avoidance

i restarted the 3 color tunisian in hope that a sample hanging at abuelita's will attract a class. it's now close to 6 feet long and i'm on my second set of noro skeins. my wrist got a little overused so i used that opportunity to return to knitting and finish up a few things.

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when i was in colorado, i got all but 14 handle rows done (under 100 stitches) and 2 kitcheners done on this knitty french market bag. this time, i followed the measurements given in the pattern, but still doubled the worsted weight yarn and used size 13 needles like i did on my last one. as a result, this one is smaller but just as useful! the fair isle pattern i grabbed (and modified slightly) from the 2 at a time socks book.
after felting:have you seen ysolda's wee owl? thing 1 has a harry potter theme birthday party to go to, so i thought this would be cute as a little package decoration.
finally, my latest lace sampler bag. i started off again with the blueberry stitch from nancy bush's knitted lace of estonia, then did several rounds of y/o k2tog, then several rounds of the filet stitch i did on my green blueberry filet. then 1 round of k1, y/o, one round of knit, dropping the y/o's, then back to the looser round. i found a lace pattern i wanted to try, and here's the result -- a sturdy, good-looking grocery bag!

pretty productive avoidance, wouldn't you say?! ;-)

mrs. lear's leaf

i faithfully follow the runcible bin (you can see it on my list to the right), and have been watching her delightful short-row experiment with kitchen cotton and a leaf-shaped dishcloth. yesterday she offered a pattern, i jumped on it, and here's the result!

isn't it fun? i have not done much with short rows so it took me a bit to understand the shorthand; i also had kids running around while i was doing it so it may not look exactly right. but i used up some stash i didn't like for the veining -- that came out even better than i had hoped, and modified the stem the tiniest bit so that the light green would come out on the edge. i have no idea why that was important to me ;-) but it was! and luckily i guessed right on the early bind-off. if you double-click on the pictures, you will see them larger and in more detail.

back to the tunisian crochet -- yes, i started another one in hopes of attracting a class to teach at abuelita's. it looks gorgeous, but my wrist hurts -- the motion is a lot more repetitive than knitting for me. time to suck it up and git 'er done!

time for some chemistry

anyone else do this? i mix the baking soda and borax in equal parts. i use a tablespoon of the concoction in the dishwasher with half of the normal liquid cascade (or whatever) and a scoop in the washer instead of oxiclean.

i feel quite thrifty!

necessity is the mother of invention, or ...

...i am the macgyver of knitting.

i wanted to try this tunisian crochet 3 color technique i saw. isn't that amazing? doesn't that say noro to you? it did to me!

i made a little afghan YEARS (read 20?) ago using the afghan stitch/tunisian crochet so have a hook somewhere. well, finding it was going to involve turning more stuff upside down than i wanted to do, so here's what i did:
voila! duct tape and a cork -- instant afghan hook! i knew all that wine would do me some good ;-)

i live in a white house

but look how red/orange the light is this morning with all the smoke...

looking east at 7:30 this morning.

bye bye zg

tibetan monks painstakingly and patiently creating a mandala at the aspen chapel:

here we are trying to take it in without sneezing or startling anyone:

annual team photo at maroon bells, featuring me trying to learn about my new camera's self-timer:

color(ado) days

captured on red to yellow and everything in between day:

columbine

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honeysuckle
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the humble pansy