Some Good News on the Knittng Front....

Well, I did it. It took a week and a half, 44 ounces of PnC/SnC and gave me shooting pains in my right index finger, but I finally finished my first Ballband Bathmat.

As you can see, the ends still need to be woven in, but aside from that I am well and truly done! I actually can't complain; I really enjoyed knitting this bathmat, moreso than the Absorba, which always seems to bog down towards the later, longer rows.

As soon as I finished, I cast on a matching washcloth, which I finished in one sitting while watching Armageddon. Nothing like a cheesy Hollywood flick for mindless knitting.

Tomorrow I think I'll bring my rigid heddle loom up from the basement, where it's been languishing since May, and warp it up with Euroflax (possibly interspersed with crochet cotton) for placemats. I'm thinking more and more about buying Euroflax worsted weight, which (from what I'm told) is actually more of a DK or aran weight than a true worsted. Does anyone know of a good source of linen patterns besides Louet?

A Day at the Frog Pond

If only the Marx Brothers had filmed that movie -- maybe I'd be able to laugh a little harder at my own rip-it rip-it rip-iting!

So, after reading that Euroflax won't bloom after it's been washed, I frogged what I'd knit on size 4s and went down to size 2s. After knitting more than I probably should have, I discovered -- naturally -- I still didn't like the way the stupid fabric looked. Grrrrrrr!

So it's back to the frog pond for me, and now I'm wondering what to do next. Someone pointed me in the direction of washing the Euroflax before knitting with it, which should allow it to be knitted up more tightly than if it hasn't been washed. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, partly because the more I've been thinking about the intended purpose of this yarn -- placemats -- the more I've started thinking I may just break out the RH loom and weave the darn things instead of knitting them. A simple tabby weave will certainly go faster (or at least feel like it's going faster) than doing a fussy knitting pattern on size 0s, which is the direction this project seems to be quickly heading in.

So now, I'm stuck in a whole other direction. I was initially so excited about using linen yarn that I scoured the internet and found a place that sells in bulk, twenty cones or bags of skeins (either 1/2lb or 1 lb each depending upon grist) for $24 each. They also have the largest variety of grists I've seen in Euroflax, everything from the finest laceweight (14/1, 5200 ypp) to a nice heathered bulky (685 ypp). A friend and I decided to go in half and half on an order so that we're each only spending a slightly insane amount of money on this. I was toying with the idea of getting a bunch of the sportweight plus maybe a cone or two of 14/2 laceweight for a shawl, but after this experience with the placemats I'm now wondering if that's what I want to do at all. I can certainly see how Euroflax would make nice clothing -- I really like the top-down Euroflax sweater on the MDK blog site -- but I'm wondering about what grist I should get. Maybe a worsted weight would be better overall than sport weight? (And, to tell the truth, the Euroflax sport weight seems quite thin to me -- far more like a light fingering weight than a sport weight in wool would be.) And that bulky Euroflax is tempting, too. Although, of course, I could surely use the sportweight for a lovely shawl or two....

This is the problem with buying yarn without a definite project in mind, although I certainly had a project in mind for the sportweight and look how that's turning out. Suggestions, anyone?

Another Day, Another Dammit

I took the train into work today, which means that in between eating, reading and sleeping (did I mention I have a LONG commute??) I got a nice little piece of knitting done:















This is the beginning of a Euroflax placemat, modeled after the Euroflax hand towel in MDK. Unfortunately -- and here's where the "dammit" comes in -- it looks like I'm going to have to frog the entire thing and go down at least 2 needle sizes to get a fabric I like. Right now the knit is way too loose; I had hoped that washing the Euroflax would make it bloom and fill in the gaps somewhat, but that's not what people on the MDK-Knitalong blog seem to be saying. *sigh* Oh, well...size 2 needles, here I come!

Still missing Fatboy and feeling that this is all very unreal. DH and I started looking at photos this evening but stopped...still too sad. Here's one we did look at, though, which brought back good memories.

It was taken at our annual spring BBQ; that's Fatboy in the front and Shasta in the back. All the dogs love the BBQ because everyone spoils them and feeds them scraps all day long. I still can't quite believe Fatboy won't be there for our next one.

Requiem
















At shortly after midnight this morning, our bulldog, Fatboy, died.

It was completely unexpected. We had had him to the vet that very afternoon to get his bordatella vaccine, and he had been just fine.

Shortly before we went to bed last night, Fatboy's breathing became even more labored than usual. Now, if you know bulldogs, you know that they snort, they snore, and by the simple act of breathing they make a good ol' racket just about all the time. So, we weren't overly worried. Fatboy's breathing would get louder and faster in the heat or after running around, but after resting it would always go back to its normal dull roar. We all went to bed thinking nothing was wrong.















Fatboy on the beach in Maine, summer 2003


But shortly after midnight, our other bulldog, Kobe, woke us up with her barking. At first, we thought she had to go outside; instead, she was trying to let us know that Fatboy had died. His face was all wet -- she had obviously been licking him -- and his body was still warm and soft. It must have just happened.

Today was a pretty awful day for all of us. We were up till after 2am, crying and caring for Fatboy's body, our other dogs (Kobe and our shep mix, Shasta) and baby M. We finally got to sleep only to get up a scant few hours later for work. DH's boss, when informed of the situation, told DH to take the day off, which he gratefully did. I didn't have the same luxury. So, after we took Fatboy to the vet for cremation, DH and I drove to his parents' house where he stayed with M and the dogs while I went in to work.

I feel like a wreck. My eyes are sandy and have been burning for hours. I have a headache and am exhausted in body and spirit. I keep wondering if there was anything we could have done. What if...? What if we had gone to work yesterday instead of staying home (which we did because on the way to work the car got a flat and the baby got sick all at once)? Maybe if Fatboy had spent the day in the cool basement as he always does when we're at work he would have been okay. Or what if we had given Fatboy a bath yesterday afternoon? We had been planning a bath for him for days -- maybe the cool water would have kept him from overheating, which is what we think in the end caused his death.

DH says there's no point in thinking about "what ifs," and intellectually I know he's right. DH says it was probably just Fatboy's time. At least he didn't suffer; he didn't go through a long illness and a lot of pain...just slipped into sleep and was gone.

Poor Kobe. She and Fatboy have been together all their lives. She's so sad, and so stoic. She just walks mournfully around the house and, when she's not doing that, she sleeps.

