Hey, Look! A Proper Blog Entry!

Ok! Back to business, people. Let me tell you about the little knitting I’ve been doing. After seeing the Palindrome pattern on Rabbitch’s site, I thought that it was the perfect pattern for my llama yarn and a perfect way to get my knitting mojo back. Unfortunately it is not very photogenic, as demonstrated below.

I am happy with this pattern even if my gauge makes it on the narrow side. I figure it will be good for wrapping my neck and face up when the wind is whipping off of Lake Champlain. This project is going to be my on-the-side project for when I’m bored or right before bed. I think I do that with a lot of MY projects, verses the attention I give to knitting projects for other people. Which brings me to the Jaywalkers I started last night. I have yet to knit a pair of Jaywalkers AND I’m using Lorna’s Laces for the first time – whoo hoo! I started out with the larger size and I think they will be too big, so I’m going to rip out the tiny bit that I’ve got so far and start again. The real problem is that I’m feeling guilty about knitting for myself. I like giving useful gifts for the winter holidays, not bits of crap that the person doesn’t need. I like giving socks and feel that I can give just one pair of socks to someone and they don’t need more. The whole handmade gift thing reduces the amount you have to give, in my opinion. Handmade gifts require so much time and thought that I hope the recipient can understand and appreciate when they receive such lovely gifts. So far I have two pairs of socks that are finished and ready for the holidays. I’m thinking now would be a good time to stop knitting Jaywalkers for me and start knitting fancy socks for my friends/family. So…perhaps I’ll just put them down for now…

 

Speaking of gifts….look at what arrived in the mail for me on Thursday, all the way from New Mexico!

 

I love this bag! My friend, who will soon be a super famous singer-lady, sent it to me for an early solstice/winter holiday gift. I had just spent some time whining about how much I miss my friends who live all over the country/world and how I missing picking up the phone and saying “yo, bitch. want to meet me at the cafe and drink some tea?”, or something like that. I’ve picked up and moved many times and have had the opportunity to meet some amazing and lovely people…but then I leave, or they leave, or both, and we find ourselves spending hours on the phone instead of hours at the cafe. So, this is all a long-winded way to say that I miss my friends. And I miss my singer-lady friend. And I’m so happy to keep in touch with such good people. [sigh]

 

On a less melancholy note, I wanted to show a picture of the box I sent to my Vegan Pal!

Well, it didn’t quite look like this as I found that I couldn’t fit everything into the box I had once I put together my recipes. So I ended up sending a less pretty version of this package, but I hope my Pal likes it! This swapping thing is fun and I enjoyed shopping for both my Tea and Vegan Pals.

 

I think that’s it for now. I’m going to go sift through my yarn chest and see what gifts I’m going to make (and try not to start that tweed sweater I’ve been thinking about…).