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By admin, on February 3rd, 2010
A true Transmogrifier has a nearly unflaggable need to participate in her craft. There are very few things that can sway me from doing something creative with my hands.
This past week I have been under the grips of one of those things. I’ve got the latest version of “what’s going around”, and this time it’s a nasty one. I’ve been in bed more than out of it since Friday last, and have only mustered the focus to knit for about an hour on one of those days.
It’s clear that my illness is progressing, and I do seem to be on the downhill side of it now. The next task is to rebuild my strength so I can return to normal functioning.
I have lots of reasons for wanting that to happen quickly:
February 12, the Ravelympics begin. I am knitting two pairs of socks, for two teams. And I’ll want to have all my energy available to get them done.
February 14, of course, is Valentine’s Day.
February 16, we should have our copies of the new EQII expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, and it will be open for play online.
February 20 is our 17th wedding anniversary.
Somewhere in there, I’m hoping to be well enough for a make-up lunch date with a friend. I had to cancel on her yesterday, on what would have been our first chance to get together in a few months.
In Other News…
My reading glasses were recently damaged by an accident involving Superglue. As in, a line of it drizzled across the lens. Gryphon spent a lot of time polishing out the damaged area, but it was still a slightly visible blur. So I went back to EyeBuyDirect, and placed an order for a new pair.
A little over a week later, these arrived in the mail:
They fit perfectly, and I think the shape works well on my face. The frames are metal with a pinkish-gray enamel to them.
The best part? As single-vision glasses, total cost for frames, lenses, and shipping was under $13, once I figured in the 15% you can get by linking to them through the GlassyEyes blog.
The important part? They work great for both reading and for working on my laptop.
Anyone can cash in on that 15% discount, btw. Just follow the link to GlassyEyes , and click on the badge for EyeBuyDirect on the left sidebar.
Promises, Promises
I think that’s all I’m going to try for today. I need to take a break and eat my yogurt, then rest more. Gryphon just got home a little while ago with the refill of my cough medicine, too, which will make a big difference.
I’ve got upcoming plans for blogging, though. I’ll post about my Ravelympic knitting. I’ve got a review coming soon for a pet odor elimination product, and there will be a giveaway with that, too, that you won’t want to miss. And there are a couple of new releases of knitting books making there way to me to tell you about as well.
For now, I’m going to continue resting, so that I’ll be able to tackle all these plans!
By admin, on January 20th, 2010
I’m still struggling with getting the digital camera ready to use. I seem to have a problem with one set of the rechargeable batteries, again. The camera still works fine, but I’ve had trouble finding a rechargeable battery system that’s actually easy to use, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Most of the little ones these days only do two AA batteries, and the camera takes four. Foo.
I’ve been taking some photos with my phone, but the cable for that is still in the other room. I am both too lazy to get up and get it when I think about it (like now), and too forgetful to remember to grab it when I’m in the room for anything else. *sigh*
So, now that I’ve gotten the apologies for no photos out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and tell you about what there would be pictures of if I had them handy.
Knitting
I’ve been working on the Chinook Shawl from KnitPicks. It’s getting bigger all the time, and I’m still loving it. I’ve made many mistakes throughout, mostly in not doing the YO’s or the K2Togs correctly, but because that throws off the count on the next row, I usually find it quickly and can kludge a fix.
There have been a couple where I didn’t find what actually went wrong, and really kludged my fixes – such as throwing in a KFB to add a stitch – but I seem to have done them in a way no one will notice. Probably. For myself, I just have to find a way to forget that they’re there.
I’m going to participate in this year’s Ravelympics. For those who don’t know, this is a massive “knit along to the Olympics” event held by the Ravelry community. The concept is pretty simple – pick a project that will be a challenge for you. Cast on during the Opening Ceremonies of this year’s Winter Olympics. Complete the project by the Closing Ceremonies.
No one “wins”, at least in the sense of out-knitting others. Everyone is competing against themselves, and completing your project qualifies you for a “medal”.
