Mini Vacation! Socks done! Kitty toys!

Son and I went up to the middle of Wisconsin (Wausau) to visit friends. Originally there was supposed to be a big housewarming party. We had a hotel so we could go to the party and then have a place to crash. At the last minute, due to an unfortunate host/husband illness, the party was cancelled but our room was paid for and non-refundable so we went anyway. As it turns out, we had a great time. Although you wouldn't know it by this picture... this was how son looked at first... he did get MUCH better and had a great time, but then I forgot to pull out the camera (having too much fun to stop for that)

My only plans involved taking some quiet time, finding Starbucks and finding the local yarn shop, Black Purl. I got two lovely skeins of Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn. I'm not sure of the color names, they got lost when the shop wound the balls.

But even though that was fun for me, that's the point where son was really doubting the fun of this trip. When I knew we were making the trip anyway, I had emailed friend, the wife of the sick guy, to see if she wanted to do lunch or dinner with us and their almost 4yo daughter. As it turned out, we spent the day with them. We played at the park, threw rocks in a river, went back to their place and cooked out, later took the kids to the pool at the hotel and just generally had a great, relaxing time. Even son agreed it was a wonderful trip. (sorry there's no photographic proof!)

So to the socks.... Knitty's Spring Forward socks done, converted to toe-up. I've been working on them off and on since July but the wonky baby blanket had taken priority. They are soft and warm and I love the color.

And last but not least, a package arrived today. I was actually confused by it but it turned out to be from my Kitty Toy swapper on Ravelry. But inside there was a book for me, a pretty blue dragonfly bookmark (not pictured) and of course kitty treats and toys. Tigger immediately claimed the snail....

Have a good day! - DFly

The wonky, the cute, the baby stuff.....

Ok, so it was learned that a good friend was pregnant and what do I do? I decide, this good friend needs a baby blanket. I decide on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. A very user friendly pattern and book. If you pay any attention to gauge that is.... See, it's all in garter stitch and in theory, garter stitch is a very square stitch. 20 rows should equal the same dimension as 20 stitches. Well, mine is almost square. Seriously, I did a gauge swatch, I measured, it was pretty darn close. But not close enough. when you are doing this blanket, you pick up stiches along the edges of the previous blocks. you pick up the same number of stitches as there were rows... If they are equal, this should work out great. Here's me though... "hmmm... it seems to be going a little wonky.... that's ok... I'm sure it will work out when I get to the other side, after all the other sides should stretch out the middle...." It doesn't work that way. the outside does not stretch the inside, the inside pulls the outside in and makes a weird ruffle.

So here is my weirdly wonky blanket. and no, it doesn't block out, it's made of Cotlin, which has very little stretch no matter what you do... and the little bit that can be corrected goes right back to this when you throw it in the washer, which was the purpose of using a yarn that's easily washable.

there is someone that's happy with it, every time I tried to take the picture above, I'd get the camera ready and see the picture below......

So after working months and months on a wonky blanket. I then made a baby hat and bootie set... it took just a few days and looks a hell of a lot cuter!