It is All Well and Good Until Someone Loses an Eye

Wallace has been despondent ever since he lost an eye. He is getting old for a sock monkey (don't tell him I said that) and he was showing his age. So today he got brand new eyes. His hat was looking frumpy, so I made him a new top hat with buttons on it. And his felt vest got lost long ago. So I crocheted him a spiffy new vest with 3 buttons. Then he got to go outside for his photo shoot. He is happy now. He is watching me type this because he can't wait to see the photos.

Wallace lost an eye.

Wallace and his new blue eyes.

Wallace gets a new top hat and vest.

Wallace is watching the sunset.

Top hat close-up.

Crocheted Vest.

Wallace takes a spin in the wagon.

A Vest A Snood and Broken Glass

I got back to work on my knitted vest. I was afraid that if I waited much longer, I'd forget how to do it or where the pattern was. My hands could only take about 90 minutes of knitting four strands at once.  This is the heaviest vest I've ever made and will be even heavier when I do the last panel.

Yesterday I finished a white snood with a metallic strand in it. It's a gift for my boyfriend's mom and she chose the yarn. I like the way it came out. It's super stretchy.

Next I did some laundry. No rain today thankfully. I was sitting on the couch admiring the sunshine when I heard the sound of crashing glass. I looked up in time to see a pane of glass falling through the stairs, then our upstairs neighbor running down the stairs and tromping through the flowerbed.  She went back upstairs empty handed and never came back. So it looks like I'm going to have to clean up the glass and it won't be the first time. Kids lose their balls and toys back there, so if someone gets a toe cut off most likely it would be one of them. Somewhere I saw a bathroom sign with rules to live by for success. One of the rules was 'clean up your own mess.' Something a lot of adults have yet to learn I guess.

Magic Ball of Yarn

I've been trying to finish my bulky knitted vest and realized my 'magic ball of yarn' had run out. A magic ball of yarn is made by taking a leftover bit of yarn and winding a ball; then when you reach the end, you tie it to another bit of yarn and wind that onto the ball. Each length can be from 1 yard to 20 yards long, more or less. You keep adding new colors until the ball is as big as you want. So with my new magic ball of yarn in hand, I'll use it as one of the 4 strands in this vest. So far I have one front panel and shoulder done, and now I'm working on the back. I thought I was much further along but I didn't realize the back part needed more rows added. I would say I'm 3/4 of the way through. I need to finish it while it's still winter. It's too warm for summer wear.

Knitted Vest Another Day

Last night and today I got going on my knitted vest again. I got bogged down in some confusing directions so it sat there a week until I could find some courage. Now I almost have one shoulder section done. I can't wait to be done so I can try it on. I'm not sure if I'll like it or think it looks completely hideous. I want to do another one in white on white yarn. But it would be silly to do that if I don't like the way this one looks on me. Plus I need the needles that are still buried in the first vest before I can make another one.

Knitted Vest Work in Progress

Here are my photos from yesterday when I was working on my knitted vest. It's going to be heavy and I'm not sure I'm happy about that. But I've gone too far to ditch the project now. And I love the way the colors are dancing together. That makes me happy. I even added a little FunFur in there for texture. After this I want to make a 'white-on-white' vest, but I will probably drop to 3 strands of yarn instead of 4 like this one.

Freestyle crochet

I spent a few hours today crocheting a multicolored square. I didn't know what I would use my square for; I just wanted to see how the colors looked together. But now I think I will use it on the back of a freeform vest I have been working on for awhile. It's one of those 'dead' projects that's been hanging on my bathroom door for a year and I'd really like to finish it. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I think I need to start sewing the motifs to each other and see just how many square inches I've already covered. And I need to get some sense of where I need to make more shapes and what basic shape those need to be. Right now the only thing holding the parts together is safety pins.