Monthly Archives: January 2006

There is a gal named Emma

She is a real gem-a

We love her to bits

She is truly a hit

And if you cross her, you are a twit!

Okay, really bad “poetry” aside, I want to thank you Emma for such a fantastic gift. It was completely unwarranted and completely appreciated. Here we have a bag of Minstrels, (“milk chocolate captured in crispy shells”) which the hubbalicious & I loved, and ten, yes 10, balls of Rowan 4ply cotton, and a card which reads: “I want less email and more he-male”. This card had us in hysterics. Thank you.

Emma also mentioned that I should/might make Martha from Rowan 37 with this beautiful red cotton yarn she sent. I love the pattern suggestion and the yarn is, of course perfect for it. It gives me pause to make a pattern called Martha out of a color called “Vamp”. My hubbalicious thought my concerns were absurd. I suspect a quasi-perverse fantasy at work here. A Marion the libraian lets her hair down kind of thing. He did also say that he thought Martha would look great on me and that Emma was completely correct.

Thank you Emma for such a kind, thoughtful and, um…husband pleasing gift.

You are so wonderful.

Thank you.

Whew! What a week. Times absolutely flew by last week. Many things were accomplished. I have been trying to get to post every day and failing beautifully. Right, we made some people a few years ago and they require attention and care. Lots. As it should be. I often forget to factor into the equation of my productivity, the small hollering boys. Sometimes I wonder why I do not get more done in my day to day life. Then I remember, children!

So I am going to try to hit all the high points of a very busy week. Bullet points seem to be needed, so here we go:

• Started using a new blogging tool, Anconia Rocket Post and I love it. I love being able to easily upload boatloads of photos. Upload Boatload. Say that ten times fast! I am still learning what it can do. Love love love it!
• Many, many repairs have been made to the house and yard. Things that have been on the list for a year. We love our friend Bill. He can fix anything and believe me this past week he has.
• There is a complete redesign of the sewing/creating/hide from the small hollering boys room. There will be the reveal when it is all complete. To say I am excited is the understatement of the century. A space of my own, where I can have breakables and nice books and sparkly things and not worry that these objects not be mamed? Oh dear god, pass the smelling salts. Here is a before shot
• Hubbalicious threw his back out Friday morning and has been in bed ever since. Poor guy.
• Duncan woke up limping Sunday morning. Then, he slammed his finger in the door so hard it instatly turned purple.
• Oh yes, I went to the yarn shop to pick up some new needles. Shh! No really, that is why I went. Stop that, I did so! Then some sock goodness just had to come home with me. Look! And look how big Frog is at 6 months!
• Went out to dinner Saturday night and it was lovely. I love good sushi. Went to Paulie Morimoto. (Sorry, no link)
• Bought some fabric to make new curtains, very very lovely. You will see it when I do the reveal on the sewing/creating/hide from the small hollering boys room.
• Here is what has me so scattered brained. I pulled into the driveway to see a Police Car. Bad. Panic. Park and RUN REALLY FAST. MY BABIES ARE HURT. MY HUSBAND IS INJURED. RUN RUNRUNRUNRURNRUN RUN. WHERE IS MY FAMILY?????????????????????????????????? THE KIDS WERE PLAYING OUTSIDE WHEN I LEFT, WHERE ARE THEY???? The husband with the thrown out back, the 2 boys, the baby sitter(who was outside with the kids whilst I was out & the hubbalicious was nursing his back), and a Policeman were in my kitchen. Apparently one of our “neighbors” was concerned that my children were too cold. It was a nice day and they are little boys. You can figure out what they were or were not wearing. They are fine and thought it was great to have a policeman here. He was very kind and professional to us all. He thought it was a ridiculous call for someone to make, but you have to respond, especially if there is a child involved. Did I mention that our yard is fully fenced and gated and that this particular babysitter is never more than 3 feet from them. So all is well, but we are a bit worse for wear. Luckily, we do not know, nor do we want to know who made the call.

