30/74

Numbers count. Duh!

In my using-up-acrylic/52 hats project, the count stands at 30. These are the newest...

This one is a vanilla hat using doubled sock yarn:

 

This one is another helix using sock yarn. Also, the long tail cast on was done using both yarns:

Here is a hat version using an adaptation of the mitten pattern in The Essential Guide to Knitting Techniques:

And finally, another regular vanilla helix:

In my Newbery Award quest, the count stands at 74.  (1922 was a long time ago!) I decided that I wanted to reread those books I had  read previously as a child myself, those I had read with my children, and those I had seen on TV or at the movies. These are the ones(re) read most recently...

They stand as a portal into the fantasy world. At times I was reminded of the companions in their quest for good over evil in the Lord of the Rings and the Tales of Narnia as well as the ideals of the Arthurian legends, Don Quixote, and the special talents found in Charlotte's Web.

Onward and upward go the numbers!

Seeing double...and more

I have been bitten by the Helix Bug. It has taken over as the go-to pattern for my using up my acrylic hats. I know I need to find an antidote (ie another pattern) but I'm having too much fun with this disease! I cannot remember where I first discovered this jewel (it was only a month or so ago- you'd think I'd remember, but no....) Anyway, it wasn't too long after I made the first few hats that I saw the pattern not only in a current magazine (I forgot which one,) but also as part of a sock in the current Knitty!

These 2 hats were a ball to make- pun intended. I am going through my stash of blue-toned half-balls like a frenzied kitten. I have enough for 4-5 more worsted weight hats, the I'm down to the blue sock weight. Double Heelix, here I come!

And yes, I am still reading Newbery Award books.

These two taught me about an idealistic future society in which there was no pain, no suffering, or any kind of emotion and the 12-year-old who was chosen to recieve all the memories of the past pain, suffering, and emotions; and the realistic society of the recent past in which there was much pain, injustice, and confusion suffered by a family who just wanted to continue to work their own land.

More hats...

And another book...

...about a young boy in medieval England who is searching for his companion dog and his minstrel dad.

I am searching for the bottom of my blue bin....

It's harder than I thought to grow sheep...

Poor Spud. He has had a longer gestation period than I anticipated. He was begun in May, and was progressing well. He was to be a gift for my daughter when she visits in June. I spent a long weekend in North Carolina with 7 of my friends who have known each other since kindergarten.

We talked, we laughed, we ate, we hiked, we played, and during much of that time Spud was coming closer to completion. On the trip back home, I discovered that every row I had knit in the mountains was off kilter. (I had left the directions at home and was sure I remembered them anyway...) The to-be sheep became a frog. Aargh. Rip-it rip-it!

Luckily the next day was Memorial Day, so I had time to do some re-knitting.

My index finger would turn blue at the tip if I knit and twisted too long!

I had intended to take a picture of all the parts (body, head, tail, ears, feet, toupe) and then show the completed sheep becoming more than the sum of his/her parts. She was also infused with love. Did you notice the he-to-she change after the frog? I discovered that as I knit and twisted and thought about my daughter, who is a priest in the Episcopal Church, Spud had a new identity. All I had to do was change to bow-tie into a hair-bow. Momma J was born. She received a clerical collar and cross, and is ready to preach to her multi-cultural congregation, pictured with her here:

 

The other sheep have many differences in size and color and body-types and origins- one is even a llama- but they are all together in one happy flock. Unfortunately, she is being called from her current parish, Green Pastures Episcopal Church, to a new parish in Mississippi. I think it is called Church of the Still Waters. She will have to leave behind her best friends, Shirley (bottom row middle,) Goodness (middle row 3rd from right,) and Mercy (tall sheep on back row,) but they will follow her in spirit.

Below is her official portrait that hangs in the Parish Hall:

 Peace.