musindigo

This is for my niece, soon to be god-daughter (officially, her baptism is on Sunday):

…not yet blocked or finished.

The yarn is my hand-dyed fingering… I was a little disappointed by the lack of contrast in the yoke between colour changes. Because my yarn is dyed to show off overall colour using little ’surprises’/colourbursts, many of the same colours turned up in the different colourways I used. I used bits of leftover colours from earlier dyeing days, and basically, it has achieved more or less, what I was hoping to achieve… soft colour for a little girl with a little bit of contrast. She has dark hair and huge dark eyes. I know if I had used some of my newer colours there would be a wee bit more contrast. I think once it’s blocked it will show things off a little more clearly, as well. If I ever ‘officially’ write this one up, I will be more selective.

Closer look at yoke:

And the buttons chosen:

The buttons are vintage, from my mother’s collection, which I inherited. I thought it was quite appropriate to use buttons from the collection rather than new ones since this little girl is named partly for her grandmother, although she will only know her through photos and stories. It’s also nice to noodle through the buttons, they hold many memories.

And..new yarn colours (soon-to-be) available:

and

In passing: I was very saddened to hear of Virginia van Santen of PaintedYarns.ca . I know she has been an inspiration for myself, and I’m sure many of you out there. A true artist, I know she will be missed (and is).

I never did get a hat together for myself this winter. Having a rather large cranium and too much hair makes this a challenge. I managed to get through with a substitute toque which gradually slid up my head to form a little peak on the top each time I wore it, which, although, not all too becoming, did the job. I sat, twice a week (when the roads were open, of course) on cold arena risers, sipping hot chocolate (wishing it had a little more of something in it to make it a warmer kind of hot chocolate, if you get my drift lol) to take the chill off and wishing I could at least knit (I knitted during skating lessons until about mid-December when it finally hit me that, no, even when metal needles are moving, they do not warm up one bit over time and those little ice picks do not warm up your hands, either). I wore a moebius around my neck doubled and a down-filled coat.

Truthfully, aside from a cold behind, it really wasn’t that bad.

I certainly got used to winter roads, again, after a few year’s reprieve, which is good practice, considering next winter, I will probably be on the roads a little more often.

You see, the deal was, when son#1, Ben realized the ‘thing’ in small-town land Ontario, was hockey, he wanted to get into hockey. However, he had not all too much practice on skates over his lifetime, because, in Chilliwack, the ‘thing’ was soccer. So, I made him a deal. I felt, at his age (then, 10) he’d better at least be good on his feet on the ice if he was going to have any survival skills at all when it came to hockey. So this winter, we took skating lessons with the deal that, next year, if he improved his skating, he would sign up for hockey. I was a bit worried, since he would be older than some of the other kids, and bigger (he skates in size 8 men’s lol).

I needn’t have worried. Ben has a large heart, and when set to a task, he generally gets down to work and goes about doing what is expected. He focussed during lessons and helped others during the process.

So last week, the end-of-season skating carnival was held. I was snickering throughout most of it because it the theme was ‘Grease On Ice’. Last time I was part of a skating carnival, the theme was identical. When I skated, it was current. LOL.

Very enjoyable, nonetheless. We were thrilled with all the skaters’ performances and it was a fun night out. At the end of the carnival, there were the typical announcements, thanking of the coaches and flowers handed around. I couldn’t hear the sound system too well, but Ben was called to attention. I had no idea why.

Finally someone clued me in. It was for this:

(Stage 3 badge is around somewhere, in the house).

Awesome, eh? I am one proud mama. I suppose I would have been just thrilled to see him make it through level 4 in one season of skating lessons. But, the Canskater of the Year award really is thrilling. I don’t think Ben has really won anything ‘off the cuff’ like that without some sort of prior warning; he was blushing as he received it.

So, I guess, next year it will be hockey. I will have time to come up with a hat by then, I hope. ;)

In knitting news… lots of deadlines, not too much off the needles and I really haven’t been a good girl taking progress pics. Next post, I hope

Well, not really, but it seems like I have been a little out of the loop for a while, in terms of keeping up with everyone’s news and posting anything of note, here. I have been sort of not on my chair too often and when I have been I’ve been working on spreadsheets, which doesn’t exactly encourage my eyeballs to do a whole lot of reading on the side.

Not a whole lot to post, other than weather stories, and I’m certain most of us are tired of those at this point. February certainly was a bit challenging on that front. However, March came roaring in and it sure would be nice, given Wiarton Willie’s predictions and the old lion/lamb analogy, to see the March end a little more quietly and peacefully than it began. ;)

I did get the new colours re-skeined (these should be up for grabs at Oceanwind Knits later this week):

Right now I’m in the middle of a yummy yarn order for Woolgirl.com. She’s not quite open for business just yet. However, I wish her much success with her new venture. :) We can never have too many yarn shops. :)

One of these days I will get around to taking a few more pics of KIP. Lots of goodies on the needles at the moment, I would think at some point soon, something should be finished because one cannot simply knit this much and not finish anything lol.

Hoping everyone is well out there.