Out of sorts.

I spent I don't know how long gathering up my laceweight from my studio, random bags, project bags, et al. And then I sorted them roughly by color. There are ten of them.

Three in that bookcase. The other two shoe boxes are filled with sock-weight yarn.

Six in bins on the bed, at least for the next hour or so. And one more in my studio, filled entirely with bright yellow Gloss Lace yarn, the rest of which is in one of those boxes. While I was sorting, I found a ball of black Rowan Fine Lace like I'm using for the darker green half of the doll vest.

I really could use a couple more shoe boxes, but this will do for now. This is going to make sweater design ever so much easier. No idea why I didn't think of it sooner. I've had my yarn sorted by weight for ten years or more. (Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a stash.)

These are the yarns that I'm using.

Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace (100% merino) in Leaf. Rowan Fine Lace (80% baby suri alpaca, 20% merino) in a discontinued shade of medium-dark green. The pattern is Cat Bordhi's "Investments" from Reversible Knitting. There's still not enough to photograph in a way that would make sense.

I paused the dark green at the end of row 53 and am playing catch-up with the light green.

Gotta go. The yarn is calling.

Still nothing to see here.

There are now 46 rows in the dark green and 40 in the light. I'm still enjoying the project. It's one where time goes all wobbly. Individual rows take just a few minutes. Adding noticeable length seems to take forever, and then bang! it's there.

I'm resisting the temptation to grab Justice and my 10 to the inch graph paper and my tape measure and start roughing out a sweater for her. I'm hoping to have this vest nearly done by the time my new umbrella swift arrives next week, so that I can plan her sweater and not feel like I'm cheating, or that I have too many plates spinning.

I'm also resisting the temptation to buy another case of clear shoeboxes and sort out all of my laceweight by color. It would certainly make it easier to see what I have, and where there are gaps to fill in.

Swift to its close...

One of my favorite hymns. But little relation to the fact that I just ordered a wooden umbrella swift that doesn't have to be clamped to a table. After 33 years, my blue plastic and metal swift just wants to collapse in a pile on the table and bewail its decrepitude.

My Knit Picks order arrived at work today, and I just wanted to jump into the middle of all that yarny goodness and get high on wool fumes. These colors are so beautiful. Particularly the greens.

Regarding the two-part vest that I'm knitting, I finished the 40th row on the light green piece, and as soon as I post here and on the main blog, I'm going to put in a few rows on the dark green piece before calling it a day.

No pics ~ of anything ~ at this time.

Nothing to see here.

34 rows done in the light green; 25 rows done in the dark green. A batch of fat-free (and hopefully not flavor-free) banana bread cooling on top of the stove. I'm going to try to hit 40 rows on the light green before I crash.

The vintage velvet ribbons came today, and they're gorgeous (as usual), and I don't feel like photographing them right now.

All my pants are sassy pants tonight/

Thus far no childbirth words.

I'm working both pieces of the Cat Bordhi reversible vest, one per 0000 circ. I've completed 25 rows in the pale green (the same one I used for the lattice pattern on Avery's sweater) and 22 rows in the darker green. I find it interesting that the latter is hairier, and there are random bits sticking out all over. The pale green is quite smooth. Both are a pleasure to knit. I think the texture contrast will ultimately prove as satisfying to the eye as the color contrast.

I've thought a little (a very little) about how I want to paint that letter B for Blessing's corner of the world. On the one hand, spray paint is fast. On the other, it involves going outside. Which involves putting on a bra. If I go with a craft paint from my studio, then I have to decide on a color (the spray paint is leftover from repainting the mirror frame in the master bathroom, so I know it will fit in) and decide where I want to paint, and wait for it to dry, then spritz it with sealer. Spray paint is one and done.

This would probably be a good time to open the box with the sandpaper and smooth some edges. It's out here in the living room, and Fourthborn is awake. It's also almost 11:00, and I could get away with stepping out on the front porch without getting dressed for company. Bonus: I could spray the wasp nest and the hornet nest when I'm done. Pretty sure those beasties are sleeping as soundly as Middlest right now.

For future projects

Went back to Hobby Lobby tonight with tape measure in pocket, to see if the black wrought iron candlestick I spotted a couple of nights ago would be tall enough, and solid enough, to serve as the base for a floor lamp near Blessing's new chair.

