The $3.50 Sweater!

It is really nice when things just work!

My sweater is finished. Totally finished. Blocked, seamed, buttoned, ready to wear - and I still have enough yarn left over for repairs. This did not seem possible six weeks ago.

But here it is, blocking. I finished it last Friday, blocked on Saturday, then did the seaming on Sunday while listening to Helio win the 500.

This marks some firsts for me - first time blocking to a specific shape, and the first time I've sewn any knits with any kind of care. I found this great page with instructions for all sorts of seams, and I think taking the time to pay attention was really worth it.

After that, there was nothing left to do but wait for Aaron to come home so he could take pictures. It's been 80 degrees almost all week, but I'm still going to wear the sweater long enough for pictures.

Finished. Not bad for $3.50. Thanks for the yarn, Debbie!

The Sock that Defeated Me

Sock Madness has moved on and then some, and I've finally finished Round 3.

Talia's Wings socks, made with some sort of mystery yarn. I hope I can figure out what the yarn is, because I have about half of it left.

It's a pretty little sock, and I'm reasonably happy with the way it turned out. It seems just a bit too small in this yarn, but I think it's ok.

It's probably even ok that I don't get to continue with Sock Madness. I've realized that I've come dangerously close to starting too many projects for my Winter WIP Workdown, so I really need to focus on finishing rather than starting.

I was doing so well for awhile, but then I let things get out of hand. This is one of the latest culprits - a Wavy Gravy hat for charity knitting. If I'd been good, I would have pulled out one of the ongoing charity projects - but those were hard to find, and I had the yarn handy. It's Outback Wool, a gift from a friend who was de-stashing. I'm glad I can use it for a good cause, even if it's not so good for my project-finishing. At least this one's finished.

It Must Be May

It's time to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

We headed over yesterday for the 4th day of qualifying. There was a pleasant surprise when we got there - Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James were conducting a question & answer session. So we got to hear from them even before we went inside.

Somewhere, I have a picture of me with Janet at her first race. I'll have to find it to post later. It was the coolest thing in the world when she started racing - before that, I never knew who I'd be when we played race drivers, but after 1977, I was always Janet Guthrie.

So then it was time to head inside, and it was a lively day of qualifying! Quite a few drivers took advantage of the great weather to re-qualify with better speeds, so there was something going on all day. There was plenty of knitting, too - I had my yarn, and several other Ravelry knitters showed up. It was crowded enough that most of us didn't find each other, but I got to hang out with Clare (who doesn't have a blog) and her family. The Speedway is such a great place for kids.

This was the beginning of one of the most exciting moments of the day - John Andretti's successful qualifying run. He'd been bumped earlier in the day, and it looked like he just wasn't going to find the speed. That would have been kind of sad, since he's a NASCAR racer who's returned to the fold, and for the sake of his family it would be nice to see him do well here. The redneck fans were pretty excited because Andretti's team owner is the famous Richard Petty, so they wanted to see Richard do well at Indy. And he made it with just minutes to go - putting up the time and making for an exciting last hour.

It was an exciting day for socks, too. The Spring Forward socks and I have a new favorite driver - E.J. Viso. Isn't he cute? And he's obviously a good guy, since he's willing to hold a sock.

He spent every spare moment posing for pictures and signing autographs. A lot of drivers are good about meeting with fans, but E.J. was really good - especially since he had to re-qualify. He had a deal going with his crew that for every place he dropped in the qualifying order, they could paint one of his fingernails pink. He got to take the polish off at the end of the day, though - and I hope he'll be celebrating next Sunday!

It was also a productive day for socks - here's the finished pair of Spring Forward socks. So that's the March/April Sock Club socks finished - I'm going to miss the May Sock Club, but if I were going to be there, I'd be done just in time.

Darn Yarn!

My friend Sam has reason to celebrate today - she and her partner are the proud mothers of a wonderful little girl!

They've been going through the adoption process, and now it's official. So there was a little party today, and I found the perfect gift for a knitter's daughter:

Baby's First Graphic Novel.

This is a funny little book, with two stories told on opposite pages - one about a sock monkey being knit, and another about a sock monkey. I'm not sure if the little one is old enough to read it yet, but it was a big hit with the adults at the party.