People self-organize into teams. Many correspond to a group on Ravelry. Others may be geographically linked. Some teams define the type of project you’ll knit, or yarn you’ll knit with. For example, there are teams for Christmas gift-knitting, sock knitting, knitting with yarn from a specific company. Others are simply people who gather together in a Ravelry group for some other reason, who want to knit along with each other.
I have decided that my goal is to work with some of the special sock yarn I have in stash. The Olympics are a little over two weeks long. A single pair of socks wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Two pairs would. So I’m going to knit two pairs of socks.
Any project can be knit for any team that it’s suitable for, but you can join more than one team, and no project can be knit for more than one team.
There is only one significant sock event – the Sock Hockey. This involves knitting a pair of socks. I decided to knit two pairs of socks. Rather than enter the event twice for one team, I chose to join two teams, and knit one pair for each.
Team Hermit
The first team is Team Hermit. The affiliated Ravelry group is The Cave, made up of knitters (and crocheters) who prefer a hermit-like existence. (Yes, we’re an organized group of people who’d rather not be with other people any more than necessary!)
Team Hermit has no project requirements or limitations. I’ve chosen to use the skein of Holiday Yarns Flock Sock Sock Yarn that I purchased in Syracuse at Thanksgiving. It’s a handdyed yarn, in the colors of pansies or blue irises – light blue, dusky purple, and a little bright yellow. The name for this colorway is, cryptically, “For George”. Must have been a request from a friend or special customer!
(Insert picture of twisted hank of Holiday Sock yarn here.)
The pattern I’ll be using is the same I always knit socks to – my own. I’ve taken to calling it my 2×2 Toe-ups, since I use a K2P2 rib and, well, knit from the toe up.
Team Blue Moon
As in Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Their group on Ravelry has a team for the Ravelympics, all knitting with Blue Moon yarn for their events. The other skein of yarn I want to work with is my only skein of Blue Moon Socks That Rock, in the Scottish Highland colorway.
(Picture of twisted hank of Blue Moon STR, in shades of mossy green, grey, yellow, and burgundy)
These will also be my 2×2 Toe-ups. Boring, repetitive, yeah. But it is easy to knit, and doesn’t fight with the colors in the multi-color sock yarns I fancy.
Training and Preparation
I don’t know that I need to practice my knitting. Not anymore than I do naturally, at least. But I wanted to make sure I had the best tools for the job. So a Knit Picks order was placed!
I knit socks on DPNs. I’ve tried all the other ways, and can do them if needed, but DPNs just flow better for me. (YMMV, of course!) I love my Knit Picks Harmony 6” DPNs, but I have always preferred the length of my 5” Brittany Birch DPNS.
I made sure to give Knit Picks that feedback, and hoped. They’re generally good about listening to their customers. When they came out, instead, with four-inch DPNs, I assumed that would probably kill the chances for my wish.
I considered getting the four-inch ones anyway, but decided against it. Socks for both me and Gryphon are about 10 – 10.25 inches around. Even divided amongst four needles, that’s still a little over 2 inches of stiches per needle. Four inch needles sounded dangerously short to contain that much.
I was absolutely thrilled when Knit Picks, just in time for my Olympic preparations, announced a five-inch version of their Harmony wood DPNs. Hoorah! I talked it over with Gryphon, and came up just enough of an order to get some sock-knitting equipment, and qualify for free shipping – the 5-inch DPNs, a pair of the large Sock Blockers, and a packet of the Stikki-Clips that will be so handy for holding my notes for the socks up nearby while I work.
(Photo of small pile of Knit Picks goodies)
Waiting
It’s all over but the waiting now. I’ve rolled the skeins of yarn into cakes and/or balls. The Socks That Rock is divided into two, one per sock. The Holiday Socks yarn is a single ball, waiting to be divided.
It’s hard, now that I’ve planned this much, not to just cast on. That would instantly dis-qualify the project for the Ravelympics, though, so I have to stay strong.
