FO Roundup

I finally washed and blocked the Nutkins, and while I got a lot of the mud out, there's still a light tan stain in a couple of spots. Fortunately the pattern and yarn are busy enough that it doesn't really show.


For those watching my Ravelry bars on the left, I cast on and have now finished my crosswalkers. They're comfy, but I'm really hoping that the "poof" on the side where the ribbing meets the pattern will ease out eventually. Maybue I should have done more rows of ribbing?


I finished one of 3 of the Piggles I'm doing for my cousin Jenny. It was really a close call on the yarn being enough to finish the hat! The second one I started with smaller needles (2.0 instead of 2.5) and I'm going to provisionally put in the pigtail holes, so that this will work better for the little baby, and the pigtail holes can be cut out when she, well, has hair!


And I've finally cast on for the first project for ME from my handspun!

Remember the long striping yarn I made a few months back?

That's destined to be a pair of knee socks for me!


I've been busy!

Yes, it is. . .

Like spinning Froot Loops. Jeff even noticed that the wind created by the flyer had a slight fruitiness to it. I'm certain that will fade after a good wash-and-whack.

It's very pretty though. I can't wait to dye more roving!

Dying? No! Dyeing!

So the long hiatus from blogging was not for recovering from the trip to New Orleans, but rather because I caught a fairly nasty stomach flu that had me out for a few days. Then the weekend hit, with all its excitement, and here I am more than a week later blogging about what I've been up to.

First, I did completely finish those Nutkin Socks. I'd show you a picture, but I haven't taken one yet, and my friend's puppy decided to cuddle with my feet on Saturday. My feet which were clad with the Nutkin socks. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, other than the fact that it was hot out, and I thought that the little lab puppy might enjoy being sprayed with the hose. She did. She then proceeded to roll around in the clay dirt which is awaiting some ground cover growing in it. . . THEN decided to sit on my feet. Ahh, puppies. It's a good thing they're so cute.

I did however, venture into a realm I was nervous about. I dyed my own roving. I have always been afraid that I'd turn it into a felted rope which would be beautiful, but not very good for spinning. Marisa, the lady who I traded a hank of my handspun "Forest Path" for a pound cone of a yarn called Licorice Twist, told me she was hoping to get more handspun from me. Unfortunately, the color she's wanting is not one that I've purchased from Brown Sheep, and I couldn't really blend it up from what I did have. So I went out, bought some generic flavor drink packages, and proceeded to dye some of the white roving!

It's lovely.



This picture really doesn't do it justice. It's a little lighter than I was going for, but if Marisa doesn't like it, I think I've spun up enough to make me a bolero. Oh, and it smells all fruity! This is going to be like spinning Froot Loops!

Special Post for Ben

My nephew, Ben, LOVES these big excavators, so I taped a section of one demolishing a house just for him!

Some of the work

Some interesting shots of the houses and demos I've been working on

The excavator operator was having fun stacking the "white goods" (Fridges, washers, stoves)


This was a lovely looking structure!

More fun

The second Saturday I was here we had the day off because of tremendous thunderstorms and rain which had flooded most of the sites and the landfills.

We started off the day with a trip to Cafe Dumonde!


Ordered begniets and coffee


They were delicious


We didn't ride the carriages, but one of the horses kept looking at me cockeyed (it has been pointed out to me that those are mules, not horses, oops! )


And we ended the day with some very happy booze on Bourbon Street!

Finally

I finally have a wireless card for the laptop, and can do some blog posting while I'm waiting for the next dump truck to arrive.

So let's start off with the first day I got here. Rebecca , my coworker, showed me around. She's spent a total of about three months here, 2-5 weeks at a time, so was invaluable in helping me get a feel for this city.

We wandered around, walked by the river and saw some ferry boats,


then headed off to a restaurant for some crawfish! The season had just started so I got an entire garbage can lid full! (no, this is not really a garbage can, but it's just about the same size.

I did the inevitable.

Finger puppets.

In New Orleans

Today's the fourth work day for me in New Orleans. I was going to try to make blog posts on a near-daily basis, but still don't have a wireless card for the laptop I was given. Ah well. I have made a lot of progress on my sock, and will probably finish the toe tonight, then start on the second one.

I can totally see how people get second sock syndrome. I really would rather start on a different yarn. Not that the tofutsies I"m working with isn't great, and I'm glad I started with it. The yarn is beautiful and the sock is coming out really well. But then I look at the other skeins of yarn I brought and think, well, maybe I can start on a different sock next. Unfortunately all of the sock patterns I have are for size 1 needles, so I can't switch between the two.

The next time I come down I will have to plan ahead better.

Speaking of which, I'll probably be coming down here again during mid May, then it sounds like the entire project may be slowing down enough they may not need me. I'll keep people posted and hopefully be able to post pictures soon!