Sewing…

I sewed Maddy's skirt on Saturday afternoon while Alison cut the pieces for hers.  We had the iron out and everything!  Maddy's went together pretty well, though I had to re-thread often because the spool of thread I was using had been chewed on by the dog (I think we're past the bad stuff now that the skirt is finished)!  I considered using a different spool, but this one matched so much better.  Maddy loves her skirt!

I was all set to start sewing Ali’s skirt when I noticed a problem.  Do you see?  Have a closer look…

She cut one piece upside down.  For a very brief moment, she considered using it that way, but we decided to make a run for another yard of fabric on Sunday morning.  I washed it, and she'll press it and cut out a new piece after school.

Katie's will happen soon…  She called last night and she told me that she’s trying to figure out what kind of stitch pattern to use with the Manos del Uruguay for the scarf she wants to make.  She wants something that will really show the colors of the yarn (she said that!).  She also used the word “frog,” as in “I’ve frogged it a few times trying to come up with something.”  DH overheard my side of our conversation – “oh, that’s cool,” “ooh, that's exciting,” “be sure to bring it home with you” – his interest was piqued and he was amused to find that the subject was knitting!  Kate's close to finishing the second of her thrummed mittens, but needs more yarn; I have it and she’ll be home on Wednesday night.

So DH was making chicken soup for supper.  He was a little distracted at one point and poured in, rather than sprinkled, the lemon pepper.  There was a LOT.  He scooped out as much as he could with a spoon, but I think my lips have been exfoliated and sinuses cleared by the amount that was still left.  The girls couldn't tolerate it.  It was a fairly large pot of soup and we looked through some cookbooks to try and figure out if there's some sort of fix for too much pepper (I know that adding a potato will help if there's too much salt).  We didn't come up with anything, so I googled and went to a few cooking-related websites — it doesn't help that, apparently, there's a band called "Too Much Pepper"!  One fix was to drain off the broth and then replace it with canned.  We did that, but we didn't drain off all the broth.  A lot of the pepper had settled at the bottom and I'm not sure we really fixed much.

In knitting news, I knit up a pair of mittens with the Rowan Big Wool that I bought last weekend.  These may be a gift for someone.  I used the Lion Brand Santa Mittens pattern, but didn't use any contrasting yarn.  They were knit on two needles and each knit up in an hour.  They were quick and fun and gave me an FO fix!

I am very close to finishing the shawl — a few more rows and I'll be binding off.  The colors aren't nearly as bright as in the picture — and it's a horrible project to photograph on the needles.  I'd like to get it off the needles and blocked before Thanksgiving.  The recipient will be here on Thursday, though, so if I don't get it blocked, I may have to stuff it in a drawer.  Poor thing.