I’m trying to distract myself with the Chinook Shawl until February 12th – the night the Winter Olympics open. It’s even possible I might finish the shawl by then, and be able to wear it as my Team Uniform(s)
Wish me luck!
By admin, on January 12th, 2010
I think this just might be, as news goes. Had my regular checkup with the doctor today, and my glucose numbers are trending good enough to reduce the dosage on one of my meds. Plus my blood pressure has been in completely normal ranges for quite some time now.
KoKo is getting more outgoing, which means that after she huddles under a blanket on my lap for a while, she’ll start poking her head out wondering where treats are. Sometimes she even moves to another spot on my lap, and pokes her head out there.
Chanel learned how to climb from my chair to the couch on her own. Then we went and changed my chair, and now they’re not close enough for her to do that. That’s okay, though – she knows how arm bridges work!
I’m going to be participating in the Ravelympics. They haven’t settled on the events yet, but I have decided to pull some idle sock yarn from my stash, and knit two pairs of socks. It’ll fit somewhere, I just don’t know for sure where yet. Ooh…maybe I can join a second team (I’m currently on Team Hermit), and knit one pair for each team. That would work!
Gryphon and I have started playing EverQuest 2 even more. We’ve begun having my characters run with his. Paired up like that, we can take on tougher quests than we might otherwise, and so we level faster.
My main character, Boris, has become Ginjhur. She’s still a Ratonga Monk, it’s just that she’s a SHE now. Boris was never meant to be a main character, he just wound up with the job after I did a massive purge of excess characters.
Ginjhur is getting along famously. She’s up to level 47 now, which is 23 levels higher than I ever got a character to in the original EverQuest, and about 12 levels above the best I had previously done in EQ2.
I still working on other knitting. Pictures to come some day. The issue with photos now is that I have to charge the batteries. I know, it’s always something! At least the better camera is now in the living room, where I do most of the knitting.
Beyond all this, no news is good news. We’re enjoying our days as well as we can, we have enough to eat, and we’re warm and dry so long as we stay inside. Not bad, I say!
By admin, on December 24th, 2009
My computer is a laptop. I have two digital cameras, one SLR and one in my phone, each of which connects to my computer in a different way. I have two reasonably photogenic rats.
Can I ever manage to have the best camera for the job available when they do something cute, and then also get it to the laptop along with the proper connection method?
Apparently not.
So you’ll have to take my word for it that KoKo and Chanel are coming along famously. This morning, they both climbed willingly into a bonding pouch so they could come out for snuggle time with me.
KoKo still prefers just hanging out in the pouch or on my shoulder, preferably under a warm sweater or shawl, and getting skritched. There’s a particular spot on her cheek and along the jawbone that is her favorite. Start rubbing gently there, and she lays her head to one side, closes her eyes, and starts working her mouth and flicking her tongue in and out as she melts with pleasure.
Chanel sits for a little skritching now and then, but mostly wants to run around, exploring under the shawl, over the shawl, on the back of the chair, inside your ear, on top of your head, down in the corner of the seat by your hip, etc. Every now and then she goes back to her sister to make sure she’s not getting any special treats or treatment that Chanel is missing out on.
Chanel has learned the concept of the “arm bridge”. An arm bridge is when you hold your arm out, and the rat runs across it to reach another location. Our current version of the arm bridge has me extending my arm towards the couch, and Gryphon reaching towards me to make a double-long span. As soon as she sees the bridge, Chanel goes running across to play with Daddy.
Earlier this evening, I was passing the cage, and saw both girls hanging out in the tubular hammock. I reached in to offer my hand for skritching and sniffing. Imagine my delight when KoKo sniffed my fingers, then laid her chin down on their tips, closed her eyes, and began chirping in contentment! If it weren’t for the fact I was standing in a semi-crouched position for the event, I would have stayed there for her much longer. As much as I enjoyed the moment, I had to decide in favor of not crippling myself.
