We have a winner!

Yes, my stepson won the state wrestling tournament at 135 pounds! (Plus the school record for most tournament wins in a season, plus his 100th win.) More on that after the knitting content.

Here's the beginning of the sweater my daughter has requested:

(Can you hear me cheering? I finally figured out a fancy color adjustment on my camera and got the colors to photograph true. Yay!) Girl colors, for sure. She is Asian, and looks fabulous in just about any color. Except pink. But pink she wanted, and pink she shall have.

This is the sweater, from the Kim Hargreaves book Pipsqueaks:

Only she wants three colors, alternating pink-blue-pink-purple on the sleeves. Also, the words Sweet Heart must be changed to Love's Good. Not Love Is Good, but Love's Good. Her highness has spoken. I have some concerns, such as I have never done intarsia before, and also the specs on this sweater seem odd. The back finished measurement is supposed to be 17" across. Seems a bit big for a 6yo. I also question why the sleeves throughout this book are too short for the kids. Is this a fashion statement? I don't like it. I'm also using the wrong yarn, so the finished proportions will be anyone's guess. Maybe I'll be making my own "fashion statement."

In the neglected world of dyeing, I currently have 6 skeins of yarn in the dyepot. Three of them are skinny stripes, my latest whim. The other three are all purples, given the great response to the yarn I posted the other day. Sad to say, that was bad photography; the actual color is this:

Mauve-ish, I guess. Nice, but not purple. (You can find this skein, and the bluish-green one from the other day, on the website.)

Back to wrestling. My stepson won without much trouble. The real test will come next weekend at New Englands, where the competition is a lot stiffer than in little ol' Vermont. Although I hate to miss it, my daughter and I will not be heading to CT for this one. (There's a lot to be said for a night without any Y chromosomes in the house, though.)

The tournament got me thinking a lot about how my stepson has changed over the years. I've known him since he was 2, lived with him since he was 3, and been his stepmom since he was 5. He and my husband have always been so close, with similar looks and identical personalities. This first photo is from maybe 7 years ago. The second is just after he won on Saturday:

He was so tiny when he first started wrestling (at age 8, 54 pounds) that the smallest singlet was sagging on him. He's practically all growed up now. They are two good guys. They pee on the toilet seat, but you couldn't ask for two more honest, hard-working, and seriously funny people.

On the yarn front, I practically froze while dyeing in the basement today. We have an old farmhouse, with a barely heated basement and a stiff breeze through the bulkhead door. I complained about the non-winter we've been having, and Mother Nature listened. It's cold now. Not below zero (F), like yesterday morning, but cold enough so my fingers were numb when I came upstairs. I'm off to have a cup of tea and do some pink knitting, to match the tip of my nose.

Comments

[Tammie]

How exciting! Yeah for his win. That yarn is great...you dyed that?

[Ramona]

Congratulations to your son! Great pics.

[emmy]

Congratulations on the WIN!! State Championship,no small feat. Your daughter's sweater will be perfect. The yarn is beautiful and you have two nice looking young men there. Lucky YOU!

[heather]

Congrats on the win! Woo hoo!

I have fallen in love with your little daughter. Not only is she cute, her personality is strong. Give her a hug for me and good luck with that sweater.

Love's good. Love it.

[JessaLu]

Yay!! Congrats on the win! Good luck in the upcoming tournament :o)

At least your daughter wants you to knit her something ;o) Mine wants nothing to do with it, the brat.

[christine]

Congratulations to your son! (Handsome men!)
And I love the sweater-to-be! That is my very favorite book for kids' sweaters. I made quite a few for the grand-daughters.......

[Cindy]

Congrats on the big win and record. Way cool. I would have been stunned if you daughter had not wanted purple and pink. At least those are colors. When they get a bit older, all they want is black.

[lynne s of oz]

Your sson is doing really well! congrats! As for the pink jumper, she is six. Very few six year old girls will wear anything but pink in my limited experience of 4 nieces and what I see in the shops... but I wore PURPLE! LOL

[Diane E.]

Congrats! I see Middlebury t- shirts,does our son go there? My niece is a sophmore at M. and loving VT, well we all try to get up there as much as possible. Wish my son migrated North for college. No, instead he went south, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville. Now, Charlottes. beautiful and historic and TEN hours away. Maybe #2 son will head North. My fingers are crossed. Great site!