Saturday, February 5

I've spent the past three days at home with my youngest son who has been sick with a cold/cough. And I had to wait at my in-laws' for the boiler repair man. So I spent some time hand-knitting. I started a second pair of mittens, these for my husband Jim. I'm doing his in WoolEase and wow, what a nice yarn! It really is soft and cuddly. I might abandon my first pair which was done in acrylic yarn and do a pair in the WoolEase!

I machine knit a baby blanket for my cousin's baby. After several days of attempting to knit it, and failing miserable (I was getting ready to give up on the machine and sell it on Ebay!) I was successful last night. I have the body of the blanket all knit...and it took just over an hour. It's 100 stitches by 275 rows done in a light blue and a coordinating variegated yarn. Now to do the edging. I'm considering trying out the pie crust edging--if I can follow the instructions I have, Otherwise, I will hand crochet a border. Then it needs to be steamed flat and mailed away. I just wrote my aunt this week that this project was underway and hopefully they wouldn't be getting it when he's graduating from law school!

I have also signed up to participate in the 2005 Journal Quilt project. The idea is to create an 8.5 x 11" quilt each month. You do this for nine months and the five best are sent along to Houston and then to Chicago for the international Quilt Show. I don't know if I will be accepted to participate and the list doesn't come out until 2/14. Waiting to know is almost worse than wondering if I had gotten into grad school!

I also need to organize my sewing area. Today Jim walked past the ironing board and knocked over a pile...neither one of us was amused! I can get to the sewing machine...and there is a part of the ironing board cleared for work. But organizing everything else in my small allotted space is a challenge. Where does thread go? Fat quarters? Fibers? Fusible web? I'll keep you updated as I go along.