Silvercharmster’s Weblog

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YEA!!!!!

And if you’re looking for knitting content. I’m pleased to report that my Tonks Socks are done!  check ‘em out:

Yes, I know they don’t match, and the only thing I have to say about that is “I meant to do that!”  Seriously.  I did.  I actually thought about this ahead of time.  I rolled my skein into two relatively equal balls, and then considered trying to find the same spot on both to start.  But . . . 1) the repeat on this pattern is so wide – it’s something like 7″  and, not having ever used this colorway before, I had no idea how far apart I was. 2) The more I thought about it, I figured if I started with the same spot and then the two got just a little bit off, that slight difference would really irk me. While if they were way off, it wouldn’t bother me.  And 3) These are Harry Potter socks!  Who would ever think that Harry Potter socks should match, right?  Anyway, I love them.  They fit great, and I even made the little bag to keep them in. See it here:

So, yes. I admit to being a geek.  BUT, I’m a geek with Harry Potter socks. WOO HOO!!!

A couple of weeks ago, one of my Ravelry buddies, Rebecca, announced a spring contest on her blog – littlesliceoflife.wordpress.com.

And **tatatatatatat** – (that’s the drumroll) yours truly WON!!!  WOO HOO!

So, my lovely winnings just arrived in the mail today.

All the items are handmade by Rebecca – they’re all so beautiful -  A bookmark, coaster, notecard and earrings.  Take a look at a closeup of the earrings:

They’re sooooo pretty!  The photo doesn’t do them justice.

And the bookmark and coaster have a book and a cup of tea waiting for them!

So a great big thank you to Rebecca!

And one more thing -  I have to do a little plug for her wonderful blog – which I do read regularly. It’s a treasure trove of beautiful pictures and wonderful homey information about crafting, cooking and all kinds of interesting things. Check it out!

When you  have kids, Easter always includes egg hunts. We participated in several this year, the favorite being the annual family egg hunt. And, the highlight of that hunt? The hammock, of course. Here’s how playing on the hammock started:

By the time they were finished, this is what the hammock looked like:

And before you ask, no, it did not end in tears – everyone eventually rolled off still laughing.

We also did our annual Easter Egg dying. In our family, we use natural egg dyes – a tradition that started with my grandmother.  Here is this year’s batch:

Gran used to only use red onion skins (the red eggs in the back row), but we’ve since tried other methods as well. The yellow are made using tumeric, the light brown are coffee and the blue are made using red cabbage leaves. The blues especially turn out pretty, although I can’t make any promises regarding taste – in order to get them dyed they have to sit in the pan with the cabbage leaves for several hours. . .

So Easter was lovely. And it was nice to make a special point to remember the real reason for our celebrations.

Oh – Needlework updates?  Well, as I think I mentioned before, I am so incredibly excited for my new little niece to come this summer.  So, I made another baby set. This one will be a gift for after she’s born (the other blanket was for the baby shower). Here’s what I did:

The blanket is my favorite pattern (Rav link) – again! -  I’ve made this one so many times I think I could do it with my eyes shut. And then I added Lorraine Major’s 5 hour baby sweater, and a lucky cat.  He still needs his lucky coin necklace, but other than that he’s finished.  I’m not sure if I’m pleased with him or not. The original pattern calls for him to be felted, but I wanted to use the same yarn as the other pieces, which is acrylic (don’t hate me – it’s for baby stuff, and babies are messy). So, I just knit him really tightly. Of course, I got through the head and remembered (again) how much I hate making toys.  I don’t know why I do this to myself.  PLEASE, if anyone sees any more toys on my Ravelry queue, schedule an intervention.