Hi gang. I’m not a terribly good blogger (let’s just say that html code boggles my mind), and since I can’t store things on my work computer, I can’t really do things like post pictures and such. But I do like the idea of journaling and keeping track of projects on-line, so with that in mind, I’m going to try and stay on top of the blog.
And on top of my “no sugar” diet. I’ve decided to try to cut something “easy” out of my diet–extra refined sugar. So no cookie snacks, no dessert, no ice cream, no sugar in my coffee, etc. And so far it’s really working for me. In three weeks I’ve cut and kept off 8 pounds. The next step will be to pay more attention to portion sizes. One of my biggest downfalls is loading up my plate, and then feeling compelled to finish everything on it. No more. I don’t have to feel stuffed to feel satisfied, dammit!
And back to spinning and knitting. The Louisville Stitch, Bitch, Show, Tell and Teach (SBSTT) group finished spinning and plying all the yarn for the group shawl project, and then Viki Worley (vworley1@juno.com) cast on and started knitting the center square on doublepoints. We ended up going with size 11 needles after doing a bunch of swatches–and from the way the fabric is knitting up, I think we made exactly the right choice. Note: why is it that there’s such a huge difference between ten and a half needles and elevens? Haven’t quite figured that out. Anyway, after we got started using two needles instead of the doublepoints, we decided to do a feather and fan pattern for the shawl. So after wrapping our brains around which needles knit, which ones increased, and which ones knit the pattern, we’re going along at a good clip now with four circular needles, which means four of us work on the shawl at a time.
Tuesday night (May 13) we knit four complete rows (each knitter completed a single row, which meant that four total were completed). One of the nice things about the way the pattern works out with four knitters is that one person always knits the pattern, and the person opposite always knits the increases. The other two people just plain knit all the way around. It’s great because that way a person with virtually any level of knitting skill can participate. The person knitting the pattern stitch has the greatest disadvantage, though, because it’s much slower to do all those YOs and K2Togs.
Right now the shawl is about two feet across from side to side. We decided that we’d stop when Anita (anita@thefiberartist.com) could stretch out on top of the shawl without any of her hanging over the edge. I’ll definitely get a picture of that!
Spinning
I’ve been spinning some cashmere/silk blend that Viki gave me for my birthday on my Bosworth mini. I really like the way it’s turning out, and can’t wait to choose another lace pattern to do a small shawl. The way the silk scarf I did for the Sheepthrills Silk Scarf exchange turned out was fantastic, and I’m hoping that this one from the blend is even better. I did Narrow Catspaw for the exchange. I’ll have to look and see what I want to do for the next one. I liked just having the six-row repeat–easily memorized and eventually somewhat mindless. More than that might be too difficult to keep track of since I only get to knit in such small bursts. We’ll see how it turns out.
OK, time to post this and get back to work. Also need to figure out where the blog went, since when I clicked on the link it didn’t show anything except the blogger heading. Time to apply a new template, perhaps?
–Annie