Slow-down Sunday

So, are you hungry for a big, juicy post? It didn't take long for the muse to strike again. This is a nice slow Sunday post, so grab a coffee, send the kids outside to play, and I hope you'll enjoy.

Look what came in the mail for me on Friday:

Three soft, cushy and fat skeins of handspun from Maia. Why you ask? Because Maia is generous and thoughtful. So here's a big thank you to Maia. Mwha! Virtual hugs and kisses to you.

Maia also sent along some wonderful compliments to me that I greatly appreciated. I firmly believe that we must give positive feedback when we see someone doing something we like and I try to practice this where ever I can. For my children, it means telling them I noticed that they've hung their towels, or that I admired the way they handled themselves in a difficult situation. So for Maia to give me some of that sort of positive feedback means a lot to me.

There was some beautiful sunlight Saturday morning, so I took a picture of the Oregon Vest for you.

Last night, Jim rented a movie, and I went to town on this baby. I'd almost finished up a full tree motif when it happened. I had to add a new color, Selkie, and I realized that I was already knitting with it. Disaster! Double check. Yep, it appears that I've mixed up Selkie with Kelpie. I gently put the vest down and knit it no more. I'm going to wait till the cold light of day to triple check this one. I knew I didn't like those names!

Since the yarn is so frugally parceled out, and since it is a Starmore design, a mistake like this means ripping. I contemplated leaving it, since the design is okay, it's just the back ground colors are juxtaposed. But then I might run out of yarn, and that won't do! And since the colors are so finicky, it means ripping and replacing each color one at a time. No happy ripping with the ball winder. This will be more like a reclamation project. Jeeze!

An explosion of sock projects happened when I wasn't looking.

I thought I was going to wait a while for the yarn for the Oregon vest to arrive so I started a sock for my husband using the brown St. Ives and Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Sock for evening wear, from Knitting Vintage Socks. But the yarn came soon, and the sock is long, so it languishes. But look Anne! my man will wear lace too! He chose this pattern from the book. Personally, I don't care for it much. I don't know why, so please don't ask.

The Gentleman's sock is a little fancy and I needed something plain to knit for when I have no mental energy for patterns. So I started the blue sock. Then my mother-in-law called me on Friday to see how I was doing. She commented on how much she's enjoying the socks I gave her for Christmas and I realized that I only had a little while to knit up socks for her birthday (10 days left now). And that led to the third sock in the photo which is STR Granite. Mom likes a loose sock that she can get over her ankle, so I thought a nice picot hem sock would do the trick. I'll bet she's never felt a sock so warm and cushy as this.

I don't write down what I'm doing when I create plain socks out of my head. Instead I read my knitting when it comes time to knit the second one. I'll count stitches, examine for decreases, or guess. It's just two socks. They go in your shoes. I don't care if they don't exactly match!

By now, I'm guessing your coffee is done and the kids are probably clamoring for a snack. It was nice catching up with you. Bye till next time!