As The Yarn Turns

One More Ball of Yarn

So I've been slowly knitting along on Rick's socks, the Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch. It's going slowly because I knit a few rounds and then weigh the remaining yarn. Then I knit a few more rounds and weigh the remaining yarn. The sock still looks really big and the remaining ball of yarn is looking pretty darn small. I have another inch to go before I start on the heel and I just can't imagine Rick wearing short dress socks. Making solid heels and toes might compensate for the yarn shortage. Then after weighing the yarn for what must have been the sixth time, I decided to stop by our local yarn shop where I got the first two balls of yarn and see if they had another one. I wasn't very hopeful. I walk in the store today at lunch and see one lonely ball of yarn in the same color and dye lot. I also picked up a ball of blue yarn that I thought might work better for the stripes.

The yarns look better together in person than they do in picture. So sanity has been restored, at least temporarily, and I can give my scale a rest for a while. Even if I have a whole ball of yarn left when I'm finished with the socks, I'll be happy.

On another note, Lolly is organizing a "craft along" called Project Spectrum. Each month between March and August is assigned a color and you make something representing that color. It can be knitting some other arts and crafts technique of your choosing and the project can be big or small. I've signed up for this one. I've got all of these other things besides knitting that I want to do, so this will be a good opportunity to try them out.

by Sydney  |

Katie is a Hero

Yesterday was one of those days where things got off to a rough start but ended up very good. First I'll start with the knitting content. I got some more work done on the Gentleman's Socks but most important, I finally finished weaving in the ends on the Shapely Tee and got it washed and blocked. Now it fit perfectly when I tried it on before washing. But now that it is laying out to dry, it looks wider. We'll see. I may toss it in the dryer for a while. Mostly I'm just happy to have it done. One more thing off of my list.

I finished the sewing I needed to do on Friday, so I thought Saturday would be a relaxing day. We did a little magic show at a restaurant for some friends Saturday night. Somehow the equipment and preparation expanded so that it took up most of the afternoon. Actually that's not too surprising. Our life is often ends up like that. So we got everything set up Saturday afternoon and raced back to change clothes for the show. We didn't really have a lot of spare time so we hurried out the door, thinking we had shut and locked it behind us. Well when we got home later that night, we found out different. The door was locked but it hadn't shut all the way. It was a windy night so the door had blown open at some point during the night. When something like that happens, the first thing we think is that we had better count ferret heads. We don't worry as much about someone stealing anything because, well, it's just that kind of town and that kind of neighborhood. We all look out for each other. Well as luck would have it, I could only find two of the three ferrets. Phoebe, our hell raising ferret, was missing. Now she is actually shy when she is outside and we make sure all of our ferrets are familiar with our yard, just in case they get out. Ferrets have a tendency to have way too much fun when they get outside and forget where they have been. So Rick and I and several of our neighbors are out scouring the neighborhood looking for a dark brown ferret at night. Not a good combination. (Did I mention what good neighbors we have?) I really didn't think she would go outside our yard, but after looking for a long time we all gave up and decided to start looking again in the morning. I took one last look around our yard and decided to catch up on email. A few minutes later our cat Katie started yowling at the backdoor. So Katie and I go outside to check it out. I heard rustling around but couldn't see Phoebe anywhere and decided it must have been a rabbit or opossum. Katie and I go back inside. Then I hear Katie yowling again and working on the door knob to try to get the door open. I opened the door just in time to see Phoebe run across the patio. So Katie has been quite the hero in our house this weekend, and Phoebe is glad to be back inside where it's warm with food and litter boxes. She apparently had been amusing herself digging in the mud since her front paws were caked with mud.

And her tail stayed puffed out from the excitement for at least an hour after she came in.

All of us are relieved that all humans and animals are now safe and sound in the house.

by Sydney  |