Putting the blog app on my iPad did not make it any easier for me to update here after all. This semester was incredibly busy, and I just couldn't make myself sit down at a computer to write anything that I didn't absolutely have to write. But I do have a few things to report. First, and sadly, I received word that a dear friend passed away in June. I heard this news just in time to put together a Dia de los Muertos offrenda and to include her, front and center. She would have really liked that.
I've done a fair amount of knitting, too, while I was so busy. Here I have a picture of my Dragon Cowl, which I made with yarn that The Amazing A--- gave me last Christmas. I finished it in October, and have worn it a few times already. It's soft and warm and goes with everything. If I were to do it again, I'd make this in a single color, or a tonal yarn.
I also continued my crochet jag that began last spring, and I'm about one-fourth (or less) of the way through making this shawl. On Ravelry, this is the German Scalloped Triangle, because the original directions are in German. I'm alternating two different colors of KnitPicks Chroma yarn, and so far I like it. However, if I were to do it again, I'd probably stick to one color of Chroma, or choose a single tonal yarn. Some of the prettiest examples on Ravelry are in oceany blues.
Beside these projects, I finished that knitalong shawl that I started in June; there's no photograph because I haven't blocked it yet, and unblocked it's pretty unremarkable. I have almost completed the knitting for a felted messenger bag -- that one only lacks a skein of yarn for me to finish it. I bought the original yarn at the Brown Sheep factory store and the color was a "second." So far, no store has stocked the standard version of this color, and I don't want to make a color change into a "design element" because I've found that different colors shrink and felt at different rates. I've looked in yarn stores in three states and haven't found it yet; this might be a case for an online order. Here it is; it's caslled "Sumburst Gold" and it really is a lovely, orangey yellow. I can't imagine why every single store in the country wouldn't carry it.
The plan is to make a bag that can carry my meeting notepad, some pens, and maybe my calendar when I have to leave my office for meetings across campus. I've wanted a felted messenger bag for years, so it's hard to be so close and have to wait.
Here's the Winter Dreams Cowl designed by The Amazing A-- and test-knitted by me. She finally published the pattern so I can show it to you now.
The crocheting went really quickly, so fast that I almost immediately bought enough KnitPicks Chroma Worsted to make another one for myself in icy colors (blues with whites and greens) as the main color -- the one that undulates. For the contrasting color, which forms the narrow bands between the undulations, I wanted a pale, shiny yarn like Boboli, and I found the perfect color just a few days ago. When the Emperor and I get back from our holiday sojurn to my sister's place, I'll be able to begin work on it.
While out on the road, I visited my friends (including The Amazing A--) in my old hometown Way Out West. While in my favorite yarn store, I found Misti Alpaca Chunky on the sale table! Now I can make a pair of Foot Ovens (a la the Yarn Harlot) for the Emperor and myself, mottled brown for him and pink for me. I also picked up two balls of Opal sock yarn in the Little Prince colorway. I won't need to look for sock yarn at all in the coming year, as I now have four balls of Opal stockpiled, and at the rate I've been knitting them, I'm set for a while.
I'm hoping that I'll contract my yearly case of finishitis and get a bunch of projects done soon. Meanwhile, I hope all of my readers (all two of you) have a happy and productive 2014!
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