To all who come this way

Merry ChristmaKwaanzaHannukah!

Vacation, Day One

Ahhh...the beginning of a nice long break. I don't have to be back to work until Jan 3, which makes this the longest vacation I've had in a few years. The two weeks after my surgery in Oct don't count. That was not a vacation. Today will be spent finishing presents and getting packages ready to mail. Tomorrow they go to the post office.

Fiber

Even though I've been really busy I did have time to knit and dye and knit.

I finished both scarves but only have pictures of this one. This scarf is being packed up today to wend it's way to the intended recipient. The scarf out of Noro's Silk Garden has gotten constant use since it was finished back in October and is looking a little rumpled.

Peaceful Palms - 2nd Pair

From this...



...this was created.



I spun the wool a couple of years ago in a class and just found something to use it for. Of course I had to dye it so it was more interesting to knit. Dye now, knit later. The chartreuse yarn is for me. :o)

Stash Enhancement eXpedition

Dec 3rd saw a group of us taking a trip to Webster's in Ashland and to Llamas and Lambs in Jacksonville. A bus was chartered so we could all sit and knit and enjoy the ride. Here's Katie and Denise while we're waiting to be seated for lunch at Bella Union in J-ville.

It's not all about the knitting

Lately I've been getting the urge to do beadwork. One thing I wanted to try my hand at is beaded stitch markers. That led to the creation of a bracelet. Sorry the picture's blurry. I'll do better next time.

Finally an update

The term is finally coming to an end and I have a little room to breathe. I’m not teaching any CS classes next term because it takes too much out of me. Working a full-time job and teaching at night is too much. When do I have time to knit, cook dinner, or clean my house? Never!!! That’s all going to end. Well at least I’ll have more time for knitting. :o)
I’ve finished a pair of fingerless gloves for the Peaceful Palms KAL but have not given up on the gloves I started. I knitted the fingerless gloves using some of my first handspun yarn so they look a little rough.

The original gloves I started have been an experience. First I couldn’t decide what to do for the color work. Having a dream as design inspiration doesn’t help if you didn’t get a good look at the design you’re dreaming about. I’ll have to work on that next time.

My first try at knitting the gloves didn’t appeal to me so I ripped back to the fingers and started over. When it came time to add the thumb I couldn’t find the book I was using, Handknitting with Meg Swansen. I looked everywhere, I thought, but it was nowhere to be found. Not being able to knit the gloves prompted guilt feelings which made me avoid posting and avoid looking at Nona’s site. If I had looked at her site I would have found her directions for i-cord gloves sooner. Book, we don’t need no stinkin book, we have the internet! (not to say that Meg’s book is stinkin, I really like it, just saying there were other instructions to be had.)

So…I found instructions and was ready to finally finish the gloves when I suffered another setback. I couldn’t find the thumbs anywhere. Arrgghhh!! Fine, these gloves are avoiding my every attempt to finish them. I'll move on to something else.

Since the gloves were for me (almost everything I knit I give away) I decided to start something else just for me. The first thing on my "just for me" list was/is the De Colores jacket by Ginger Luter that I first saw in Knitter’s Magazine – K68 Fall 2002. It’s now in Ginger’s new book, Module Magic.

I’m almost halfway done with De Colores but, having a severe case of startitis, felt the need to start knitting a Clapotis for myself out of KnitPicks Shimmer.