Hey, this is kinda fun!

This blogging thing is catching on with me. It's sort of fun to pretend that someone else is reading it. I just have to be careful not to say anything bad about anyone ... except, of course, my sister. I TOLD her I was going to write bad stuff so she'd be sure to look at it.

Now for all the bad stuff: My sister is probably the strongest and most self-reliant person I know. She's met unspeakable challenges with a backbone of steel and no discernable self-pity. Where I would be huddled in a corner moaning my fate and cursing the gods, she simply does what needs doing with good humor and optimism. If I had one criticism it would be that she doesn't lean on others enough. We like to feel included.

I finished the back of Mom's sweater last night. Hurray!!! Now I'm down to the last sleeve and I'm halfway through with that. After finishing the back, I gathered up all my stray skeins of blue yarn and I THINK I may have enough to finish the rest of the sleeve without ordering another skein. It's going to be close.

I need a project to take on the road to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm really looking forward to the trip. I'm taking a Novelty Yarn class on Sunday from Judith McKinsey-McCuin that should be good. Lorain, my spinning buddy and roommate for the weekend, goes every year and she says it's fantastic. I'm thinking about either dipping into my sock stash for something to knit in the car or starting on the felted mittens I've had on my to-do list for a while.

This weekend Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is signing books in Lexington and I'm hoping to go. I read her blog religiously. It's such a hoot! She gets it ... she really gets it.

I don't have any new knitting to show off since the dog sweater is sucking up all my time, so I'll display an old project. This is a beret I made for Kate with handspun angora blend yarn. I dyed it with Easter egg dye and it didn't dye evenly, but the result was a lovely varigated pink -- much more interesting than an even pink would have been. Serendipity! As an aside, the dye faded a good bit when exposed to light. The inside of the beret is a lot pinker than the outside. I don't think Easter egg dye is one the best dyes on the market.


Still, Kate really loved the hat and wore it almost continuously for about a month before moving on to newer and better style options.

I guess I'd better get off the computer and get things done around the house. Time flies when you're online!