Random things

• I finished knitting one sock (Socks that Rock "Little Bunny Foo Foo" in the Monkey pattern from knitty.com).


• I (temporarily) cast the Bonita top aside until I figure out the mistake I made that caused one shoulder to be much wider than the other. It's an error in counting, for sure, but I just hope it doesn't involve ripping both shoulders.


• I washed and dried two 2-yard pieces of cotton fabric, one Madras plaid and the other striped. They're going to be made into some summer tops from this pattern:
  
  Butterick 4549
  

• Progress in the garden. Everything is growing! We've been eating salad nightly and just planted some more lettuce seeds to keep our supply going. I'm anxious for the tomatoes, squash and peppers. I took pictures but I haven't downloaded them yet.


• I went to a knitting machine class on Saturday and found that my Brother Electroknit 910 needs a sponge bar but is otherwise in pretty good shape and just needs a cleaning. Since the sponge bar was deader than dead (it's a foam-backed metal strip that compresses against the needles), I was advised not to operate the machine until I replace the bar. I got to try out the instructor's machine, which fortunately for me, was a later model Brother so is almost identical except for the electronics.


• I took advantage of the pattern sales at Hancocks (Butterick) and Joanns (Vogue and McCalls) to buy more:

Vogue 2971 - I like the top but don't think I can pull off the skirt.

Vogue 8400 - I will not be doing this in striped fabric. It reminds me of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

Butterick 5047 - this is one of the new Connie Crawford patterns

• I bought a little bit of fabric this week. Well, ok, not a little bit. Gorgeous Things tempted me with a sale so I finally gave in and bought some fabric I'd been looking at. She's making it very hard to stay on the fabricaholic wagon. And my old standby, fabric.com, gets me all the time with their bargains. I bought a boat-load of fabric from them that I don't really need but I wanted it and couldn't resist. I couldn't say no to high quality (their words) Japanese shirt-weight cottons, wool suiting to try out some pants, rayon knit, cotton batiste in a paisley pattern, and some $1/yard novelty knits.
  
• I'm thinking about going to the Maker Faire this weekend. It looks like it could be a lot of fun.