Already Halfway

 I only have seven more grams of yarn until I get to the place where I need to start decreasing. That's only one more pattern repeat. I can't believe it.

To convince myself that this was true, I took out my first Arietta and put the two of them side by side. The orange one is already longer than the blue one without having been blocked. Goodness. That went unexpectedly fast.

A Journey of a Million Sitches

 I'm still having a hard time believing that this thing will be a sweater some day.

I just finished seven inches of the longest rows in the entire knitting universe and am now finally ready to start decreasing for the last sleeve. I don't even want to think about how long it is going to take to knit the gigantic collar and the ribbed front panels. I also don't want to think about how small it looks. I've yet to hold it up to my ever increasing posterior. Not that there's anything I can do about it now anyway-the sweater I mean. There is plenty I can do about the posterior-if and when I choose to get up off it.

Aquatic Therapy

 Daddio has been going to the pool once a week for therapy and I've been dragging along the sock blank to keep me company. My plan was for them to be some funny socks for him but he hates them. He says they are girl colors and won't wear them even though he dyed them. They are too big for me but I'm not ripping them back. I've done that before with a sock blank and it is a nightmare.

Having said that, knitting from a sock blank is too much fun. I highly recommend it. Just make sure you have a real plan before you start. These poor orphan socks are now going to become a pair of psychedelic leg warmers instead. They are not too "girly" for me.

March Daddio Update

 The old guy has had a rough time of it lately. Those mini strokes have left him weak and depressed.

 Some bright spring fabrics and some new paper piecing shapes have helped to cheer him up.

 It's been slow going.

 His plan is to make his version of this.  He found the pattern in this book.

 The problem he is having is getting the pieces together. He can't remember how they should go. I've been helping out.

He's also been making lots of fabric warp for more rag rugs.

While he has been working, I've been stitching in the ditches of his flannel quilt.

What's been the best medicine for the old guy has been a bottle of rum in a big old bucket of frozen red stuff. I have to say that it's been helping me cope with the situation better too. It's always 5:00 somewhere.

Frozen

Saint Patrick's Day was spent watching the snow fall.

We woke up to about five inches worth and then had snow showers on and off all day. It was not the kind of snow you can have fun in. One ride down the yard in the sleds was all we could manage before we hit dirt.

The odd blue tint in all the following photos is from leaving my white balance on incandescent when I went outside. The beer I used for a prop probably had something to do with it. It was so nice and cold from the snow that I couldn't stop sipping it.

The Selbu mittens are done except for the thumbs.

 I need not to have been drinking beer to tackle that job.It is still scaring me. I did unpoint the ends a bit just by stopping four rows from the end of the chart.

I tried to Kitchener them even further back but it was a flaming disaster. It's a good thing it all pulled out fairly easily or this would have been a post of an entirely different sort.

The Wearing of the Green

I was hoping to wear my Elm Street socks for St Patrick's Day but that's not going to happen. Not this year anyway.  Even though I am knee deep in the orange shawl, March is such a dismal month that I needed a small diversion from the winter that won't end.

That brilliant green has been calling to me for weeks now so I cast them on with a promise to myself that I can only work on them after the day's allotment of orange has been completed. 

 After those long rows of orange these itty bitty rows of lacy green are a relief.

It's still cold as you know what here and it's snowing (!) as I write this. Usually we would be planting in the garden this time of year but it's still covered with its winter coat of compost. The calendar says spring is only a few days away but Mother Nature apparently hasn't gotten the message.

 Stuck inside, I'm making myself happy with a big bowl of warm veggies....

 ...and a six pack of gooey happiness.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sunday Pupdate

 Someone got their first real bath this week. I took advantage of our 70 degree day to plunk Pup's butt in the sink. Yes, that's the kitchen sink. I process dirty fleece in it so a little dog doesn't faze me in the least. It gets an atomic bomb of a cleaning when I'm done.

 She handled it better than I expected.

 She liked the soapy water. She kept trying to drink it.

 What she didn't like was the towel. She hated being dried off.

It's a good thing I bought these super fast doggie drying towels because she only gave me a second for a rub down.

Her coat was a matted mess so I bought this tangle remover from Amazon. It worked extremely well. Now she is soft and silky and smells like something you would stick a little umbrella in.

In the past weeks, I have accumulated this ridiculous amount of grooming supplies in hopes that she might let me use one of them on her. I don't have this much stuff for my own hair.

The trick, I have discovered is to give her something yummy to chew on while I give her a quick brush. I tie an old bandana around the chew toy and then tie it to me so she can't run off with it. The things you do.....