Knitting and spinning. The fun never stops.

There are some days when you just wanna chuck it all, grab your knitting, and knit til your hands fall off. Yesterday was one of those days. The sad part is that I got not too much knitting done — a lot of time spent doing non-knitting stuff last night. What’s with that?

But here’s a close-up of some little trees on the Oregon cardi.

It’s not totally accurate as to color — not quite as dark and the colors are more muted. But you get the general idea, right?

So I go floating along.

Quite a lively discussion in my comments yesterday about floating versus weaving. I think those who responded are pretty much split down the middle. Some of you prefer to weave, some to float. Duh, you figured that out yourself, didn’t you?

I think a lot has to do with how you were taught and how you knit. I knit in a very bizarre fashion. I taught myself to knit when I was four years old, from a book that had drawings in it that documented how to form a knit stitch and a purl stitch. I looked at the pictures and imitated the motions. I couldn’t read the instructions because I didn’t know how to read yet. No doubt my mother gave me needles and yarn to keep me quiet and no doubt I could have gone to her and asked for help, but I was a stubborn child. So I figured it out myself.

I’m left-handed and I knit quasi-continental. I hold the yarn in my left hand and when working with two colors I drop the one not in use and pick up the one in use. Not the most efficient way to knit, eh? But it works for me. I did learn two-handed color-knitted when I was in my 20s, but the truth is that I can knit much faster my own bizarre way. And with really even tension.

The motto of this story is:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Izzy!

I’m thinking that Izzy must have had a long session with her new catnip mouse yesterday. This is the most I saw of her all evening.

First of all, look at this adorable button that Marit made and displayed on her blog:

Isn’t that cute? Of course I love it! Thanks Marit!

And I noticed that Teresa, bless her heart, displayed it in her blog yesterday.

More on Conspiracy

Okay you guys. I finally read through all the messages you have sent back and forth about my birthday conspiracy. Wow, what fun that was! Some made me laugh, some made me (almost) cry and some made me go hmmmmmmm. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to be suspicious when Ian was gleaning information about what knitting periodicals I subscribe to and stuff like that.

So once again, thank you all. I am amazed that you all would go through all this just for little ol’ me. And I am mighty impressed by Kate’s sneakiness and powers of organization. Kate, if you ever get sick of knitting I know I could get you a job with the U.S. government if you ever wanna relocate to DC and become a U.S. citizen.

And of course, if it wasn’t for Amy, none of this would have happened in the first place. So thank you Amy, not only for this, but for giving me a creative outlet in Knitty.

And Caroline, I printed out the database per your instructions — thanks!

It’s hard to know when I figured out what was going on . . . early on someone made reference to “Wendymonth” which made me remember the exchange on Amy’s blog. So I guessed that the whole thing started in Toronto . . . and I was right.

Once again, thank you all. I love you guys. Sniff, sniff.

I’m an Ore-Goner

I’m working on the little trees on the Oregon cardi. I love this. Fair isle is so totally addictive, dude! For the trees you change the foreground color every two or three rows, which keeps things very interesting.

And here, in response to requests, a photo of the wrong side.

To Float or To Weave?

That is the question. I used to weave. But no longer. Now I float, always. Even for long stretches, like ten stitches. As long as I make sure I’ve got my stitches spread out well on the needle while I knit, I have no problem with tension. I find that weaving sometimes shows on the right side. At least it does when I do it. When working with shetland wool, floats adhere to the back side of the work with no problem, so you don’t have a bunch of messy loops like you might think.

What do you all think? Are you floaters or weavers?

Sock Doldrums

Yep, I’m still knitting socks! I’m coming down the home stretch of a pair I’m making from the Lang Jawoll that Sabine sent me. It’s taking a little longer than usual. I only knit on my socks during lunchtime at work and on the train. Lately I’ve been having more problems than usual with motion sickness on the train (blurk!) and therefore am getting less knitting done. (Probably more than you wanted to know, eh?) Sigh. So the socks are progressing more slowly.

Virgin Sweater

Thanks for all your kind comments about said sweater! I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, myself.

Izzy Sez Meow

And she’s very flattered by all your comments about her photo layout, frolicking with her mouse. But the truth is, she’s a tad embarrassed that you all saw her behaving in such an undignified manner. Here she is being proper.

But before we get to that, here are Friday’s gifts!

This adorable little guy is from LisaK, another faithful blog reader. Look at him! He’s sporting a beautiful gansey handknit by Lisa — complete with underarm gussets and the initial “W” knitted above the welt.

