It's not knitting, but I am proud of this apron I made for my sister. It will match her lime green kitchen.

I haven't really sewn much since junior high, when I was crying so hard over putting a zipper in an a-line skirt that my grandma finally just did it for me. I don't think I will be tacking zippers anytime soon, but look--pleats!!!

We just put in new windows, and I'd like to make some tab top curtains. I think I can do it.
I've also been working on my husband's sweater. It's not an easy knit and last night I ripped out twelve rows because of a mistake. That broke my heart. I think it is looking pretty good.


I've also been doing a little hand spinning. Now that is relaxing.

I finally changed to the new Blogger. So far so good.

I saw this and I liked it.

The Page 123 Meme
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Include the title and the author's name.

"I was in Chicago. I was broke. I was sitting at the window of my hotel room on North Clark Street and the most delicious smell rose to my nostrils from the bakery downstairs."

It's from On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Though I haven't read it in a million years, I keep my computer in my son's room. If I were in my room, it would have been Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg.

As far as knitting goes, I made a simple ribbed cap for one of my boys out of leftovers from the vest I made for the other. I finished one Jaywalker sock and cast on for another, and I've been working on my husband's sweater, which is a lot of work. It's a pattern which changes almost every row and I'm not used to that. I told him it will take awhile.

We did lose power during the recent ice storm, but only for a day and a half this time. School is back in session so I've been busy and stressed with kids changing classes, adding classes, changing majors and generally freaking out. I do enjoy them and their drama. No sarcasm there---I really do like them.

I don't have any pictures because we had new windows installed yesterday and my husband took lots of pictures. I don't know where he stashed the camera.

About 400 picked up stitches later, here it is.



I hope he likes it. After it dries, I'll send it off to my baby boy, along with half his wardrobe, left behind when he went back to college.

BTW, I've been reading about this STR bank snafu and I just can't believe it. It makes me want to join the sock club but it's just a bit too costly for me.

I hate picking up stitches.

Estate sale find.

They saw it as a shoe storage system.



I saw it as a yarn storage system. It was 50 cents, and Trixie likes it too.

I've had a couple of busy, yarn infused days.

I took my youngest back to school in Indiana yesterday for winter term. After dropping him off, I went over to YTC Wool and Ewe in nearby Cloverdale, where a lovely woman named Yvonne--and her adorable daughter Adie, helped me out. YTC is a local yarn producer, with handspun and roving galore. I got some handspun, and invested in my first drop spindle and handful of roving. Yvonne made it look easy, but I don't know. I drove to Terre Haute and checked into a hotel and messed with the roving a bit, but I didn't know what I was doing. I'll get it eventually.

I stayed over even though it is just a 3-hour drive, because I had plans for today. First I went to RiverWools in Terre Haute, which is a nice little store. I bought a skein of bamboo yarn because I just want to try it. Now I can't find it. ( It was under my other stuff---it's Southwest Trading Company Bamboo in the Butter colorway. I think it will be a spring/summer scarf)

At the urging of my husband, who was back in St. Louis, I went to Champaign, Illinois. He wanted to stock up on Papa Del's Pizza, which is the best pizza anywhere. I did that, but not until I had visted Needleworks, a fantastic yarn shop just down the street. It's really something. I bought Shannon Okey's book, Spin to Knit, and a few odds and ends.

Then, instead of coming home, I went to Springfield, where I went to the new Abraham Lincoln Museum & Library. I'm a big fan of Abe's and a big fan of Presidential sites in general and this one is well-done. It made me wish my kids were younger, because it employed a lot of special effects that kids would really enjoy, like holograms and explosions with actual reverberations and smoke. I didn't even get to the Library, since it was after 5.

Quite a day. Lots of fun.