Friday, January 6, 2012

Happy Birthday Beautiful Boy

My oldest son turned four on New Years Day. I can't believe he's already four years old.


He has many redeeming qualities. One of his best character traits is that he knows how to receive a hand knit gift properly; he puts it on, caresses it and immediately starts dancing. I love that kid.


Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A New Year a New Found Love

My love for all things wooly hit a bit of speed bump earlier this year. I had a serious case of fiber festival fatigue. The sight of yarn made me queasy. Thankfully, sometime around September the stash began to call out to me again. The lovely naturally dyed indigo/woad mittens that I posted about last spring are finished and warming my hands.


I wasn't planning to knit any Christmas gifts, but somewhere around the 20th of December my inner knitter took over and the mittens, scarves and hats started to pour off of my needles. The damn has burst and there is no looking back. Mittens, scarves, blankets, a skirt, hats and several cowls have just flown off of the needles. My UFOs are going before the death panel. Finish or be frogged is the mantra. There was a small fiber arts stash sale and I sent two laundry tubs full of yarn off to find new homes. There's no room in my stash for slackers.

In an effort to use up some of the smaller amounts of stash yarn I've decided to knit up a couple of pairs of bulky boot socks. I don't love sock knitting, but I do love think warm wooly socks. These are a pair called "Aran Socks" from the book "Country Weekend Socks" by Madeline Weston.


They aren't charted and so it was slow going for the first repeat of the cable, but now I'm cranking along at a respectable pace. The yarn is "Not Your Average Washable Worsted" by "J Knits". I'm a little on the fence about superwash wool, but this stuff is pretty nice. I'm knitting them at a slightly tighter gauge to try and make up for the extra elasticity that superwash usually has. The colorway is called "wheeling" and it reminds me of a snow sky. There's some very subtle variegation in the dyeing. It's a good match for this pattern.

Looking back on this past year I'd have to say that the knitting highlights were spending a weekend hanging out with Ysolda Teague, dyeing my own yarn with plants from the woods around our home, getting a handmade needle case from a dear friend and teaching my brother's wonderful girlfriend how to knit. She's a natural.

All in all, it was a very good year.