Ready or Not

There was no way to ever predict what to wear to the MDSW. We've had two weeks of miserable, wet weather. Some days it's cold and wet. Some days it's hot and wet. Some days start out cold and get hot. Some days are hot and then get cold. I give up so I am taking one of everything I own. Just in case. See you there!

The Knitting Report

 On the eve of the MDSW it seems fitting that I chat about knitting. My second attempt at a gray cardi for Middle Son is chugging along. These are the fronts. It's my TV knit and sadly there is little on TV for me these days so it's slowed a bit.

 My handspun Featherweight cardi is my travel knit. It goes in the car as I ride along and it looks like I've been in the car a lot lately. I am past the part where you take off for the sleeves thank goodness. It was getting to be a real slog.

 Aubade is playing nicely again. Those 500 plus rounds are a killer though. One row a day is all I can do early in the morning before the household wakes up. Several of you complimented this yarn in the comments last week. FYI it's from Wandering Cat Yarns and it is gorgeous.

 My wonky handspun hat is near the crown. Then I'll have the lining to knit. I'm not very motivated now that the weather has warmed. It may go in the bin with a mitten I need to finish for next winter.

 Tracery is halfway through her last pattern repeat and then I'll have to do some scary shaping to turn it into a vest. I bought a Craftsy class to help me through it. I work on this while I am getting my Netflix fix at night.

The first border edging on my mosaic throw is nearing the end. I'll have three more of these to do. I work on this while I am listening to Audible on my Kindle. Right now I'm listening to Great Expectations.

This will be the last of the borders. It's gotten too big to work on comfortably. I didn't want to end on a white border but it is what it is at this point.

Then there is a tah dah...my last and only pair of socks on the needles are done. Now I can go buy some sock yarn tomorrow and not feel guilty. Right?

Knee Deep in Sheep

 My rubber sheep stamp has been getting a workout.

The MDSW Ravelry group is having a stitch marker swap again this year.

My marker making skills are pretty poor. Jewelry making was never my thing. It might be because I never wear any. Nada. Not even my wedding ring. I don't like things "on" me. I can't even wear my glasses for more than a few minutes.

It was suggested in the group that we plan to bring 150 (!) markers. If I have 50 ready in time I will be overjoyed.

All those sheep are for the packaging. I don't make nice markers but I do make nice packages. I am putting a small one and a large one together in a small bag and hoping the recipients never want to open it and use them. I have no confidence in them whatsoever.

If you are the festival on either Saturday or Sunday, The Buffalo Wool Co. is hosting the event this year at 2:00 at their booth (truck). It's in the very back in the upper corral. They even bought these badges to hand out to participants. Isn't that nice?

Tink, Tink, Tink

 Aubade is not playing nice. I suppose it's not really her fault that I didn't get the first row right when I picked her up after a long hiatus.

Most of the lace in this project has been a nightmare because it's not the kind of lace I'm used to working with. There are no real pattern repeats to mark off, just three or four repetitive stitch groups that should be easy to memorize but aren't because they are too easy to mix up. I'm pretty sure when I block this thing it will be full of boo boos. I'm just going to call them modifications. Ahem.

Right now I am tinking back 500 plus (!) stitches because I am on one lace pattern that I can actually read and it was pretty clear I wasn't where I thought I was when I finished the row. Oh, well....whatchagonnado? When you gotta tink, you gotta tink.

Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow

 A few weeks ago kathyb asked how long our hair ever was on her Monday Meme.

 This long. I grew it all year for my green witch get up and I couldn't wait to cut it off once it was over.

 Well, it's over so after I washed all the gray hair spray out of it I took out the scissors and....

Nope, I couldn't do it. Not yet. Maybe after the MDSW. Maybe. You see, I've become attached.

Only once in my life have a had such ridiculously long hair. In 1968 I took my equally lengthy tresses to the beauty shop to get the popular shag cut right before I saw Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet. BIG mistake. After seeing Olivia Hussey's gorgeous hair, I cried over my horrid shag for weeks months.

I was supposed to look like this.....

...but after a miscommunication with the stylist, I ended up looking like this. It looked great on Mia but on me-not so much.

So even now when I take up the scissors I'm still thinking of my teenage girl crush. Isn't she gorgeous? This is going to take a while. I may have to snip it off slowly so it's not such a shock to my system.

Done

 Our last competition of the year was a doozy. Look what I woke up to.

 That's not ordinarily a problem unless this is where you have to set up all your scenery. Look at that canopy. They told me on Saturday they would have a solution for the six teams that were competing on Sunday. Ha. We have a 12 foot tall gingerbread house for crying out loud.

 I worked pole duty outside while the mom's worked inside attaching all the paper decorations onto the felt background.

 We had plastic to cover some things. Other things had to be stored in the dressing rooms. It was a crowded mess. I couldn't find anything. It was tense.

 A lot of the panic came from knowing we were facing some of our toughest competition ever. We went out to Virginia to take on some high level USFSA Theater on Ice teams. What I saw made my jaw drop. They were all very professional and extremely polished next to our homemade gear. We were pretty sure we would be handed our behinds on a plate but we came home with a first place (green witch) and a second place (librarian) finish. Not too shabby. We also won the second place trophy for overall team points. Our individual skaters had a great weekend too.

 It was such a struggle to get through the day that I never got any cute candid shots. By the time we finished our events and I took care of loading the car to get everything out of the drizzle, the competition was over. They were taking down the bunting and turning off the lights. Hint, hint. Everybody go home. So I did.

 Here is the season's medal tally. We won six first places, a third and a second. Not bad for only our second year ever.

Now the question is what on earth do I do with this?

And what about him?

I know what I'm doing with this. I'll be the best dressed witch on the block come Halloween.

May Day!

Woo hoo! My Simon Says Stamp May card kit is here. Drumroll please.......

This month it is all about plaids.

The collection is called "Showered With Love".

Here is its official mug shot from the company.

The inspiration sheet looks interesting as do the videos I've watched on YouTube. I've learned so much about paper crafting from doing all this. I had no idea it was so cool.

 I also bought a Lawn Fawn stamp and die set so The Mister can make a Mother's Day card for his mom. I love the tea-riffic tea set. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it.

I also bought more flowers. I can't get enough flowers it seems. Showers and flowers-it's going to be a good month!