And to end on a really happy note, pictures of the boys after having eaten Cheetos

Auntie Alice’s first sleeve is almost done. I am about to start the ribbing. The sleeve measurement is 25.5″ from shoulder seam to end of arm which seems very long to me. To counteract this, I am going to follow Ann Budd’s directions with the amendment of making the ribbing an extra 2 or 3 inches longer. This way Auntie Alice can fold up the cuff or unfurl it at her will.

This change in decreases looks very severe to me, especially from this angle. And from the proper view, with the mitred decreases under the arm, it looks perfect. The instructions are, as I have said, are from the bottom up and knit flat and then seamed. I am going from the top down and in the round. So I cast on 130 stitches, then every fourth row SSK, Knit 1, K2 TOG- 26 times. Then every 2 rows do the same thing 11 times. It is by going from every four rows to every two rows that gives it that sharp turn. It makes me a bit queasy to look at, almost as if somebody’s limb was in a position it shouldn’t be. I will get a modeled shot for you, so you can see that it looks great. I am also thinking that I will wash this baby before I seam it and then put in under the sewing machine. Cotton loves to grow, so the more stable I can make the seams, the better.

I just got an invitation to Auntie Alice’s 85th Birthday Party. I am not sure if I will attend as I would have to haul two small hollering boys 3000 miles; however, I know a certain garment that will make the party girl shine. This is even more motivating than the Olympic Opening Ceremonies deadline, and well of course her birthday is after the Opening Ceremonies. Cough.

And in other news, there is a certain almost three year old who is 6 days into potty training, the last 2 days without any accidents at all. He is really doing beautifully. Except he may have been bumped sown a few steps by his big brother and he may have hit his head on a concrete planter. He is fine and was only in tears for about a minute (which for him, is an eternity). Here is the result:

Sometimes I forget that I am hungry. Or rather, I ignore the signs and then end up ravenous and nothing is the thing I want to eat. Those who are close to me have witnessed this phenomenon a lot and know to just give me something to eat, STAT! The worst is when I am really hungry and in a restaurant. The menu completely baffles me and nothing appeals. I read it and re-read it all the while I am getting hungrier and hungrier. Finally, I just pick something, anything, so I don’t eat my own arm. I know this happens and I know what the right thing to do is. Put the menu down, sit quietly and think about what I want to eat. Then I order that or the closest thing to it on the menu. Presto. Simple. Done. Arm in one piece and loved ones safe from the beast.

This is a lot like picking a new knitting project for me. I begin itching to knit. Excited about the wool, the color, the act of making something beautiful. I begin to pour over my knitting books and magazines, searching. The itch grows and grows. Well, I like that one but intarsia doesn’t appeal right now. Oooh, look at all those cables, how pretty. Yes, but look at all those cables. Aha! Fair Isle! That is it! What, am I crazy? I am the slowest Fair Isle knitter on the planet. The itch to begin is pretty enormous by this point as this deliberation has more than likely gone on for a few all consuming days. Because while trying to decide, that is about all I am doing. Not knitting just searching. It does get a bit fre
netic at points. Must choose! Must choose! This is a knitting desert and I need knitting sustenance now! I can’t find what I want so I just cast on for something, anything- oh, I know, I’ll just make it up as I go along, at least I am knitting. I cannot tell you what kind of garbage I end up with when I try that. So it is a doubly brutal result: garbage knitting and the itch is gigantic. Plus there is that pit in the bottom of my stomach because I know I could have avoided it all by sitting quietly and figuring out what it is I really want.

The itch is appoaching – I am not going to ignore the signs this time though. Hands off keyboard, eyes closed, deep breath. A cardigan in rowanspun dk, color: goblin, from the stash. Knit for myself.

Presto! Simple! Done!

