Look! i made a heel. :) I spent some time on neglected projects last night. I knit about 6 inches on my cat's bed, and then got quite a bit done on my first fuzzy foot.



I've never made any kind of sock before, so this is great practice. Gotta run to exercise class, more later.

It's finished. :) I stayed up until 10:30 last night fiddling with the seams so I could wear it today. (Which really is late if you consider that I get up at 4am)



I took this picture in a rush this morning while I was getting ready for work so I've vainly chopped off my wet hair and red devil eyes, lol. Overall I'm pleased with it, with a few minor annoyances. The back looks better than the front... I think I'm going to stick with knitting the front of garments last in the future when possible ;) There is also a slight extra bulge of fabric on the side of the bust by the arm holes.. perhaps I only needed one set of short rows? Perhaps I'm being a bit hyper critical though... I think it fits me better than most clothing I've bought for myself. I'd love to make another one with a more forgiving yarn, maybe that new stretchy cotton from elann, or a thin merino.

I didn't have a chance to get any knitting together to bring to work today... I feel naked without my needles!

Okay, I'm going to stop predicting when I'll finish this tank, but I'm really really close to finishing :). I knit the collar yesterday afternoon, but there were a couple of places where it didn't lay right so I ripped it out and re-did it last night. This is only the second time I've had to pick up stitches around a neckline. I'm so glad I ripped it out, I tried to talk myself out of it, but now it actually looks good! I may have to rip out the collar on my skully sweater and redo it, now that I can actually pick up the stitches evenly, lol.

So the collar and one arm hole is done, just one more arm hole to go, and then seam up the sides.

Then I'll be impatiently waiting for the yarn to arrive for mom's vest. Not that I don't have other things I can work on. Maybe I'll finally get around to finishing my kitty's cat bed! And then there are the fuzzy feet, which I have exactly 1 inch of the first one completed, lol.

Pictures!

Here's my tank so far. I picked up a new darning needle on the way home and managed to weave in the ends and lightly block out the front and back. I've sewed the first shoulder together and I'm ready to pick up stitches along the neckline.

As you can see by the picture, my blocking has already gone a bit wonky ;0



Here's a picture of some of the dreaded dyed cotton yarn.



I knitted up a few swatches on the ferry coming home this afternoon though...and it's just not right for the vest. I just couldn't get the right drape from it. The consistency really toughened up after the dyeing. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun with it anyway. I've been meaning to make some more wash clothes and scrubbies. :)

So I took advantage of the big sale over at Webs and ordered some Fable. I wasn't going to buy any more yarn this month...but it's for Mother's Day, that makes it okay right??

So I'll be finishing up the tank at Elliott Bay tomorrow most likely, then I'll try to really block that bottom border well and see if I can cure it's tendency to curl up on me.

Well I finished the back of my tank last night...only to find that I'd lost my darning needle. Grrr it seems to have fallen out of my notions bag at some point last week. So finishing work will have to put off until I can make it to the store.

So I switched gears and started winding the biggest hank of light blue cotton for mom's vest...we made it 3/4 of the way through fairly easily, and then it tangled into a horrible mess. I'm suspecting that I won't be dying any more cotton in the near future. It took like 90 minutes to finally get it wound up making me quite cranky. I really don't deal well with frustration. I finally had to leave my husband to finish detangling it (thanks honey!) and go listen to swirly music in the dark.

I forgot to mention my knitting related weekend shopping. Yesterday I finally got my hands on a copy of Vogue Knitting! (and I'm cut off from buying any more knitting books for at least a month, I'm so outta control)

And on Saturday I bought some yarn for Allison's fuzzy tank top. We were visiting friends in Edmonds, and I'd been wanting to check out the yarn store down town. They didn't have the yarn I was looking for, but they helped me find a suitable replacement. It's a very nice little shop, and the ladies were way helpful. There was also a friendly chatty bird. I can't remember now the name of the yarn I got, I'll have to take a picture of it tonight. It's a way scary/bright colorway of Blues and Purples. It will be perfect for wearing at festivals this summer.

No pictures yet, but I got a lot of stuff done over the weekend. I just attached the second ball of yarn and started the back shoulder straps on the shapely tank. I should finish it tonight.

I also dyed the yarn for mom's sweater. It turned out pretty well. The teal wasn't as dark as I thought it would be after if finished drying, but I think she'll be pleased. I added a little of the teal dye to the bath for the light blue as well, so the two colors really match well in tone. And since I dyed the yarn on the stove and then dried it in the dryer on low (on my sweater rack), it should be all pre-shrunk. Nice to know she'll be able to machine wash and dry the finished vest if she wants to. (I told her this over the weekend, and my sister teased me for giving her the care instructions before it was even knitted, heh)

I also knitted a swatch for mom, double stranded on size 10 needles. She liked the thickness and drape of the fabric so I'm good to go. :)

I'll take lots of pictures tonight I'm sure.