The color red is dangerous. We all know this. That's why they make stoplights red: "Whoa! Hold on, there, pardner!" And stop signs: "This is a dangerous place; pay attention." And a gal in a red dress--we know she's out to get our man. (Not me, though. When I'm wearing red, it just means I'm a very nice person who happens to be wearing red today and that has no bearing on the fact that I wore a short red dress when I was playing a hot chica in a murder mystery. None whatsoever.) But the point I was trying to make before I ran off to tangent-ville is that red is trouble. And the trouble with fiber is, it bleeds. I know other colors bleed, too, but red is too often the culprit. So we wash our red fabrics before we put 'em into a quilt. We stabilize the color in embroidery floss as best we can. We even avoid it in our dishes because there's some kind of radioactive chemical in it that will turn us all into intelligent cockroaches or something, according to the Man of the Place. (Hmmm, maybe I wasn't really paying attention. Ya think?) So I was a understandably concerned about this red cotton stria. I decided to knit up the sweater first and face that problem later, but before I attached the WHITE flower. So, here's what I did: I put it in a bath of cool water and Orvus Quilt Soap. Soaked it for a few minutes and, get this: the water didn't even turn light pink! Shock the monkey, was I surprised!
Then I attached the flower, the bobble buttons, and the stem for a big hooray!
And here's the payoff:
No,wait Sweetie, hold still for the camera:
Good enough! That's about as still as a healthy sixteen-month old can get. She's so worth the knitting.
The guacamole just needed to be mooshed up and left alone--my specialty! (not guacamole, leaving the food alone) 
And the tamales were frozen: all I had to do was put 'em on the steam flower with boiling water and leave 'em alone (see above about my specialty.)
Notice anything strange? How 'bout now? 
Yeah. The sleeves are two different lengths. (sigh) Now I have to find someone with a hump to give it to.
Sophie posted a comment last time asking where to get the pattern for the Hartfield Gloves. It's a Knitty online pattern called 
But now, this is my level. I'm not afraid to read charts. To work with thinner yarns. 
Complicated? Maybe. But it's like when I was learning to drive. I was taught that, when you're driving in the rain, a ball bounces in front of you, and another car is headed toward you, SLOW down. When you slow down, many problems sort themselves out before they even get to you. I think life is like that, too.
This one takes some attention, but I'm okay with that. These are called 
On either side of our dining room hangs a strand of twelve tiny stockings. I made these stockings a few years ago and Tiny has loved 'em ever since. They're big enough to hold a few pieces of candy, a lip balm, a gift card, or any number of tiny things from a Korean gift shop that Tiny is partial to. 
Why bother growing up when the toys are still good?
Chocolate Kisses--the Original--was done to pattern until it disappointed me by ending too soon. I had to finish the ball of the foot and the toe in my standard sock style. I even had to frog (rip-it) back over the toe a second time because it was still too short. But I finally got it done.
And... my goal of reading all six of Jane Austen's published novels this year is completed! Now, that's a good feeling. The funny thing is that if you asked me which one was my favorite, I'd have to say, almost without exception, whichever one I was reading at the time. The last one I read was 
Speaking of hiking, I'm up to 97 
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