Here we have about half of the first sleeve of my Auntie Alice’s sweater. The fabric is nice and has a bit of squish to it. We like the squish. We way prefer this squish to the one that visited our house on Sunday night. That squish involved Angus getting sick all over the kitchen, me and my beautiful Tony Lama boots. Man, I am his mom and I love him. But vomiting on my Tony Lama’s is just cold. (He is fine.)
The GOOD squish must be the 15% cashmere in the Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere. While there is a squish in the fabric, my hands are hurting from the yarn. The funny thing to me is that the hand that hurts is not the active hand, but the gripping hand- the left one. Pattern you say? Oh yes, that. I am using Ann Budd’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. She wrote the charts for flat knitting, which I did not want to do. I thought I would treat myself to less seaming, so I am knitting it in the round. What I should have done is knit the body, pick up the stitches and then knit the arm down. Eh, big deal-so I have to seam armhole, it is still less seaming. Usually I like to seam but my mattress stitch looks revolting in cotton.
I am knitting it from the top down and using a mitered decrease. I like the look of the mitered decrease, decorative and useful. It’s a two-fer, really. I also am enjoying the decreasing number of stitches. Getting smaller toward to wrist makes it feel as it is going faster. Being that I am making a fairly plain sweater, so I want to make the details extra special. The right buttons, lined pockets, lined button band, extra long ribbed cuffs so she can stuff her hanky in her sleeve.
With all this Olympic Knitting fever going on, I am getting pretty excited to be a joiner. Did I actually just say that? ME? What the hell is happening to me, becoming a joiner? First, I go ahead and join Secret Pal 7, then I finally made it to a new (to me) knitting group on Sunday, and now I want to join the Olympic Knitting Frenzy? Holy cow, I think that motherhood has seriously addled my brain. Me, a joiner? Yikes. I guess this SP & Olympic Knitting Frenzy are the ways I like best for me to be a joiner, I get to be a part of something and don’t have to go sit in a room full of lovely people who gossip. Me, I am not so hot with the gossip. Makes me feel uncomfortable and makes me wonder what the heck people are going to say when I am not there and I do not like that. I know that they are called Stitch N Bitch, but it still made me uncomfortable and a bit sad. I haven’t found a new group since we have moved here and this was my maiden voyage to give it a try. Funny, my family and I had lunch beforehand and I noticed I was a bit nervous. Angus asked me where I was going after lunch and I told him that I was going to go knit with some ladies and hopefully make some new friends. Further, I explained that it was a play date for Mommy and it was very important to always try to make new friends. And it is important. What I did not explain were the ups and downs and false starts. Omitted also, were the folks who you like but really just want to be acquaintances with as well as the simple fact of human nature.
Wow! That was certainly a digression.
Back to the knitting content. So, I am barreling through the Auntie Alice Sweater because my goal is to have her wearing it by the Opening Ceremonies so that I can cast on for a yet undecided project for the Olympic Knitting Frenzy. I just started the sleeve on Sunday- I wanted some easy knitting for the new group and had nothing on the needles that isn’t making me crazy. The Franken-vest has been blocked and the neckband done. And I have to re-do the neckband because it is too high and looks a bit stuffy. Right, there is also the part where Hubbalicious has to shove his noggin through it. Big brains plus a small neck hole = Ick. I will frog it and maybe do an applied I-cord. Clearly, not stress free knitting at this point. The only other item on the needles is the Billy Boy Vest from Rowan 22. Easy peasy knitting. If, and it is a mighty big if, you can find the %$^*%$&(%^( pattern book. I can find every other Rowan I have but NOT that one. I am certain I put it someplace special to find easy later. Feh. That worked really well.
With the sleeve progressing nicely, I think that I am on target to get Auntie Alice in her sweater in time.
Now where is that Rowan 22?!?!?!

Remember the recent hat mania here? I made each of my boys teacher’s and their teaching assistants hats for Christmas. Okay two were for New Year, one was for Christmas and one was for Ramadan, but I digress. Anyhow, three of these ladies loved their hats, tried them on immediately and thanked my profusely. It wasn’t the thanks I wanted, I wanted them to know that I appreciate what they do for our children and our family. I wanted to see them be excited that I thought of them and in this day and age took my time and energy and made something with my own two hands.
Remember a few sentences ago when I said four hats and three excited people. Yep, you read right. One of them unwrapped it, did not say thank you, and put it aside. Ouch. I do not care if it is the most ass-ugly piece of monkey-shit colored whatever, you look the person in the eye and say: “Thank You.” You really don’t even have to say it is nice. You could pull the old fake compliment by intonation or obfuscation: “Wow! Thank You. Now, THAT is a HAT!” You have done nothing but state the obvious and the gift giver feels great that you appreciated the gift. I didn’t even get the look in the eye. Herf.
So a couple days later, without having said anything previously about the lack of manners, etc. I asked her if the hat fit properly or could I fix it in anyway for her. Okay, I was only fishing a wee bit. Then she let me know she hadn’t tried it on yet because it hadn’t been cold enough yet. Yea, lady- it is seeming pretty frosty in here right about now. Luckily, next year we are not in her class so I do not have to give her a lump of freaking coal.

