Black Dog

Again, another week FLIES by (and Sabrina was only gone for about half of it…..she returned to work on Thursday), and once again I had a 48-hour patch of no knitting. Sad, no? But I am able to show some progress for it all

That’s the Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket, from the first Mason-Dixon book, with nine of the ten strips/squares attached. All that remained was the thin strip up the left side that incorporated two colors

That was how things looked on Thursday morning, when I was out photographing on our back deck. The boys came out with me and found something interesting had been wandering around the back yard

that kept them occupied while I snapped glamour shots of the blanket. By Friday afternoon I was closing in on the last few ridges of section 10. Friday night is our “Friday Night Rocks” (aka Mitered Blankie) gathering, and this week was themed “holiday cookout” by the awesome planners. Mona loaned us her husband as grillmaster

who served up freshly-grilled burgers, dogs, and brats

with a big smile. From what Mona says, he adores grilling (he’d find a way to grill salad……….) and enjoys feeding (ask her about their grocery bills…but they do have a teenage boy in the home……and those things have rabid appetites)…..and now I can attest that he’s damned good at it! BIG thanks go out to Mona and Joe for making the evening complete, and to everyone else who participated and contributed to one of the most fun, enjoyable evenings we’ve had (and that says alot, as Fridays have been TONS of fun!). There was spinning (at leat five people were spinning), knitting, swapping, eating, laughing, smiling, and more……..all evening long! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!!

Along the way on Friday night, I goaded a few people into making their own skein of hand-dyed sock yarns. I hope they enjoyed the time spent in the back, splashing dye on things, making Sabrina’s office smell (that’s where the microwave is located), and watching vivid color emerge (I think the ladies did a GREAT job (hopefully they’ll share on Ravelry or personal blogs……hint hint hint). In the middle of it all, Helen (aka “High Helen” if you’ve been a LONG TIME reader of this blog) claims something guided her to the back of the shop, where we were dyeing. Then SHE got the dyeing bug and worked up a skein of sock-weight yarn and proceeded to move into spinning fiber. With her training in art and innate sense of color (she’s amazing at it–we miss her at the shop, as she used to work for us a few years ago), she created some amazing things in terms of a hank of sock yarn and two bumps of spinning fiber. However, we were there until 1:30 a.m. (which severely cut into my time to work on the blankie you see above…..and I wanted that bitch finished by Friday night). Being at the shop until 1:30 isn’t conducive to coming home and knitting, nor knitting the next morning, so it didn’t happen by Saturday morning. URGH!

However, Helen and I set some fiber to soak, along with multiple hanks of yarn, too. She was going to return on Saturday morning to take up the process again, this time with acid dyes from Gaywool (something we’re stocking again)–the previous evening’s dyeing was done with food-safe colorant, so we were moving down the learning curve into acid dyes. I got some quality knitting time in over the course of the morning and I have this lovely photo to share

STICK A FORK IN IT! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO! Finished project………..that means I can start four new ones, right (or is it three? I forget my own rule…..or am looking for an excuse to start even more!).

Truth is, I already cast on for a couple socks over the past week, as we had a meeting on Wednesday morning and the blanket was too large to bring with. Here’s my latest Monkey

in Prism Saki. It may turn out to be a surprise gift, so I’m not saying where it’s headed just yet. I also cast on for a “no thinking” sock, too

That’s a new colourway of Fortissima Mexico that will be available shortly…….so I always like to knit up a model sock ahead of time, so it can be on display when the yarn arrives. It’s also great movie knitting, so if we decide to go to a movie tonight (no major plans, but if), I’m set for in-the-dark knitting.

I did pull a project out of cryo-storage last night, too

My excuse for not working on it was that when I bound off at the waist, I repurposed the needle into other knitting (at TNNA, etc.) and had to wait until it was “free” to put it back into this project. All that remains are a few inches of sleeve (well, twice) and bands on the front and neck, so this should be an easy completion……which will allow me to start even MORE projects once it’s done. YES! If you’ve forgotten (it’s been several weeks since there was a sighting of this one in these parts), it’s the “Eyelet Cardi” by ChicKnits, done in Schulana Sojobama, a blend of bamboo and soy that’s uber-luscious and quite cool to the touch (great for the upcoming heat, no?). I hope to wrap this one up this week…….keep me legal, folks……goad me into making progress if you see me slacking or not being overly-faithful to it! If I am to get distracted, it’s probably going to be by this

as I have to reknit my Baby Surprise Jacket (something small about …… skipping part of the instructions in the yoke part……and it not assembling right….cough cough cough………OH LOOK, OVER THERE……..distraction…….

I have done some dyeing of late

that has been turned into finished skeins

and even some named to share with you here

that are still around and for sale. They’re on the “Rob’s Hand Dyed” base and are 490+ yards for $22.50. There were, last week, 45 other skeins on the table, but a few have sold (they were recapped on the NEW ARRIVALS blog last week). I’m out of base yarn (grey goods) again, and this time around I not only have my trusty two bases coming in again late in the week, but I hope to have two shipments coming of NEW bases from two different companies. We all like new bases!

OK–it’s 10 minutes until the shop opens today (Sundays, at noon) and I’m not showered yet. Gotta run, clean up, and get to work! Hopefully you will see more progress shots here soon, along wtih puppy pix, dyeing stuff, and other random silliness. Thanks for tuning in, even if I haven’t been very faithful!

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