Doing and Re-Doing

I guess I haven't learned life's lessons for me, yet.

1. shortcuts take longer
2. sampling is learning by doing
3. I learn by doing
4. I don't like learning by doing (I want it perfect the first time)
5. I enjoy doing, it's the worry about possibly having to re-do that's stressful

So, since our trip I've been doing and re-doing.

I made full-sized samples of bath sheets from the 8/2 cotton I had on hand. De-stashing! I finished off a couple cones of yarn! For what it's worth, with this weave, I have to use both towels to dry my 5 foot tall self. They're absorbent, but there's just not as much surface area as terrycloth.

I spun up this silk with my Suzie and stylus.

My husband fell in love with this yarn, Caribou by HiKoo, and kitty pattern when we were in the yarn store in Kalispell. It was so much fun to make (although with all the fluff, it's hard to count rows so I had to pay attention).       

My niece and I got to knit together.

Here are the first pair of socks I've made for my daughter's fiance. I made them on our road trip. I only had to rip out the first sock once.  No more shortcuts! For toe-up I have to do the math first! Clearly, toe-up is not as intuitive for me as top down. I did use all but a few yards of the yarn. And, what a brave man he is to try wool socks on in July!

Now, here's where we talk shortcuts. This is from the yarn I originally bought to felt slippers. After knitting up 1 1/2 slippers, I decided to sample. This yarn does not felt. It's Columbia by Imperial Yarn.        
 This is my first sweater with a sewn in zipper ever! I'm pleased to say that it went in perfectly on the first try. It did take me just under two hours, because I kept having to step away from it and worry about if I was doing it right.          

The pattern is Gwendolyn by Twist Collective. For whatever reason, the sleeves were HUGE. I didn't realize this until I'd sewn the sweater together. I had to redesign them. In all, I knit FIVE sleeves for this sweater!!! 

 And by the way, where did I get the zipper? That's right! I went to Mood!!!

 In one of the areas of our front yard where I started to dig up the grass, we planted cantaloupe. 

This is my current spinning project (If I can force myself to keep at it). When I bought the wool, I didn't check the length of staple or how it's prepared. I like to spin fine yarns. This fiber wants to be at least worsted weight. I bought a trash bag full. Sigh. No shortcuts next time!