Things No One Told Me...

No one told me that being a parent meant losing hours of my life waiting. Yesterday we spent five hours waiting at Urgent Care. Big Boy noticed that Piglet’s eye was red and watery yesterday morning but thought he had just poked it with a finger. As the morning progressed it got worse. He was crying and refused to open his eyes. The pediatric clinic was booked and they told me that life, limb and eyesight should go immediately to the nearest ER. I assumed that meant we would not wait long. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Apparently eyesight does not rank as high as vomit. You know you have been there a long time when the nurse comes out to call someone else and mentions seeing you there for at least the last three hours. Now he has little antibiotic eye drops and we have to take him back in today for a follow up – more waiting! I’m a good knitter though; I remembered to grab my Crumpet’s dress to work on. I had to finally put it away when I got frustrated at the Options needle coming unscrewed from the cable about three times.

The other thing no one told me… it can snow in April, in Southern Virginia. Yep! We got up this morning to snow on the ground and more in the sky. My Baxter has never seen snow. On Tuesday it was in the 80’s and today it is snowing :-( Go Figure! I miss the warm weather!

What is this cold stuff?

Let's play "Where's Baxter"!

Help!

Snow Spa

At least my stick is still here!

This is my latest dyeing attempt. I think I shall call thee Easter Basket or Jelly Bean because you remind me of the fun colors of an Easter Basket, especially now that I am too old for an Easter Basket (except if it holds diamonds or a new car – hint hint Big Boy).

Pretty in Pink...

What happens when you have this in your stash….. and you hate it?

Well, you pick up some Wilton’s at Michael's and get going. I used the Rose, Pink and Blue mixed with a little Pink. I started out dyeing just one skein to see what would happen and liked the results so much I did a second. I think I will do an Entralac scarf as a Christmas gift. Honestly, this is the first dyeing experiment that has pleased me. Usually the colors turn out nothing like the picture in my head (that happens to me a lot actually). I have two more skeins that may end up being mostly blue. I also have four skeins of black – any suggestions?

BTW, this wasn’t totally without speed bumps… I think I cut and spit spliced about four times!

I will never be as talented as Jayne though… go take a look!

Also, one of my favorite bloggers, Joan, just lost her dog, Rogan. If you get a chance, stop by and give her your condolences. If you love animals you know what she is going through. If you don't love animals, well, there is a special place in hell for you. Ok, I'm kidding, it isn't all that special :-) Don't leave me hate comments... I'll sic PETA on you!

Hoodie Hell

So I’m doing it. I’m frogging this sweater. After much contemplation and a few odd looks and “umm’s” from the SnB girls last night, the decision was made. This sweater is just wrong on many levels. It fits Piglet like one of those Mexican poncho/sweaters we all wore in the 80’s/90’s. The hood is just ugly. No matter how you look at it. Now, here is where I had that “AHA” moment and felt totally stupid when it occurred (see Christine – we all have them). I looked at the pattern again… I remember the days I was finishing this sweater. It was as Piglet was getting sick and I was taking him to the doctor five days in a row and I had gone three nights without sleep. Yep, that totally explains why I missed the part that says “join top hood seam”. Somehow I translated that part to mean attaching the hood to the back. Even if I were to correct the hood, the sweater just has issues.

Then I had another AHA moment. I have perused the net for hours looking for a sweater or vest pattern for Piglet. HELLO! I have a book of baby and kid patterns that give you instructions for any type of sweater you want and it is written for cotton. It is the Style Your Own Kid's Knits. Kim and Susan, it is the one with the boxing kangaroo and deranged clown. I won’t be adding a motif! I have made several sweaters from this book so now I am banging my head on a wall wondering why I didn’t use it in the first place! I think this time I will either make it a hoodie cardigan (‘cause Piglet’s head is enormous) or just a v-neck sweater.

I have to admit; I don’t mind frogging the hours of work if it will net me a better product in the end. It is the hours of reknitting with cotton. Maybe I will make a bigger size in case it goes into time out for a while!

Now I have to figure out the best way to seam sleeves on the Angelina shrug. The garment is knit all in one piece with the sleeves cast on every few rows. Any tips on how to seam sleeves that are stair stepped?

On the agenda for today – dyeing yarn. I had done some Kool Aid dyeing a while back and the colors were terrible. This time I sprung for the fancy Wilton colors. I’ll post pictures if it turns out better than the hoodie!