It is, but it's still not right. So I may be buying some dowels and wooden beads to mix with my stash of vintage wooden spools and build one of my own design. I did find a red ?silk? lampshade

And a small(ish) B to paint for her wall. I am a happy camper.

Oh, snap!

Unless Middlest wants me to sew on a fifth set of snaps, Avery's sweater is done.

I tried it on Justice this morning, and the shoulders fit perfectly, but it's about two inches too large in the chest, and the sleeves need to be both narrower and shorter. I've made notes on the Evernote page, and I'm thinking that the best option for her is a top-down sweater with a circular yoke. That way I can fit as I go.

There's a two-piece vest in the reversible knits book that Osaka and her mom gave me when we went out to Tennessee this spring, and I think I'm just going to cast on with something and see which doll it fits. Between us, Middlest and I have roughly 50 dolls. It'll fit somebody.

The ribbon is on. The snaps are not.

But Fourthborn and I have done the grocery shopping for this week, and the second load of darks is in the washer.

Once the snaps are on (which will probably be before I go to bed), I want to try the sweater on Justice to see where it would need tweaking in order to fit her.

My hands are itching to knit something for her before Valor arrives and I start drooling over his armor. I want to spend some time with my Nicky Epstein books and my Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries to come up with a sweater that's both practical (crossbow and questing gear) and feminine. Of my three SD ladies, I think this one is a true steel magnolia; she's definitely the only one who is fully human.

Blessing now has a chair!

It came in a box roughly two and a half feet each way. Not heavy, but super awkward. I was able to squeeze it into a large knitting bag.

Chair + afghan + needlepoint lumbar pillow + serendipitous ottoman.

Blessing resting in the chair with a book.

Blessing discovered by the Pukifees.

Chutzpah decided she'd rather pester the armadillo, and Praise just wanted to cuddle.

I think Blessing might be rolling her eyes. I need to cross-stitch her a tiny sampler that says "keep out of the reach of children."

Avery's sweater is done. And a faceup I liked

Last night I pinned it for blocking like this, in order to bring the bottom edge into submission.

This morning before church, I pinned it like this, to tidy up the shoulders and neck edges.

And here it is on Middlest's brat, Avery.

When we were at the dolly birthday party yesterday, I saw a doll whose eye makeup really pleased me. Fourthborn has done the majority of my dolls' faceups, either when I bought mine new, or when they were hers. And I've wanted fairly conservative makeup even for my bigger dolls. But I'm thinking that Blessing could do with a bit more color. Not these colors, and not this intense, but I liked how this doll's faceup worked with her costume.

Stick a fork in me. I'm done.

I may have ordered another chair.

I definitely finished the second shoulder on Avery's sweater, and I've picked up the stitches for the neck ribbing. Before I get to work on that, I'll make myself graft the underarm seam. I go through periods where I think Kitchener stitch is really cool ~ it is pretty magical ~ and others when I think it's the devil. The first underarm seam had a fairly high PITA (pain in the neck) factor, chiefly because most of the stitches had sunk down into the prior row and required a lot of coaxing to get back onto needles and facing the right direction.

Kitchener in worsted yarn on fat needles is pretty much a piece of cake. Kitchener on 0000 needles is not.

I hope to have a pinned-out-for-blocking sweater to show you in the next day or so. And a chair for Blessing to show you sometime around mid-week.

Footstool.

One wooden box, missing its lid. I don't remember buying this or receiving it as a gift, so it probably belonged to First Wife or Mother-in-Love. A little water damage on the bottom.

Drawer knobs from Hobby Lobby.

Feet installed, with the metal knob bases flipped 180 degrees on the bolt to make a more substantial join to the box (and also to cover those little white nibs where the previous feet were broken off).

Inside view.

A red leather circle cut from an old Franklin Planner that I've been saving for "someday". I stitched it to a square of cotton quilt batting, which I then arranged over a circle cut from some of the upholstery foam that padded the legs of Celeste's chair while in transit.

The finished footstool. About an hour of my time and less than $7 in new materials.

Feeling pretty pleased with the whole process.

Halfway there.

Actually, more than halfway there. Probably somewhere between three-fourths and seven-eighths there.

No knitting today. Looking forward to some tomorrow throughout the day.