Baby sweater progress, and Harvest Sock Swap yarn

I've been working almost exclusively the honeycomb baby sweater. I finished the body last night, and the sleeves should only take a few more days. The button band is a braided cable with the button holes in between cable twists. Here's a picture of the progress:

I also decided on the yarn for my Harvest Sock Swap sock. It is a variegated blue Sockotta. It should work up nicely and I'm leaning towards more cables.

And here is a picture of B playing her guitar with her daddy. She loves music!

A is getting so big. He is the happiest little guy. His sister just dotes on him. They are so cute together, even when they are threatening to drive me crazy!

CA Feet to Prayers Sock Swap Questionnaire

When is your birthday? January 12th

Do you spin your own yarn? If so, do you also like to work with raw fleece (washing, dyeing, carding) or only from prepared fibers (roving, top, batts)? I like working from both raw fleece and prepared fibers, but I have enough fleece at the moment. I'm starting to save for a drum carder to process the fleeces I have.

What small projects do you like to make? Socks, mittens, scarf, hat, baby items, wash cloths, doilies, shrugs etc. I love knitting socks, but have been knitting more baby things lately again, especially since B and A are the right size for it!

What are your favorite scents? My favorite it vanilla, but I like anything that smells like home baked goodies, like cinnamon cookies, hazelnut coffee, pumpkin pie, etc.

Do you like stationary and cards? I like both. I've been looking for some plain cards since all I seem to have are "thank you" cards!

Do you like hand lotions or soaps? I like lotion, but haven't been using it much lately since I wash my hands so much. That will probably change though, especially once the cold weather sets in.

Do you like to make/or use stitch markers? I usually prefer to use a piece of yarn/thread for stitch markers since I can move them more easily and they don't snag on my yarn.

Do you collect anything? I collect post cards. I used them as wallpaper in one of my rooms during college.

Do you have any allergies? Smoke, food, fiber, pets, etc. I don't have any allergies.

Do you have any hobbies? (besides knitting, of course!) I've been sewing a lot lately, and spinning, of course!

Do you like scented or unscented candles? I'm partial to scented candles.

Are there any books you are secretly wishing for? I've been looking at Wendy Knits book, but other than that, I don't think so.

Do you have a favorite Bible verse/story or character from the Bible? My current favorite verse is Matthew 18:3-6 (ESV)- "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Seeing B grow and ask questions, this is so real to me, I think that we all need to see the world through the eyes of a child more often.

Busy Week

This has been a busy week and a half. Last week my husband's car broke down. We fixed it, and not wanting to deal with any more car troubles, we sold it last night! It was only listed for two hours before we got a call. Praise God for the quick sale and the much needed funds! We are now down to one car, but that will be okay for a few months. Fall has also arrived here, so I've been strapping A into the Snugli, and have been taking B for a walk every day. She loves to hunt for acorns, pine cones, bird feathers (because "feathers help birdies fly, Mommy"), and various other things that are such treasures to two-year-olds. It is wonderful to be able to do this again after the scorching summer that we had. Since it has been too cool for swimming, I used B's pool to dry some fleece that I washed last week. It was dirty and I had almost given up on it since I usually wash fleece in the sink, but I decided to try the washing machine method since I wasn't going to lose anything, and it came out pretty well. It really is a pretty fleece, a nice variegated grey Corriedale.

I've been steadily working on my husband M's sweater. I've finished the back and am almost to V-neck shaping on the front. I am looking forward to the color sections of the sleeves again. This isn't the greatest picture, but I wanted some natural light.

My mom is going to a baby shower for her best friend's daughter next month and crocheted a blanket for her. She asked me if I could knit a sweater and hat set. The daughter's favorite color is yellow, and since they do not know the gender of the baby, we went with that. They also have a bumblebee bedding set, so I decided to design a sweater with honeycomb cables. Mom found some cute bee buttons that we will sew on the front. I'm knitting a raglan cardigan from the top down. I just started this yesterday, and am pleased with the progress thus far.

I took a break from knitting a few nights ago and spun up one of the samples that I got from Carole at Twin Brooks Farm. She has such beautiful blends. This blend was my least favorite of the bunch, reds, yellows, and oranges are just not my cup of tea, but my mom loves autumnal colors, so I'll need to find something to combine this with since it is only 1/2 oz. and 41 yds.

This lovely skein of yarn arrived this week from Bear Farm Yarns. It is a heathered burgundy and is a heavy worsted/aran weight. It is from their flock of Corriedale sheep. This skein is destined to become a soaker for a dear friend. I started the pattern in another yarn but didn't have enough, so I am looking forward to seeing if the finished soaker matches the picture in my head. Can you tell that I really don't like to follow patterns and would rather design my own!

I also received my Harvest Sock Swap pal, and have picked out a nice yarn for that, and hopefully will get it cast on this weekend. I just need to spend some time and swatch up some of the designs in my head and see what looks good.

New Blog

Well I tried transferring my old blog to Blogger Beta and didn't like it at all, so I am starting over. I am up to the arm holes on my husband's sweater from Family Circle Easy Knitting, Fall 1999. It is an easy knit, but interesting too.

I took some pictures of how I hold my yarn for stranded or fair isle knitting. I hold the background color over my left index finger (I knit Continental), and wrap the pattern color in the opposite direction over the index finger. If there is a third color, I use my middle finger to carry it.

In the photos, the background color is charcoal, the pattern color is denim, and the third color is light grey. When I pick up the light grey, I go under both of the other strands. When working with two (or more) colors, it is important to be consistent when carrying the colors across the back. I always carry the background color over and the pattern color under. Both Ann Feiteleson and Alice Starmore discuss this in their respective Fair Isle books.