Bored, yet?

I didn't get a picture of B in his hat. It was too nice to make him wear a hat or coat last night. After we got home we sat outside yesterday and played bubbles until Hubby came home. B was such a good helper yesterday, washing tables and putting away chairs, that he got a new mini-bottle of bubbles from the lead teacher. He got some Thomas stickers, too.

I'm averaging about 5" a day on the garter stitch blanket. Three more days or so and the body will be done. I'm getting a bit bored with it. I bet you're getting bored with looking at the pictures, too. Especially since I don't have any yarn to pose with it today.

I do have some thoughts on what I'm going to dye next. I'm going to fire up my crockpot on Saturday for a special St. Paddy's day dye. Yes, I'm crazy to plan an extended dye session when I need to clean (in-laws coming over for dinner) and hubby's going to be all in the kitchen cooking. But, I haven't dyed in nearly two weeks and since I didn't knit anything for myself for St. Paddy's, I want to dye something. I'm going to do some of the prep work early. It's going to require an extra long skein, so that will happen one night this week.

I've also got another dye idea in mind, prompted by a blog post I read yesterday. I might wait and do that one on Sunday.

I really want to start a sweater for me. I was thinking ChicKnits' Ariann in some white Saucy worsted. I've already done the math to upsize the pattern. Now, I just need to find the yarn and get the needles together. Or, I could start on the sweater I want to knit with that Calmer I bought a month ago. Then again, I have B's sweater to finish, socks in progress to find and work on, and a vest for me that I haven't mentioned that's stuck at the waist shaping. Oh, and mom's dishclothes and a hat I started way back when. Hrmm. Perhaps I shouldn't cast on anything new.

baby blankets and sock yarn

I've got a spoiler in this post, if I can post pictures. Andrea may not want to read very far.

Thanks so much for the compliments on Hubby's sweater. Susan, he really liked the color (amazing how well it matched his t-shirt), but was mostly happy with the price of the yarn. Me, I'm not planning any cables with worsted cotton again anytime soon. No lasting damage, but it was tiring on the wrists.

Rae, I'll see if I can get a picture of the completed Billy socks. They're in his hamper right now. I'm a bit miffed that he's not wearing them into the ground like his jacko'lantern socks. The blanket is just garter stitch. I cast on about 122 stitches and have been doing one row in each of three colors. (The yarn is a melange from light to dark so it might look like more than three colors.) It's a pretty boring knit, but that's what I want right now! When I'm ready to read a chart again, I have to do the duplicate stitching on B's bounce.

So, I've got over 10" done on the blanket and have just started the second ball of each color. I'm going to have a nice 30 x 32 blanket even without a border.

I knit up a quick hat for Billy Saturday while Hubby played in a poker tournament (I like the Showboat, they have nice seats outside the poker room). I got a little bit of attention from passersby. Since it's going to be 60° today, B saw the completed hat on the table this morning and had to wear it. I wanted to take a picture, but he was way too cranky. I'll try to get one tonight. Just a basic round hat with a garter stitch brim.

As for that pic, here's the blanket with the hand-dyed I'm sending to Andrea today for winning my little contest last week. It makes me think of Irises.

Finished!

Hubby's Aran was finished Thursday night. He thinks it's a little short. I think it would be perfect if he wore his waistband closer to his waist! Here he is at the AC St. Patrick's Day Parade on the boardwalk. He wore it all weekend, just like he said he would.

Details: Pattern is from Patons Aran Style. I knit it up in Bernat Handicrafter cotton (emerald). I got the yarn at Herrschner's last year for ¢77 a ball. Hubby thinks I shouldn't use any other yarn. I used US 6s and 8s. I started it last May as my green project spectrum project and it languished for about eight months. The only mods were to make the body a little shorter. Looking back, I should have knit to the pattern. I'm really glad that's done! I'm not planning to knit any cables or anything from a chart for a while. Here's a detail of the back.

Since that is done, and I also finished Billy's socks (which he's wearing today), I started a baby blanket yesterday. I decided I didn't like the diagonal stripe I had going on. So, plain garter stitch it is. I'm working it in three colors, one row each color. I'm carrying the yarn up the sides. I really like it so far. I have to more it to a longer cord. I can't measure it right now. I'd planned 30" but I think it's closer to 36", which means it will be vertical stripes. I've got an idea for a neat edging, if I have enough yarn left over.