April Update

April 1st was a fun day around the Cobbler house. My oldest kids are ten and eight years old, and they've gotten behind this prank-pulling thing. April Fools' morning found us with Vaseline on our toothpaste, the toilet seat, door handles... looks like I'll be replacing our tub of ointment. Rubberbands were around the dish sprayer in the kitchen, and chocolate syrup was in our coffee cups. It all would have been so much funnier if I had just gotten to the coffee first...


I wish I had some pictures of the knitting party I had yesterday morning. Mel and Arleta came over, with kids, since it's spring break, and we knitted and ate, but not necessarily in that order. A lot of food seems to be required for a knitting party. It was fun, but I couldn't find my camera. Mel was wearing a sock as she knitted the second. I find that very good motivation for overcoming second sock syndrome. Then they accused me of never sharing new purchases with them, so I went and brought out everything knew I had acquired. And it seems that I haven't acquired anything new since the last time I showed them! Good for me. I feel very upstanding about this whole Mission Possible thing. And it's hard to justify yarn when your husband packs his lunch for work. However, it's very self-sacrificing of him, and I suspect he's doing it for the sweaters he gets in return.


In spite of my camera being AWOL, I have on picture of a finished object in my photo file. I have, sadly, gotten yet another laptop that I'm working on, so I now have pictures strung over three computers. It's irritating, really. If I lose the pattern I'm working on, I'll have to figure out which machine it's downloaded at. And I just figured out the pictures I wanted to show are on the other laptop. Grrr. Now I'll have to find my datapen.


I made a baby sweater for a friend of ours who had her baby at home, with a Dula. I'm so impressed. If I didn't have nurses running around getting me stuff after my third was born, I don't think I'd have eaten. But she looks great, so does the baby, and the sweater worked out fine. I just used a general cardigan pattern I picked up for free at Wal-Mart, then adjusted the collar and put in the heart lace design. Good, basic pattern, though. And I'm lucky I got this picture, as I was wrapping the gift when I realized that I hadn't taken a photo yet. How many times have I done that, even though I know I have a blog?? Arleta made a beautiful blanket for the little girl, and Mel is working on a baby nighty, which is so cute I can hardly stand it. Gotta make me one of those for the next baby gift. It's cool.



I'm finishing the sleeves on the husband's sweater, then it's weaving in all the ends. I love the feel of the Wool of the Andes, and the price was right, but I really protest all the knots. It seems excessive, to find a knot three feet from the end of a skein. Why not just end it a bit early, folks? Nobody's measuring the skein that closely. And there were knots throughout almost all the skeins, which are small to begin with, so it's taken 16 skeins to do the sweater. If I sound grouchy now, check me out after all the weaving in. =) But it's going to be an awesome sweater, so I'm looking forward to getting it done.


Gear up, folks. If you've read this far, here's your heads-up. I'm going to do another shawl knitalong this summer. I know others are doing them as well, and I don't think you have to do two shawls to be in two knitalongs. Just get your pattern in mind or start now and take pictures, and I'll post them with the others as we go through our knitting this summer. It's a great way to share, and I've got a shawl on the needles and one on the brain at the moment, so I'll have no problem with coming up with my own project. And, of course, by random draw, there will be a winner who receives shawl yarn, and some stitch markers coming someone's way, and any other prizes I can think of and gather. So start looking through your books! I'll announce more later, in a more dedicated entry. Happy knitting, and let's collectively wish for Spring! I know I'm ready.