Froggy froggy

Ok, pulled out one sweater in process -- Eliz Lavold silky wool green -- lovely sweater, would look awful on me and I'm sort of stuck anyway. So, not brave enough to frog without a safety net, I went to Lucy Lee's today and found another use for the lovely yarn, and just have frogged the sweater except for the celtic knots at the bottom which might become a hat if there's enough yarn left. So, add to stash, reduce UFO's. Very good. Meanwhile, I'm working along on a quick afghan in Encore for Jacki's baby who I plan to see after Easter. And I'm off to do writing alternating with Celtic cross cross stitch.

Is it spring yet?

Just keeping up with what's done knit-wise. Now I've finished blue, white and pink scarves, swing coat, Prism sweater except for shoulder pads and buttons (which I seem to have lost). Wigwam shawl is on the blocking board, it's so big I have to block it by haves and I'm very curious how it will drape when it's done. I also got the E Zimmerman workshop tapes from the library o-- watched tape 1 and made a cute hat either for Afghanastan or for me -- but the knit in design was easy as was the decreasing, so now I can finally make a hat. I'm back to the learn to knit afghan and need to get more yarn for it. And i bought yarn at Wild and Wooly yesterday for a sweet baby afghan Jacki's baby. Will probably do the same in a different color for Amy's this summer. I want to get the shapely tee back OTN so I can work on it while I watch movies at Newbury this afternoon. Still haven't figured out how to get photos up on the site.....

Emily's Home!

Emily is home for a few days for spring break. Great to have her here! She loves the afghan. I love that I actually got it finished. We have to take it over to show Lisa at Creative Warehouse today. Also finished one Guatemala sock except for the kitchener toes. Used the Hobo bag yesterday -- the lady in the diner loved it.

Real Progress!

Well, this procrastinators' craftalong is proving to be a great inspiration for me to finish things, and more to the point, not to start new ones. So..... let's see, I've finished (and worn) the blue scarf from Lavish Lace, and the pink and gray horseshoe lace scarf, very very soft, but strange to have a right and wrong side in a scarf. And the cashmere "cat's paw" lace scarf is sitting waiting for soaking and blocking. It feels great to have these three more lace pieces done. The cashmere has been OTN for several years (since '04, I think). It's very interesting that the fabric made with the same yarn, pattern and needles, is much looser in the portion I've done now. Alice points out it's all about learning to make (and be comfortable with) lace.

This has been an opportunity to see how fickle I really am, and how much more I am a "starter" than a "finisher". I must have not started 10 projects in this couple of weeks -- knit, crochet and fabric. So, I've gotten a ton of books out of the library on all of these subjects! And that's been fun. Also found a Kaffe Fasset video which was neat -- of course made me want to try intarsia....

So it's on to the two pairs of started socks. One pair has been OTN for a while, the others (pink mixture) I began in Guatemala and that's what I'm working on now.

March 5

Busy day yesterday on the computer front. I upgraded to the new Blogger, which has let me put lists on the blog, and hopefully I'll figure out how to get buttons (KAL's, etc.) on too. Also found craft site with a great "craftalong" for procrastinators to publish and finish ufo's. It's 63 pages long (the thread that is). So I took a deep breath and confessed my sins (which added up to the 30 UFO's I could remember while I was sitting there) and published it. When I surfed the site later, I realized this was the longest list on the blog. Do people REALLY only have 5 or 6 UFO's??? What world do they live in? What world do I live in? Oh, well...It felt good to get them out there.

Today I should finish the crocheted hobo bag (with yarn Alice re-gifted me, it was her Knit-Out doorprize last fall) -- LIFO (once a bookkeeper, always a bookkeeper, I guess). I'm thinking it would benefit from some kind of binding around the edge of the straps, so I'll try a knit on I-cord, and see if I can make that work.

And I'm wearing the Cherry Hill swing jacket which in fact only needed to have a thread cut (though blocking would be good). I'll try to get a picture up tonight.

So, maybe two down and 28+ to go.

March already

Haven't been on for a while. I went to Guatemala in early February with CCIMT -- a medical mission group from my area. It's something I've wanted to do for years and really glad to be able to go. I am now trained to do rural medicine exams for eyeglasses (mostly reading). It was great to help people see again -- 'was blind but now I see' -- hey, you can't beat that.

On the home front - massage school is done and now i've got to study for licensing exam. I'm thinking I'll look for a space to sublet in my area and try to develop a small practice with knitters, spinners, weavers, stitchers and musicians.

Vocationally, I am in serious conversation about a job that will be 15 hours a week until next winter, then full time to cover a sabbatical through the summer, then over but with a continuing relationship with the institution. that's perfect for me, and I hope it all works out It will start sometime between April and July.

In the meantime, I'm still doing the school job -- not teaching til fall but advising, counseling, doing some program work and running my charity knitting project.

All this means I have a little more free time -- and want to use it to get through projects underway and move forward with more freeform fiber work of various kinds. I started scrumbling yesterday and I see addiction on the horizon! Pictures soon.