Back to Reality

I'm back from Franklin, TN. While I really enjoyed spending time with my parents, it is good to be home. Their house is just not designed for two rambunctious boys.

My mother and I agreed that knitting camp was something of a bust. Our plan was to take a bunch of knitting or fiber-related classes at the LYS. Unfortunately, few of the classes were offered at times convenient to us, and private lessons were more than we wanted to spend. I then borrowed EZ's DVD Knitting Workshop from the Atlanta Knitting Guild. While we enjoyed watching some of the DVD, my mother had no desire to actually knit the items EZ demonstrated in her workshop. We eventually abandoned the DVD as well.

The two weeks were not an entire waste, however. I finished knitting the gecko for my nephew:

I still need to felt and stuff the gecko, but I'm so pleased with how well it turned out.

Felting the gecko looks like a project. You have to pull it out of the washing machine every 5 minutes or so to check on its progress and shape the toes. I'm waiting until an evening to felt it. With temperatures in the 90s, I'm not anxious to run any unnecessary electrical equipment.

I’m starting to feel a little pressed for time with some of my projects. My SIL is due in two weeks, and I need to finish the details on the baby projects. I still need to fix the clasp on my duck bib, secure the ends to the baby surprise jacket with thread, and finish the clasp to a second bib. I cast on a third bib on Friday and realized that I need to review some knitting-with-color techniques. (I’m not sure, but I may have stumbled into intarsia.) I had hoped to knit at least two more bibs by the time the baby arrives, but that may be too ambitious.

I also need to start my first lace project. The Atlanta Knitting Guild is having a KAL sponsored by one of our recent speakers. I've been a little hesitant to mention the project since it is open to a limited group of people. However, we have our own KAL forum on Ravelry. If we have our own forum, I think we can mention the KAL in public. Anyway, we are knitting some sort of lace shawl or stole. The project does call for beading for those who are ambitious. With a baby learning to crawl and pull himself up and the older two boys (a/k/a "the terrorists"), I've decided against beading. I'm very excited about my first lace and KAL experience.

For this project, I purchased KnitPicks Gloss yarn (parsley color) for the KAL. It was on sale [go me!] and is a wonderful earthy color, which was recommended. The swatch was to be completed last week, and the first clue was published Friday. I'm a bit behind because I haven't started the swatch yet. I hope to start on it tonight while the gecko is drying.

Since the baby is still sleeping, I guess I should return to my other project in progress - cleaning out my office. Once either my husband or I are employed, we plan to put the house on the market. I'm trying to clean the house room by room. My husband did an amazing job cleaning the boys' rooms, the playroom, and the garage while we were gone. My office, once one of the the neatest rooms in the house, now looks like a paper and yarn tornado hit it. I'm trying to organize both the paper and the stash, but I'm not sure I'm winning the battle.

Happy knitting!