Yarn, Interrupted

In preparation for the Spin-to-Knit yarn exchange, I returned to the wheel over the weekend, after a very long hiatus. Guess which holiday inspired this:
I had spun about half of the top before Halloween. The rest had to wait patiently for me to find time to finish it. This is 4 oz of superwash merino, dyed (bright bright bright) orange with koolaid and brown with icing dye. The final yardage is approximately 106 yards. Next up will be the roving for my swap pal. I had a bit of a rough start:
but after much swearing, I think I'm on track. I'd like to show the yarn in progress, but why spoil the surprise?

On the knitting front, I'm working on a Charlotte's Web shawl in Noro Iro (thank you Secret Pal!) Yes, it's lace for the lazy, but pretty none the less:
I'm also working on a Robin Hood Jacket for Jersey Baby:
The pattern is from Adorable Knits for Tots and it's knit in the recommended yarn, Rowan Cork. It's pretty nice stuff, though I don't know how Jersey Mama's going to react to the whole "hand-wash" issue. Oh well, I guess there's always dry cleaning :)

Mad as a Hatter

Ok, here are the hats I've knit....



and here are the guests we have....





and here's the only one getting any sleep....

Year of the Bard?

I'm so excited about Shakespeare in Washington! Six months of plays, lectures, ballets, and other Shakespeare-related stuff. Ok, so it's more like "Half Year of the Bard." I'm hoping to get tickets to the free Twelfth Night performance at the Kennedy Center (on Twelfth Night too, no less!). If I'm not too broke in the spring, maybe I'll splurge and see the Royal Shakespeare Company do Coriolanus.

I finished a scarf:
and I joined the stranded knit along. The plan is to (eventually) knit up the lovely Bea Ellis hat from the kit that my wonderful SP7 Liz sent me. I was too chicken to try it, until now. How did I grow a spine, you ask? Since school is done, I have time to attend the knitting group at work again. Last week, one of the knitters was showing everyone a Fair Isle sweater she was making. Oh my gosh was it beautiful! She showed us pattern books and how to work with a strand in each hand, and I was just smitten. For practice, I made the Center Square hat from the new Knitty:
Here's the inside:
This is a great intro to stranding project, with thick yarn and a short and easy pattern. I'll definately be making more!

Dear Tivo

Tivo, I really want to love you. Really. But it's just not working out. I admit, some of it's my fault. I'm complicated. I have cable and satellite, and that's tough on any DVR. I know you try to accomodate them both, but you get so confused, which makes me confused. I ask you to record something from the satellite, you promise to do it, but end up recording the cable channel instead. Maybe I'm asking too much, but you let me down when it comes to the small stuff too. Take channel changing for instance. No, it's not because you need those IR extension thingies - you know looks don't mean anything to me. You have so much trouble finding my local stations. Yeah, they're all the way in the upper 900s, and that's DirecTV's problem, not yours. But it's not like they're on Mars or something. Plus, there've been plenty of times when you switch to the wrong station and just won't let go. Believe me, it's no picnic having to sit through 5 minutes of the fantabulous jewelry spectavaganza on the home shopping channel while I try to convince you that this is not a good place to be.

You're such a nice box, Tivo. Your onscreen menus and remote are intuitive and well-designed. Don't ever let anyone tell you that your bubbly sounds aren't cute. And you network well too. (I know my computer said some unkind things because your Tivo Desktop software kept making him crash at shutdown, as if he needed a reason to spontaneously reboot.) Anyway, you don't need a wanna-be-techie-geek like me criticizing you for every little thing. You deserve to be happy and I know you'll find someone who'll appreciate your best qualities.

Mia

Wrapping Up

To mark the year's end, I present finished objects:
Yes, more stripey scarves in the round! The one on the left is made from 2 balls of Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the color Lumberjack (and I'm OK! I sleep all night and I work all day!). The one on the right is made from two balls of Regia. It's 4-ply I think. I've already forgotten the color.

As soon as those came off the needles, these went on:
It Magic Stripes and Trekking XXL, respectively. I know I've bitched about them before, but now I can't stop making these scarves. Those little Addi Turbos are terrible enablers. They just keep going round and round and round....

Another Box!

'Tis the season for boxes! Not that I'm complaining - I love getting mail, especially yarn-related mail. Jinann sent me a surprise present, with even more individually-wrapped presents inside! Unwrapping revealed these beauties:
Two skeins of Gypsy Girl and a skein of Socks that Rock, all in lovely shades of green! Plus, Jinann included the pattern for the "Pretty Petals" socks she knitted up over the summer. Thanks, Jinann!