Summer Break!

   That's right, summer break is upon us. The teens finished last week, and the little dude has his last day of school today. B was very happy to give his teachers their gifts this morning, that he helped make. We did sugar scrubs and soap (just the melt and pour stuff, lye and I are not friends)  and hopefully the teachers enjoy them! He made sure I wasn't too involved, because (and I quote) "I want the teachers to be happy with me, not happy with you".

Yay bodily exfoliation. I miss making this kind of stuff, I used to make soaps all the time...I didn't keep up my stash of essential oils and herbs/botanical additives when I was a single mom, it gets pricey, and lets face it-a bar of basic soap is waaaay more affordable than handmade.



OK, so the downside of summer break is that I will get less knitting time.  Boo-urns. But at least I was able to finish a couple of small things before break? I finished the second polka dot sock. I believe I mentioned the yarn (Knit One, Crochet too Tye Dot sock dots-now discontinued) was splitty and annoying and doesn't look like polka dots?

Well, whatevs, because I love these socks! So squooshy and comfy. Sure, they don't look like polka dots but they look like chocolate cookie dough. Plus, they feel awesome on. It's really a bummer that it's been too hot for socks these last couple of days, because I love them.

I also finished the first sock using the Charivari striped sock yarn by Biscotte & Cie (with heels and toes by Shelridge yarns sock yarn in Iris) and I knit it up on 2mm, because I find the Felix self striping sock yarn to be quite thin.

Anywhoo, I don't like the way the sock fits. yup. Too tight. So, no hurry to make the second one.  (if I ever make the second one, my daughter P will be the lucky recipient since her feet are a tad smaller than mine).

I've still got Nivernais on the needles, it feels like I haven't made a whole lot of progress, I'm still working on the back! It was supposed to be a quick knit, but there just hasn't been much time to sit and knit on this, especially as it's too big to be really portable and I have to keep track of the inches for the shaping. (d'aww cute kitty Nikki)

But I did get to switch from the navy to the grey. That was kind of exciting. I'm hoping to finish this tank by mid-july so I can at least wear it for a few weeks this summer.
While I don't mind the seaming, can I just say that I'm never making another tank/sweater in pieces if I can help it?  Seamless is the way to go. Top down seamless is even better. You can try it on as you knit, there's no bloody purling, no worrying about having the front piece match up exactly the same, especially with the shaping. Now I have to worry about the colour changes matching! I'm already stressing about it, and I haven't even finished the first piece *sigh*

Oh! Oh! Oh! forgot to post the bat I made a few weeks back.

Bats! I mailed the blue one to P which is why I'm down to three. She bought me rats, I made her a bat. I like the trade system. We're currently planning on a taxidermy-cat sweater trade.
I love trading goods!