Has It Really Been A Week?

This past week has been a busy one - between DD's birthday and putting up veggies, I haven't had time to blog. I tried catching up on email yesterday and today it is time to report the news and all my fo's this week :-)

DD's birthday went well! I finished her Lion's Brand Hooded Sweater Friday night after she went to bed, and got things wrapped up and ready for a very early birthday party. She loved the sweater - which was good since she said she wasn't into pink any more. After she opened her presents, we got ready and left for Knoebels. My brother's girlfriend went with us - and boy was she a blessing to have along! When we were too pooped to ride with the kids - she did.

DS (our big time history buff) begged to go to the Coal Museum, so we went and had a nice look around at all the displays. They even had lamenated pages from a record book telling of accidents and deaths in the mines. What an interesting read! From there, we bought a bag of gem laden dirt so DS could try his hand at prospecting. LOL!! He had a blast and spent a good hour digging through all the pebbles. He came home with a nice assortment of gems and minerals. He's now after us to take him to do some real panning!! uh-oh We brought a souvieneer from the museum home with us - a coal train on a railroad spike. I photographed it on Melissa's Norwegian Heritage Knitted Dishcloth that I finished up on Sunday. I love Melissa's patterns - she has so many fun ones on her website!

I had almost a skein of pink and about half on a skein of purple Homespun left from DD's sweater, so I dug through my patterns to see if I could find something to to make to try to use it up. DD zeroed in on the Crochet Bucket Hat pattern, and asked that I make it to match her sweater. So, I sat down and did some on Sunday night, but ended up with a hat that I thought was shorter than it should be. I waited to try it on DD on Monday, and we decided to add 3 more rows on the sides to make it long enough for her liking. This turned out to be a really cute hat and so quick to crochet.

Finally with all that out of the way, came some time to start another new project. To celebrate the new Harry Potter book (yes, I know I'm a bit late in reading it - but needed to wait my turn here! LOL), I got out the DMC Perle cotton and made Laura's Harry Potter Bookscarf. It was a nice fun and quick knit. Since it was small, I decided to fool around with it and try Meg Swansen's joggless color change to see how it would turn out. I think I did pretty well with it, and I can't wait to try it on a bigger item now!

I've been slowly plugging away at the Iowa Cruise Socks from Cottage Creations. I really love the pattern, and love Carole's chattiness thoughout the instructions. It's like having an old friend over for coffee. I'm considering getting more of her patterns just because of the style - and the instructions are just about fool-proof. Even for me!!!!

I've really slowed down on the socks because of the needles. I purchased some Swallow brand needles and don't like how blunt they are. I've been wrestling with them to give them a fair chance, but so far, I'm not thrilled. My ribbing on the socks is not even - but after trying to fix it a few times, I said the heck with it - they'll still wear the same, and kept pluggin' on. I only have to Kitchener the toe now, and the first sock is done. If I still don't like the needles by the second sock - I'm not using them on the next pair, but will buy another brand to try. I did like how warm the needles were when using them, but they have a terrible smell, and don't you dare put one in your mouth for any reason because they are "bloody wicked!" tasting. ick! Ewwwwwh! yuck! Pooey! BLAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

And for the last piece of interesting news.... one of the 2 boxes of White Buffalo yarn arrived yesterday!!! Ohhhhhh! Such neat stuff! I wound the first wheel into a ball and swatched for the Einstien Coat. The six strands were just too heavy and stiff, so I removed one, and am now on gauge but am not sure if it will still be too stiff or not. I've decided to knit a bit to see how it comes out. I just can't tell much with a 4" swatch. Oh to be like those knitters that can just whip it up and visualize......