Weekend update and WIP Wednesday

Last weekend was busy.  Friends were in from Kentucky for a wedding.  It was so nice to see them.  We all had a great time.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of us.

On Sunday Mr. Aitch played in a concert during our local Heritage Days Festival.  It was touch and go at first whether or not they would play as it started to rain about 15 minutes before the outside performance.  But the rain was over as quickly as it came and “the band played on”.

This lady was dressed in a beautiful red and black flowered hoop-skirted dress.  She carried a chip basket with her parasol and digital camera.  The parasol was not hand-made lace but was still very pretty.

No knitting to share other than a swiffer cover (and no one wants to see that!) and a secret  project (you’ll just have to wait) but a lot of other things are still in progress.  I spent my day off on Monday working on the mystery painting project (I will share that when I’m finished), running errands, and getting the oil changed in my car. 

I’m leaving for parts north after work to help with another WIP.   It’s my daughter’s house.

A few months ago the plaster ceiling in their living room started to detach itself from the joists. 

They were afraid the ceiling would fall while they were at work so they propped it up with an IKEA lamp.

They started removing the sagging parts and the more they took down, the more other parts began to sag.  They got a few estimates for the repair and it was an all-or-nothing kind of repair.  They decided they could save a lot of money by doing the demo themselves.

The ceiling is now replaced and I’m going to their house after work tonight to help paint tomorrow and Friday.  Mr. Aitch was going to help as well but he has other obligations.

I’ll need something simple to knit so I’m taking some cotton yarn for more swiffer covers.   There’s a bath mitt pattern on one of the ball bands that just might make bath time easier with the twins.  Or maybe they’d like a leafy washcloth…

WIPs but no FOs

One of my goals for the year was to have one or two things on my needles.  I hoped to have my papaya cardi finished this weekend.  Didn’t happen that way.  I did manage to knit the collar and pin the sleeves in place but I did not seam them together yet.

My daughter sent me some yarn to knit one of the Spud and Chloe Go Team hats with an argyle pattern for one of her co-workers.  Finding an argyle that can be knit in the round was a major challenge.  This is Lion Brand Wool Ease in Violet and Avacado.  The cream is left over from my stash.

First attempt

The first attempt wasn’t to my liking so I ripped out part of it and reknit it. 

Not quite this bright

I still have the i-cord ties and pom poms (or tassels) to do.  I want to get this mailed to her tomorrow.

I also started a special project that I will finish by the end of this month.  More on that later.

Crochet success

I managed to do two rows of the single crochet edge on the sleeve edge of the cardi I’m knitting and only had to rip it once.  I was picking up too many stitches.  The fronts and back are blocked and should be dry by the time I get home from work.  I still have to block the sleeves but I can do that while I finish the collar. 

The final steps are to do the seaming, do the crocheted edge at the bottom and sew on the buttons, which I don’t have yet.  Maybe I will make some if I can’t find what I want.

I’m very excited about this sweater.  I just hope it fits and I like it, no, LOVE it!

I hope to have some pictures of it this weekend.

Monkeys and WIPs

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com said I had about 2,600 visitors in 2010 or as the monkeys put it about 6 full 747s of people.   I’ve only been blogging for about seven months, so I’ll take that as a positive.

Yesterday I took care of all but one work-in-progress aka WIP I had suffocating in plastic zipper bags.  I took the needles out and either ripped them apart or will rip them apart.  The yarn will be repurposed.

The one WIP is one mitten still needing a thumb and partner.   I started these mittens in 2009 for a friend.  Fortunately she didn’t know about the surprise since I never finished them.  Th yarn was on sale, naturally, but the orange had too much of the green in it to contrast the pattern I made up.

What was I thinking?