Stealth Knitting

I was all kinds of tired yesterday after having the grandkids over for several hours Tuesday and then their parents also for several more hours before The Ninja’s birthday party at his MIL’s. I was trying to keep things relatively quiet for poor T-Man who was trying to work on the computer in the bedroom. Stargazer would walk by the door and go “shhhhhh” and then run and slam the front hall door shut or squeal while his sister chased him. Even while The Ninja and Princess Pink watched “The Golden Compass” and The White Lady snoozed, he was all over the place making a noisy nuisance of himself. Two year olds. Gotta love ‘em! And speaking of the Princess, she came wearing her pink sweater and her unmentionables that I knitted for her. The unmentionables looked very cute peeking out from under a pink taffeta sleeveless dress worn with a long-sleeved t-shirt for warmth. Glad to see my knitwear is getting some use before she grows out of it! Wish I’d taken a photo but I was too busy with the beasties and making a big pot of soup for everyone’s lunch.

I had a lovely visit with Milady Daughter too who came after work before the party because her work is close by. Her spouse was in charge of picking up Nana. It was a completely family day and I thank the Other Grandmother (my daughter-in-law’s mom) for hosting us. We had a yummy little dinner party, complete with cake and one candle. Don’t want to burn down the house with 35 of them! Nice of her to throw a party for my kid, doncha think? This is the third or fourth year she’s done it too. I love her.

Nana liked her gloves! She was surprised actually because I gave them to her at the party and she wasn’t expecting them. Heh. Sneaky Knitter – that’s me. Besides her birthday is in only a couple of more weeks anyway. I also gave her charge of the socks for my brother-in-law since chances are she’ll see him first before I do. Oh, and The Ninja put his birthday socks on the minute he got them. Guess that means he’s happy too. That’s 3 gift knitting projects gone in one day! Meanwhile I might finish yet another pair of socks.

Yes, I finally broke down and started a pair of Monkey Socks. The yarn is Tofutsies in sandy colours plus a greeny-blue that totally reminds me of the seashore so I’m calling them the Sea Monkey Socks. That conjures up a different picture than the beach, doesn’t it? Anybody remember those ads on the back of comic books with the weird faces attached to shrimp bodies? In reality brine shrimp are not especially cute nor smart, just follow the light and swim around. We used to grow them for our fish that we used to have. But I digress. I’m not quite sure if I’m going to give these socks to Nana or not. I’m liking the Monkey Socks pattern (what’s not to love about anything by Cookie A., eh?) but the yarn had 5 knots in it! What is it with my yarn and knots lately? I also think it’s splitty but it feels pretty nice once knit up and the short colour sections work well with the pattern. I’ll probably decide who gets these before I’m done knitting them. Sorry no photos yet because it’s dark and rainy today.

I also started spinning some wool and silk top that I had lurking in my fibre stash for eons. So long have I had this that I have no clue where it came from or even the percentage of silk vs. wool. I’m using my Victoria wheel and the lace flyer and spinning as fine as I can manage on this slippery stuff. It has a nap so I have to choose the right end of the piece of top after I break it off the main ball of fibre or it makes slubs and is a PITA to spin. Unusually there’s a little bit of artificial crimp added to the top which helps hold the stuff together until you get it spun. It’s more like spinning straight silk than silk/wool. This stuff is for a scarf that I’m making for our guild booth at the ANWG conference in May. I’ve got to get moving faster on it because after I spin and ply it, I still have to dye it (I’m thinking natural dyes) and knit it (I’m considering Nancy Bush’s Triinu scarf from her Estonian lace book). I need about 500 yards for that. More spinning will be done today. If I ever get off this computer.