I know they say “Good things come to those who wait.” So I’m still waiting for that letter in the mailbox. Hopefully, it will be here by Friday. I’m getting to the point of giving up because I know as soon as I give up it will show up. But I can’t quite make myself give up yet. I’ve been working a lot which helps keep my mind off of things. Last night, I knitted and watched In Her Shoes.

I’ve been knitting quite a bit but the photos are so uninteresting. It’s hard to be interesting when you’re focusing most of your time on the same two projects. I have eight inches left on the body of the Hobo sweater. In the last month, I’ve knitted almost ten inches of the body, so I think I can finish the body within another month. And then the sleeves don’t take must time at all. After I finish this piece I get to do it all over again for the second piece. At least when the second piece is finished, the sweater is done. One of the advantages to knitting it sideways.

I’ve worked on quite a bit in the last few nights on the Snowflake vest. The back looked so great and I was so excited to finish the front. That is until I tried it on. The snowflake motif is huge on me and it just doesn’t look right. It’s not the stitches, it’s the design. I think I just need to rip back and start with a smaller motif. I was sad that it didn’t work out but at the same time I want a sweater that I’ll be proud to wear. Tonight at knitting, I plan on frogging the vest to the point where I will restart the pattern.
I’ve started reworking the motif in Excel so that it fits me a bit better. Here are the two that I’ve come up with. Which one do you like better? One or Two.

I’m sure that some of you heard about the storms that went through Kansas this past weekend. Unfortunately, the KU campus was hit really hard with over $6 million in damage, including the chapel where we were married. Fortunately, only one person was injured minorly. This is what it looked like on our wedding day and after Sunday’s storm. I feel so bad for those couples that are getting married within the next few weeks.

I still have yet to hear whether or not I’ve been accepted to library school. Everyday when the mail comes I jump because potentially the letter could be there. I’m losing sleep over this because I’m so anxious to find out. I promise not to assault the postman.

To try and curb some of my anxiousness I’ve been spinning a lot. Knitting just doesn’t seem to help keep my mind off of the letter. I finished my second bobbin of the Garden yarn and started the third on Thursday night. I still have more than 5 ounces to spin. After this third bobbin, I’m going to have to do some plying because I’m out of bobbins. Technically, this is a Project Spectrum project because it does have pink in it.

And finally, I’m so happy to learn that my KU Jayhawks have made it to the final round of the Big 12 Tournament. I hope that they do well enough to get a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Unfortunately, I’ve only seen one game this year because we don’t have cable and they don’t show many Big 12 games around here. It’s all Big 10.

Nothing quite as wonderful to make you feel lovely as getting a hair cut. I had my hair cut for the first time since December and it felt wonderful.

Last night, several friends and I went to a lecture by Linda Scott, the author of the book Fresh Lipstick at the local library. It was a very interesting lecture and I checked the book out after the lecture. I’ll let you know how it is.

Over the last several years, I’ve been dealing with acne problems and I’m sick of it. I’ve tried three different moisturizers in the last four months all of them continually making the problem worse or the same. So I checked out Pure Skin from the library by the woman who runs Naturopathica. She lists a lot of ingredients that are in “natural” skin care that are actually not all that natural. I figured buying animal-byproduct free and cruelty-free products that they were better. I was obviously wrong. The products may be free of animal byproducts but that doesn’t mean they are free of chemicals and petroleum-based ingredients. Now I’m going to try some home-made cleansers and moisturizers. I’ve run out of ideas, short of putting more chemicals on my face from the pharmaceutical companies that have never worked anyway. So I’m on a mission. I’ll let you know how things turn out, or should I say how they clear up. Anyone use products that they don’t know contain Disodium EDTA (a synthetic chemical used as a preserative) or Methylparaben & Pabaparaben (preservative, possibly carcinogenic)? I mention these two because they are in all of the moisturizers that I’ve recently used and they may be part of the problem. I’ve made such drastic changes in my diet over the last four years that I’m ruling out food in this case.

I should add a bit of knitting to this post. Yesterday, I finished the heel for the second Lilly sock. I’m now working on the extremely long cuff of the sock. update March 9 – I just tried the socks on and the second sock which is supposed to be smaller for my right foot (1/2 size smaller) is actually bigger and a bit too big for my left foot. Oh good grief. I hope they shrink a bit in the wash.

I’ve also worked several rows of the Hobo sweater. I’m not at the exact halfway point on the body of the Hobo sweater. That means I’m 25% of the way through the entire sweater.

And for your reading pleasure, Bryan sent me this very interesting article on junk food in schools.

Okay, so I’m avoiding what I should be doing which is finishing up the reorganization of our bedroom closet. We did the office last weekend and it looks fabulous. The bedroom is looking better but I’m getting to the point of feeling overwhelmed because there is so much stuff to put away but I don’t want to deal with putting it away.

This is completely off the subject but when I found this website, I had to post it. It’s all about sheep breeds and was very fun to browse through. It’s always fun to see what sheep the wool I’m spinning comes from.

For Project Spectrum, I’ve decided that I’m going to do a photo parade of the yarn/fiber that I have in my stash that is in the colors of this month – Red & Pink. Current projects are not included. I’ve realized that I think I have more red and pink in my stash than any other two colors. (I hope to do this every month of Project Spectrum to keep tabs on what I have in my stash and to encourage me to use the yarn that I have.)

Bonkers Raspberry Sock Yarn

Rowan Felted Tweed for the Martha sweater

Crystal Palace’s Kid Merino

Zen yarn

Opal sock yarn from my SP6 pal

Interlacements Mohair

Zara yarn that I bought in 2001 to make mittens.

Mohave merino from Wendy, my SP5 pal

Raspberry Slush from Amie

Cotton Candy yarn to be plied with Bright pink

Bright pink (70% Merino/30% Tencel)

And for the finale, my own hand-painted fiber
Raspblueberry

Rainbow Dreams

Desert Berry

It’s been a pretty normal week around here. Lots of spinning has been done in the last few days and a bit of knitting has been done too. Not a lot to see unfortunately.

The Garden yarn is looking fabulous. I have one and a half bobbins full with about 1.5 oz left to spin and another 6 oz coming to me by mail. The plied sample that I have is beautiful (unfortunately, the photo doesn’t do it justice). I can’t wait to finish this yarn and actually make something with it. It’s even more beautiful spun up than it is as just a fiber.

Most of my knitting this week has been on the sweater that I’m lengthening. The blue band around the bottom looks quite nice. I have the front done and need to rip out the back’s ribbing and reknit it. I’ll post a photo when it’s finished and blocked.

I just realized that Project Spectrum started on Wednesday. I’d completely forgotten but considering the projects I have in the works. I think I’m set with enough red/pink projects to get me through March easily. Just a recap for those of you not keeping close tabs on my projects.
1. Lilly socks, which I’m working on this afternoon
2. Snowflake vest (the warm weather is not helping me finish this)
3. Hobo
4. Garden yarn (see above) Okay, so it’s not technically all pink, but it has pink in it.
5. Lengthening the pink short-sleeve sweater

My goal is to finish at least three of the five by the end of March. Those three being the Lilly socks, the Snowflake vest and finish lengthening the pink short-sleeve sweater.