The past couple of weeks have been pretty good ones for knitting; I've managed to add a few FOs to my list and make some headway on a few other projects. Here's what I've been up to:
- I knitted and felted three small totes in my eternal favorite, Lamb's Pride. I've improved upon the sheep design on the original Fiber Trends pattern, too. Instead of making the sheep out of a series of ovals, I created a sheep that looked more like the ones you'd see in primitive-style art. The design came out looking pretty sharp, if I do say so myself. The two totes in Blue Magic accompanied me to the Beardie Specialty and fetched some fair bids in the fundraising auction. (I like to think they both went to good homes.) The Old Sage tote is still awaiting needlefelting. It's destined to travel to British Columbia and begin life as my friend Ann's birthday present. (Yes, there will be photos of the green one. Wish I'd thought to photograph the blue ones before they went to the auction.)
- A friend of mine gave me a ball of Twisted Sisters Petite Voodoo in a stunning shade of blue. I didn't have enough of the yarn to make a pair of socks, but I did whip up a pouch for my iPod nano, including a pocket for the earphones and a neck strap.
- The cable scarf in Kureyon is nearly finished. I left it here at home because I had metal needles stuck in it. I used plastic and bamboo needles on the plane, and even then a few curious souls asked me whether I'd had trouble getting those through security. (I think I made one knitter's day when I mentioned Denise needles.)
Everybody who saw the felted totes went crazy for them, so I'll have a few of those in my queue for a while yet. My friend Jody (Charlie's breeder) picked out four skeins of Andes wool in color 10 (gold and green colorway)for me to knit for her tote, and the end result should be fabulous. The yarn knits up in "tiger stripes", and I hope they look as nifty after the bag has been felted.
By the way, if you're ever in Omaha and need something to knit, the city has some really good yarn shops. Jody's and my "shop crawl" took in only two of them, but the Yellow Pages revealed four or five that should be worth the visit. The Daily Knitter's directory shows three good shops in Omaha.
We loved Touche on Maple Street in the Benson district of Omaha. The shop was minuscule, but its owner (who is also a fiber artist, designer, and spinner as well as a Collie person -- sorry to have forgotten her name) has managed to cram plenty of beautiful yarns and eye-catching shop models into that small space. Jody picked up the Andes there. I would have bought some space-dyed super-bulky wool, but I was worried about how much of it would fit in my overweight suitcase for the trip home, and I wanted all of it.
String of Purls on Shamrock Road is a positive feast for the eyes! All the yarns there are arranged by color family, with the multicolored Lorna's Laces and Noro yarns right in the front. The shop is so beautiful I suffered from overload; I honestly couldn't figure out what things to pick out from the gorgeous displays to bring home! I did end up selecting several bags of colored roving for needlefelting, and Robin (the owner), seeing my response to the sheer onslaught of color, brought me the third Sally Melville book to feast upon. I went there looking for a few skeins of Brown Sheep, but I wanted to buy the entire store. It was just too beautiful for me!
Oh, and I have already put the new iPod to good use by listening to KnitCast. It's nice to hear the voices of the folks whose blogs and Web sites I've been following all this time, and to hear the stories behind their stories. I particularly got a chuckle over Amy Singer's discussion of how the "Sex and the Knitty" issue of Knitty came together. (No, I've never quite managed to knit one of those red licorice thongs using chopsticks. I keep munching on the yarn!)
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