I want to remember Fatboy as he was: a happy, good-hearted, good-natured dog who never really knew his own strength and was always eager to jump in the nearest lap and slobber all over whoever and whatever came within reach.

He will always be loved. He will always be missed.

Somewhat-Finished Object

It may not be the prettiest yarn, but it's my first attempt at Navajo plying my homespun, and I'm pretty pleased overall with how it turned out. It's lumpy, bumpy and overspun, not to mention partially boucled, but it's mine. Oh, and did I point out that it looks exceedingly like a mop?















I've been spinning on this "mystery wool" for a long time now, but I finally managed to finish not only the spinning but do the entire plying job today while hiding out from the heat in our basement. DH, M and I got waylaid this morning by a) a flat tire, and b) M's sudden relapse into vomiting and diarrhea (a repeat of last week's "summer virus"). No work for DH and me; no day spent with doting grandparents for M. Instead, DH worked from home, I got the tire repaired and the dogs vaccinated (in between cleaning up vomit/poop...charming, I know) and M played her little heart out when she wasn't busy soiling herself. All in all, an interesting day.

But I did manage to squeeze in some spinning, as the photos attest. I think my next task will be to Kool-Aid dye the skein. I have half a dozen packets of something that should dye red, and with the heat we've had lately I'm tempted to dump them all in a plastic baggie of water and vinegar and set the mix in the car for a day -- down-n-dirty "solar dyeing." Otherwise, I may just pull out my Twisted Sisters sock book and figure out how to dye from that. I've never dyed wool before, nor have I used Kool-Aid as a dye. My dyeing experiments were mainly high-school attempts to Rit jeans and T-shirts -- nothing nearly as fancy as trying to dye my own homespun.

DH is talking about possibly getting me an I-Pod (something I've dearly wanted so I can listen to books from librivox while knitting)...if and when that happens, I may just have to make myself an I-Pod cozy from my Kool-Aided homespun. All the more reason to get me a-dyein'.

Feelin' hot, hot, HOT!

It is hot. WAAAAAAAY hot. Hotter than it has any right to be, even though it is August in New York. It's so hot that there's a Heat Emergency in effect. I don't know what this means for sure, but it can't be good.

And so, with the temperature at a record high, what should I work on but the bathmat that is quickly turning into the Biggest Ballband Ever!


This bathmat is quickly taking on the proportions of a blanket, with weight to match. It'll make a super bathmat, but for now it's an exercise in knitterly zen (not to mention knitterly determination and knitterly nuttiness) just to sit under it and do a few rows.

I never thought I'd hear myself say I wish it were winter, but right about now I almost do.

Nothing to see here, folks....

Not that I'm not knitting; I'm just not photographing (or...er, finishing, either).

The great Ballband Bathmat continues apace. The tremendous advantage of working with great big needles is offset by the tremendous disadvantage of working with a total of TWELVE strands of yarn, 6 and 6. Eventually it will get all knitted up, and then I'll weigh the monster and see just how much cotton it takes to make the biggest ballband ever.

Work on my m-i-l's Christmas gift (the yak/merino scarf to go with the double-thick Fair Isle hat in the same yarn) has been suspended because it's way too hot to even think about knitting with wool.

I did manage a row or two on my mother's silk stole today, but the laceweight yarn and Madiera Mesh pattern make for slow going.

My one FO: the first ballband warshrag in colors that actually match my kitchen. No photo, but once the others are done I'll take a shot and post. Ballbands make for great mindless car knitting, and I'm using a nylon circ so heaven forbid we get in an accident I won't -- as DH constantly warns -- stab myself with my knitting. Can you imagine that obituary??

Bathmats, Bathmats Everywhere....

OK, so I'm over my little snit of yesterday. As Kathy wisely pointed out, it's often hard to come across in writing the way one wants to. So, no hard feelings, MDK blog folks; I'll be over there blogging again in no time.

But first, here's my latest bathmat-in-progress:















Cool, eh? It's based on the Ballband Warshrag pattern. I used 6 strands of Sugar-n-Cream on size 15 needles and cast on 51 stitches, all white for the slip-stitch rows and a mix of yellow ombre (Peaches-n-Cream, actually) and solid yellow for the other rows. It's coming out sooooo soft and squishy, I just can't wait to sink my toes into it. I'm pretty sure this will be the pattern I use to make my Christmas gifts: Ballband Bath Sets (a bathmat, two hand towels and two washcloths).

Oh, and the red/orange/maroon warshrag is there to provide a sense of scale; it's done with a single strand of SnC on size 6 needles, exactly following the Ballband pattern. Amazing what multiplying strands and going up a few needle sizes will do to gauge, isn't it?

And Kathy, since you asked, it's the same "formula" for my Absorbas: 6 strands of PnC on size 15s. For the bathmat in the previous post's photo I used plain white for 3 strands and off-white for the other 3. And thank you so much for the nice compliment. It never would have occurred to me to knit a bathmat of all things before reading MDK, but now that I've started I just can't seem to stop.

But lest it seem that the only thing I'm interested in knitting these days are bathmats, take a look at the absolutely stunning skein of hand-dyed merino I just received in trade from Jaye in Ohio:















Is it not just gorgeous and scrumptions and to-die-for? And it feels even better than it looks. Mmmmmmm..... I'm thinking moebius scarf for the fall, and this project I'll keep for myself. :)

THWACK!

So, I checked in at the Mason-Dixon Knitalong blog, where I've been loving both reading about everyone's MDK projects and posting about my own, and lo and behold, the following Important Message was posted today:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ~ 2 ~

Please be conservative with the pictures you choose to post on this site.

We can only allow ONE picture of EACH project per POST.

This means:

1. We love to see your progress, but we don't need to see 3 different pictures documenting various stages of knitting project.

2. Please choose the best version of your photographed item.....we don't need to see washrags posing in various parts of the house or kitchen or bathroom. As much as we love to see these....we need to conserve our bandwidth.

3. No more pictures of piles of yarn that you will eventually knit up.

These are all fun pictures - trust me, I like looking at them just as much as you do....but we all must do our parts to conserve bandwidth.

ANY POSTS THAT DON'T KEEP THESE RULES IN MIND WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DELETED.

*************
Now, I can certainly appreciate the need to conserve bandwidth. I don't mind posting only one project photo per post. I can post only photos of projects and not yarn-that-will-become-projects. There is nothing at all unreasonable about any of the requests in that post.



But, is it me or could the message have been worded just a bit more nicely?

