Stripes, Etc.

Happy to report the baby hat is done, along with a pair of mitts to match (kind of).

I like stripes. I just tend to forget about the weaving-in-ends part that comes afterwards...I think it took me as long to do the ends as it did to knit a mitten.

I took pictures, put them to block, and then my aunt called, wanting to know if I could do a similar sweater to the sheep one, (not necessarily in handspun, thankfully), and maybe with horses on the yoke - it seems another cousin is expecting. I don't know why babies come in clusters, but they do - I just heard a couple friends had their second last week, and this makes 5 people I know expecting between now and February. Guess I'm concentrating on small projects for a while. Good for knitting in class, and extras are good to sell to doting grandparents at craft fairs ;)

The last of the dyeing is done, for a while. I spent yesterday and half of today fighting with the indigo, used the last of my reducing agent, but I think everything's blued that needed blue. And now I can finally put the rugs to rights and clean the spots off things, and they'll stay clean. Light's not great right now, but pictures of the finished pile coming soon.

Very glad I was doing the dyeing here though. It's less cleanup working outdoors at the parents', but when I spoke to Mom last night, she said it's so dry that the well has actually dropped below the point where the pump can get to the water. First time I can remember that happening, and they're not wasteful of it, unlike some (She said someone told her they were taking 3 showers a day to stay cool. I maybe take that in a week!) They're not too badly off - there is water in the old dug well, so they can haul up buckets for what's necessary, there's enough space and privacy to use a spot across the fence for a toilet, and there isn't any big livestock, just chickens and cats and dog. Basically like it was during the Ice Storm of '98, except for having to try and keep the garden alive (and at least there is electricity). But the farmers in the area are running dry also, and anyone with plumbing and water knowledge is busy trying to help them - it's a bit more serious when you have 60 cows who need water.  Let's hope the predicted rain materializes soon...