Guess What I Got for Christmas!

A ball winder!

This is a double strand of some old Pingouin wool/acrylic blend that I'm thinking of using for a top-down sweater dress for Gillian. The mango colour will look nice on her and the machine-washability of the yarn is a major plus!

The yarn calls for 3.0 mm to 3.5 mm needles (22 stitches by 30 rows for a 4 inch guage swatch)which isn't very close to the 4.5 mm needles (20 X 26 swatch) that the pattern requires. I'm knitting swatches with single and doubled strands on a variety of needles to see what might work. The pattern is simple enough that I figure I can fiddle with the pattern a bit to accomodate any changes that I make.

The doubled strands produce a fairly stiff fabric, but since it is going to be a little dress worn over tights and a camisole, the garment should be fairly thick and warm.

Anyway, Clare has been under the weather for so long that we have exhausted our arsenal of "quiet activities". Thankfully, the ball winder provided some distraction yesterday afternoon. Clare's illness has made her rather cross and peevish, otherwise I'd be teaching her to cork (spool knitting). It's a perfect couch activity for kids and she is old enough to learn (5.5 years old), but she has no patience with anything this week.

I'm hoping those antibiotics kick in soon!