Lotsa stuff

I went out to the Medina County Fair and checked on my entries. I managed to get a shot of all four in one picture. The baby sweater didn't place, and I'm not surprised in the slightest - I made it in 2 days! My Harrisville vest took a third; the first and second place sweaters were beautiful aran cardigans...the one that took first also took best in show. My mystery shawl took a first in the scarves category (hooray!) and the biggest surprise was the socks. They took first in the children's category!! Woohoo!!! I won a prize at Knitting Camp for entering the movie prop contest: a knitting bag from Green Mountain Spinnery, with a skein of purple mohair, a skein of green variagated worsted, and a hat pattern. It was sitting there, taunting me, so yesterday I made the hat (in the leaves pattern). It isn't blocked yet, but the yarn knit up very nicely! I had never played with anything from Green Mountain Spinnery before; it's very nice yarn. I still have enough left over to make another one, but I'll have to reverse the color pattern. I think it's going to go into the "future Christmas present" pile.

I just started my first-ever test knitting project! Joanne Seiff has designed a gorgeous wrap-around cardigan for KnitPicks, and not only do I get to knit the sample for the catalog, but I get to test the pattern! There's not much to show yet; I've done the bottom ribbing and about 1" of the back so far. I'm knitting it in the new Wool of the Andes heather, and the yarn is gorgeous!! I'll post pictures when there's actually something to see...

Speaking of KnitPicks, the Hoodie Sweater is in the new catalog! The catalog picture is here. They're going to fix the yarn requirements on the website; right now they're double what you actually need.

On Friday, while I was at camp, I picked up several skein of Regal in a neutral color. I started a basic raglan for Kevin...he doesn't wear sweaters, but he wants something to wear under his camo when he's hunting. Right now I've knit about 9" We wear the same size, so I'll probably get more use out of it than he will. If he continues to act like the Supreme Weenie, though, I may just "accidentally" put some waist shaping into it...

Speaking of which....this was in my driveway when I got home from Camp Huh. We have a boat. A guy that he works with occasionally is going through a divorce, and wanted it out of his driveway. He sold it to Kevin for $500, pay when we can. (If he doesn't get back to work soon, that may be a while!) It needs cleaned up (it had trees growing in it, and the bases of the seats were rotted out) but everything else is solid and functional. The inboard motor is bigger than the one in the van! It's an 18' Wellcraft 180 Elite, and from the research I've done, it's from about 1985. Kevin has spent the last week cleaning, scrubbing and polishing...we don't have the keys yet, so he can't do very much more. I have to admit that it's a nice boat, and worth a lot more than we're going to pay for it, but WHERE in the heck are we going to keep a boat?

Sigh...