Yarn Along- aka the brag-a-thon

I guess I'll start with this week's knitting and reading and then get to my brag-a-thon. I finished up Xander's milo last night. It still needs to be blocked but that can wait a while I think. It came out pretty nicely. I used malabrigo rios in solis and the yarn is just gorgeous. I think the variegation almost takes away from the aran braid cable- it doesn't stand out as well as I would have liked but it is still pretty. I think for James' I may do a giant cable to see if that pops a little better. It's either that or the horseshoe cable...decision, decisions.... Of course when I tried to get Xander to try it on this morning he informed me that he didn't like it! Oh well, I like it. I made Xander's in a size 4 and it is big but that was how I wanted it. It should fit him with some growing room this winter and next winter it might still fit snugly if he doesn't get too tall- not that that has been much of a problem yet! I plan to make James' in a size 3 for the same reasons. I'm going to use the same yarn for James' too but with Xander's I tried mixing 2 different dye lots for a color fade that didn't really work out well...I don't think I blended well enough b/c it's more of a distinct line where the color fade begins. Learn something new everyday. I still think it's pretty.

I'm reading Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Ginny was talking about it last week on the yarn along and this weekend we were cruising the shelves of Border's going out of business sale and I saw 2 of her books. Since the price was right I picked them up. Personally I think this book is hilarious! Frank completely doesn't get it- when I try to read sections alous to him he's like uuuhh I don't get the humor but so much of what she is talking about is true in my own life. I do have to say though that I am much more of a product knitter. It drives me crazy to have half finished things. I work so hard on them that I want to get them done so I can enjoy them or give them away. I've also been doing lots of kid things so those are pretty easy to finish in a reasonable amount of time. Plus I don't have tons of needles so sometimes I need to finish one project before starting on the next b/c I need the needle! I have started to take breaks from some projects that I am finding tedious. But I like weaving in ends and even seaming, despite the tediousness, because I really enjoy seeing the final product. I think I will be reading more of the yarn harlot!

And now for my brag-a-thon aka fair recap. For whatever reason this year they decided not to do a sweepstakes in the needle work category which was a huge bummer for me. Someday I will win a first sweepstakes at the Cheshire Fair- it's on my bucket list. I did very well overall this year and earned $39 in prize money so that paid for all of our fair tickets and even all our ice cream! I brought home 4 blues, 3 reds, 1 white, and one little sweater that got no ribbon at all (completely not surprised by this). My other blue ribbons were for Xander's hobby horse and a little dress that I made for a friend's daughter for Christmas- I had to steal it back from her. I am so naughty! All in all we had a fun time at the fair. I think the boys enjoyed their time. Xander will be old enough to show next year in Pee-wee so that should be fun but that means we will have to take animals to the fair so it will be a different experience than just visiting. I'm sad to be going back to work tomorrow- vacation is so fun! But Franklin County Fair is coming up in September so I have to get ready for the homemaker of the year contest- always a fun one! Happy Fair Season.

Edited to add: The Milo pattern can be found here. The hat and booties are here and here. The bloomers are from Carina Spencer's convertible baby bloomers- I still have to make the legwarmers. I used this pattern for the socks and the baby blanket is this pattern. As always you can see all the details of ongoing and finished projects on my Rav page here.