Tuesday, June 27, 2006

my great idea

My sister gave me this Deery Lou CD case.....

and *this* is what I did with it!!

Deery Lou in the Meadow...

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Yay! Circular Knitting needle case!! I'll never lose another needle!



I finished Maison Ikkoku last night... so for a little light reading, I started this:

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Yes! Its the prequel to FushigiYugi - Genbu Maiden... the first priestess of the Four Gods - the Priestess of Genbu. very cool.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

A wonderful green-winged longing

...a most wonderful trip to the ocean yesterday, with my sweetheart. After some initial concern that the little dachshund would be okay alone all day, and arranging a visit from his pet-sitter in the middle of the day, we were off on adventure! We went here, in Maine:

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we found fresh-picked strawberries at a roadside stand, ate lobster stew in a little country kitchen restaurant and shared a piece of homemade strawberry pie, got our feet wet dancing in the ocean waves (I found a pretty scallop shell), and when we were sated and sleepy from the salt air, visited book stores and yarn shops...in the secondhand bookstore I found a rare paperback by the author of Maus and will send it to J. The yarn shop was disappointing, although I did manage to buy some black sock yarn - there was not one variegated yarn in the entire shop! No lie! All the yarn was solid colours! Can you imagine??

The rare day and evening with my sweetheart was so great (and he did all the driving) - it seems so long since we spent a whole day together. It was wonderful (I already said that, didn't I?)

On the knitting front, I finished this:

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The Shoulder Shrug from Fiber Trends - AC-79, in Manos del Uruguay Stria (cotton). Detail:

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Stria is very wavey and soft and this came out fluffier than I wanted. My plan was for a lightweight shoulder wrap that would be good on a warm but breezy day. I'm making the pattern again, but this time using Berroco Zen cotton ribbon yarn. Its coming out much lighter in weight. This time I think I'll make the edging in picot...

I wanted very much to make a prayer shawl for the Professor before she went to Lumos, but there is not enough time. I'll make it sometime though...She's never mentioned wearing or wanting a shawl, but I imagine her curling up in it to do her spiritual reading in the mornings... I plan to design it especially for her, and to use both trinity stitch and rosary stitch.

I'm also working on a pair of white socks for my Deacon friend, Daniel, to wear in the chapel during priest training, but I made them too small. I have to rip them out and start over. I read in the Yarn Harlot's book, Knitting Rules, that if you want to surprise someone with a pair of socks you can measure their arm from elbow to wrist and the length of the foot will be the same! Ahch! I shouldn't have told you that! These socks will have some embroidery on them.

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I have not been able to find the yarn that Marky wants for his fingerless gloves (its Winter now in Australia!)...I check in every yarn store I visit...so hope to get these done before his Spring begins!

and...I plan to make a pair of socks for a friend using Lorna's Laces Aslan yarn...except that Littleknits.com did not send the Aslan. They said they didn't have two skeins of the same dye lot. So, I have to search further before I can start these. I've decided to use Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Baltic Sea for the vintage sleeping socks that Nad and I are making in our little KAL (knit along)....

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"A Green-Winged Longing"

~Rumi

This world of two gardens, and both so beautiful.
This world, a street where a funeral is passing.
Let us rise together and leave "this world,"

as water goes bowing down itself to the ocean.
From gardens to the gardener, from grieving
to wedding feast. We tremble like leaves

about to let go. There's no avoiding pain,
or feeling exiled, or the taste of dust.

But also we have a green-winged longing
for the sweetness of the Friend.

These forms are evidence of what
cannot be shown. Here's how it is

to go into that: rain that's been leaking
into the house decides to use the downspout.

The bent bowstring straining at our throats
releases and becomes the arrow!

Mice quivering in fear of the housecat suddenly
change to half-grown lion cubs, afraid of nothing.

So let's begin the journey home,
with love and compassion for guides,
and grace protecting. Let your soul turn

into an empty mirror that passionately wants
to reflect Joseph. Hand him your present.

Now let silence speak, and as that
gift begins, we'll start out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the journey home:

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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Aurora

Hooray! I finally finished the Bistro Shirt! Here it is blocking on the table...

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I made some alterations, making it 2 inches longer in the waist and quite a bit thinner by using a size smaller needles, (although it was a size small, it was just too 'boxy' and drape-y). And, I made a collar on it with a tricky lace stitch on the border...

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Now I have to weave in all the ends. I used Classic Elite's Cotton/Tencel blend so it would be washable, but it was really hard on the hands to knit with - my skin is all torn along my front fingers. The LYS used Bamboo yarn for this pattern and it was beautiful, but too pricey for me. I got the other on sale and it took five skeins.

And here Ta Da! is my ***new*** Aurora Swift!! I love winding my yarn into balls in five minutes instead of five hours! hooray!!! broke now, but happy.

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I ran into a friend online yesterday, and we ended up going to Ewe’ll Love it, a LYS a few hours away where I gleefully talked her into a wonderful knitting project and promised to help her when she gets to the collar. She bought 100% baby alpaca in a gorgeous buttery yellow for a summer pullover. I bought a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in colours that remind me of geraniums and some lace yarn on sale and a Rebecca pattern magazine (which are very hard to find in the US) and scored two free lace scarf patterns! But I fell deeply in love with the $100 Plymouth bamboo interchangeable circular needle set and will be saving my pennies to get this for myself for Christmas.

We were at the store for 2.5 hours, because there was a comfy couch and lots of knitting books to thumb through. The store owner was an older woman who was really low key and nice and taught us a million things just by talking to us about knitting - things like 'when winding with a swift, wind slow and loose so you don't stretch the yarn' and 'run both ends of a skein of yarn through your fingers and start knitting with the end that feels and looks smoother because this is the nap of the yarn and if you do it the other way, it will pill" and 'when you wind a skein on a swift, it's usually - but not always - the outside end that is the one to start with, even though people always tell you to start with the center end to avoid tangles'. After we left we looked at each other and said, "that was just like a visit to a good friend, except...without the tea!"

Yesterday I also visited the nice people at Home Depot where they cut up pieces of wood for me and marked them with pencil so I can put stairs together like putting together a dress pattern. I think I can do that. If I can, I also want to make a ramp for Sausage because its getting so hard for him to get up and down the stairs when he goes out.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

A secret garden

Holly got her Secret Garden Shawl in the mail today, so here are some photos:

Folded before blocking; this one is the best depiction of the colour...

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and here is the shawl laid out flat while blocking so you can see the stitch patterns - walls, hedgerows, and flowers...

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The yarn was a beautiful handpainted merino that I got at the sheep and wool fair... It was knitted to 56" long and was 72 stiches wide...

I’ll be writing up the pattern sometime…

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Squirrely

when you are sad and life is getting you down.... there is only one thing to do...

...use your talents for the benefit of...others squirrels...

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Today is Knit In Public Day (or KIP Day) worldwide, so if you're knitting in the park, look around for any little furry creatures who need your assistance - but only if you live in a cold climate! Imagine the angst of trying to get a sweater off a squirrel in the summer?

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

A secret...

...for a rainy evening... (i just couldn't resist)

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Monday, June 5, 2006

Vintage sock plans

I went and searched out some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn in the Watercolor colourway to use with the Vintage Sock book that Marky sent me. I also got some tiny tiny tiny DPNs (Nadine I mean TINY: 4 inch 0000's - let me know if you need these - they're hard to find!) to use with the other book he sent, which is on beaded knitting! I see beaded wrist-warmers in someone's future!


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