LMKG Chevron Scarf, and CT Fiber Festival

Did you know that there is a Fiber Festival in Connecticut? It's a fraction of the size of Rhinebeck or MD, but still fun. That's where first met up with other bloggers. Karen, of Musings of a (Mostly) Self-Taught Knitter, and Pea, her DH, as well as a host of others. Well, it's getting to be that time again! This year's festival is on Saturday, April 28th in Vernon (just east of Hartford), which is just 4 weeks from today. I'm sure there will be the usual blogger lunch, and this time I'll be ready with food to share. I may be able to convince DH to join me, as there will be spinning.

The chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts has drawn a lot of attention since someone figured out to use Socks That Rock in complementary colorways. (Check out the Flickr group). The scarf is gorgeous, but I didn't want a wool scarf for the upcoming warmer weather. A post on the Lime & Violet message board sent me to the Etsy store of Myrrhwood Farms. They have a cotton/rayon blend that is beautiful, and should knit up nicely for a summer scarf. There are two skeins in the picture; I'm hoping there's enough variation for the scarf to be interesting to knit.

At long last - knitting content!

Well, I managed to finish one Monkey sock, and almost finish the ribbing of the second. I love the flashes of turquoise in the Wild Things colorway - it doesn't show up unless the light is right. I've decided to finish the Monkey socks, then try the STR club yarn. I'm leery of the pattern - all that talk of 0000 needles and multiple froggings. Courtney of yarn tootin' used the RPM pattern from knitty, so I may try that.

My thumb gets tired after 10 minutes of knitting, so frequent breaks are required. I also have to pay attention, because mindless knitting leads to too much pressure on my left thumb, and I'll be right back where I started. In the meantime, I have half a warp wound, with the intent of weaving cotton dishclothes in a waffle weave. I will be very happy if I can get the loom set up this weekend.

St Patrick's Day Snowstorm

After a brief glimpse of spring, look what we got for St Patrick's Day! It's hard to tell from the picture, but we have over one foot of snow with an icy crust. Excuse my meager attempt to make it green - anything darker than this didn't work too well.

My thumb is feeling much better, and I was able to knit a few rounds on Monkey last night. One more pattern repeat and I'll do the toe decreases.  Two weeks is a long time to go without knitting!  My goal for this weekend is to finish the first Monkey sock, cast on for the second and wind the warp for the big loom.

Since I'm not going anywhere.

Not knitting

One of many problems with not knitting is nothing to blog about.  I'll try to post about knitting withdrawal at some point, but it's rather painful.  In the meantime, I'm working on a warp for cotton dishtowels.  I found a waffle-weave draft at www.handweaving.net, and figured out how I want the stripes to run.  Tomorrow's activity is to wind the warp.  On the plus side, my thumb is much better, so the inactivity is helping.  In an effort to have something to post, the following meme is taken from Karen.  

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read,
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) read it several times
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) I have a copy, haven't started it yet.
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible - not all of it, but a lot.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) - in French!
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I've read more on this list than I originally thought - guess that's a good thing!  Nothing terribly recently - need to work on that.

I'm hoping to try knitting again in a few days, if I don't try tonight.  The cause of the problem seems to be my keyboard posture at work; I lean on my left arm/thumb while working.  If I can knit for a bit, maybe I'll stop twitching!

Knitter down!

Here's my little haul from the LYS on Friday night - I don't think the Tofutsies will take too long to sell! The pink will make great summer socks, something lacy. The brownish will be interesting - not sure what to do with it yet, but love the colors. The yellow is a great new baby yarn, and may be effective against SAD.

Now for my bad news. I've had tendonitis in my left elbow for a couple of weeks, along with in the joint of my left thumb. I've tried to knit without using my thumb to push the stitch off the needle, but it's hard. Since the discomfort (really a constant ache) isn't getting better, I've decided to stop knitting for a week or so. It's probably due to poor keyboard practices at work, so off to Medical in the morning to try and get some relief.

The silver lining to this cloud is weaving seems to be okay, so time to get the loom set up and make some dishclothes.

Lime & Violet Yarn Pr0n Exchange Survey

I decided not to join Secret Pal 10 - things are amazingly hectic at work. The L&V exchange is for a shorter period of time, so that's the bandwagon for this spring.

1. What kind of fibers do you prefer? Natural fibers, especially the new stuff that's out there - bamboo, soy, corn, shellfish, etc.
2. What kind of weight do you prefer (sock, worsted, bulky)? Now that spring is around the corner, I'm liking the thinner and lighter weights - sock, lace, whatever is the next weight up from sock.
2a. Color preferences - jewel tones - blue, green, purple, dark red.
3. Do you spin? No.
4. Do you crochet? No.
5. Are there any books, patterns, magazines would you like to own that you don't? I've been eying Lace Style, and Interweave's Favorite Socks.
6. Are you participating in any themed a-longs like the Project Spectrum? I have some L&V yarn from Lisa Souza, but haven't started knitting that yet.
7. Do you have a wishlist on Amazon.com or Half.com? (provide a link) Yes, though it's out of date. Wish List.
8. Any Etsy stores that you would love to get something from? Too many to list.
9. What other crafty things are you involved in (quilting, drawing, painting)? Weaving.
10. What is your favorite sort of scent? lavender
11. Do you have a sweet tooth and what kind of sweets do you like best? Dark chocolate. Coconut. Mint.
12. What kind of music do you like? Alternative rock, various bands from my youth. Texas, Roxy Music, Queen, Erasure, Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark.
13. What do you like to knit? And for whom? I knit mostly for myself, though made lots of presents at Christmas.
14. What sort of things do you like to collect? I'd like to get some fun stitch markers.
15. Do you want needles? And what kind do you prefer? I'm okay with needles.

Tonight was Knitting Guild, and my LYS just got in some Tofutsies. Pictures to follow some time this weekend.