A few more February projects

In Muggle Studies we studied Leap Years, and I made a woven "blank" and painted it with 29 stripes (in honor of Feb 29)

Worked out the math so that each stripe would make 2 rows of a hat (with the occasional 3-row color just for fun and randomness)

which I then knitted into a hat for Astronomy. We studied Galileo and his heliocentricity ideas. From the top it looks very circle-y)

This was for the Slytherin's Lingerie-a-long :)

and also part of my homework for Potions, wherin we studied Shrinking Solution.

And I finally started some Quidditch. This term we can make 15 items that go into one of three sections. I didn't feel inspired to make anything until I realized I could dye some wool for the Charity section. This is going to be used for Socks for Pakistan

The top 4 are self striping, and should make 10 stripes per sock. This is what it looks like just after dyeing, and before re-skeining it. To dye this self-striping yarn, I made a massive skein, wrapped around a fence post and a chair 9.5m apart. I dipped it slowly into a dye pot, and it used up the dye as it went in, making the gradient. Then you have to reskein it into a manageable size! Making four of these required 3.2km of walking, just to skein and reskein. But it's fun, and worthwhile :)

Kissy Update: Last time I tried to weigh him he was well over 4kg (but wouldn't cooperate!) Now that Nathan has made this feeder box and Kissy doesn't have to wait on our convenience and patience, he's getting much fatter! He's even been out playing with his older cousins, jumping and running. But he's just as happy to follow Zach down the paddock, bouncing around him. Just like a puppy! :)

Edited to add: Oops! Forgot to mention the lamb earlier... it's the Slytherins I've been talking to... Anyway, one of the Ewe's (Barley) was sick. We now think she got septic from a dead twin, because one was born dead, and she wouldn't feed this little runt. We got some milk replacement for him, though he would barely suck, and when he was about 36hrs old we found Barley dead. So he's been living in an enclosure by the back door. He was 3.2kg in this photo, and about 2 days old. Bag of bones, sick and hunched up with no energy, and hardly any desire to drink milk. But he somehow survived :) He's exactly like a puppy, and very affectionate. Byron called him Kissy.

Larva Larva Larva Larva....

(ten points if you can guess that reference)

Happy Valentine's Day, all. We don't usually celebrate it at our place, thinking it a bit silly and commercial, but the hubby then turned up with chocolate, bless him, and mucked up my good run of healthy eating in the nicest possible way :D

Byron had his first day of Kindergarten today, where I wasn't there. I stayed on the first day (last Tuesday) because he'd stressed all week, and so I promised I would. I stayed half the second day (last Thursday) having put myself down for "Morning Tea Helper", but left him (very unhappy... for ten minutes) after that.  Today, I left him there at 9 (I snuck out when he was distracted) and picked him up at 1... a short day, but he was happy, more or less!

I headed to Mum and Dad's to drop off Jaz and Zac, went to the Blood Bank (aka My Fortnightly Lie Down) and then whizzed back home to feed the lamb. Then I picked up the boy, headed back to Mum and Dad's for a bit, and collected the kids.

Hot day, today. It's been cool all week (which I hate in the Summer!) but today was so nice! We let Byron stay up late to watch Star Wars (the one with little Anakin, whatever that's called) which he loved, and now he's unconscious.

So far in February I've finished off two things: a cover for my Kindle (Les Miserables is at 45%... getting there slowly!) and one spin.

Detention

Care of Magical Creatures

I have a few other projects in the works. Did a fun dyeing project, which is almost knitted into a hat now, and spun one single for a 2ply. And I've done a few more inches of the Ginny. I started my OWL vest (which is the "Back to School U-neck Vest" on Rav, but when I tried it on it was way too big, so that got frogged.

I've also bought some yarn. No photos, but there is a bucketful of Luxury from BWM (good for dyeing and hats and stuff) and another bucketful of undyed sock yarn I found online. Not sure when I'll get to knit and wear it, because I can't seem to get in the mood for socks at all, but dyeing them will be fun.

More from January

Australia Day Hat, made from scraps of Noro Silk Garden (History of Magic)

Big warm hat made from handspun. The 'antlers' are for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

We went fishing in Muggle Studies, so I made some water-color handspun

And for Arithmancy we studied Tesselations, and I went with a Three Theme. Three prime colors onto white merino/silk...

...and then spun into a three-ply yarn.

The beginning of my Ginevra's Pullover. I think I could "live off" Madeline Tosh Vintage for the rest of my life, if I had to :)

500g spun into singles. 1800m/1968y. 

And then navajo-plied into 600m of yarn. Hopefully 650y will be enough. It's kind of short, so it might be ok.