The zoo and some knitting

We had a lovely trip to the Zoo today, the Hug-a-Bugs, my dad and myself.

We have two zoos in the metro area.

One is small, free and a little depressing.

To be fair, this zoo is attached to the Conservatory which is one of my favorite places in Saint Paul.

That said, the animal enclosures are pretty wee and the animals all look kinda sad.

The other zoo is Huge and Shiny and Glossy and has an admission price.

We went to the Shiny and Glossy zoo today.

At the Shiny Zoo, they have a farm set-up that is chock full of cute-ness.

We saw baby chicks and lambs and kids and baby bunnies.

The Hug-a-Bugs got some great opportunities to ride on animal statues.

We also saw some free-range wildlife.

It was a lot of fun.

Our MN Zoo is really beautiful. It is in the middle of a heavily wooded area and there are a couple of pond/lakes.

The animals enclosures are not as big as their natural habitats, to be sure, but they have some breathing room.

There is also a fantastic variety of animals.

A tapir, a python, flying foxes (which the Hug-a-Bugs call the Stellalunas), a pair of gibbons, sharks, dolphins, wolverines, musk oxen, just as a sampling.

We spent 3 hours there and even as we were leaving there were still tons of things to see.

We didn't even visit the majority of the outdoor animals.

Also, the kids got to spend some together time with Grandpa Geoff and that doesn't get to happen all that often.

All in all, a really nice day.

I went ahead and got the year membership. I can see us going quite often.

Now, on to the really important info:

I finished the christmas stocking I was working on and began the second.

I tried the short row toe for the second stocking and I love the result.

There was no discomfort of being on too many needles, too close together.

I think I have made a major, personal shift in the construction of christmas stockings forevermore.

Have a fantastic weekend,

Jess.

If I don't post tomorrow, Happy Birthday Donna!!!!!! Yay for birthdays!

Snow Shnow

No Black Yarn?

Yes, Easter is over and you know what that means - Christmas Stockings!

I sometimes get a client who plans ahead, which is fantastic I must say, and so begins the christmas stocking knitting for this year.

I just got invited to join Ravelry which I should have paid more attention to, stash-wise, because I can't find any black yarn.

I was sure I had some; it must be hiding.

Anyway, I guess the snowmen will have to wait for their hats and the bears for their eyes.

I was just at the yarn store yesterday too...

I did get to see all of my peeps, of the non-marshmallow variety, but I neglected to get any black yarn.

The pattern is Nancy Lindberg Christmas Stocking Pattern with some changes.

I decided to try making the stocking from the toe up.

I really like it.

As mentioned in past posts it always bothered the total knitting nerd in me that the stitches were upside down in the patterns when the stocking is worked from the top down.

Now they are right side up and I can read the charts right side up too.

I think, in the future, I will try a short-row toe and continue on from there.

To make this toe-up toe I cast on 18 stitches with scrap yarn and worked 3 rows, then picked up one stitch on the edge, pulled out the provisional cast-on, knitted those stitches and picked up one more stitch on the other side.

Then I increased up to the number of stitches I needed.

Also, I added a short-row heel.

This pattern calls for an after-thought heel and I like the short-row because you never have to take the stocking off of the needles.

I also charted out the bears, because there isn't one in the pattern.

It has been a long time, if I have even ever done it, since I have had such a knit-nerdy post.

Thanks for listening,

Jess.

Happy Hoppy Day!

I realized about Monday that it was the week before Easter and there was still no dress. Luckily I had procrastinated about the Elder Hug-a-Bug's Easter togs last year, and had this bunny-themed batik in the stash.

There is a considerable amount of snow for this Easter, so all the fashionable pre-schoolers will also be arrayed in long-sleeve t-shirts, tights and sweaters for the festivities.

Here's hoping your Easter is full of colored fingers and family,

Jess

p.s. Jelly beans or chocolate?

From the cracking

"Those are ice webs from the cracking."

Elder Hug-a-Bug

I guess snow's not so bad

From lemons...

I had to pull out an entire sleeve on Thursday.

I had misremembered the number of cast-on stitches.

I am a doofus.

On the bright side, when I was taking a mental health break from that sweater I got a ton of work done on my Color Wheel Quilt.

I started this post on Sunday.

I finished the quilt last night!

I am not totally happy with it.

The center of the wheel got really stretched out from the high concentration of stitching so it pokes up.

Also, I had it out of the dryer for about 15 minutes before there was a yogurt spill on it, as seen below the oranges.

White appears to be a bad idea at our house.

That said, I am thrilled to be finished!

The Hug-a-Bugs' favorite activity is to play ring-a-round the rosie on it.

They also like to pick out familiar fabrics.
That's my rocket-ship!
There's my hat!
There is Aunt Donna's frog!

So happy to have something in the FO column.

I started the failed sleeve again and I am about 2/3 the way through.

Another wonderful thing we discovered last night is playing Store with button currency.

The kids each had 3-5 buttons in their own boxes and they purchased toys and dolls from me in the shop for 1 or 2 buttons each.

It is so exciting that the younger Hug-a-Bug is old enough to play with smaller things without necessarily putting them in his mouth.

Happy Birthday to You, Dad!

Wishing a cozy Tuesday to you all,

Jess