Maybe I'm just oversensitive since I'm one of those who just posted not only two photos of the same project but one of the photos also included a pile of yarn. Yikes! In my defense, I really do like my knitted bathmats, and I was REALLY excited to get a ton of Sugar n Cream yarn on sale at Michael's for a buck a skein.



I feel like I've just been thwacked on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. Unfortunately, now I'm rather hesitant to post on that blog again, not because I have any doubt that I can follow the instructions, but more because I feel chided -- unfairly scolded for doing something that wasn't wrong (or, at least, hadn't been labeled as wrong) at the time I did it.

Bad timing, too. I just started a Ballband Bathmat (adapted from the Ballband Warshrag pattern) and I'm really pleased with how it's coming out. Will post photos here once a few more rows are done.

In other news, I've been trying my hand at twice-knit knitting, a particular technique that produces a thick, textured fabric that won't run when it's cut. Can you say "sweaters with steeks"??? Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the darn thing to knit up straight -- it keeps biasing. See??

I'm following the tutorial exactly, and I even wrote Megan, the woman who created the tutorial, and she said it sounds like I'm doing all the right things. Will have to start experimenting with this...and then sweaters in the round, here I come!

One of Those Days

Today was the day for none of my fibery experiences to go right. First I tried my hand at twice-knit knitting, and not once but twice did my piece come out on the bias instead of straight. Then on the way home from work I stopped at Gotta Knit, where all summer yarns were on sale for 30% off, and found that the one skein of bulky silk I'd been fondling lovingly and which I had found clearly set out on the "sale" shelf was, in fact, not on sale. Finally, I began my ballband bathmat tonight only to find -- after completing three lengthy rows -- that I'd miscalculated my cast-on and needed to pull the whole things out. To top it off, I really didn't care for the way that bathmat was looking in the ballband pattern, which means I'll either need to keep tweaking it until I hit something I like (IF I hit something I like) or simply abandon the idea.

*sigh* I should have expected it. I spent all last night knitting happily away, listening to Pride and Prejudice on Librivox without a care in the world. I finished my project, wove in all the ends, didn't run out of yarn or find I'd dropped a stitch waaaaay back where I'd have to go crazy to fix it...all in all, a great fiber night.

Yep. I should've expected it -- the universe is simply restoring balance. It's a good thing I didn't try to work on anything complicated today...who knows what might have happened?

Doing Battle

Found another moth today, this time in the guest bathroom. At least DH managed to squish the thing. He swears it wasn't a clothes moth; I swear he's just trying to make me feel better.

So, just in case, I've decided to take things to the next level:

Nestled comfortably between the butter and the frozen blueberries is one plastic storage tub's worth of wool. Freezing for 72 hours is supposed to kill moth larvae, and that's exactly what I intend to do. And people said I was crazy to buy a giant chest freezer for just my husband and me!

In other news, poor M is sick. She woke us up at nearly 5am, covered in her own vomit. She'd eaten craisins and blueberries yesterday among other things, so it was quite the shocking sight. No work for me today -- it'll be the doctor's office instead. M is certainly looking better now than she did four hours ago -- she's eaten a few Cheerios and is happily tossing the remainder to the dogs as I write -- but she's been a bit "off" since Sunday (low-grade fever, diarrhea), so I want to get her checked out. Don't know how much, if any, knitting I'll be able to get done in the waiting room, but I'll bring my m-i-l's yak/merino scarf with me just in case.

The Public Has Spoken....

The wonderful knitters at the Mason-Dixon Knitalong have chimed in on my MDK baby kimonos, and the consensus seems to be that either colorway is fine for a boy or a girl...as long as the parents are OK with it.

As the mother of a 15 month old girl, I can attest to the fact that it's pretty easy to OD on pink and purple gifts from well-meaning friends/family. Personally, I think it's good to shake things up a bit. But some other people...well, not so much.

I recently had a discussion about this with DH, shortly after I brought home a Little People garbage truck toy for my daughter. I remarked to DH that, forward-thinking as I like to believe myself to be, I still found myself debating over whether I should buy M the toy because it was -- well, it was a friggin' garbage truck. What kind of "girl toy" was that?

Of course, as soon as the thought crossed my mind (as I stood at the toy table in the community center fundraising tag sale with this brand-new, still-in-the-box-with-the-tags-on toy marked at only $3 in my hot little hand), I chided myself for being ridiculous. What child, boy or girl, wouldn't like a bright-green truck with eyes for headlights that made chomping, burping, crashing noises at the pull of a handle and had not one but TWO pieces -- a short, squat garbage man and a silver garbage can overflowing with plastic "trash" -- to take off and play with.

Needless to say, I bought the truck. I'm happy to report, it's one of M's favorite toys.

But back to my discussion with DH. I told him of my hesitation at the toy sale, and he said that it was perfectly fine for his daughter to play with toy trucks if she wanted to. "But," he added, "No son of mine is going to play with an Easy-Bake Oven."

Now, how ridiculous is that? First of all, if there's any toy that any kid, boy or girl, should go crazy over, it's one that gives out junk food just for playing with it. Do you see GI Joe handing out brownies at the end of a rousing game of "bayonet the enemy soldiers"?

I thought not.

Similarly, when I was pregnant, a girlfriend gave me bags and bags of baby clothes -- all in pinks and purples -- that her young daughter had grown out of. She had just had a second baby herself, a boy, and so got rid of the "girl's" wardrobe and replaced it with clothes in "boy colors."

I was more than happy to accept my friend's generous gift, and as I sat delightedly sorting through tiny outfits, my husband commented on how sweet a gift it had been. Then he added, "But what if we wind up having a boy?"

"He'll wear pink until he outgrows these clothes," I replied, not missing a beat.

When my husband began to go on about the dire psychological results that dressing an infant boy in pink could engender, I pointed out that if that's the worst thing our child has to hash over in therapy one day, then he will have had a very fine life indeed.

Anyway, you see what I'm saying.

Color, gender, stereotypes of all kinds.... It's amazing that these are even still issues in today's society.

Remind me to write about how my favorite toy growing up was, of all things, a big, black machine gun. I kid you not -- I loved that thing. And the person who gave it to me was...my mother.

P. S.

Today I gave the warshrag that I finished yesterday to Karen as a thank-you for picking up my farm co-op veggies this past month while I worked. She really liked it. I'm glad -- the colors are rather bright compared to what she usually goes for, but I think that's part of the fun.

