Snakes and Ladders is complete!

Yippee! It's done. The Snakes and Ladders Stole is now in the blocking stage. It's final measurements ended up being approximately 5.6' x 30". I am now a true believer. I didn't believe the people who said that blocking makes all the difference when dealing with lace, but I'm now a convert. This turned out gorgeous. I know the recipient will be pleased. Of course if she isn't, she'll lie and say she is, cause that's what Mom's do. Yes, the ends were wonky at the time of the photo, but they've been adjusted since. This is my first lace project. Yes, there are mistakes. Fortunately, I'm the only one who will ever notice. I figure that even for someone who knows what they're looking for would be hard put to find the mistakes on a moving target. And don't forget, I'm allergic to perfection anyway.

complete!, sorta

I got some yarn p@rn for you:

This lovely ball of merino sock yarn came from a lovely lady at ebay. She calls it Spruce. It's got a beautiful brilliant blue that keeps popping up every so often. The colors remind me of what you'd find in a peacock feather. So pretty! New socks are now in progress cause I couldn't wait. If you try and click on the pics below to get a better look, you won't. I couldn't get a clearer pic to save my soul tonight. But I tried!

Look Mom! I got toes!

Ahh! no foot!

knitting question and wieners

How long should a stole be? When is it finished? My Mom's birthday stole is at 5 feet currently. Should it be longer or am I finished?

I put in the question over at the knitty board and there seems to be some debate as to how long a stole/shawl should be.

a. Should be armspan length or height.
b. Depends on how a person likes the stole/shawl to drape.
c. Depends on the recipients "girth".
d. Length should be 60"-70" in length.
e. Object will stretch once it's blocked.
f. Object should wrap around shoulders and touch a person's waist.

I'd be interested in other people's opinions about this as well. Let me know what you think.


On a different note, Summer is now officially here! The last day of school was today and the Memorial day holiday is past us.

Over the weekend, my youngest got to experience a pool for the first time. He was fine until we put him in a life jacket, then he got mad:


Yesterday the kids played in a new sprinkler that we got. When we went in, the eldest complained that he "was so cold, he was freezing his wieners off." Evidently God now issues multiple weiners to little boys. Who knew?

no more wieners

upcoming projects and sheer wants

Just to show you how I'm procrastinating on that drama camp I'm supposed to be planning...


It's been a while since I have found a new craft that inspired me as much as knitting has. But I have found something that I really want to try. And it's knitting related. yeah! Today I went and ordered some superwash (cause I'm afraid of felting) wool sock yarn that I am going to dye. I can't wait. And then, I get to knit it up. woohoo! This is the best of all worlds to me. I get to play with colors, have fun with some chemistry (sort of) and then use the final product. I ordered the yarn from KnitPicks. KnitPicks has some awesome prices on yarn and their shipping is reasonable too. I'm planning on documenting the whole process just as soon as that shipment gets in, so stay tuned!

Now that I've ordered the yarn, I get to figure out what I will use as my dye. Will it be food coloring? easter egg dye? Not sure. I'm doing research on this over at knitty and craftster and various and sundry places on the web to decide.

I've also found some more knitting projects that I'm dying (not dyeing you'll note) to try. I know I'm late getting onto the Mason-Dixon Knitting book boat, but I went and reserved a copy from the libary. OMG! This book is fantastic! How will I ever afford all of the yarn for the projects I've ear-marked? I was lurking over at Cara's blog at January One and saw the miters she made for the mitered blanket. I must have it! I must knit it! That's what led me to this book. Then I saw the baby kimono, the spiral rugs, etc. I had originally planned on photo-copying the pattern for the mitered blanket, but now I want the whole entire book. Fabulous!




And no, this is not a paid endorsement at all, I'm just amazed at what these two ladies have done with this book. HMMM... Think someone could come up with a mitered sock?