Luck of the Irish?

Or just plain old luck? Whatever it was, I'll take it.

I called my LYS this morning to see if there was any of the yarn I needed left; there was exactly ONE ball remaining. Yay!

I drove over, bought the last ball (same color, same dyelot), and finished the sweater. It has a rolled neck instead of a ribbed neck, but I think Ella won't mind. My daughter will have to block it so that the pattern shows up better...
It has sixteen owls. Three are awake. The rest are sleeping. Hence the lack of buttons.

Also? I was out of buttons....

Say It Isn't So!!!!!

I seem to have run out of yarn!!! I don't have enough left for the ribbed neck and for the grafted seams under the arms.

Off to the LYS tomorrow. I guess I will mail the sweater unblocked to my daughter. She knows how to finish this---I leave Tuesday morning to visit a friend in Florida and I would like my granddaughter to be able to wear this owlet sweater before it is in the 100's in Texas; it's already in the 80's there.

Swerts, as my daughter used to say.

Update: I just looked down to see Baxter chewing on the little bit of yarn I have left. I pulled on the end attached to the sweater and a surprising amount came back----wet and slimy and disgusting. I'm surprised there weren't intestines attached. Now I have to wash it in order to use it. Normally I would cut it off and toss the blechy mess into the trash.

Swerts and double swerts.

Soft as Silk?

I finished my needlepoint project and am waiting for the yarn to arrive for my oldest granddaughter's Owlet sweater. A new pattern has become popular at Knit Night and I pulled some Done Roving Grapevines Pure Silk from my stash to make the Willow Cowl (here on Ravelry), a pattern designed to require only one skein of sock yarn.

Well, I thought, why not silk? I love the colors! The finished cowl is intended for a gift, but there is one problem....this silk is not in the slightest soft. In fact, it's kind of scratchy.

So I'll finish it, but if a soak in SOAK doesn't soften it up, it will be mine instead of my friend's. A scratchy cowl would be kind of an unfriendly gift I think.

Owlet

I've just finished sewing the button eyes on Elizabeth's Kid's Owlet sweater, here on Ravelry, and designed by Kate Davies. It is made from Ella Rae Classic Superwash Chunky heathers yarn and because the yarn is thicker than worsted and the pattern calls for large needles (10, 10 1/2), this sweater took me all of four days to make. I did have problems with gauge though, so I am hoping that it will fit Elizabeth. And I hope that Austin, Texas gets temperatures below 70 degrees so that she has occasion to wear it! Hoping that it gets legitimately cold is too much to ask for this year.

We are having a Florida winter in Atlanta this year---high 30s first thing in the morning, and then highs in the 60s and 70s by mid-morning. It's wonderful!!! But we knitters are bemoaning the lack of sweater/scarf/hat/fingerless mitts-wearing weather.

We always want what we don't have, don't we?