We bought the girls three weeks ago Christmas night, as an early, mutual Christmas present. By Christmas, their gift has truly blossomed – they are well socialized to us, and appreciate our presence in their lives for more than just food and water.
In case you couldn’t tell, Gryphon and I are having a Merry Christmas. How about you?
Merry Christmas, one and all!
from
The Transmogrifier, Gryphon, KoKo, and Chanel
By admin, on December 16th, 2009
Many thanks to all who have commented, either by posting here, or by friending me on Facebook!
I’ve been using and posting to Facebook for a few days now, and find I rather enjoy it. I have even chatted with a friend through the interface they provide, and become addicted to one of the games available. (The Sable Star Sanctuary is small, but thriving, in the Facebook game “My Zoo”.)
For those who don’t feel compelled to join Facebook, that’s quite all right. Like Twitter, and blogging, and so many of the other “social” opportunities online, it’s not for everyone.
Rest assured that I will not abandon the blog altogether. The Transmogrifier’s Tale will stay here for those times I want to post a photo essay, or a longer, more detailed description of some event.
It just might be that these longer posts happen less often than before. It takes time to write them, and the truth is, I am having so much fun doing all the things I’m doing. I find myself reluctant to set these activities that I’m enjoying to spend the time a fully detailed post takes.
I’m sure there will be more tutorials, more rattie stories, more of my thoughts about knitting, transmogrification, and all the other –ifications and –osises and such.
Please, always feel free to drop me an e-mail or comment. Tell me you miss me, ask me a question, nudge me, nag me, pester me to post rattie pictures or knitting pictures or tell you about the latest adventure of my EverQuest I & II characters. I don’t want to lose touch, and I will welcome the reminders.
Digging Up the Past
Another activity I’ve added to my days is digging into my family history over at Ancestry.com. Now there’s a time sink for you! For some years now, my father has been using offline research to create a tree for his side of the family. My plan is to help him with the online research I can do, and also to work on my mother’s side of the family.
A specific project on my mother’s side of the family is to prove where a certain connection to someone famous is – if, as family lore tells us, it’s there. The story is that my maternal grandmother is a cousin by marriage of Greta Garbo. Supposedly, my grandmother’s aunt was married to Greta’s uncle.
Family lore doesn’t tell us which aunt, or which uncle. I decided that I wanted to know. Or to prove that it’s a myth. Either way, I intend to find out.
I began by doing some research into Greta’s biography. She’s five years older than my grandmother, but I found a very interesting parallel in their lives. They both, as young women, worked as models at Stockholm department stores.
Greta was at the PUB, aka Bergström’s. She so quickly moved into modeling for the store, then appearing in short film ads, and finally to leaving the store for real film acting, that I doubt she would have crossed paths with my grandmother, 5 years younger.
I don’t know which department store my grandmother worked at. The other one that would have been known at the time is NK, or Nordiska Kompaniet (literally The Nordic Company). Either way, while she wouldn’t have been there at the same time as Greta, when she chose the job she may have been inspired by Greta’s quick rise to fame from the ranks of the store’s models.
I have something special to share with you – pictures of my grandmother, clipped from the department store’s catalog. My mother, my aunt, and I found them in her apartment after she moved into a nursing home. They were tucked into a very old, folded envelope, with some writing in Swedish on the outside. I was very honored to have them pass into my custody for safekeeping.
I scanned them into my computer once for a project, all on one sheet. Be sure to click on the image below to see a larger version.
The names below the individual images are the styles of dress, coat, or hat she is wearing. It’s pretty clear that this was in the Twenties. Sadly, no other identifying information from the catalog was included – just the raw clippings of my grandmother herself.
I showed the text on the envelope once to a woman I met who spoke Norwegian – a related language, but not quite the same. Still, she was able to give me the gist of what it says. “Here are some pictures of some woman I thought were funny.” It sounds like a friend or relative of Grandma’s had cut them out for her, and passed them on to the model.