I have another ballband idea that I can't wait to try out. Will have to finish my current Absorba the Great Bathmat project before casting on any new projects, though. I won't post any details now, but as soon as I get it on the needles I'll snap some pics and post.

Kimono Love

How cool is ombre yarn yarn? You just knit, knit, knit and beautiful, random patterns appear as if by magic. You gotta love that.

Still working on catching up my blog to my FOs -- what a nice change from scrambling to complete projects in order to have something finished to photograph! These two kimonos -- finished except for seaming and attaching ribbons -- are destined for Amy's and Lisa's babies, both due in October. Amy knows she's having a boy; Lisa won't find out till the baby is born. So, I need some opinions: Can I give the orange/yellow/sorta pinkish kimono to Lisa even if she has a boy? Or should I knit up something in a more "boyish" color just in case?

From Mason-Dixon Knitting....

Boy, do I LOVE this book! This is my first "warshrag," and I must admit I like it far better than the usual "start with 3 stitches, yo to increase at each end until it's halfway big enough then decrease back down to 3 stitches" dishrag I'm used to seeing. While this is far from my first MDK project (I've finished 2 baby kimonos -- OK, finished all except for seaming up the sides and sewing on the ribbons -- a baby bib, a burp cloth and more than one Absorba the Great Bathmat), it's one of the most fun. I especially love the super-bright colors -- they go with absolutely nothing in my (or anyone else's...?) kitchen, but they're pure fun. I can't wait to knit some more! :)))))

Shortly after casting on this morning....
















And this evening, finished and waiting to be gift-wrapped.
















Talk about instant gratification!

FO - Felt!

Inspired by the fabulous Simply Felt, I decided way back in April to try some "true" felting, meaning that instead of knitting up a giant, oversized item and shrinking it down in the wash, I would take loose fiber and turn it directly into felt. With my m-i-l watching the baby and hubby at work, I took an afternoon and played with fiber and water, winding up with a nice, rectangular-shaped piece of felt about the size of a placemat. I decided that as soon as it dried, I would blanket-stitch around the edge. Naturally, as soon as it dried, I put it away in the closet and didn't look at it again (except with the occasional pang of guilt)...until last night. As hubby napped through Man on the Moon (how anyone can sleep through Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman is beyond me), I finally dug out the yarn and needle and blanket-stitched my felt.

Here's what it looks like:


And here's what I've decided to do with it:


Strictly speaking, my lamp doesn't really need its own oversized coaster. But, what else should I do with a single placemat-sized piece of blanket-stitched felt? And I do love the way it turned out so very much that I couldn't bear to just tuck it away again.

Why I Should Not Be Allowed into Yarn Stores


See that? It's Mango Moon yarn, beautiful handspun from Nepal. Reminds me a lot of the sari silk I bought online awhile back (and just finished packing away from the evil m-o-t-h-s...more on that a little later). 100% viscose, which I've discovered is "a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane." First manufactured in 1891 and used to coat fabrics, viscose was eventually developed into a thread which largely replaced cotton and wool in stockings and underwear (or so says wikipedia).

Whatever. I was a bit hesitant to buy something so far from a natural fiber (yes, its origin is plant-based, but it's a far cry from a cotton, silk or lovely pure wool), but I absolutely fell in love with the colors AND it was on sale - 30% off for a total of $14/skein. So, my spending cash for the rest of the month went on the vibrant, enticing, irresistible skeins you see above.

I brought them home, took a quick photo and promptly sealed them up in plastic because today I found...you guessed it...another *shudder* MOTH.

This time it flew out of -- can you believe it?? -- my closet, right off the shelf where some of my yarn was waiting to be tagged, bagged and stored among cedar balls, safe in baggies from the chewing mouths of moths. At least I now have my stash safely stashed away, all except the wool I've actively got on the spinning wheel and spindles. I hope I won't find out down the line I stashed away some nasty little larvae along with the wool.

I think I've heard that if you freeze your yarn, it kills any potential moth larvae. Might be worth filling up the freezer tomorrow....

WIP


One of my longest-running Works in Progress: a silk stole for my mother. The design is my own -- Madiera Mesh lace pattern for the body (from Martha Waterman's fabulous Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls book) and a pointed edging the source of which I'd better remember before I get to the other end or I'm screwed. The photo doesn't really do the colorway justice; it's a steel-grey with just a swirl of pale plum. Stunning, really. The skein cost me enough and it's taking me long enough to knit, but I started it back in January specifically because I knew it would take me a good year to finish. The skein is finally quite a bit smaller than when I first started. Maybe this WIP is finally on its way to becoming an FO.

The "M" Word

There I was, innocently emptying some yarn out of a box, when I saw it...the bane of every natural-fiber aficionado's existence, that four-letter M word: a MOTH.

And -- here's the really sad part -- I didn't manage to catch the darn thing.

I kicked myself for being so foolish. I'd planned to put my fiber into sealed plastic bags. Some of it was already there. But, much of it wasn't. So this morning instead of going to the bank or the supermarket or the dry cleaner like I'd planned, I spent two hours in a volcanically hot upstairs room packing wool into giant ziplock bags.

I have, as it turns out, a lot of wool. Here's some of it:
















And here's some more:

















And even more:
















And lest you think the madness ends here, what these photos don't show are the second chest of drawers, the storage stepstool, the spinning basket and the four shelves in my bedroom closet, all packed with wool.

Oh, and the stuff in the in-progress projects bags. Those don't count, right?

So, I've been thinking of my blog lately....

Maybe it has to do with my reading Yarn Harlot's blog or the Mason-Dixon blog. Maybe it's just because I've finished a bunch of really neat projects and I want to have a place to record them. Whatever the reason, I find myself wanting to update my blog and at the same time being VERY wary of the time I know it will take, especially the taking and posting photos part.

So, I'll start slow. No photos tonight seeing as it's near midnight and I'm not about to get up out of bed to start snapping pics. Just a list of FOs, with photos to come.

1. Absorba the Great Bathmat. I LOVE this pattern!! It's from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, which is my current fave knitting book. I've made 2 already and have a 3rd under way. I think this will be my Christmas gift to family this year: a bathmat, 2 ballband washcloths and 2 ballband hand towels, all in coordinating neutrals. It'll be the Absorba the Great Bath Set.

