Isn’t she beautiful? After years of k’nex, lego, and the back of the kitchen chairs, my husband and son treated me to this for my birthday. I treated myself to a ball-winder at the same time. I’ve been holding off from starting anything new until I finish something (I’d have 100 projects on the needles and nothing done, otherwise. Know thyself.) But, really, one my projects is *almost* done, so it would be irresponsible not to start a swatch, right? RIGHT? Because, you know, it’s cotton and it’ll take a while to dry for blocking…

It took me less than a minute to wind a ball of yarn. Ahhhhhhh. I’m not counting setup time because I might have been lovingly caressing the cherry wood of the swift for a while. I’m not sure; time kinda stopped.

Have a great weekend – I’ll be swatching for this.

[The swift is from Knitting Notions.]

Nothin’ says fall like a bowlful of apples. I worked up this bunch for our homeschool group’s Wizard of Oz play. My son Leafy, and his pals Branchy and Shady are magic trees, you see. Rude magic trees that get to throw apples at Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow. The trees will have a rollicking good time with these, if the giggling at rehearsal is any indication.

What has really surprised me is the number of adults who want to make off with an apple or two. When I started knitting for the play, I really didn’t know what I was going to do with all these apples afterward. Turns out, I needn’t have worried. Not counting the kids, I’ve had at least four people offer to take them off my hands. But, the kids get them – the grown-ups can get their own!

Besides the apple knitting, there has been copious sewing, painting, cutting, and hot-gluing of costumes (my other little one is Scarecrow for half of the play.) So, busy busy around here.

I joined Hat Attack again this year, not knowing that it would culminate during a costuming craze. I’m dead (yay), and sent my half-finished hat off to my lovely assassin. Turns out that I’m sensitive to the recommended yarn, Therapi, in a respiratory sort of way.

So, I’m happily back to my scarf and my sweater, and a pair of socks (but that doesn’t really count, right?) Have a lovely weekend!

Pattern Details:

Started:	5 Sep 2008
Finished:	1 Oct 2008
Pattern:	Mrs. Saucy Apple from Peachcake Knits
Yarn:	Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Ranch Red (102) and Avocado (174). It took maybe half the skein of red, and hardly any green. The black is double sport weight Louet Gems… I think. The stem on the apple with the bright green leaf is worsted weight acrylic, and the bright leaf is some hand-dyed sock yarn doubled.
Needles:	US 8 / 5.0 mm Clover bamboo. A little too grabby for this.
Notes:	I did a lot of strange experimenting with the leaves, so if you see something wonky, it wasn’t the pattern. You get bored after a few apples.