I can’t believe it has been nearly a month since I posted last. I don’t know where the time goes. The pear tree is already in bloom, for Pete’s sake! I had such grand plans of posting more often too. Well, it can’t be undone now. I can only forge on.
On the Knitting Needles
I have been knitting away on my Spirit of the Southwest Shawl. I am working on the rabbits now. The rabbits are what attracted me to this shawl; they remind me of the Jack Rabbits we saw all the time in West Texas. Once I get through these, I won’t lack much having the whole thing finished. It has been pleasant knitting. I love my Knitpicks Options. Those sharp points are great for picking up difficult stitch combinations. I notice, though, that they are so sharp they sometimes split the Zephyr. So I’m having to watch for that. Last night, I was watching Titanic, and I noticed when I knitted back on the knit row that I’d split several stitches. I guess I did well not to drop a stitch in that excitement. It did speed up my knitting! My needle is pretty full right now, and I couldn’t spread it out enough to show you the whole thing. I had to settle for a little section. Therefore, this isn’t dressed, but here are the rabbits without their legs below the corn and the river.
I think you can see the difficulties I ran into with the color of the yarn and the Knitpicks Options cables. They’re practically the same.
Finished Projects
I’ve been intending to show you my blue raglan sweater I made a while back, so here it is.
Even though this is just an acrylic sweater, it is very comfortable, very soft, and I love the color. It is blue, not gray. I have a hard time photographing that color. This is truer color. I like this so much that I am going to get myself some wool and make another with a different stitch pattern for the trim on it.
I’ve knitted some dishcloths too. I have really enjoyed knitting Rachel’s dishcloths. Hers make a good size, and they are beautifully written. I made her Lacy Four Leaf Clover and her Lacy Butterfly. Both of them were so much fun to make.
This is her butterfly. This photo doesn’t do it justice. Showing the butterfly with my lighting isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.
Then I made Janet Nogle’s Moss-Ivy Dishcloth. This is so much fun to knit. It looks like cables, but it’s not. You use a P2Tog-b to fake the crossing. That’s not a difficult maneuver either. This cloth is a lot smaller than I like mine to be. I think if I ever make it again, I’ll make it larger.
Books I’m Reading
I’m still reading The Hundred Days by Patrick O’Brian.
Observations:
I notice that Cafepress has some tote bags with “Necrohipposadism” on them. The Gabaldon list is the best group in the world to beat a dead horse, so someone on the list came up with that name for those of us who indulge. Poor Paco!
I have two new sites for wonderfully inventive socks for you. First, Cookie’s site is full of seductive stockings that you will love making. Look how she shapes the stocking to fit the foot. Sheer bliss. Everyone has been raving over them.
The second is the site of Lisa Grossman, the Tsarina, where you’ll find socks from Swan Lake, Poseidon, and Cleopatra, among others. Those from Swan Lake are about the funniest things I’ve seen. I love them. To top it all off, the Tsarina is one of the authors of Lobscouse & Spotted Dog, Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels . Isn’t it neat how things come together in just wonderful ways? I came across Lisa’s site looking for socks to knit, and found someone else who enjoys O’Brian’s works.