2. Baby bibs, burp cloths and kimonos. Amy's pregnant. Lisa's Liz is pregnant. Cathal's Michelle is pregnant. One of these days I may very well get pregnant again. What better to have on hand than a supply of handmade baby gifts. Again, Mason-Dixon to the rescue. These three patterns are easy, quick and painless, but look absolutely adorable. I've already sent a matching bib/burp cloth set off to Cathal and Michelle. I've now got one kimono all knitted (just need to seam it) and a second on the needles. Boy, do I love this variegated Peache & Creme cotton!

3. The big 'un: A feather-and-fan shawl (titled, unfortunately IMHO, "The Dawn of the Cape" -- what an awful, 2001 A Space Odyssey image that conjures up!) from the Knitters' Dozen Ponchos and Wraps book. I did it in record time (six weeks start to finish) to wear to a wedding last night -- nothing like a deadline to get me moving. I love the Knitpicks variegated alpaca/merino/silk yarn I used, even though it was a tad heavy to wear in July. I think I'll convert the two swatches I made into wristlets as well.

More to come....

Making Felt

As if I didn't have enough projects going, today I just HAD to stop in The Strand on my way home and find (and buy) a copy of Simply Felt. Ah, inspiration, thy name is felt! No knitting up a piece and tossing it in the wash, either; no, this book teaches the traditional art of feltmaking, fiber to felt using only water, soap and good ol' handpower. For a non-sewer like me, feltmaking is an amazing way to both use up fiber stash and create clothing without having to sew a stitch. I have a three-pound bag of white and brown roving that I didn't quite know what do with...until today, that is. I quickly tested its feltability by making a felted oatmeal soap -- lo and behold, the fiber doth felt! Now I just need to decide what I want to make first. Maybe a small felted throw rug for under my spinning wheel and chair (since my loom isn't yet free to start my woven fleece rug)...or maybe a felt poncho for GiGi...or a felt cap for DH. Whatever I try, though, will have to wait till I have a stretch of free time (aka, someone else is watching the baby) during which I can get soapy and messy and not have to worry about stopping in the middle to do something else.

We'll see if THAT happens sometime this century!

Second Scarf

Well, I pulled out the spinning wheel again last night and even though I'm not thrilled with what I spun up at least I'm not as frustrated as I was before. I'm so used to spinning worsted style that spinning woolen is going to take plenty of practice. At least I've been reading up on it in a couple of spinning books, and my friend L has generously offered to give me a lesson the next time we get together.

In the meantime, I'm still working on my second woven scarf. This is the scarf that will match the hat I machine knitted for K in January. It's taking a long time because the weft is so narrow, but I really like the way it looks:


Once I finish this I think my next project will be to weave a small fleece rug out of the grey/green spinning bells I bought from The Sheep Shed Studio.

Frustration!

Tonight I tried to spin up some beautiful Brown Sheep roving mill ends in white with thin caramel stripes. What a disappointment! Not with the fiber -- with my skill (or, rather, lack thereof). I started by trying to do a long draw, which Lucinda kindly showed me the last time she was here spinning on her Journey Wheel. What spun out so effortlessly in her hands became a snarl of twisted lumps in mine. To add insult to injury, when I tried to go back to the usual way I spin, I couldn't get that to work properly, either. I kept trying to get an even, 2-ply yarn, and what I got was...well, not what I was looking for, that's for sure.

*sigh*

At least my weaving is going well. I finished the purple scarf and started on a rust/olive/magenta stripe with black weft. It's for K in Sweden, to go along with the rust/olive/magenta hat I machine knitted for her in January. After my spinning debacle, I spent the rest of the evening weaving on that. I still have quite a bit to go, but it's coming out nicely. Once it's finished, I think I'll try a rectangular shawl for myself using a simple black weft and super-bulky, ultra-soft Bohemian yarn for the warp. When I finally manage to get my selvedges under control, I'll attempt a shawl for myself using the pricey but oh-so-lovely bamboo yarn in the autumn colorway that I picked up at the Yarn Swift in Poughkeepsie.

So many projects, so little time....

Blogger Does Not Like Me...

...or my photos...or my weaving...or SOMETHING because it keeps refusing to post my photos and screwing up my formatting (and, of course, this isn't a case of the error occuring between the keyboard and the seat, as DH would say, it really IS Blogger's fault, not mine).

In any event, this is what my loom -- my wonderful, glorious loom! -- looks like with some real live weaving on it:

The colors are rather washed out -- too much flash, not enough skill on my part to keep it from glaring off the yarn -- but here's a closeup of what, with any luck, will turn out to be a beautiful handwoven scarf, a Christmas gift (nothing like starting early!) for my friend who loves purple:

On The Loom

This Spring Break, I decided to finally put together the 32" Beka rigid heddle loom I bought a few months back and learn how to weave on it. After much help from DH, here's the loom all assembled:



I decided to use a microfiber yarn in purple as my warp; in retrospect, it's probably far stretchier than I should have picked for a first project, but too late now...and I LOVE how it looks with the ribbon yarn weft (you can see it in the photo, above,wrapped on my humungo-sized shuttle).


Here's how the loom looks all warped up and ready to weave:

Spindlers Spring Fling Exchange

My package from my Spring Fling partner arrived, and boy was it fun to open! Amy N in South Dakota sent me:

• an assortment of different teas
• Hershey's kisses (plain and caramel-filled, which DH and I promptly devoured)
• purple Peeps (yuck! I'm not a Peeps person and neither is DH, so those will go to the kids in the family at Easter)
• Japanese jelly candies
  
• colored pens
• three skeins of novelty yarn, including a full skein of raspberry-colored Divine, which is the exact yarn I'm using in my ruana (score!)
• a very nicely-made wooden toy car wheel spindle
• four small samples of luxury fibers: angora, camel down, Chinese yak down, and raw quivit

I was especially surprised by the quivit. I have no idea of what to do with all those fibers, especially the quivit, which looks like it still has guard hairs in it. Maybe I'll spin some up for one of the Spin Off "Our Yarns" segments. Wouldn't that be cool, getting a sample of my yarn in Spin Off?

Mystery Spindles a Mystery No More!

Well, based on the responses I got on the Spindlers listserv, I think I've got the following spindles:

Mystery Spindle #1 = a Hatchtown Farms Kaari spindle. That's pretty cool since those spindles are pricey ($40+) and well-liked by a lot of spindlers. I haven't yet spun anything on it (the cop in the photo was made by the prior owner), but I'm looking forward to giving it a try soon.

Mystery Spindle #2 = a toy car wheel spindle. Wish I knew more about the name and date, but the shoddy construction does scream homemade. Still, it's never a bad thing to have some cheap, homemade spindles, even if only to have on hand for curious kids to play around with.

