Monday, January 15, 2007

Bits and knits......

Dear Laura:

Wow - snow! That looks like so much fun.....much more fun than days and days of rain, which is what we have had. The ground around the house is so saturated with water that I feel the house may slide down into the creek! We were fortunate enough to miss the freezing rain, so I won't complain too much.

My nephew-in-law inquired lately about the status of his vest that I began knitting last year. (It was my Knitting Olympic project that has languished...) I replied that there hadn't been ice for ice-fishing since I cast on, and that perhaps it would be best if I frogged it, in case the two things were related! Not really....

We had the first meeting of a new knitting group at Church on Saturday night. There were 5 of us there - the woman who had originally brought up the idea wasn't able to come because she is having chemo-therapy. We hope she'll be able to join us soon. We opened it up to any crafters, and there were 2 crocheters there. They expressed interest in learning to knit also. Which is good, since we're always evangelizing the joy of knitting.... ;)

My sil Chris was there, and I spent a lot of time giggling inside. (While they are happy enough when I knit for them, my sil's generally feel that my level of knitting addiction is weird. They are not afraid to mock me. Having enticed one of them to the light cracks me up!) Chris tried knitting a couple of years ago, but it didn't stick. This year, she asked if I could teach her how to make dish clothes. I got her started, helped with any questions, and just sat back and let her go. Within a week or two, she seemed to always have one on the needles nearby at all times.

Then she discovered the novelty yarn fuzzy scarf on big needles. I just handed over my #17's and kept my mouth shut. She was still not ready for the "fine yarn" speech. And then it happened. She found a yarn shop when she was in Shipshewana shopping. She came back all agog. She fell in love with a scarf that carries three or four different yarns (REAL yarns!) and she bought a ball of
MaggiKnits wool. REAL WOOL! Laura, she spent $17 on one ball of yarn! Not a big double skein either! She is SO hooked. Her family is started to comment on the fact that she's always knitting - but they don't complain because they are all getting scarves! She wants to do a hat next..... But coming back with that MaggiKnits yarn and casting on a scarf that night - she's going to be a process knitter. Finding a yarn that you just have to see how it looks knitted up....she's a knitter after my own heart! (And The Rebellious Pastor's Wife did a great job with the "knit with good wool" speech - I love it! Disciples are the best!)

So, here's what I've been up to!
I finished the red scarf and it's ready to send off. I only bought one skein of this yarn, so the scarf is 4" x 68". I didn't put fringe on it since some guys I know are not in favor.

I finally got past the lady bugs on the first sleeve. Thanks Marie for the suggestion of writing out each row.
I always think that I'll "remember" without writing it out, but that was definitely not working. I did go ahead and make notes to work from, and it really helped! And since I have the notes, I'm not dreading the second sleeve as much.

And here is 5" of progress on the afghan.
I'm enjoying this pattern and I like the way the yarns look together. I showed the progress to my niece, and she approved the softness of the wool, so we're all set for sure.

Ok, well, that's all for now - keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

2 comments:

Marie N. said...

I'm glad writing it out helped get you through the ladybugs. I don't remember anything unless I write it down.

Marie N. said...

oops, I wanted to say that I like the pink and brown together too.