You know, I had an experience last year about this time I had a similar but different experience. Did I learn? Nope. Not at all. There was a gal I had met upon moving here and we became friends. Making new friends is hard. I am an outgoing social person and it is hard. It is like dating- you never know which one is going to be the psycho. You go out shopping, have dinner, pal around with your new friend. You decide that she is really okay and that you have things in common and could build a friendship. Once you let your guard down- whammo! I will not detail here how my new friendship did not work out. I will however tell you one of the contributing factors. I made her a scarf for her birthday out of the last of a cone (from the stash) of Chinchilla in a beautiful taupey, german silvery, and warm cocoa all mixed together color. That is it, up top!
I wrapped it beautifully, using extra yarn as ribbon. Even remembering to include a thoughtful card. Upon opening it, to her credit she did say thank you and give me a hug and a kiss. Then she let her 3 year old daughter wear it to school every day for two months. In the middle of winter. Dragging it through the snow, mud and muck. Letting her take it to bed with her.
It is my firm belief that once you give a gift it is out of your hands. All that fly and be free crap. Really I do believe that. But it still smarted.


Okay, it is an eensie weensie FO, but a FO none the less. And the 3rd FO of 2006. Yes, this is a little scarf is a gift. Meant to be worn right under the chin, tied and the ends should give her about a foot extra on each end. Perfect, as she is petite. My friend (this is proving to stand the test of time) had seen the yarn over the summer. We were on a short trip our kids and upon my buying the yarn, she flipped over the colors. So this little scarf is more about color than anything else. I hope it gives her a nice lift in February when everything else is grey.
It is Katia Ingenua & Cascade Eco + held together and no where near a full ball/skein of each. The colors were nearly identical- it was amazing. I gave her a good soak in the guestroom bathtub with some soap (okay, fine it was baby shampoo) for a couple of hours, pinned her out and added fringe.
I did get to spend a heap of time knitting today and my next FO just needs a good blocking, seaming and neck & arm bands. I am really enjoying getting all these UFO’s off the needles whether it be by finishing or ripping. Off to bathe the next item in the shoot!

