I found my mittens

I had a real life mystery going on all winter long.  Two years ago I knit some Norwegian mittens from a Nancy Bush pattern published in one of the magazines.  I loved them and wore them all the next winter.  Spring came and I put away my woolens.  I knew where my woolens were packed away so when this winter came, I pulled everything out and was cozy warm.  All except my hands which sorely missed my mittens.  I looked high and low, in where the woolens were stored, in drawers, in boxes in my craft room, in my box of samples, in closets.  In short, I looked everywhere I could think of - even the freezer.  (Well, you never know, do you?)  I couldn't find them anywhere.  I knew they weren't lost because whoever lost both gloves at the same time?

I didn't panic but I stayed confused all winter, every time I put on mittens or other gloves.  Where, oh where, could they be?

I was getting ready for my trip to my Mom's the other day (that's where I am now and why no pictures).  I washed the car, got the insides all vacuumed out and took one of the storage boxes I keep in the trunk out.  It's where I keep various things including an extra coat (don't ask).  I took it in the house and happened to notice that the pockets looked like they had something in them.  And there, where they had been all the time, were my lovely Norwegian gloves.  Found too late to use this year but they will be carefully put away this year in a much less logical place so I'll be sure to have them for next year.

State Fair

I've been cruising along thinking I needed to get my things out for the State Fair because it's coming up. Look at me cruising along and almost missing the whole thing (not like it's the first time that's happened). I did start pulling things out last night but was going to work on tagging, etc. this week, mistakenly thinking that I had to have them in on Friday. I just happened to look at my sheet this morning on the way out the door and discovered that they were actually supposed to be in yesterday or today!! It's just as well I have such a nice boss who let me take some time this morning to take care of it.

I had to mount the doilies on light card (which meant a trip to Hobby Lobby) and a hunt for all the staples in the house and then attach labels to all the items. I had 7 entries this year, mostly purses and doilies (and one very treasured Danish sweater).

I finished my Mom's gloves because I was going to enter them but I didn't get the 5x5 sample I would have needed to submit them for the category I was going to enter them into. Never mind, I finished them and am very proud (although tired of the pattern) of them.

I got many of my dyed skeins of yarn balled but I did also get another batch dyed. The Jacquard dyes come in a deep purple that's very exciting. I did 2 skeins of sock yarn and 1 of lace weight with the purple but I think I'm going to put them in one more time - there were some imperfections in the color of the sock yarn and the lace weight didn't get quite dark enough for me. I experimented by putting the 2 skeins of sock yarn in the bottom of the pan so they would have most access to the color and then put the lace weight on the top, with some of it barely in the water. I did like the way the lace weight took on the dye inconsistently so that there are quite a lot of color variations but I don't know if I can live with the lighter purple color. See what you think.


I also decided I like the "desert sunset" yarn and balled it before getting a photo but I'm going to do a gauge swatch to show the colors and will post a pic when I get that done.

Oh, yes, word to the wise. While it's a good idea to buy kool-aid when it's on sale, it can get hard if stored for a long time. It will melt in the water but it takes some attention when mixing before putting the yarn in. Voice of experience.