Catching up

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

All of my morning activities (Moms' Club, then meeting my dh for lunch) were canceled for today, so I have an unexpected entire morning in which my five year old and I may putter around the house catching up on things.

I cannot keep track of all of the babies going on by you! Somebody needs to check the water... Very Exciting!!!

The last time I posted was before Halloween, so here is a recap of that:Yes, that is a dinosaur, and a knight, and a pumpkin which dh carved like a cat, which is actually much less complicated than the original request/drawing we were given for that pumpkin... I suppose it is good that our children think we can handle such complicated things, though I hope they're not too disappointed as they realize more and more every day that parents are so very human.....
My five year old and I go grocery shopping every Tuesday, and when we got our groceries home this past Tuesday, he asked me, "What can I do for you, Mom?" It's a question he's been asking me a lot lately, and I'm not sure why (it might have something to do with things he may be learning in Sunday School??), but it's very endearing. And so, I asked him to put the toilet paper away in the cabinet under the sink in the master bathroom. I now share with you that I have a phobia about running out of toilet paper, so I always have a toilet paper stash... And so, my son commented that there was already one full pack plus one roll already in there. And, here is what I found later in the day, after he'd put the new pack away, too:Now I chuckle every time I open up that cabinet...

I had my midterm exam in chemistry yesterday, and my mistakes on the test revealed themselves to me in my head as I was driving home from the test, so I decided it best to not think about it too much more until I get the whole thing back this afternoon to assess if there was any real damage. It's amazing how much knitting I was able to accomplish prior to the test, when I was supposed to be studying for it...

So, in the category of "How close can a sweater be to finished without being actually finished," I give you Sapporo, with the zipper completely sewn in, half of the neckband sewn down, and only one sleeve hem to sew down in order to call this a wrap:Apparently, even a looming test is not enough to motivate me to actually finish the "finishing" work, even though it will probably only take me an hour more...

...and so, I also share the alpaca vee with you, miles and miles of stockinette. One hank of yarn made a "tube" for the body which was 48 inches around and 15 inches long, so I'm confident I'll have plenty of yarn to finish this. (I started with two pounds; it will probably take me about 1.5 pounds to make this sweater.) The first sleeve and body are now "attached" to each other; the second sleeve has about five more rounds to go before it can then can be "attached" to the rest of the assembly, too, and then the pattern will actually involve **decreases** and **vee neck shaping**. Yes, I'll have to think just a little bit on this one, though I have to say, I do enjoy the not thinking part very much, because it makes for great portable knitting, and I don't get messed up when I'm having a conversation with somebody at Knit Night at the Sow's Ear (I'll take you there the next time you're in town).

Speaking of Knit Night at the Sow's Ear, though they have much more temptation after the expansion of their yarn area, I managed to leave with only a magazine......which I really like, because, you know, I like the more traditional patterns, and there are 22 "timeless styles" to choose from in here.

One more note -- Open house at Blackberry Ridge Wool Mill this Saturday, just sayin'....

Well, time to catch up on some other things now... I hope you are having a great day!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)