another baby sweater...

I made this last fall for a co-worker's baby - it finally fits!

There is much I should have blogged about these last two weeks of blissful unemployment. Why does it seem like so much work to download photos? I want to tell you all about my rug weaving workshop with Jason Collingwood, some amazing quilts (here is someone else's photostream), my tramatic dental experience, the newly restored Jacquard loom at Greenfield Village, my field trip with Jillian and Amy to Beth's store, teaching preschoolers to weave....

Tomorrow it is back to the real world, with a new job at a new company. Wish me luck!

babystuff

I spun a wee bit of Lorna's Laces superwash merino for a Knittyspin review. It sortof kicked my ass but it turned out purty. Behold:


(And I do love that niddy noddy - I got it from Morgaine at SOAR but I can't remember the name that the thing is called.)

With the yarn, I made some baby socks for Ingrid's new Adelaide.
Normally I have a "no knitted gifts for knitting friends" policy. Since Ingrid is the most amazing knitter I know I am not sure what I am thinking giving her these, um, - shall we say rustic? - socks. But look at her!

In other baby knitting news, here is the latest office baby sweater:



The pattern is from the Nashua Handknits booklet Bloom. I used 1824 wool, and didn't knit to gauge, so following the infant size I got about a 6 month size. The baby is due in June, so that should work out OK.

No one else at work is pregnant (at least that I know), so I am off the hook for awhile. And anyway, Friday is my last day as a public servant so I guess it doesn't really matter!

Not trafficking in baby animals, really

So, looking for a small workshop loom, I placed an ad on Craigslist for a "used Baby Wolf." My ad was pulled within minutes because they have a no-animal trafficking policy. Geez. Now the ASPCA is on my ass.

THIS is my new Baby Wolf, the loom of my heart:

Some days are like that

More Art

A few of you who know me well know I have been going through a difficult time. I don't blog about it here for fear of being dooced.

In short, I have been sad a lot lately. I am working hard to address the root causes of this sadness, and I think will be over soon. As I slog through the morass (don't even start) of self-pity, I have become increasingly interested in (distracted by? obsessed with?) the fiber arts. I hadn't really thought about this much until last night, when I got this fortune with my kung pao:






That was my aha moment. The new loom(s). The weeklong SOAR extravaganza. Not one, but two concurrent weaving classes. The staying up all night reading various Interweave publications. The new drumcarder, and hand combs, and spindles. I am not OCD. I am self-medicating. Better fiber than the bottle, that's what I say. Though both might be an even better combination.

That's it for the navel-gazing. I promise some pretty photos soon, if only to appease Carla. She is getting scary.

Restraining Order

I will have to file a restraining order against my blogstalker. She is relentlessly hounding me to post photos from SOAR. I didn't take any good photos. But I do feel the love.

It has been nine months since my last post, though, so I could do some backwards blogging to tell you about weaving, the Czech republic, the departure of a dear friend, another baby sweater, the indignity of being a public servant, the joys of drum carding, the hazards of wool combing, and the thrill of buffalo fiber.

Downloading photos just seems like too much work right now.

Maybe if Carla begs me just a little bit more....

American Beauty

After a year of bitching and moaning, I have finally completed the American Beauty capelet. Here it is, modeled by my neice Caitlin:













Back view:
















This is the first and only commissioned work I have ever, and will ever, knit. It took me over a year to complete, in large part because every time I picked it up to knit, I was overcome by an overwhelming urge to hurl. I am not sure if it was because of the putrid color or because it wasn't socks. At any rate, from now on I only knit what I want, for the people I want to knit for.

BTW, the fringe is going away.