Yep- I joined Secret Pal 7. (See the new button? Look right!) This should be fun. I already have contacted My SP and I am excited to get going!
Here is my questionnaire- read at your own risk!
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
I usually buy natural fibers. I think some acrylic blends are great, especially for kid knitting. Some superwash yarns make me nuts with the squeaking and the feel. Red Heart no, Lion Brand – from time to time. I do love cashmere, alpaca, wool and would love to knit with quiviut.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Nope. I want to learn to spin though. I tried when I was pregnant with boy #1 and I think that my Bump threw my balance off. It was a disaster. It might be good to learn to crochet for edgings and the like.
3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A vase, a pasta tin, a lantern moon needle roll and a hook on the wall. Oh and a giant pile on the side table.
4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting almost all of all my life, since I was about 10. I would consider myself advanced intermediate. I can do/ have done: intarsia, fair isle, hats, sweaters, cables, lace, and blankets. I guess what I haven’t done is socks and gloves/mittens. There is SO much more to learn, mainly in the technique department. And I want to improve my finishing. I would love to get my Master Knitting certification. There are so many details that I want to know how to do.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=cs_top_nav_wl/104-4196767-8348726?type=wishlist
(Just Cut & Paste above link)
6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Fresh cut grass, autumn. vanilla, apple. Heavily perfumed things make me nutty. I can barely go down the laundry aisle in the supermarket.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I don’t really have a sweet tooth. If I do eat candy, I like toffee, caramel, sweet tarts and some sour candy. In the realm of snacks I love love love Tim’s Cascade Salt & Vinegar Chips!
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I quilt, sew, dye yarn, collage, paint, make sculpture, bake & decorate cookies, and I love to cook. I want to learn Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. I also garden organically and try to grow only heirloom veggies.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Surprise me! I have room for just about everything. I would love to hear something I have never heard before. We have a pretty extensive music collection. The Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Aretha and Tom Waits are mine. So is the Soul 2 Soul. The Clash and Mississippi John Hurt are mine too. I listen to AfroPop World Wide on NPR every weekend. I will say that the Loverboy in our collection is my husband’s. The Weird Al is too! And yes, I can do the MP3 thing.
10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I love color. This sounds hokey, but I think every color has a place. Well, maybe neon only for traffic signs. Looking at my stash I see earth tones, jewel tones, black, a few pastels. The colors that I knit with for myself most often are pumpkin orange (hate peach), many shades of green though not Hunter or Mint. Some of the latest colors I have knit for myself are Pastaza Birch, Rowan Goblin and Rowan Punch. Also, I love red- Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Blue Blood Red is a fave.
I truly am not a fan of variegated yarn. If it is variegated with very similar colors-I can deal but otherwise, no thank you!
Okay, Granny Apple Green and Pumpkin are true faves. And Teal, Bright Pink, and variegated No Thank You!
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
One husband, 2 sons aged 5 and almost 3, one black Labrador named Earl and 2 kittens, Frog and Tink.
12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Scarves and hats, yes! Mittens occasionally. Ponchos? Well, let’s just say there are 2 types of people in the world: Those who wear ponchos and those who don’t. Not so much with the ponchos. Like not at all.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Rowan Magpie, Cascade 220, Brownsheep Lamb’s Pride. I also have in my stash some hand dyed Alpaca Fina that knits beautifully on #4′s. I am not fond of knitting with big needles- anything over a 9. Really big needles make my hands hurt. Size does matter.
Also, I would love to try more yarns from small companies that are beginning to establish themselves. I love shopping at a Mom & Pop as opposed to a Barnes & Noble (though I shop there too)!
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Matchmaker DK by Jaeger. Anything that has that silk smell. I am the crazy one in the corner of my LYS sniffing silk yarn to see if it has *that smell*. And squeaky 100% acrylic or super wash yarns.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
More time knitting! My obsession currently is making a blanket/afghan. I cannot decide if I want to make it from squares, a sampler, or cabled. I want to make felted rugs for the living room. And I love the idea of knitting slipcovers for my furniture though that will most likely not happen!
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love to knit it all. If I had to pick a stitch or motif, I particularly enjoy diamond shapes, whether it be argyle or a simple knit & purl diamond all over pattern.
17. What are you knitting right now?
An Argyle vest from A Close Knit Family for the hubbalicious, Billy Boy Waist Coat from Rowan #22 in Denim-Nashville and I am about to cast on a cardigan for my dear Auntie Alice out of Debbie Bliss Cashmere Cotton. I am using Ann Budd’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns as my guide. I think I may knit it in the round using steeks. Seems to be quicker that way. Plus cutting knitting is so damned liberating!
18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes! But crocheted Christmas Angels are right out!
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circs, Baby!
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like them all. My favorite needles are vintage Susan Bates Circlon. They are seriously wonderful. And I am more fond of the straight circs. I find the angled ones a pain.
21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, both!
22. How did you learn to knit?
From my Grandmother and my mother.
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
Up until last Friday, my oldest UFO was 13 years old. (Frog Pond!) Currently, my oldest UFO is 9 or 10 years old.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Oh, crikey! I like Hello Kitty – yes I am eight! I also like all the Audubon drawings. We are learing to love our Blue Birds and Cardinals that come to our feeder.
25. What is your favorite holiday?
Probably Halloween. Valentines is a close second.
26. Is there anything that you collect?
Well, there was the Pez collection and the lint collection (don’t ask), and the broken safety glass collection. But now it is cookie cutters, novelty salt & pepper shakers, cook books, and vintage knitting patterns. Oh and Rowan Magpie! Why, oh why did they discontinue it? I know why and it makes me mad.
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
IK, though I had VK and Knitters for a long time- I grew to not like them as much as IK.
28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
More of each please! Barbara Walker really appeals and I have none of her stuff. There are also some items on my Amazon wish list. Also, I love Japanese knitting or quilting books and I have none!
29. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
Finishing (I am decent but would love to improve), short row shaping, socks and being able to do the arithmetic to design my own garments.
30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I am going to knit my first pair of socks here pretty soon! And I have size 9b feet. I just got measured today and wow! Before the boys were born I wore an 8.
31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
08/22

