But the big news for me was:

Barnes' Bryson, Best Of Breed!

He also went on to win 2nd Reserve In Show (or in other words, 3rd place in the Best In Show competition).  I was very proud of him!

* * * End of post * * *

The Lessa Grafting Project is humanly possible, but not by this human at this point in time.  I have enough challenges in other areas of my life that I can’t really enjoy this one.  So, having plenty of yarn (amazing but true!), I’m going to keep knitting down to the hem all over again.

I have found that the main difficulty, other than grafting the complex cables, is in keeping track of where I am.  The bottom section of the sweater is identical front and back, but it really does make a difference which way it goes, because if  the beginning-of-rounds don’t line up at the proper side ‘seam’, it will be off a row on either the front or the back.  About the time I think I’ve gotten my bearings, the grafting looks funny and I decide that perhaps I’ve got it half-rotated, and get frustrated and set it aside… only to pick it up a few days later and repeat the whole fruitless process.

The upshot of it is that if I want to actually finish and wear this sweater this winter, I’d better just forge ahead with re-knitting the bottom section with fresh yarn.  Having made that decision, I feel lighter and happier.  I’ve never regretted hacking it apart, and I’ve learned a few things through the whole process.  As usual.  You’d think I’d know it all by now, with as much trial-and-error experience as I have!

Next, I get to find out how good my notes were the first time around, and whether I’ll be as happy with the finished hem as with the original.

The Babies

Here’s the younger grandson’s Gansey-Henley sweater.  I may have to subtitle that one the Double Birthday Sweater – I realized that I started knitting it on MY birthday, and finished it on HIS (first) birthday.  Such a nice little coincidence.

He’s growing so fast, I only hope he’ll be able to wear it through the winter!

Baby #2

The picture below is of one of the kits in a recent litter of Mini Rex rabbits.

Its color pattern is SO lovely, I just had to share it!  The variety is called tricolor; and no matter how selectively you breed, there is always a large element of chance about how much and where those colors are going to land.  The idea is to have the darker and lighter colored spots on the white as balanced as possible, and while the size and placement of the spots in this breed (within the stated parameters) don’t really count for much on the judging table, such a pretty pattern is really eye-catching!

As time goes by and this little one grows up, I will find out if the quality of the body underneath and the coat carrying the colors measures up to the quality of the pattern.

Oh, it IS fun to watch babies grow, isn’t it?

This time, it was volunteering to teach a 1-hour class at our local community college’s “Free College Class Day”.  My eldest daughter told me they were looking for instructors, and since knitting was a topic that had been requested, she seemed to think I was just the person.  After contemplating the possibilities and limitations, I submitted a proposal for “Cable Knitting Techniques”.  It was accepted, and I’m scheduled for not one, but two sessions.  It’s aimed at knitters who are ready to try cables for the first time, or who like cables but are looking for some inspiration.

So I’m down to putting it together for real, and getting a couple of handouts to the event coordinator for printing.  This will be a ‘moderate-tech’ presentation, with some hands-on time at the end; I’ve settled on creating a wiki so people will be able to access it later.  Once it’s finished, I’ll post the link here, too.

My own cable projects are coming along nicely!  Here’s my progress to date on Lessa:

Back...

... and front.

The color is miserably washed out, but I had to take the lighting as it was.  Actually, the proportions look rather odd, but it does fit me so far.  The angled braid cables are just starting to curve down into ‘princess seam’ shape, so after a few more rows, it might look better.

Now, lest you think I knit only complex projects, here’s my latest finished object:

iPod sock

I lost the iPod sock I made from Kool-Aid dyed demonstration yarn, probably blown away in a parking lot.  So I took eight of the nine background colors I used in the Ithilien Brocade Jacket and held two yarns together, changing one color at a time for a more subtle gradation.  (The lighting in this picture doesn’t really show the glowing glass button in greens and blues.)  I’m ridiculously pleased with this little item!

And now just one more picture.

Meet Phoenix, a baby black otter Mini Rex doe.  This picture was taken on March 8th, exactly four years after her sire was rescued from the prairie fire that swept through our place and burned our barn to the ground (among other losses).  He was one of only four survivors, snatched from certain death by our brave daughter.  Phoenix is a little symbol of hope and recovery.  We are everlastingly grateful for our many blessings and our many friends.

Although I didn’t embody the full intent of the original organizer’s idea of congregating with others to knit in full public view, I did pull out my sock late in the afternoon when there was a long enough break for me to be able to sit down for a while.  And it did result in some questions and knitting talk with some rabbit breeder friends.  When I off-handedly mentioned to one of them that this was KIP day, my eldest daughter decided we needed to turn it into a photo op for a blog entry.  So she found me a spot that would include some of the rabbit show activities (although things had wound down quite a bit from the morning), and snapped a few pictures…

See? It's a sock.

But the big news for me was that one of my rabbits, a black otter Mini Rex doe named Jill, won Best Opposite Sex of Breed!  For the uninitiated, that means that of the 100 or so Mini Rex rabbits entered in the Open category (not sure of the number, but I know there were 148 total entries in youth and open), she was the best doe!  For all practical purposes, she was runner-up to the Best of Breed buck.

Jill and her 'trophy'

She didn’t win anything in the second show that day other than the expected class and variety, since she was the only otter there *sigh*, but I was delighted when another friend’s lilac Mini Rex buck won Best of Breed!  In order to appreciate that fully, you need to know that lilacs are one of the color varieties that do NOT typically do well at that level.  Lilac is created by recessive alleles of 3 of the 5 ‘major’ coat color gene series, so they are not only rather uncommon, but with their smaller gene pool, are harder to improve in type and fur while still retaining that lovely silvery-grey color.

Sam had turned to ask me whether I thought this was the year a lilac would win Best of Breed, to which I laughingly replied that I expected it would be a few years before that happened.  And then a few minutes later, it DID happen!  I guess one of the lessons Sam is taking away from that incident is that he shouldn’t count on my predictions.

Now, I’m thinking about which of my lilac does I might be able to wheedle a breeding for…

I finished the Big Guy’s little Trellis cardigan, but don’t have pictures yet of him wearing it. ‘Finished garment on the floor’ pictures are on Flickr, but photos of the recipient wearing it will be much cuter!

I’ve started two new projects. This sleeveless turtleneck (for me) is from a pattern in Stefanie Japel‘s Fitted Knits. I really, really like this book. Stefanie encourages readers to modify as desired, and gives some direction and encouragment for doing so in the first section of the book.

The yarn is Elann Esprit cotton/elastic in Light Orchid. I tweaked the photo a little to try to get the color closer to reality.

The chocolate socks below are for my younger daughter, the Big Guy’s mother. She looks great in brown, and wears a lot of it. When I got this yarn by mistake – instead of another chocolate brown yarn – I knew it would end up as something for her. Lace socks seemed the ideal choice; her feet probably still get too hot for wool/silk blend socks without air vents.

The lace pattern (Shetland Lace Rib) is beautifully suited to socks. As you can see, I am knitting these toe-up, and will use short row heels, instead of top-down with gusseted heels shown in the pattern. The yarn is Knitpicks’ Gloss, a luxurious merino/silk blend.

And now, on to the rabbits! Here are photos of most of my new babies; I have several more litters due in the next couple of weeks. These babies are all between 10 – 14 days old… ‘toddlers’. Enjoy the photos! Look for the little one giving Mama a kiss on the nose.

And here’s a picture of our new Chinchilla Mini Rex buck, LaRue’s Casanova! Read the whole story of how he came to us and how he earned his name on my older daughter’s blog.