Knitting Away.....

Oh goodness - that Sally Melville book has me entranced. Yes, I know it's a beginners book, but it is so nicely done. How I wish it would have been around when I was learning! I'm reading through to see if there's anything I might learn - a new twist or just something I plain don't know. I love all the pictures - they're so clear and easy to understand. This series is a winner in my book!

While going through it, I decided that I really want to make the Einstein coat NOW. I need a good winter coat for doing my errands in, and it looks like something I could wear out in public. Styles and prices of coats don't turn me on, so I figured if I could make something out of real wool for the price of a synthetic piece of ugly, I'd settle on the real wool. Now, mind you, I grew up with Red Heart or store brand synthetics. That's all Mom knitted and crocheted with because the price was right. I have no idea what to expect from what wool for an outside garment, so I posed a question to the KnitList. What a great group of people! I received so many answers and opinions, that I decided to look for a nice hairy type yarn for warmth. I found some White Buffalo unspun in a burgundy on clearance at Elann and was going to buy it, but almost $25 to ship 15 wheels was a bit steep in my opinion. I continued my search and found some in steel grey - and for 20 wheels I paid under $50 including shipping! Elann is great, but shipping really put me off. Now I'm glad shipping was so high - I saved another $1 a wheel this way :-)

Now, I just need to patiently wait to get my grubbly little hands on this new yarn. Until then, I'll just have to concentrate on DD's sweater and "Mrs. Depp" hat. A what hat you say? Well, there's a story behind it. DD has a monster crush on Johnny Depp - or maybe it's Captain Jack Sparrow, or another character he plays, but either way, she loves him to death. We did some surfing to find some JD items and found some Mrs. Depp articles of clothing - like t-shirts with Mrs. Depp printed across the front. Man - the prices on them were outrageous - so I got to brainstorming, and decided that I would make her a winter name hat with Mrs. Depp across the front. Not any old hat though - it HAS to stick out, so I making it a BRIGHT yellow with Mrs. Depp in black across the front of it. Will she wear it? Heck, I dunno, but it is fun knitting and it will get a reaction. :-) I'm hoping to get the lettering done tonight.

As for the sweater, I'm working on the hood edging, and should finish that tonight. I'm planning on sewing it up tomorrow night and hopefully will have the hat finished then as well. That will leave Friday night open for me to bake a cake and work on DS sock.