That may have been around 1930, when the ship’s passenger list that I found through Ancestry.com shows that my grandmother arrived at the port of New York on Dec. 31, 1930. I can imagine someone, having clipped the photos for their own keepsake, handing them to her as she left her homeland, to come to America.
I recently saw some clippings of Greta Garbo modeling hats for her department store’s catalog. The styles were clearly from, oh, about 5 years or so earlier than my grandmother’s outfits. You can see the photos here, at the Garbo Forever website: http://www.garboforever.com/Greta_at_PUB-2.htm
I get an eerie feeling as I look at them. The photographic style is a little different from my grandmother’s pictures. But again, there’s that sense of a parallel life, something so similar to what I see from my grandmother in the images above. Although, I will confess that I think my grandmother’s style of pose and expression is much warmer than Greta’s famous chilled distance.
My grandmother has always been a slightly mysterious figure to me. By the time she entered the nursing home, she had deteriorated mentally, so I was never able to ask her about her life before I knew her.
This research is a chance to redress that oversight, to help fill in the gaps. Both for my own better understanding of my family history, and for the benefit of other family members. There’s quite a story here in my grandmother, and I want to know more.
Final notes
For whatever it may be worth, my grandmother’s maiden name was Astrid Bjurman. She was born on November 18, 1910, in Stockholm, Sweden. She came to America at the end of 1930, and worked as a housemaid before marrying my grandfather, Gus Frodin, also a Swedish immigrant. On the off chance that anyone who finds this post can help with information about Astrid and her family, please contact me! My e-mail address can be found at the top of the left sidebar.
By admin, on December 14th, 2009
Clearly, regular blogging is not as high a priority for me as it used to be. I have a profile at facebook – would you be interested in following me there? Here’s the link to my profile: Jen Kubeck on Facebook
This isn’t a definitive statement that I’m quitting the blog or anything. I just think it might be easier for me to keep in touch with all of you if I can do it in smaller bites. Let me know what you think!
By admin, on December 5th, 2009
We got rats.
There are obvious questions going through your mind, I’m sure. What about the allergies? Wasn’t it a forever thing that she couldn’t have them?
Gryphon and I have been longing for some sort of pet in our lives ever since giving up the Rattie Mob. I’ve visited pet stores and considered hamsters, guinea pigs, birds…but nothing offered the satisfaction that a relationship with a rat would.
We finally reached a point where we just couldn’t stand it anymore. As a final test, we went to PetCo Friday night to expose me to female rats.
I handled multiple rat girls. I got peed on. I was scratched around the neck. We did this for at least twenty to thirty minutes, while Gryphon shared in the handling and also observed me for a reaction.
Not a twitch, not an itch or scratchy eye or throat tickle.
We didn’t intend to buy last night while there, but we fell in love with two of the girls. I’ve adored Himalayans ever since I saw my first photo of one. And Gryphon liked the black Berkshire, who ran about frisky and seemed to get along well with the Himmy.
We had everything we needed at home still. All we had to do was add rats. So we did.
I named the Himmy KoKo, like the foster Himmy I’d named KoKo, and after the cat in the mystery series “The Cat Who…” Since I still think of her as Himmy sometimes, her full name is KoKo Himalaya.
Gryphon named the black Berkshire. Currently, the Wilton Town Hall Theatre is showing the film “Coco Before Chanel”. Once KoKo was named, that was the first thing he thought of. So the little black Berkshire is Chanel Nombre-Cinque.
I don’t assume that I am completely free of a rat allergy. What I believe is that the last two males we fostered were hyper-allergenic – more of an allergy trigger than most.
We have vowed to keep our numbers low. In hindsight, I don’t think we did our best by our rat family when we had so many. We also got swept up too easily in volunteering for the rat rescue, and in the end, weren’t able to follow through.
