Making Way and Odds and Ends

Well, I managed to make what for me is significant progress on that lovely lovely green sweater. So far, the design is pleasing and I think it will be flattering when done. I'm enjoying the yarn so much. It's springy, not splitty, moves nicely over the needles and please please oh please will be enough for one entire sweater.

The intended recipient just had a big day. Not only did she turn 11, but her Destination Imagination team took first place in their category on her actual birthday, and now we get to go to the state competition and see them do it again. It was neat watching them go from being apprehensive about the whole process to really enjoying strutting their stuff.


This is a ring into which you place the same number of candles as the child is turning on their birthday. Any remaining spaces are filled with the wee little woodland folk. I think the idea is that the amount of light increases as they get older. I can't believe that in a mere year, all of her candles will be lit. We spent dinner on the birthday night coming up with wishes for her next year. Party this weekend. Fortunately, she has wonderful friends and it will be a pleasure to see them and their families for a little get-together.

I'm cleaning the house a lot, both for the party and because my parents are coming to visit. Fun and stressful all at once. The invasion of the Middle Ages Men isn't helping one little bit.

Doesn't he look fierce? Tonight, he and his sister spent about 30 minutes "styling" each other's hair. With the vacuum cleaner. It was one of the most delightful funny things they've come up with, and they didn't make any messes. A miracle.

Duct tape is my best friend. An entire case of it, in different colors, would be about the best present any parent could wish for. And no, not to do things like taping them into bed, either. You can make entire outfits out of it. If I had enough, I'd make armor for them.

I've gotten about half of the garden swathed in bird netting. Not much fun in a brisk wind, holding a baby, but we'll see if the perpetrators can get through what I rigged up. If it's birds, probably not; if it's a squirrel, well, we'll see. It should keep the neighbors' cats from using the beds as luxury litter boxes, too.

I know it's spring because we had a visitor in the basement.
This picture is after I carried the formerly-trapped one outside. Haven't seen him or her since. Anyone care to identify it for me? Figure out how it got inside my basement?



Knitting? You want knitting?
As I said, I ripped down and redid the 15-18 rows of messed up cable. For me, this is a big deal. I'm an averagely competent knitter, but also quite able to make pretty large errors. Instead of compounding my problems here, causing many rows to be ripped, I got the cable to wave nicely like the other one (in mirror image, of course). Then I marked up the pattern very clearly so I could read the cable pattern as though it were two separate cables.


Now I need to take some more measurements for sleeve placement, since tonight we decided that saddle shoulders would fit the planned leaf insert on the sleeves better than any other kind. I'm not completely certain I'm up for it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.

Tomorrow I'll find better bull riding links. Yee haw.