Mystery Spindle #3 = a Kokovoko. The shape looks right, but most of the Kokovokos I found photos of online were top whorls, not bottom. Still, I know that Kokovoko does make a bottom whorl spindle, and this so closely resembles the top whorls that I can't imagine it being anything else.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions!

Mystery Spindles

OK, I need some help here. I just received 4 spindles as part of an assortment of fiber, equipment and books I bought through the Spinners' and Weavers' Housecleaning Pages. One is a Louet top whorl, but the other three are mysteries to me. The woman I bought the spindles from couldn't remember any details about where they came from, so I'm wondering if anyone recognizes these:

Mystery Spindle #1

Mystery Spindle #1 looks to me like it might be a Hatchtown Farms spindle, but since I've only seen them in photos online and never in person I can't be sure. It's about 7 inches long from hook to end of shaft and fairly lightweight. The whorl isn't notched.

Mystery Spindle #2

Mystery Spindle #2 looks to me like it has the whorl of a Simple Market Farms spindle. However, the shaft is clearly a roughly-cut dowel with a cheap cup hook screwed in off-center on one end, and the whorl is clumsily glued onto it. The fascinating thing about this spindle is that it's signed and dated. It says:

"Kick n' Spin"
1997

And there's a signature on the whorl also that I can't read but that seems to be two words, the first beginning with S and ending with R (maybe only 3 or so letters long) and the second really more of a signature scribble than having any well-defined letters. There is also a hand drawing of a sheep (done in the same black ink as the rest of the writing) on the outer edge of the whorl. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't take any clear photos of the writing. If this were just a homemade toy car wheel spindle, I can't imagine why someone would name, date and autograph it. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

Mystery Spindle #3

Mystery Spindle #3 is a real boat anchor, but I love the way it spins forever on a single twirl. I think this will turn out to be a wonderful plying spindle. It's a bottom whorl, about 10 inches long, and weighs about 3.5 ounces. There's no hook, but it does have an interesting "double notch" (for lack of a better word). The end is shaped like a shallowly-cut crochet hook, and the center of the hooked end is deeply cut. It looks like the hook is there for a half-hitch to wrap around and the notch is there for the end of the thread to fit into. Sound familiar to anyone?

I'd love to hear any ideas about what these three spindles may be. I got the deal of the century on them (all three plus the Louet for $10!), so I certainly can't complain no matter what the provenance. Still, I'd be interested to know more about these if anyone can enlighten me.

Forgot to Add....

Just this morning I remembered another thing I included in the Spring Fling package (which I still don't knowif my partner has received or not): two cute little handwoven "pockets" in purple and yellow. My mom gave one in red and white to my daughter for Valentine's Day with a little gift tucked inside, and it was just so cute I had to try and copy it.

Here are step-by-step directions for anyone who's interested. This seems to work best when made with something that has a bit of firmness to it, like paper or cotton fabric. I tried it with felt, but it tended to torque a bit after weaving.

How to Make a Woven Pocket

Using two pieces of paper or cloth, layer them one on top of the other and fold in half. Cut an elongated half-circle out of both pieces with the short center-line being the fold line. You will wind up with two roughly football-shaped pieces that are folded down the middle. Cut an equal number of slashes from the folded edge almost to the opposite side of each piece, but do not cut all the way through the outer edge.

Next, keep both pieces folded in half and weave the leftmost strip of the piece on the right (red fabric) between the folded rightmost strip of the piece on the left (heart fabric). Basically, you will tuck the leftmost red strip between the fold of the rightmost heart strip. Then take the second-to-right heart strip and tuck it between the fold of the same leftmost red strip.

• Continue weaving in and out in this manner until all strips have been woven together.

• Neaten weaving until pocket lays flat. If you like, add a handle or use as-is.
  

Knitting Olympics

I must say, I'm jealous of all those folks participating in Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. If I'd known, I might have entered, though the way my knitting has NOT been progressing lately, I doubt I'd finish.

I've been working on my ruana pretty regularly. It's totally mindless knitting with the only downside being the tremendous amount of yarn I need to drag along with me if I want to take it anywhere. It's definitely not designed to be commuter knitting.

I also started my mom's silk stole, figuring that should be portable enough to take with me to and from work, but so far I've only gotten about four points worked on the first edging; at this rate, she'll get it for Christmas...2007!

At least I finished spinning the orange never-ending Corriedale on my Louet wheel. Right now it's still in singles on the bobbin; I'm not sure if I want to ply it on itself or with another yarn. Right now I'm spinning up some mixed wool (white) on the wheel and enjoying how I'm increasingly able to spin a more consistent yarn.

Oh, and the Golding Swan Lake has been sent back to Tom and Diane for repair. Let's just say that there'll be no more spindling over bare hardwood floors for me. :( Still, the Goldings are wonderful and stand by their products, so I should get my spindle back in fine working order soon. Let's hope so; I can't wait to finish that purple variegated wool I was working on.

Secret Spindler Spring Fling

OK, I tried posting this a couple of days ago but bagged it when blogger went wonky on me and ate my post. Here goes try #2....

I mailed out my spindlers Spring Fling package about a week or so ago, which means my partner out in SD should be getting it any day now. Since the theme was spring, I started by making some Loom Blooms, which I made on my little Weave-It 4 inch hand loom following the pattern in this season's issue of Spin-Off.

I figure she can attach them to whatever she likes once she receives them.

I then made a bunch of stitch markers (I hope she knits!) in purple, green and gold -- nice springtime colors. Couldn't get a good photo, though, to post what they look like. :( Oh, well.... I sent them in a nice little woven drawstring bag (not handmade my me, unfortunately), which -- since it's fairly large -- she should be able to use to hold all her stitch markers, not just the ones I sent.

Next I included a couple of small skeins of yarn, one in pink and the other a novelty sorta-boucle-type in white. I just had them sitting around with no plans to use them and I thought maybe my partner would be more creative with them than I had.

I also tucked in a few seed packets: baby's breath, poppies and tomatoes. Again, just some seeds I already had in the house, but nice for spring (especially the tomatoes; by the summer they should be ready for picking and eating -- YUM!).

Finally, I packed it all for safe transport in a bunch of "mystery wool" in various shades of white and off-white. It came in a mixed box of wool I bought off ebay awhile ago, and I figured that even though it was a bit rough it would be perfect for needle felting or use in outerwear...and, of course, the color lends itself perfectly to dyeing.

