Jackie Lee has a new vest

This is Jackie Lee. She's come to live with me so I'll have a model. In my effort to prove to myself that I can knit a rib warmer in any size with any yarn, I made her a vest. BC is impressed with it.

In other knitting news..... I'm sewing the boondoggle sweater. The one I didn't plan on making and started on impulse because Maria and Betty at Tuesday Knit Night were making them. Theirs are green, so I felt like I'd be a copycat to do green. OK, I am a copycat, but I at least went for different colors. And I'm into fall colors right now. (We actually have some in the woods and fields here in Tennessee.) I'm calling this one Autumn Diamonds.

If I'm lucky and don't dawdle too long, I'll have this sweater done in time for the fashion gallery at Knit Out and Fiber Festival in Crossville on Saturday.

Knitting Rib Warmers

I've agreed to teach a workshop on rib warmers at The Yarn Patch in November. It's to be a knit along. I've worked it out so that we'll be using gauge x measurement (imagine that!) and can use any yarn we want. I decided I needed to develop and test, so I've been knitting rib warmers almost exclusively over the last couple of weeks. And the old axiom is true - if you really want to learn something, teach it.

Here are the three that I've knit as display models for the shop. I have at least 3 more planned or in the works to have ready before the class, and I plan to knit along with my class, so that's one more. Good thing I love these!

The bright multi-colored one belongs to the shop, and I knitted it in a worsted wool/acrylic blend. Sheri chose kid colors for this, and it's been knitted to fit a 13-year old young knitter. Button selection is in process.

I knitted the green and brown ones for myself, so those are on loan to the shop as demo garments. The brown one has I-cord trim, the green one is just garter stitch with no trim. Though I made the green one a tiny bit larger than the brown, I think it's grown a bit while hanging in the shop for the last couple of weeks, which is why it looks much larger. It really isn't much larger. But after the class it will probably benefit from a wet blocking, and I may add I-cord trim to it as well.

These really are fun to knit and don't take long. It's safe to say they're my favorite vests, and I'm happy to have had the incentive to make more for myself. Once I've completed the I-cord portion of the class and used my current I-cord disaster rib warmer as a "what not to do" demo, I'll fix that one. Pictures on that forthcoming.

We Have Lift Off!

At approximately 11:15 am, CDT, our Monarch lifted off on it's maiden flight, bearing south toward Mexico. It's first leg took it from our fence high into a tree across the road. From there I lost sight of it and wished it a safe journey. Deborah, be on the lookout.

It couldn't have chosen a more auspicious day to emerge and take wing. It's sunny and hot, but with a fall breeze, temp expected to top out at about 90. Same for tomorrow. I noticed last night that the chrysalis no longer looked green, but sort of blue-ish, though the light was bad and I couldn't tell for sure. By the time I checked on it this morning about 9:30, the butterfly was out. (click the photos to make them bigger). I wasn't quick enough to catch the few times it opened it's wings while still on the fence, and while I watched it's maiden flight, it took off too quickly for me to even think of the camera.