Getting ready for the cruise
The hat on the left (above) is the one I made with the sari silk I got thanks to my first Secret Pal. However, it never quite worked.
Since we're heading out on a cruise to the Caribbean on Saturday (yay!), I needed a sun hat. What I've done in the past is buy a cheap straw hat on vacation and then either try to bring it back on the plane, squishing it in the process, or leave it behind, wondering if it was really worth it to spend money on a hat that I discarded so soon. I decided that what I really need is a cloth hat that will pack but that will keep the sun off me.
Thus the variation. I widened the brim, which took several tries because it kept curling (the solution is to do sc, sc, sc, 2sc in space, repeat; every third round). Then came the problem of how to stiffen it. After considering starch and boning, I finally went to the cloth store and found some iron-on stiff interfacing and some cotton cloth in the color of the brim. And it worked.
And, by the way, note that the hat and my new hand-made socks are the same color. Now all I need is something to wear between them.
Thank you Secret Pal!
Darn it, the picture is fuzzy again, so it's impossible to see the incredible pattern and workmanship on the socks. I have never in my entire life owned a pair of handmade socks, so my first thought was that they are
much too beautiful to wear.
But they will be worn. In New England, cold weather (most years) lasts from late October through winter and mud season, which ends in April. During that time when you go to someone's house, you take slippers or sandals and wear them. Now I plan to wear sandals and show off my socks. Not only do they fit perfectly, but they also go with all of my nicer clothes.
And the soap and soap bag are great, too. Love the scent and look forward to the luxury of using it. Whee! I really enjoy being spoiled!
Fuzzy sweaters
It's partly because the yarn is Lion Brand's "mohair look" from Michael's, which I will never, ever use again, and it's partly because the camera wiggled when I took the picture. Anyhow, these are the sweaters for David and Abbie, promised before Christmas. I got the pattern for the little one from the net, "Quick and Easy Children's Sweater" or something like that, and the larger one is the basic drop shoulder sweater from Ann Budd's book. I added the pocket from my swatch because when I was a kid I always loved pockets. You can't see the fimo buttons (bought, not my creation), but David has little fish and Abbie has flowers.
The funny thing is that I've tried to download a picture of Jerry's feet in the finally-felted slippers, and the virus protection kicks in and won't let me do it. I think his feet are great; don't know why Norton objects.
Other projects in the past couple of weeks include a bathing suit and a slinky long dress, both sewn. I needed a suit to swim at the Y, and bathing suits around here, this time of year,
start at $35. I spent $15 on a pattern, $10 on cloth, and $5 on cups, so I've still saved money, as long as we count my time as not worth more than $2.50/hour. However, the point is that I can make a couple more suits and will really save.
The dress, on the other hand, was out of cloth I had on hand, a pattern ditto, and took about an hour and a half, so it really was cheap.
Tomorrow I have a final meeting with the third course I did and on Friday I do a guest lecture on literacy and ELLs in the high school; next week I do a demo lesson and meet with one of my consultees. I think the mad pace is slowing.
Consulting
Somehow one of my retirement gigs is consulting on ESL to different school districts -- three, at last count. This would be more impressive if the districts had more than three or four ELLs each. What strikes me as ironic is that I spent 20 years trying to get my school district to accept certain reforms to help the ELLs without much success and having to fight them every step of the way; but now, suddenly, because I'm from out of town and they had to hire me special, they listen to me and then actually go out and implement the suggestions. I'm more credible than I was where they knew me. Ooops, that didn't come out right.
Knitting -- half way up the front of the cable cardi, half way up the back of the reknit teal cardi, back and almost the front of the sweater for my friend's son finished (and I'll be glad to see the end of that), and because I had nothing else to do I started playing with the Rowan that my last SP sent me. She also sent me a pattern for a beautiful scarf, but I had a horrible time counting the yo's on it, and besides the pattern only used half the ball and I couldn't bear to not use all of it; so I'm making a simple garter stitch triangular scarf/shawl. I'm thinking of buying some beads to add to it.
If I gave up all this consulting I'd have more time to knit....
The hat on the left (above) is the one I made with the sari silk I got thanks to my first Secret Pal. However, it never quite worked.