I really hope my partner likes her package! Now, I wonder what I'll receive myself.... :)

Valentine's Day Surprise

Do I have the Dearest DH or what?? He gave me a Golding Swan Lake spindle -- a gorgeous piece of art that is as useful as it is beautiful. I've been happily spinning up some variegated purple wool roving since getting this beauty. How lucky can I get? *g*

Ruana

Tonight I finally started the ruana from Folk Shawls. A ruana is a South American shawl -- very long, solid in the back and split down the middle in front with a floor-sweeping fringe. It takes a tremendous amount of yarn, so I've been collecting for the past couple of months in preparation. I'm doing it in somewhat unusual colors for me -- lots of pinks, raspberry, purple, and also deep blues and charcoals -- and it's basically a showcase for some of the sari silk yarn I treated myself to at Christmas. This is going to be a LONG project --236 stitches in a row, and each row has to be ended and started over to make the fringe -- but it's totally mindless garter stitch knitting, so it'll be a nice break from working on my mom's lacey silk stole and my pi shawl.

Baby Blanket



I cannot believe how well this turned out! I wish I'd taken a "before" photo to show the comparison. I didn't simply because I didn't believe that crumpled, ruffled ball of knots would turn into anything resembling a blanket even after the most determined blocking. Happily, I was wrong! :)

This blanket is based on a Shetland hap shawl, which is the traditional "everyday" shawl worn by women of the Shetland Islands. The solid garter stitch center is for warmth, while the lace edging is for beauty. I picked the colors -- black, blue and light grey -- for my cousins' new baby, a boy due to arrive from Korea in March. I'm glad I have this finished well in advance; my current work/school schedule makes it tough to get in any serious knitting time. Still, I'm almost done with DH's Valentine's Day present, a simple scarf in a zig-zag pattern made from dark brown wool singles from the Brown Sheep company. That's my subway knitting, for the moment at least.

Sick Again

I can't believe this. It feels like I just got over the last horrendous cold and now I'm flat on my back again, mouth-breathing and wondering when I'll just frickin die already and get it over with. DH says it's going back to work that's done it; I'm not used to being around all those germy people, riding the subways and leaning over students' shoulders and such. Whatever it is, I'm miserable. Thank goodness for my in-laws, who very kindly offered to take the baby tomorrow so I can stay home alone and try to recuperate. Bed all day, chicken soup...aaaah, sounds like heaven!

How very, very sad.

Time Warp

Well, I'm officially back to work. Classes started last Monday and I feel like I haven't taken a breath since. Is it less than 24 hours to February already??

When not spinning in a tornado of paperwork I've actually managed to get some knitting done -- finished the lace border on F's baby blanket on the subway this morning (just have to graft the two ends together and it's done, done, done!!) and even started paging my way through Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls (HIGHLY recommend the book for Shetland lace patterns and shawl making tips) looking for a pattern to make my mom a small stole.

Kinda cool story there. I was in Beacon (home of the aforementioned Dia) with DH and friends over the weekend when we stopped into a small artsy-type shop. Lo and behold, the entire back of the store was filled with fiber works (woven, mostly) and hand-dyed skeins of yarn. I came across a real treat: a 4 1/2 ounce skein of 100% silk in the most wonderful silver-grey with just a few deep violet streaks. Wow! That thing just shouted to be made into something for my mom. But silk don't come cheap, and that's where DH once again earned his D ("dear") status.
"Is it a good price for that kind of yarn?" he asked as I waffled.
"Well, I've paid about the same per ounce for hand-dyed silk top to spin myself," I replied.
"So, buy it," he said, and even offered me the money to do so. Is that a sweetie or what?

So now I have just shy of 850 yards of the most wonderful silk two-ply, probably something like a fingering weight. The stole will be small and I'm picking the most open lace stitch I can find just to stretch it as much as possible. I think I might even try to do a teeny-tiny bead-accented pointed edging on the short ends. Now to sharpen my bamboo size 10s into needle points (for those killer p3togs in the Madeira Mesh) and start sampling!

It's amazing where inspiration comes from.

Yesterday I went to Dia: Beacon, the modern art museum in an up-and-coming (until recently VERY economically depressed) river town about half an hour from where I live. As DH and I toured the site, I was struck by what I think is the single most important message that modern art has to teach us: Art is everywhere, and everything is Art. How else to explain a gallery full of string, piles of rags, video loops of a rat infested studio, giant metal-lined holes and Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes?

A trite but incredibly freeing revelation, at least to me.

Now I'm inspired. I've been contemplating doing a little painting for a couple of years now; something large, oil on canvas, definitely non-representational. But now I know I want to incorporate my fiber arts into that vision, making something of a sculptural painting, a dyed and woven fabric lifting itself off of a canvas, playing with light and shadow and color and texture. I want to start with the raw fleece and process, dye, spin and weave it all myself, keeping bits of each stage -- a snippet of raw fleece here, a hand-carded rolag there -- as I go along (hey, if some Japanese dude can make art out of a series of canvasses with a single date and a newspaper clipping from that date then I don't see anything too far out about my fleece idea).

Lord knows when I'll actually have time to do any of this. I'm just so happy to be this inspired!

And the next time the crap piles up around the house, I'm just going to stick a title on it and call it Art! :)

Rethinking the Blog

Back a few years ago, I was a vegetarian. I mean, a serious vegetarian: no meat, no fish, nothing "with a face," as the saying goes. I had reasons for going veggie, which were sound and valid at the time I took up my salad fork and put away my steak knife. But as the years went on, those reasons got further and further from why I was a vegetarian. Finally, I had to admit that I was only a vegetarian because it was who I'd become. "Splindarella the Vegetarian," that was me. I couldn't separate myself from what I would and wouldn't eat; my meals had begun to define my existance.

I bring this up because I've been thinking about my blog. I started it as a class assignment; I continued it as a personal record. But, all along I felt like my blog needed a "theme." People keep educational blogs or technology blogs or poetry blogs or fill-in-another-adjective blogs. So, I decided my adjective would be "fiber," and I'd fill my blogs with photos of my projects and descriptions of my adventures in wool. Funny thing is, I never seemed to get the camera out when I should; when I did manage to photograph my work, it took way too long to get the pics from the camera onto the hard drive. And let's face it, it's not like I finish a project every day. Much as I might have wanted to blog about other things, I felt the need to maintain my fiber blog as strictly as I'd maintained my vegetarianism. I'm sure there's something Freudian in all this, but hell if I know what it is.