So, it’s KoKo and Chanel, the start of a major re-set in How We Do Rats. They’re getting used to their new home, spending most of their time sleeping. Right from the start, though, they’ve both willingly and gently taken treats from our fingers.
KoKo is the shy one. But she is easily picked up. She’s scared, but not panicky. When I took her out to cuddle today, she settled under my shawl at the back of my neck and just stayed there while I skritched her.
Chanel is more outgoing. She wanders the cage in the open more, and was the first one to voluntarily crawl out of the carrier and onto my shirt. When I took her out earlier, she kept wanting to explore everywhere. In the interest of socialization, however, I kept her in front of me. Eventually, she settled down under my hand, head tucked under my shawl. Chanel is also the first one to respond to skritching with loud bruxing and eye boggling.
Gryphon and I are happy. We missed having pets that would love us back, that would know us and actively want to be with us. Nothing else came close. Without the rats, too, we were retreating further into our individual shells. KoKo and Chanel are elements in our lives that pull us outside ourselves. With them around, we care about something besides just ourselves.
This is our Christmas gift to each other this year. We couldn’t be happier with it!
By admin, on December 4th, 2009
It’s rats!
Koko (himalayan female) and Chanel (black berkshire female).
Don’t panic – all shall be revealed.
By admin, on December 1st, 2009
I guess I’m not much of a Declarative Transmogrifier. I just realized it’s been a while since I posted.
My life is still in flux, which is that condition of an object where it is in the process of being transmogrified, and during which it is hard to define what the object is.
I don’t know what I am right now. I seem to be spending more time on EQ2, sometimes three to four hours at a time. I’m enjoying it, but I don’t feel like it’s blog-worthy, and it does keep me from doing things that are.
And I don’t feel guilty about that. I’m doing what I want to do, and having a good time at it.
Blogging doesn’t feel like an important thing for me these days. I’m not sure what to write about. I’m not sure what you’d all like to see here.
Maybe some of you have questions to ask, or ideas for things you’d like to see more of? Just leave them in a comment on this post, and I’ll do what I can.
Having said all that about not knowing what to write, I will now tell you a little about our vacation last week in Syracuse, for Thanksgiving. Mostly about What I Bought.
Recent Travels
Gryphon and I did go to Syracuse, and had a good, slow-paced time while there. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted to, but we did enough to be satisfied with. I spent Tuesday visiting two yarn stores with my mother, one brand new, the other an older, established shop. Loved them both, though the new store had more yarns that interested me, and the owner had an upbeat, can-do attitude and embraces online reality well.
My mother bought two skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn at the newer store (The Yarn Cupboard, in Jamesville, NY). The yarn was Holiday Yarns, and it’s dyed in Skaneateles, NY – right next door to Syracuse. I got one skein for myself, so I was able to bring home a true fibery souvenir of my trip!
Between the two stores, I also bought three carved shawl sticks. At the older store, I found some Uruguayan yarn that I wasn’t familiar with – Punta Yarns. What they stocked was a single colorway of their MeriSoft yarn – a worsted weight, 100% merino single, handpainted in multiple colors. I liked the color they had, and decided it could make a nice, heavier shawl to wear.
The fifteen dollar a skein price turned out to be outside my remaining souvenir budget (I estimated I wanted four skeins to make a halfway decent shawl). But my mother spoke up, and offered to buy it for me as an early Christmas present. So the MeriSoft yarn came home with me after all. Yay!
Thrift Store-ing
We have thrift stores in New Hampshire, but they are generally in the center of the larger cities, and we live in one of the smaller towns quite some distance from them. When we do make the effort to go, we don’t often find much that we want, either.
In Syracuse, however, we make a point of visiting the Salvation Army Family Store on Erie Blvd. East. It’s large, well-organized, and fairly clean as these places go. And every time we’ve visited, we’ve made some major scores. Gryphon finds clothes that fit, and even shoes for his size 13 feet, and I find great sweaters destined for the frog pile.
