Today is photo day at the boys’ daycare.  I can’t wait to see how the pictures come out!  Lately Jakob’s “say cheese!” face has a big grin but tight, squinty eyes…I’m hoping for a photo that’s not too silly looking.

Speaking of daycare, I’ve been thinking about what to make for the teachers this year.  I enjoy making something for the teachers, and they’ve told me that they appreciate it too.  Now that Henri is there, that’s a second class with another set of teachers to craft for.  Plus I make something for the owner too…so this year I wanted to find something small but that would still be appreciated.

I think I’ve settled on making the teachers each a pair of wristwarmers.  It’s small, practical and even people who don’t get cold enough to wear mittens or gloves can wear them.  They’re stretchy enough to fit a variety of wrist/hand sizes, and hopefully something I can get done in a relatively short period of time.

I didn’t want to rely on stash yarn for this mainly because I figured that the only way to make it fair would be to make everyone the same pair in the same color.  I stopped at Wal-Mart today after dropping the boys off at daycare and on my way to work.  I don’t have anything against chain-store yarn; I think that every yarn has its place in the right project.  (Well…except maybe Phentex.)  All the cotton I use for dishcloths and bath sets is from either Wal-Mart or Zellers, and a lot of the yarn I use for baby projects too.

The selection was really low today.  Either they’re getting rid of the crafts department (I noticed the fabric cutting table was gone), or someone really bought them out.  I did, however, find 4 100g balls of Bernat Satin in black- exactly the color I’d been hoping to find.

I think everyone could use a pair of cute, soft, black wristwarmers.  Hopefully the teachers will think so too!  I’m going to take another look through Ravelry, but I think I’ve pretty much settled on using this pattern– the Ravenna Mitts by Meg White (probably NOT of the White Stripes).  It’s crochet- not knitting- but it looks fast while still being pretty and feminine.

While there I came across this bag of 3 “unknown fiber” balls.  1 lb of “unknown fiber”.  Some of the “unknown fiber” bags you can tell what they are, and I liked this one.  I think it is combined with rayon or nylon…the yarn looks like a woven core wrapped with a shinier strand.  I tried to get a close-up shot to show you:

I’m sure it’s 100% fake stuff, but I love yarn like this, with a silky drape and light weight, for Summer stuff.  I won’t know the exact yardage until I run it through my yardage meter, but I’m sure I have enough for a tank top or lacy shell.

So that’s today.  And lately?

I’ve been working like mad on one special project for the last 2 months.  I had a pattern approved by KnitPicks towards the end of August, and then received the yarn to get started literally the day before my tonsillectomy.  Needless to say…I didn’t get much knitting done for a few weeks.  The one time I tried I knit in the wrong color, and that was enough to teach me that if I was going to finally get this pattern published, I would have to do it right and wait until I was off pain killers.

The knitting has been finished for about a week now, and I had the pattern photos taken last Monday.  I have been spending every night since then working on typing up the pattern so I can send everything off to KnitPicks.

You’d think with this many hours of work behind it, I would feel closer to my goal.  I don’t.  I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the pattern out in time for Hallowe’en…though I know that my 2 surgeries and work and health stuff with the kids had a lot to do with that, so I’m not beating myself up over it.  Still, now that the knitting is done I’m itching to move onto the next accepted design, but I can’t call this one “complete” until the pattern is written up.

Luckily I’ve finished all the laundry, and have nothing else to do each night for the rest of the week other than to finish the pattern.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can have it in the mail by Friday.