Anyhoo, I eventually fell of the veggie bandwagon -- jumped headfirst into a BBQ pit is more like it. I decided it was stupid to let something define me if it wasn't working with the reality of who I was. Same goes for this blog. So, while I'll probably still blog about my adventures in fiber, such as they are, I'm also officially giving myself license to blog about anything else I damn well please. Starting with the fact that I have to get up at five frickin' a.m. tomorrow for work, to which I just returned this past week after a 10 month maternity hiatus.

Off to bed now, understandable. More to follow, much sooner now that I'm not waiting for fiber adventures to happen before posting....

Serenity Stone

This is just a little something I made this evening for my co-worker, H. She's going through some problems and has a lot on her mind these days, so I decided to make her a variation on a worry stone. The "stone" is actually a flat glass marble, the kind for decorating the bottom of a vase or bowl. I wrote "serenity" across the top in English (out of view in the photo) and the Chinese character for "peace" on the front. I also knitted the small bag to hold the stone. It's made of corriedale wool that I hand spun on a drop spindle, some of my very first homespun. I'm hoping it makes her feel just a little better, even if only because it always feels good to get a present, especially a handmade one.

A Visit to the Frog Pond

Well, after struggling gamely on with my striped hap shawl design, I finally decided it just wasn't working since a) the colors were godawful, and b) it was so oversized that had I continued, by the end it would have been big enough to cover the whole house and everyone in it. I therefore made the painful decision to take it down to the frog pond and rip-it, rip-it, rip-it.

The good news: I've already re-knit one of the skeins of yarn into the center of a half-sized hap shawl which will eventually become a baby blanket for Fletcher, my cousins' second (adopted) son, who is due to arrive from Korea in March. The re-knit center is black garter stitch done on the diagonal; the lace border (which I just started on this evening) is royal blue, and the edging (which I hope to start by the end of the weekend) will a very, very pale grey. I was originally planning to make Fletcher a handknit sweater instead of a blanket, but when I had to frog my hap shawl I immediately started re-knitting it without really thinking through what I would do with what by necessity (due to shortage of non-godawful yarn colors) would never be a full-sized shawl. I briefly toyed with having my 9-month-old wear a mini-shawl, but a quick reality check took care of that idea (it's all I can do to wrestle my little free spirit into normal baby clothes like onesies -- no WAY she'd keep a shawl on her back for more than a nanosecond). Then I hit on Fletcher and my need for a gift for him. Since the hap was calling me much more loudly than a sweater, I decided to call it a hap blanket and continued to knit on it guilt-free.

I'm really enjoying knitting Fletcher's blanket far more now that it actually IS Fletcher's blanket and not Splindarella's GINORMOUS Shawl-from-the-Bowels-of-Hell. If I can get myself together enough I might even post some on-the-needle pics. Stay tuned....

Still Catching Up...

...on posting pics of handmade Christmas gifts. Here's the necklace I gave my teenage cousin:


White and rose quartz chips with garnet accents and a decorative flower clasp. I'm quite pleased with this piece; I only wish the photo weren't so washed out. Oh, well. She liked it, and that's what's important.

The J Family Hats

How do I love my knitting machine? Let me count the ways....

Well, at this moment I'm absolutely loving the instant gratification of knitting up a trio of hats from start to finish in a matter of a couple of hours. Sewing up the seams and tucking in the ends took as long as the knitting itself.

The J family actually consists of 6 people: my best friend K from high school, her husband R, his two kids from his first marriage, and infant twins. Way back in November, I sent a Christmas package with something handmade for each of them. K and R got a wildly-fringed red-white-and-blue laprobe (I figure if my friend is going to up and move to Europe the least I can do is saddle her new family with some kitschy Americana). Pre-teen daughter got a beaded bracelet; infants got coordinating sweaters; but it was teenage son's gift -- a simple winter hat in red-white-and-blue stripes -- that got the greatest raves. K asked if I could make a hat each for her, hubby and step-daughter...and of course, how could I say no?

Now that holiday gifts are a thing of the past, I decided to sit at the machine and turn out the hats so they could be worn THIS winter instead of next. Here's how they turned out:

The hat on the right is for R, in his favorite team's colors (black and yellow). I promised I wouldn't make the hat look like a giant black-and-yellow bumblebee, and I think I managed okay.

The hat in the center is for R's daughter. She specifically asked for hunter green and light green stripes. It looks a little weird in the photo, like the brim of the hat is narrower than the top. Mea culpa; it's the way I stuffed the hat so I could photograph it. In reality, it looks very similar to the black-and-yellow hat but with small ridges where the striping is.

The hat I'm proudest of, though, is the one for K:

It almost looks like one of those bag-purses that were popular for awhile when I was a teenager. K specifically asked for a bag top and three large blocks of color in rust orange, green and purple. I chose the yarn -- Lion Brand Suede -- because I thought it had the best combo of those three colors of any of the yarns I looked at. It's also machine washable and something a bit unusual for use in a hat. It looks like it could fit the Jolly Green Giant, but that's so K can wear it pulled all the way down on cold days without totally crushing her 'do.

Now I just have to get out to the post office and mail them off -- yippee!

For the Benefit of Inquiring Minds

So, the HVME was a bust. How disappointing! I thought their move into new digs a few years back would have resulted in their having even more cool stuff at dirt-cheap prices. Instead, it seems the cool stuff was left behind and all they have now is piles of crap -- not much of a bargain at any price. What's worse, I brought friends along for the ride, and so exposed not only myself but those I care about to a (fortunately brief) romp through a warehouseful of crap. Oh, well. We compensated by heading out to New Paltz and the amazing Guilded Otter Brewery for lunch afterward, and no one was the worse for wear.

And now, it's time to give me a round of applause: I've finally downloaded some Christmas present photos! Here's one of the blankets I machine knitted:

This is the second of two, each one given to a cousin and spouse. This one is actually a tri-color blanket in sage, cream (the two colors you see in the photo) and beige (turned under in this shot). I'm especially proud of how this one turned out because I got the basketweave join perfectly correct (as opposed to the first one, where I had to go back and splice some loops that accidentally got left out of the weave -- oops).

And here's a photo of the second of three scarves I made for friends:

Same pattern (Horseshoe), different background (stockinette) and color (rose); this one went to Sue, who promptly put it on as soon as she opened the package. Joy! *g*

More photos to come as soon as I can figure out how to download them from the other camera....