Lisa also sent me three different kinds of hand cream. Ahhhhhhh!

Izzy was quite taken with Mr. Bear.

But she was even more taken with the other gift Lisa sent — a handknitted catnip mouse!

Click here for photos of Izzy enjoying her catnip mouse. She’s been playing with it since we gave it to her Friday night.

Thank you Lisa!

Conspiracy Revealed!

All was made clear to me on Saturday, which the arrival of a package from Kate. Kate thoughtfully enclosed a framed print-out of an exchange I had with Amy last October in her blog comments. It was Amy’s birthday and I was whining about the fact that my birthday is invariably overlooked as it comes just a few days after Christmas.

(Note to myself: sometimes it pays to whine!)

These lovely ladies decided I wasn’t going to overlooked this year. And anyone who has been reading my blog for the past month can see that I haven’t!

So, huge thank yous and love to Kate, Amy, Kathy, Theresa C., Theresa S., Carolyn, Bonne Marie, Jenanne, Moira, Lisa, Caroline F., Caroline M., Emma, Kateri, Colleen, Laura, Lindsey-Brooke, Lola, Marta, Sabine, Shelda, Suzanne, Tracy, Veronique, Flor, Catherine, Mary, Katherine, Melissa, and Geane.

And of course, Odie and Ian, who were my “gift administrators” and fulfilled their duties so well and so creatively.

It’s been a month to remember!

Virgin Sweater Photo Shoot

As promised, we took some outdoor photos of the virgin sweater, viewable on the Official Virgin Sweater Page.

You’ll be pleased to hear that when I wore the sweater on Saturday to my brother’s birthday dinner, my mother was highly impressed and exclaimed over it at great length.

(My sister-in-law, on the other hand, made a point of not even looking in my direction while my mother was admiring the sweater.)

Oregon Ho!

Got some done on it and I’m liking the way it looks! I’m just getting started on the little trees.

Why, Izzy is, of course!

Mail Call!

A surprise in the mail! There was a huge mailing tube waiting for me when I got home yesterday, from Alaska. I couldn’t imagine what it was . . .

Inside was a gift from Lori — a couple of large calendars and beautiful prints created by her artist husband, Richard Schanche. I didn’t post photos of them because I believe photographing copyrighted material is a no-no, but here’s a link to a site where you can view his beautiful work.

Lori, I misplaced your email address so I hope you’re reading this — thank you so much!

Oregon

Not a whole lot of progress on the Oregon cardi as I was suffering with a migraine all day yesterday, but here’s an update photo.

Fortunately the headache is subsiding. We’ll see what the commute does to me. . .

Have a great weekend everyone!

It must be true because my friend Geane says so!

For here are yesterday’s gifts, from Geane:

Is this a great t-shirt or what?

And these:

Cute slipper sox with little sheep on them! And just right for when Kate’s Fuzzy Feet are a bit too warm. Now I have absolutely no excuse for walking around with bare feet and whining that my feet are cold.

Not that I ever do that . . .

Thank you Geane! For those of you who don’t know her, Geane is one of my knitting friends I actually know in person. Okay, she’s pretty much my only knitting friend I actually know in person. I wish she lived closer to me! Follow the link above to visit her website and admire her wonderful knitting. Here’s a photo of some of her FOs:

Her two adorable sons wearing their Dale of Norway Jubileum sweaters.

And if that weren’t enough . . .

Lookie what I got in the afternoon!

This handspun angora was spun by Caroline, whose blog Fiber Arts and Furry Critters is one of my daily reads. This yarn is to die for! I’ve been fondling it since receiving it and can barely stand to put it down!

Geane and Caroline . . . thank you!!

Hey Teresa! Lookie what came in the mail today!

Still on the Oregon Trail

I really am almost done with the ribbing. Honest. Izzy can’t believe how long it’s taking me.

Interweave Knits

I finally got my copy of the spring issue of Interweave Knits yesterday, so I was able to see the article on knitbloggers in print. Finally! I did see the article before it was submitted, but it was fun seeing it there in black and white. Page 6 at the bottom of the page, in case you haven’t seen it . . .

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Today is my older brother’s birthday. He is *cough, cough* years old. Here’s a photo of us taken a couple of years ago.

FYI, in the photo I am wearing Inishmaan (I think the only time I’ve ever worn it) and Dave is wearing the blue shaker stitch sweater I knitted for him out of Plymouth Encore worsted.

Now tell me, ain’t we the cutest thangs you ever done seen?