Wallflower

Remember my question for 2010? “Who would I be, if I weren’t who I am?”

I’m about to test that concept. Rather than going to MDSW in search of fiber, tools, or that perfect skein, I am attending MDSW with an emphasis on socializing.
This will be a reach for me as I am actually quite shy. Once I know/warm up to you, my caustic viewpoint and dry humor show through…before that…”reserved” or “aloof” might seem better descriptors.

So Monday will either find me eating my way out of a “I can’t believe I said something so stupid” frenzy, or moderating more groups on Rav. Actually Rav is why this came about, hanging out with a group of (mostly)women, typing messages that would make my 6th grade English teacher cringe in terms of spelling and syntax – and having a blast.

Wish me luck. This social growth thing is just as painful as it was in High School.

What a difference a gauge makes.

Last weeks shawl in Mini Mochi at a gauge of 7 st to the inch took roughly 215 yards, and gave me a light airy shawl perfect for a delicately scaled young lady.

I decided not to let the RAM that had memorised the pattern go to waste, and pulled out some ill fated Jo Sharp DK Wool Tweed to cast on. I label the wool ill fated because I bought it in 2006 and it has since been swatched or knit into 4 incarnations, only to be ripped out. And, indeed, while I don't foresee ripping this shawl, the colour - manufacturer named "Marble" because that looks better in a catalog than "Phys Ed Grey" may find itself transformed by a dip in the dye pot when I go home in October. Although it is a lovely soft colour, and a sweatshirt coloured shawl would be more stylish than a ratty sweatshirt of the same hue.

The yarn is a true wooly wool, and makes for a very warm shawl.
And - getting back to gauge - a full size shawl for a not so delicately scaled woman. At 3.25 to the inch (ruthlessly blocked) and about 500 yards, I have a nice shawl perfect for the current April Showers.

Fast and loose

As my first "serious" boyfriend could have told you-
I'm fast and loose.

Pardon the dark picture but it was only 530 am and the people who "furnish" corporate apartments seem to think that all people do is watch TV & eat TV dinners.
However I wanted to flash a project shot of my shawl. I cast it on Monday and you can see...row 51 of 80.

More details when it's done.

And for the record, my high school boyfriend was a very sweet and mannerly young man who would never cast aspersions on a girls character

Hah!

Hah! in that tone that implies I have one upped someone. Afterall, it's still only April and I have the first holiday gift off the needles.

Hah! in that tone that states "you thought you could defeat me, but I've shown you!" Directed to the yarn. Mini Mochi in Lake Trail. While the colours are lovely, the yarn is a softly spun single which may be great for stockingette, but does not like to be manipulated into decreases. I started with sharp needles, since was to be lace - Disaster, switched to blunter needles - moderately annoying, and ended with needles about as sharp as drinking straws - still splitty. Gaah! However the shawl is complete. The pattern called for 328 yds (one skein of noro sock) but my mohair allergy ruled that out.

Hah! to the pattern designer, who when I politely PM'd a question about errata (having found errors in the pattern), wrote me a vaguely snotty note about the email she'd sent out 3 weeks prior with corrections listed - Yeah great lady...but you sold me the pattern last Saturday...still with the errors in it. So kiss my needles.

Due to some bizarre quirk of gauge I find myself done after only 210 yards. (one ball of Mini and just enough of the second ball that you can't not break into it.) It is small, but it's planned as a gift for my talented and gorgeous (but spindly) 13 year old niece, whose favourite colours are green and orange. Do you think she'll like it?

Thank the Universe for friends.

There may have been squeeing in the pitch used by dolphins when I saw this little black sheep bag. And the Chameleon Colorworks BFL in peacock may be tucked in my work bag as a stress ball.



This is my birthday/new year/life changes/here I'll loan you a book box from a Knitterly Friend (didn't ask permission to use her name).
Included were a book that I want to read, but don't think I'll like & can't get from the library (Sweater Quest) so it was fun to be able to borrow it. Since she was sending Bob to the post she included other goodies - a lovely china mug with tea stainer and cover, an entire cravingsworth of tea, my favourite notion (highlighter tape), a tiny fuzzy alpaca, and a dopp bag from girleypurls.etsy.com.



All received and enjoyed at the end of one of those days were you bit your tongue so much your jaw muscles hurt. Big sigh of relief

Off the Whiteboard - on the Runway

Yesterday I got to do my "new yarn" dance. My beautiful custom order from Lisa Souza came, still wet from the dyer. (literally, still wet, the alpaca was softly damp).


Deciding that this was not a time to exercise decorum or self control, I wound all 465 yards of my BFL sock in Sedona by hand. I don't care if I tell myself..it's only a few week contract...from now on I'm packing the swift. And this is the supermodel of sock yarn...gorgeous, just a little over the top, and Skinny!
That would be my Beautiful BFL on OOs. Definitely skinny. My stash may need some of this yarn for lace.

I continued on my spree by casting on the Sedona socks by Lisa Dykstra. I'm trying to knit these with a prayer of hope & strength for her during a trying time, and also attempting to knit them dreaming of my vacation & renewal. It works for me.

I bit the bullet and opted to go to MSW and even picked up tickets for the afterparty. (Dear G-d, what was I thinking?) Fat Bunny in Sunny DaySo I've started my list of stuff to make certain I see. But I'm trying to decide if I'll have time to knit a little cowl out of this: , just to keep a breeze off my throat


or if I should go whole hog and attempt the Scroll Lace Scarf or Saroyan in Baby Alpaca Sport in Breath of Spring, as a weather deterrent- MSW weather can be very uncertain.

April Fool

I don't usually review a fiction book here, but after foolishly staying up late to finish it I decided to give it a go. (Blame it on sleep deprivation)

Divas Don't Knit isn't my usual flavour of novel. No dead bodies, no puzzles, no scenes of hiding from the killer. But as it was a library book and therefore infinitely affordable I decided to give it a go.

I hereby declare it enchanting, and the characters have me looking forward to the sequel. It is a "life drama" book, but without the whiny co-dependence so often displayed in those books. (There's one book about a real life divorcee and her knitting that still makes me want to slap the author while telling her to grow up.)

Jo is the recently widowed mother of two who uproots her life to move to a small seaside town because of finances. Rather than being a 341 page snivel about the pain/unfairness of life, it's a funny and generous look at how change happens...for good and bad.

If you are a fan of the drama and angst in Bridget Jones & it's ilk, you may not enjoy this book. But if you are a "get up when life slaps you down" kinda gal, it's "stay up late to finish" worthy.

And...as a bonus...there's knitting out the kazoo.