All but the buttons

Fits like it was made for him! Well, that's because my loosey-goosey calculations turned out to be bang on for once. The sleeves are a good length, and if he can hold off on the growing for a bit, we'll be fine.

(That's not a giant red bow in his hair, that's a big red kite hanging from the ceiling!)


"Look like a skier!" Too bad the loony grin was too much for public viewing.

I am afraid that I have not been as successful with the Chia pet. It is a dud, I have to say. I will look for some fresh seeds, but for now, it's a big ol' zero.

And now I have a few days to sew on the buttons for this sweater and attempt to sew up one more! But we are gearing up for the last birthday party of the season this weekend, and I have Coq au Vin to make (it starts at the bottom of that page), as well as a cake and all that other party stuff. So we shall see about sweater seaming.

Tonight, buttons!

Unfinished business

I see by my sidebar list that I have not finished anything since February*! I guess if you count bits, I may make my "52 items in 52 weeks" deadline, but it does seem a bit cheating to count a sleeve as an FO!

I have made some pieces of stocking stitch in scraps of DK wool that I mean to sew together into a blanket one day. Does that add 2 or 3 more items? (Reason #1 for disliking stocking stitch -- the dreaded curl!)


I did pledge to have two finished sweaters by the end of the month, and that could still happen -- I've got about a week, I think!



Just a few billion ends to sew in and a collar to knit. And some seams to sew and some buttons to acquire and apply. A breeze....

* ETA: I forgot about my H! So, now I say I haven't finished anything since March. Much better...

Care and feeding of the Chia pet

My love of the totally crazy led me to adopt this dinosaur Chia pet when my friends were getting rid of it.









After gleefully taking it home, it occurred to me to ask how old it was, and I got the answer: "...been sitting around for years - you might sprout a few cobwebs."

Caveat emptor indeed.






But, undaunted, I soaked my terra cotta dinosaur in water for 24 hours, and I soaked my ancient seeds in another bit of water.

This turns them into some sort of gelatinous muck which will stick to the grooves on the planter.

And it seems to have worked -- they were certainly mucky!


They appear to be sticking.

The instructions promise sprouts soon, and a lovely coat in one to two weeks... though they say nothing about seeds that have been sitting around in a package for several years.

We shall see!



I was dismayed to find that there was no Flickr group especially for Chia pets, but I did find some gems.

We have the Barack Obama Chia.

The unidentifiable but very luxuriant Chia.

Now, this is amazing... The chronicle of the Kurt Vonnegut Chia.

I'm not sure I'll give you such excellent coverage of the dinosaur's progress, but I'll do my best.

Here's something special

Ha!
I did not win that medal from the Boston Marathon, but I did knit the trophy dishcloth for my friend KT, who ran the whole darn thing in four hours and 6 minutes! I was over there this evening celebrating with champagne and cake (killing two birds with one cake, since her son's birthday is tomorrow) and took the opportunity to get this photo!

And, since she is cleaning out her basement, a task that even marathoners must do once in a while, I also got a cast-off Chia pet! The dinosaur! More on that in days to come. I've never ever had a Chia pet in all these years...

Couldn't stand it

I had to delete Dolly -- couldn't handle her face at the top of my blog page day after day. Perhaps I could write something new...

Quickly: I knit some, I did some stuff, I'll write more later.

Back in the saddle

Thanks for all your kind words. I have recovered from that little setback, and while I am not yet showing off a finished sweater, I think we're well on our way again.

Here is a photo I took a week and a bit ago, when I was cruising along on the yoke.


April Fools! It was all wrong, even then... But I was so pleased with my two skiers zipping down the back!



I took the whole yoke out, and decided, maybe rightly and maybe not, that it would ultimately be better if I worked on all the little bits one at a time.


So now I have two complete fronts, and two complete sleeves. I knitted the two sleeves at the same time and followed the slightly boggling raglan decreases in the pattern (a stitch at each end every 3 rows for a bit, then every 2 rows, but up at the top, decreases every row!) so I know they are the same, and should fit!

The back still looks like this, with the second skier's torso all in a mess! There's not even a knitting needle holding him together!



Onward and upward! I won't shock you even further with pictures of the inside, but I've got lots and lots of ends to hide before I can breath easy.

One likes to have those monthly goals written down, even if they are rarely met, so I'll tell you now that by the end of April, I will have a finished Skiers, and a finished Acres of Mesh! How's that for "onward and upward"!

Now I'm sad

No inspirational photos today, folks.

I got to the very top of the yoke of the Skiers cardigan. I cast off at the front necks, decreasing away... Then the bright idea popped into my head to count some stitches.

I had more stitches on one sleeve than on the other!

I had more little knitted tree motifs on one sleeve than on the other!

I had neglected, way back at the underarm, to cast off a few stitches before beginning the raglan decreases.

I am a big dummy and the creator of this stupid mess, and now I have to frog and reknit the whole frickin' frackin' yoke.

Luckily there is chocolate in the house.