Saturday, January 30, 2010

It's been a while.

And by "a while," I mean about eight months. Wow. A lot has happened in that eight months!

On the personal front...

1. I bought my first home. Kind of scary, but good at the same time. Now I can put yarn WHEREVER I WANT!!! Of course, a mortgage cuts into the yarn budget a bit, but the feat of moving all my yarn convicted me a bit of how much yarn I actually have. Quite a bit - including a bunch that I'd forgotten.

2. I survived my first blizzard! Oklahoma got slammed with an honest-to-goodness blizzard on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, none of us was hurt, although my dad did have to spend Christmas Eve in a Best Western. But not-at-Christmas-Eve Dad beats injured Dad any day.


(can you see where the street's supposed to be? Yeah, neither could we - or anyone else.)

3. I became a momma to two furry boys - Gus (the long-haired one) and Bertie (the short-haired one). They came home from the kitty rescue at the beginning of December. They have got to be the most clever and loving cats I've ever met - but they also love playing with my yarn. If I turn my back for more than about five seconds, they've dragged something around the house for me to wind back up. Last week, they took a nice tidy ball of Baruffa Cashwool (1,400 yards of laceweight wool) and wove it through the foot board of my bed. That night, they also opened up (I kid you not, I counted!) 169 tabs of Firefox help. They've also figured out how to open a find window in Firefox and knock over the recliner (onto the tile floor in the middle of the night).



On the knitting front...

1. I had the incredible opportunity to test knit several patterns - three for friends, and one for a yarn company.

First up:
Tamarack, by Amy Duncan



This is a super-cute hat from less than a skein of Malabrigo. It comes in a more-slouchy and less-slouchy version, and I knit the less-slouchy, which was perfect for me. The pattern is fast and entertaining, and I get lots of compliments when I wear it - which is often, this winter!

Clothilde, by Kristen Hanley Cardozo



This is a simple but gorgeous shawl from less than a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn. I used the Solis colorway, which is the most beautiful vivid blue-green colorway I've ever seen. Every once in a while, I would have to stop and admire the colors! The pattern is stunning.

Goes, by Melissa Leapman



This is a test-knit from Malabrigo Book Two. (Is anyone else noticing a pattern with my yarn choices?) It was my first seamed sweater, and I have to say, seaming is rather...painless, surprisingly. (Malabrigo PSA: If you don't know if you'd want a sweater from Malabrigo worsted, think of this: you know how soft and fuzzy a sweatshirt is when you put it on for the first time? That's a Malabrigo sweater - forever. Mmm...warm and cozy, yet not stifling.)

Mythica, by Beverly S.



This vest had lots of firsts - first vest, first applied i-cord, first grafting cables...all of which were very clearly spelled out in the directions. It's a very flattering pattern - I knit a size with about 3" of negative ease, and it looks great! (Modeled pictures will be forthcoming when I get a mirror. Did I mention that my cats broke my one long mirror?)

2. I have knit lots of socks. Socks, socks, and more socks. I love my knitted socks! Everyone should knit socks! (Not that I'm obsessed or anything.)
Vilai by Cookie A., in Jojoland Melody Superwash

Basket Check Socks by Charlene Schurch, in Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Tamarack colorway. (I've been drooling over this yarn for years, since the first time I visited the Gourmet Yarn Company. The colors glow like an oil painting!)