Lesson Learned

The weather here is fighting to either be winter or spring. We see it -8C at 6 a.m. to +4C at the same time 24 hours later. It snows 2" and then its gone in a day with a dose of rain just after the snow has melted. So, I think -- winter or spring??

Lifestyle

With the weather craziness, it is hard to know if we should be using our shovels or thinking about getting the gardening tools out. The Spousal Unit has been sorting and putting away items in the shed (aka the Baby Barn) on the sunny days. It is nice to see him out and about doing things as the garage is slowly getting organized also. On top of that, he has a compressor and a BBQ to assemble. 
I have spent some quality time with the duster, broom and mop. It was time to do a bit of deeper cleaning. What amazes me is the lack of dirty dust in this house and the amount of white dust bunnies there are. The living/dining room and kitchen are done. The bedrooms need a touch up and the bath cleaned before I tackle the stairs and basement. A couple of days should have it ship shape. 

Sewing

I am busy cutting out fabric for the dolls as I want a clean table to lay out and make the tie blanket for Grandson. From the peach colored leggings, I cut out 3 pairs of leggings and a t-shirt. From scraps of white knit, I cut out 2 t-shirts and have to cut out 1 more. The colored denim and cotton prints are laundered waiting to be ironed and have jeans and tops cut out of them. Then I can sew for a couple of weeks between cutting and tying the blanket.

Knitting

I have been focusing on getting Grandson's socks finished as his birthday is Thursday. I have to graft the toe and we can say completed. I have knit so steady that I ache all over from sitting on the hard couch and being tense. 
I am also knitting dishcloths. The first one is done and put away. It is a denim blue in a very easy pattern. The second one is turquoise and the pattern is harder. Tense up to get a stitch over 2 others on every other row. But the results are beautiful. 

There are 10 patterns in the book and my goal is to knit each one of them. I gift the products. 
I also decided to knit a hat for the dolls and it is an easy knit. It is to fit over their entire head to keep their ears warm. Here is what happens when you knit tight and use the wrong size needles. 

A Newsboy hat becomes a beret. I thought I had picked up the right sized needles but I didn't. The back of the hat is really cute. 

From this I learned to knit gauge swatches and to sort my needles and put them into labeled bags. So, last night I did a fast swatch the Cat Bordhi way with Lucy Neatby thrown in for good measure. I cast on with 4 mm needles and knit for a while, measured the gauge, purled a row, went down a needle size, knit more rows, measured, down a needle size until I am happy with knowing two things. 

• My tension using worsted wool is not far off from the norm. 
• This cap will be knit on one size larger needles. If it doesn't fit Anna, it will fit Kate. 

I will be knitting swatches before each project as a part of my projects. Lesson learned. 

Today

The socks need to be finished and ready for Thursday. More house cleaning needs to be done and I hope to get into the sewing room to cut out more fabric. The doll's hat will be knit starting this morning. 

Until the next time.................