Breakthrough

For a few weeks I have been meaning to yarn shop for a "girly" blue yarn. I kept forgetting though and boy am I glad I did. There in a bag of thrift shop yarn that my sister had given me was a VERY girly blue yarn. If I triple it or combine it with another thicker yarn, then I have what I need for another Xmas pair of Instant Mittens (Pair 4). Yay!!! Excellent. Just turquoise to be dealt with (pair 5).
For Dad's thrummed mitts, I stash shopped. I took out some skeins of Anniversary Twist by Briggs and Little. Its a nice two toned blue (TOO blue according to Hman when I made him a hat with it...). I gave the skeins a soak in a wool wash bath to soften the yarn up and now they are hanging out on the clothesline in the sun and breeze to dry. Thrummed items can't so much be soaked/washed after they are made if you still want the insides fluffy, so this pre-knit wash makes the scratchy yarn much nicer to work with and to wear. 3 skeins should do the mittens and a matching hat nicely. After the skeins are dry I'll wind them, ready for knitting as soon as Cameron's mittens are done.
We went out this afternoon and got most of Cameron's costume dealt with (need a fake scythe) and got fabric for Ben's pirate costume ( long sleeveless jacket and a sash) and also a better pirate hat than the piece of felt that he had. Much better! I will spray paint some old buttons gold for the jacket. We are discussing pirate hair attached to the hat and made from yarn (dreads maybe?)but that might be too much in the time alotted.