Mittens finished

Mittens knit with Cascade 220 in Heather Blue. Eric loves them.

When the boys were little I used to knit all their mittens. Cute little mittens with reindeer on them. Once I even knit black mittens with yellow lightning bolts for my Harry Potter loving son. As the boys got older, however, they started to prefer store bought ski mittens. I was very surprised by Eric's request for me to knit him a pair but I was happy to do so.

This is my first time knitting with Cascade 220. It's lovely yarn. I will certainly return to it again the next time I do some worsted weight knitting (which isn't very often). It's much less itchy than the Brown Sheep yarn I always used in the past for their mittens. The mitts were a quick knit and made for a happy boy. They are also my second completed project for Project Spectrum.

I have my third Project Spectrum knitting project on the needles now. A pair of Conwy socks using the J. Knits Boston yarn that I've shown here before. The yarn is wonderful and I'm enjoying the pattern. I got a little confused with the calf shaping decreases but I stayed with it and it all worked out in the end. I don't think this will be a quick knit but I like how they look so far.

We're gearing up

We're getting reading for Project Spectrum. I went through my stash and flashed a picture a little while ago. I've been doing some thinking and planning and while I haven't made any final decisions I'm enjoying the planning.

Yesterday the younger boys and I were in the big city (you'd understand how funny that is if you lived here) for dentist appointments. I was explaining Project Spectrum to them and telling them that we'd be doing it together as part of our homeschooling. My middle son was pretty excited as he loves crafts. He has some fine motor problems that make many crafts difficult for him but he's always willing to try new things. My youngest son is going to be a little more difficult to include because he never likes to try new things. We brainstormed things they could do for the first triad of colors - blue, white and gray. We realized that we had pattern blocks and legos in those colors and the boys thought they could make some cool designs with those.

We stopped into A.C. Moore to have a look around and to see if we could come up with some affordable crafts for the boys to work on. I was shocked at how many things we found.

I had the Peg Loom sitting in a closet. I bought it ages ago at Goodwill - there's still a $1.95 price tag on the back - and we've never used it. I need to get out some white, gray and blue yarn from my stash and the boys and I will learn how to use it together. We picked up some cute little wooden birdhouses and a little wooden chest that the boys plan to paint. We also got a dolphin sun catcher and dolphin Perler bead set, a wooden cat shape that will be a picture frame, and some engraving art. Finally, we bought two big spools of gimp.

I haven't used gimp since I was a preteen but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out. I'm hoping I can teach the boys. I used to love this stuff when I was a kid. It brings back all kinds of warm, summery memories.

I think we have enough to keep the boys busy for a little while. I hope they enjoy themselves.