for a large project, this time probably a sweater. It's an interesting looking yarn, generally a solid, but with subtle variations and a pretty sheen.

Mary Jane Skimmers

Done.



And now on to something else.......

Soleful Night

Insomnia doesn't often hit me, but when it does I don't take it lying down. I woke at 12:30am and by 1:30am had given up on any thought of getting more sleep.

I quietly entertained myself for several hours by spinning on a large project I have on the go. When I grew tired of that (yet wasn't "tired" if you know what I mean) I turned to crochet.



These are the soles to a pair of Adult Mary Jane Skimmers, a pattern my daughter bought in hopes that I would crochet them for her. They should be fairly comfortable to wear as the soles when assembled are double thick. The bright soles go on the inside of the slippers and are stacked over the black ones.

The worsted weight yarn is held doubled so the construction of these slippers is going quite quickly. I'll likely have finished photos for blogging by tomorrow. That is IF I have time after I have a nap. Man, am I tired now! I hope my daughter doesn't go into labour today. I'd never make it through to the delivery.