The Lion and the Lamb

This and That

Sorry for the length of time between posts. I actually did everything on by blog but post last night. I started a membership with Blogrolling, and added a few links to my list, but couldn't get that list over to my blog! I'm sure that, once you're successful, it seems easy and obvious, but for now, in the immortal words of Cathy, AAAAK.

Today, I went to the monthly Sunday Tea at the LYS, Two Sisters and Ewe. I've decided to start on its Block of the Month Club at long last. Here it is, the end of March, and I'm still on January's block (about halfway through). Since the blocks are twelve inches square, I figure that if I knit even an inch each day, I'll be caught up by the end of April. At least, I'll have April's in progress. However, I do hope to make quicker progress than that.

I know, what about the projects for Stitches from the Heart? That's the beauty of it. I plan to donate my Block of the Month Afghan to them. I may even make and donate two, one bright and one pastel. I've made at least half a dozen little hats for Stitches since my last post, and my mind's starting to wander back to my other projects and projects to be, but I did make a promise. I've also counted about fifteen hats and a couple of sweaters I've made over the year. What I can't find is the baby afghan I was working on at the time of the last Stitches tea. But I may have donated it to the Red Cross at the time of the fires last October.

My cats' territories

Before I headed to work this morning, I saw my large tabby, Booger, staring disconsolately at "her" sofa, where her small Munchkin "sister," Scarlett peacefully slept. Now, although Booger is about twice Scarlett's size, she will often back down during any confrontations. This time, however, she took back some of her own, and went over to sit on Scarlett's scratch pad. Could she be slowly, but surely, getting bolder?

New Goals

I've finished the socks I'd been working on, and I've moved them to the "Recently Completed" list, and I'll soon have pictures. One thing about not having a digital camera, is that I have to wait to finish and develop the roll before I can post the pix. But I should have an explosion of pictures soon. And one of these days, I may reward myself with a digital camera, and my readers with instant gratificaions!

Now my goal for the next few weeks is to complete as many baby items as possible. Mostly I'll do hats, but I may break out the knitting machine and make one or two sweaters and/or afghans. I know, I know, that's cheating, and it isn't real knitting! Actually, I'll never find machine knitting as relaxing as hand knitting and crocheting. However, it is convenient to break out occasionally, when there is a haste to a project, or a certain project becomes more about the end result than the process (e.g., a gift for a rapidly approaching birthday). I'll probably find it also works well when December rolls around (my first post-knitting machine Christmas), and I have several projects to finish at once (as I do for the tea).

Stitches from the Heart

I've now found another reason to deviate from my goal (of not beginning any new projects until I've cleared my "Current Projects" list. But I think it is a good one: I just received--and accepted--an invitation to the upcoming Stitches from the Heart tea in my area. This reminded me of all the baby projects I meant to make for this organization, and let go by the wayside the past year. Although I can send the projects to the main organizer, Kathy, as I go, I find it easier to bring them to the teas. And, although I have several hats, a couple of sweaters, and at least one blanket, I feel it pales compared to what I meant to have. So for the next month or so, I will make a few more baby hats to take to the tea. I'm not sure I have time for another sweater or blanket, and the newsletter I received said they didn't need booties as much as the other items. Today I bought a couple of skeins of wool yarn to make felted hats, and I have plenty of baby and worsted yarn for more hats.

I will, however, finish the lacy blue socks before I start the baby projects. Within the past week, I've finished one sock and gotten past the more complicated part of the other (the lace cuffs and the turning of the heel). So it's smooth sailing from here; I should finish it early next week, maybe even this weekend.

I have now felted the marsupial bag and the slippers, so I can now move the slippers from the "Current Projects" list to the "Recently Completed Projects" (yay!). They are still drying, but there is no more work for me to do on the slippers. The bag, I now consider 99% done, because I still need to sew on snaps after it dries.

What I may put aside for until the tea is the cat bed. Booger (the intended recipient) is a very intelligent kitty, but I doubt she realizes that bed is for her (especially since it doesn't yet resemble one). So I doubt she'd mind waiting a few extra weeks for it. :) And, since I haven't picked up the Summer Stripes afghan for a few months, it can wait another.

Everwood

This post is a few weeks belated, because I didn't have a blog when the episode aired, but...

I finished my slippers (except the felting) and picked up my socks again. The yarn label brought me back to the 2/23/04 episode of Everwood (where 16-year-old Efraim goes to a bar to hear his older girlfriend sing). On hearing Efraim's plans to go the bar, his friend Bright dragged him kicking and screaming (well, protesting anyway) into the local yarn shop, and asked for Regia sock yarn. Instead of getting the yarn, the owner ushered the boys into a back room, where she had a whole set-up to make fake ID's! Apparently, the fake ID ring was more lucrative than the yarn shop front.

I had to wonder, though, why the owner used a real brand of yarn as her code. With the recent popularity of knitting, I can easily see a teenager going in there to actually buy yarn for socks! And if any undercover narcs ever come to Everwood High School, that shop owner better hope they don't like to knit in their spare time. ;)

Hello

Here is my first post, and I'm not sure whether to jump right in with my projects, or to set the background first, so i'll do the latter. I currently have several projects going, though I see from other knitting blogs that this is not at all uncommon.

On the front burner I have a cat bed, made of Lion Brand Wool-Ease and Fun Fur (as seen in the book Stitch 'n' Bitch). The top part of it is perfect to take to work, because it's simple enough to knit while my mind is on my job. I have decided, however, to make a second bottom and layer them for more cushioning than the original pattern. In the book, it shows the cat bed on carpeting, but if it's to go on a tile floor, it may need a little more softness.

My other two "active" projects are both felted. On is the Marsupial Bag, also in Stitch 'n' Bitch. I've finished the knitting on that one, but still need to felt it. The other is a pair of slippers from "Knit It!" magazine by Better Homes and Gardens. On that one, I need only to sew the sole on one slipper, then felt it. I'll post "Before" and "After" pictures of both.

I have two projects on the back burner also. Both were started at least 3 months ago, but were put on hold for a machine-knit Knicks sweater, which needed to be made quickly for a birthday present. By the time that sweater was done, I'd bought Stitch 'n' Bitch and been introduced to felting, and was eager to try "just one quick project" (which turned into three) before picking up the old familiars.

One of these "on hold" projects is a pair of lacy socks, made with light blue Regia sock yarn. The other is a Mile-a-Minute Crochet 'n' Weave afghan by Annie's Attic. But I promise, as soon as I finish the felted slippers, and cat bed, I'll pick these projects up again, before starting on anything else (Really!) :)

"Anything else" includes two projects I have yet to start. One is a sweater/jacket I promised my brother's mother-in law. The other is a pair of sock with autumn-colored Shaffer Little Lola yarn. I won a kit with the yarn and the pattern at a "Girlz Night" at the local knitting store. "Anything else" also includes a "block of the month" club sponsored by the same knitting store. Each month, they give out a different knitting pattern (or two), and instructions on how to make a 12" square. At the end of the year, the blocks can be put together to make a sampler afghan. But here it is, March, and I haven't even begun. At this rate, I'll be making the entire afghan in December!