Not only that, it was pretty darn tasty.

Wouldja look at the total for Heifer donations? Over $4600! In my head I had set a goal of hopefully raising $5000 and it looks like not only is that do-able, it is also surpass-able! Can I have a “woo!” and a “hoo?”

The first of the weekly prize drawings will be held on Tuesday, November 14 and announced in my Tuesday blog entry. There are some extremely nice prizes listed on the prize page. Just sayin’.

Fiber Stuff

I have done a bit of work on Elizabeth I, but not a whole lot.

This is the start of the front. There’s a way to go before the center panel starts.

I have been spending some time spinning the Lisa Souza BFL roving that’s been on my wheel for a while. I’m pleased to report that it is now spun and plied.

Here’s what the roving looked like:

And here’s the resulting yarn:

It’s about sport/fingering weight.

I’ve got about 360 yards.

I’m thinking I’ll knit Susan Lawrence’s beautiful Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl from this — it takes 350 yards.

Lucy sez:

Why anyone would voluntarily put wasabi on perfectly good fish is beyond me. Just sayin’.

Just . . .wow.

I am just gobsmacked by the total so far in our Heifer project. You all should pat yourselves on the back . . . several times. And then some more, please.

A couple of you have asked about contributing by check. The gift registry I set up supports online donations via credit card only, but if you would prefer to send a check to Heifer, you can do so. See this page for the address for donations. If you donate by check, do send me an email to the address shown in the sidebar, and let me know how much you donated so you can be entered in the drawing for the prizes.

Speaking of prizes, keep checking the prize page. I am continuing to update it.

Elizabeth I

I have finished the back. Alert the media!

Now I need to knit the front — which is identical to the back. That will probably take longer because the novelty has worn off. Heh.

Sock!

I finished the first of my Austermann Step socks. Alert the media!

This yarn feels awesome. So soft! So cushy! It knits up beautifully in nice even stitches. So it is onward to the second sock I go!

Wow! We are off to a great start in the Heifer International drive — check out the amount donated so far over in the sidebar. I’ll be updating that number at least once a day. Also, keep checking the prize page — I added a couple of new prizes this morning.

Betty J made an excellent point in the comments:

Don’t forget that many employers match donations made by their employees. Please remind your readers to check with the folks they work for to see if they can make their donation go twice as far.

Thank you so much for your extremely generous donations so far!

I had to explain to Lucy, though, that nobody was going to buy her a flock of chicks. She’s sulking.

I’ve got a couple of other thank yous to say as well, before we get down to knitting talk.

Thank you to the anonymous gifter who arranged to have this sent to me:

It’s a cat shawl pin from Designs by Romi. I love it!

And I got this in the mail the other day:

Red and white gifts from Brigitte!

Brigitte had a blog contest a little while ago, asking people to suggest a name for her red and white Hisdal sweater. She chose my suggestion of “Dalarna” and sent me a red and white package in thanks.

Red (Jaggerspun Zephyr in “ruby”) and white (alpaca) yarn, and red and white candy. Even some white tea!

The Green and Black dark chocolate bar is not red or white, but that is something I can easily overlook. Hee hee! Thanks, Brigitte!

Current Knitting

So I started a new project at the end of last week, and Brigitte correctly identified it the other day from the tiny corner I showed in my Sunday blog entry. (That girl’s got a good eye for the Starmore knits!)

It’s Starmore’s Elizabeth I from the book Tudor Roses.

I am making mine from Daletta fingering weight wool in the “putty” colorway. I ordered the Daletta from my favorite Dale vendor, Bea Ellis.

I got gauge with the suggested needle size, 3.0mm. I’m using a Knitpicks circular and finding the smoothness and pointy-ness just right.

This is a cool design — while it is a lot of knitting in fingering weight wool, there’s always something interesting going on so you don’t get bored.

You start with a pretty textured edging.

Then you use short rows to created the gently curve at the bottom of the sweater.

You use decreases and increases on each side of one twisted sttich to create the body shaping.

And there is a wicked-cool textured inset.

The back and the front are identical in this sweater. I’ll call this the back.

By the way, L-B and I were at Graves Mountain, in Madison County, Virginia, this past weekend. The weather was very cold but clear, and the autumn colors were beautiful. We had booked a cabin about 500 yards from the main lodge, accessible by a tiny winding road through the woods. I insisted that we drive down to the lodge for meals. I think L-B was secretly thinking I was being a baby, but on Saturday night we surprised a very large black bear behind the lodge — and she was just as glad as I that we were in her truck!

The bear had come down to get his dinner out of the lodge dumpster, but when he saw us, he stood up and said: “Get . . . in . . . my . . . belly!”

We did not comply.

Welcome to the WendyKnits Heifer International 2006 Holiday Season Drive! Please consider giving one of the gifts featured in my registry this holiday season. Not only are you helping others around the world, you will be entered in drawings for fabulous prizes!

What is Heifer International? In their own words:

Heifer works to end hunger and poverty, and care for the earth by providing appropriate livestock, training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide. We care for the earth’s natural resources through training in livestock management, pasture improvement, soil conservation, forestation and recast. Our cornerstone of “passing on the gift,” assures that each participant in the program becomes a donor and gives the animal’s offspring to another family in need. This concepts helps build community and enhances dignity and participation in each project. The families continually give to others ensuring self-sufficiency, one family at a time. We have field offices in major program areas around the world. We work at the grassroots level, sometimes with large networks of local nongovernmental and grassroots organizations. Our field staff is equipped with a variety of skills that help project participants prepare for the challenges and problems they encounter by providing training prior to receiving any animal gift.

Go here to donate via my gift registry page:

Please consider giving one of the gifts featured in my registry this holiday season. Not only are you helping others around the world, you will be entered in drawings for fabulous prizes! I’ll keep a running total of the total amount doanted, along with info on donating over in the sidebar.

How to be entered in the prize drawings:

After donating on my registry, please send an email to: blogcontestATcomcastDOTnet to let me know the total monetary amount of your contribution — for each $10.00 you donate you will receive one drawing for the weekly and grand prize raffles. Check out the prizes on the prize page!

I will hold weekly drawings on Tuesdays to award one or more prizes, and on the final Tuesday of the project, January 2, 2007 (which happens to be a very significant date for me!), I’ll draw a name to win the grand prize:

Canon Rebel Digital SLR camera with lens, 2 batteries, battery charger, carrying case, neck strap, and 128mb Compact Flash card

Thank you for your generosity and caring!

Lucy sez:

We’ll be back with knitting talk tomorrow. In the meantime, who the hell is this?

Starting off:

The destination:

The view:

The mountain:

The knitting buddy:

The knitting buddy’s sidekick:

The ambience:

The knitting project:

The trip home:

The welcoming committee: