On with the new!

I'm not planning on having daily updates, but today saw so much get done that an update is almost required.

I ran out of yarn for the vest, so it is sitting quietly in the bottom of my knitting basket. The shoulder seams are done, one side seam is complete, several ends have been worked in, and I'm on the back 9 of the neck ribbing. (The front 9 is what will show.) Not much is left to be done. I even sat down and polished up the written work for my level II submissions. I'm sure I'll have to resubmit something, but at this point I'd rather resubmit than drive myself buggy looking for what someone else might not deem correct.

I frogged the Viennese Shrug after recording my needle size and gauge. That freed up a cable so I could start in on the Bolero for my daughter. So of course, I had to begin it. The pattern calls for 5 balls, so if I *knit* each day, I will have it finished in about 5 days, before my other yarn arrives. Should life intervene and I don't have that much time to knit, it will take longer. But not too much longer.

And lastly, but not leastly, I started my socks. It is good to have a take-along project once more. It travelled to my daughter's piano teacher's 90th birthday party today. She has been teaching piano for over seventy-five years. Talk about consistency! She also does Hardanger, one of my favorite kinds of embroidery.

My first attempt at dying yarn with Kool-Aid didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but it certainly is photogenic! This skein of fingering-weight yarn is Grape, Black Cherry, and Blue Raspberry Lemonade. I served the leftover dyes to my children for lunch.  

From Marion Foale's Classic Knitwear, this is the back of my Level II Master Handknitter vest. Charming, isn't it? Sure hope it blocks nicely.  

Beginning in the Middle

I've been thinking about having a knitting blog for some time, and as my current project is winding to a close, have finally decided to take the time to start one. It will take some time away from my knitting, but I think it will be a good record of what exactly I am up to throughout the years. Since I am indeed in the middle of some things, I may as well set forth my current Plate of Knitting.

• Master Handknitting Level II (OTK and in the Word Processor)
  
• IK Bolero Jacket in Mulled Wine for my daughter
• Kool-Aid dyed socks for me
• Viennese Shrug (needs ripping actually...)

And then, for the things I don't have the yarn for yet, but will be working on once the above plateful gets thin:

• A sweater for my son
• Felted ballet slippers for a friend
• Shine Twist Dickey von Beethoven for mom

Did I mention the yarn for the above things should be arriving next week? Well, I did have to order something to go along with the one skein of grey I needed for my vest, didn't I? And yes, Denise, only one of the things on my list is actually on the needles at the moment (if you don't count the shrug, which I'm not.) The socks should be finding their way on TO the needles this weekend. Socks are a better take-along project than a man's extra-large vest.

I'm currently reading Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Elisabeth Dodds, about Sarah and Jonathan Edwards. Fascinating reading. If I weren't reading that, I'd be working more on digesting Future Grace, by John Piper. I'm still somewhere in the introduction to that one, though. It needs more chewing on than does Sarah Edwards.