Thank you to everyone who commented on the Celtic Circles dilemma.
I had thought that I would fashion it into a vest and gift it to a friend. I had planned on gifting to a particular friend who is a neighbor also and we see each other quite frequently. When I thought of seeing her in the Celtic Circles Vest, I realized that everytime I saw her in it, I would be reminded of what I did not finish. Then I would begin to resent her and then stop visiting, stop having our children play together and our husbands’ cribbage games would cease. Our friendship would deteriorate and then every time she drove by the house, I would have to say a curse and spit on the ground.
Then a large dark rain cloud would form on our block, we live only a couple of doors away from each other, and we would be in a constant downpour. We would be so waterlogged and cold that we would become ill and of course, eventually perish.
So, to prevent this horrible loss, I did the most practical thing I could. I frogged it. Really and truly, down to the last stitch. It began easily enough and I managed to get some very decent re-usable yarn out of it. Then the red yarn began to mate, yes mate with the other yarns. It became impossible to disentangle the three yarns. In truth, I could have made a pot of tea, sat in a comfy chair and undone the yards and yards of yarn. Could have and chose not to.
Then I started hearing voices. I heard Margene say: “It is the process”. I heard Jane say: “This sweater’s time is past.” I heard my Mom say: “Oh, no all that hard work, gone!” I heard the multiple people in the past 13 years of the sweater’s life say: “You have come too far to frog it. You HAVE to finish it”. Then I thought of all the places that sweater had lived, crises it saw and what an huge albatross it had become.
That is when the ripping began in earnest. And it felt really, really good. It amuses me to no end that I was not capable of just chucking it in the trash, but I was completely able to rip the ever-loving snot out of it.
I do not really have any ideas as to what I might make with all the yarn. I did find a recipe for making felt pin cushions that involved hacking wool into little bits and putting them in a blender with boiling water. While it won’t give me good Karma, it might be really soul satisfying.

When I was a kid we would go to the grocery store and next door there was a drug store. My brother and I would each be given a quarter and set loose in the candy aisle of the drug store while the folks shopped next door. I loved the Jolly Rancher sticks. Remember those? They were about and inch wide and about six inches long. Not those small little candies they make now. You could peel the wrapper back and eat them like a lollipop or a popsicle. Or you could break off a piece about two inches long and put that in your mouth. Once it was good and soft, you could press it on the roof of your mouth and it would stay there for a very long time. I would pretend that it was a retainer, because I thought the cool kids all wore retainers (when I got one, I learned that they were not nearly as cool as sour apple candy pasted to the roof of your mouth).
I also loved the Watermelon Now and Later (eat some now, save some for later!). They were sweet and sour and really chewy. That describes perfectly the year that has just passed for me: sweet and sour and really chewy. Many happy times and many trying times, and certainly lots to think about.
New Year’s resolutions are for me, a cocktail for disaster. They soon turn into brickbats with which to berate myself. So, I am going to follow my own words which I often tell Angus: Show me, don’t tell me.


And in that spirit, we have the first two finished objects of 2006.
The Laura (pink) and the Niketa (charcoal).
Photographed with the flash to afford you an extra special visual experience.
Both are Lamb’s Pride Worsted and follow the same basic pattern as the Carla and the Miss Ali. Fun, easy and done! I do love the little I-cord loop at the top. Makes it easy to hang on a coat hook in the classroom.
Happy New Year.