Among the sweaters this time are three cotton sweaters to transmogrify into dishcloths and counter cloths; an interesting, shiny tunic of rayon yarn that looks almost like chainmail, knit in stockinette stitch in a nice gunmetal grey; and two cashmere sweaters in excellent condition.
The cashmere is destined for a nice shawl. Both sweaters, though made by different companies, are a similar weight of yarn. One is bright yellow, the other is a marled light blue and white.
Between the two, I have enough to make a good-sized shawl. To make the colors work together, I’m thinking of over-dyeing both yarns with a light blue hue. This should turn the yellow bright green, and should add depth to the marled blue and white. Using the same over-dye color for both will also co-ordinate the two different yarns so they go well together.
I’ll then be able to knit a blue and green shawl in all cashmere. Not too shabby there! Not sure when this will come about – I have a lot of projects in progress already, and really should get some of them finished. But I’m really looking forward to choosing a pattern for this yarn (once it’s actually yarn, and not sweaters!)
Travel Pains
Literally. Both of us ached all over from the long car ride. We ached from the walking around we did for our various outings. And we ached from the car ride home.
We expect to spend most of this week recovering from the trip, and settling back into a normal routine. I am slowly getting back to my knitting – I brought projects to Syracuse, but really didn’t touch any while there.
The last few days have been spent mostly playing EQ2. I can’t help it, I’m just having that much fun. I’ve also had to take time to watch television, because the TiVos did fill up a bit while we were away, and they’re starting to complain that they don’t want me to keep stuffing them with programs. But, yeah – EQ2 and television. Not much to complain about there!
Let me know, then, if you have questions or suggestions for me to blog about. I’m happy to share with you here, if we can only decide what I should be sharing!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and are looking forward to whatever version of celebration awaits you in the next couple of months!
By admin, on November 19th, 2009
Gryphon and I are getting ready to travel to Syracuse again, for Thanksgiving. With his disabilities now, we’re making more detailed plans. I’ve been thinking ahead about what places it’s most important to visit (including at least one, maybe two, yarn stores), what we’ll be doing with my parents, and more.
Meanwhile, I am plugging away as usual on the knitting. I recently got another Knit Picks order, this time including the Chinook Shawl Kit (Ravelry link) in shades of pink. Opening this pack of yarn was a revelation – I had never handled baby alpaca yarn before, and two skeins of laceweight yarn in this shawl are either 100% baby alpaca, or baby alpaca blended with silk. So soft! I only stopped myself from petting the hanks by taking all the shawl yarn over to my desk, where the winder and swift are set up, and winding them into cakes.
I’ve also started what is probably the only Christmas gift knitting I’ll be doing this year. Since the potential recipient does read my blog, I’ll say no more about that.
The entrelac shawl I mentioned last time continues to grow at a steady pace. My East Meets West bag does as well – I’m currently working on the conjoined front and back pieces, knit in one big round and to be cut in two later. This piece gets smaller and smaller as you work towards the center point. I’ve just transferred all the stitches to a 16” circular. It’s crowded, but that’s the right length for this point in the process.
As if that weren’t enough, I’m still working on the queen-size entrelac blanket, for which I hope to be able to find some cotton-blend sock yarns while in Syracuse.
Wait, there’s more – I’m making myself a lace scarf for the first time as well. It’s the Charlotte A. Cavatica (Rav link) from The Anti-Craft. Charlotte’s Web was, and still is, one of my favorite books ever, and this scarf is a brilliant tribute to Charlotte’s very own web, complete with the words “Some Pig” worked into the design. That’s being knit in Knit Picks 100% Merino laceweight Bare yarn, the same as the designer used for the model. So far, it’s a fast and simple knit, and I think I’m going to like this one a lot.
I’d offer pictures of some of this, but my camera is across the room on my desk, and I don’t feel like getting up just yet. Maybe next time, okay?
Meanwhile, even though we’re traveling, the hotel has wi-fi, and our laptops are coming along, so I’ll be just as in touch as ever.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
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