Hey there! I just have time for a brief blog post because I’m leaving first thing in the morning for my quick trip to Minneapolis. Have I packed? No. Have I thought about what to pack? No. Have I done laundry? No.

Hence the need for brevity here.

As I mentioned before, I am going to Minneapolis to attend the opening of the Bohus Exhibition at the American Swedish Institute on Friday evening. The exhibition runs through March 29, 2009, so if you are able, there’s time a-plenty for you to attend.

And I’ve got some other fun things to look forward to while I’m in Minneapolis. 🙂

I did a bit of work on the new sock design today.

If I deem the pattern worthy (and at this point I think it is) it will be made available. All in the fullness of time.

I’ll be coming back home Saturday afternoon so I’ll be back and blogging on Sunday. Perhaps I’ll actually take my camera out and take some photos.

In the “Why, Yes, She is Spoiled, Why Do You Ask” Department

Lucy’s sheepskin came today. I tossed it on the floor and she immediately investigated.

She seems to have found it to her liking.

I moved it to the couch so she could sit next to me.

“This is nice, Momma!”

Here is what I-395 looked like during rush hour this morning:

This is a main route into Washington DC and it is usually packed at the time I took the photo. But there was no access to DC from Virginia today for private cars, so you can see the effect it had on the morning rush.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Hanging Garden Stole. Since I set it aside and didn’t work on it for over a month over the holidays, it’s particularly nice to have it completed.

Lookie here!

I started a new sock. You haven’t seen me knit a sock for a couple of months, so its about time, eh? This is knit from Tempted Yarn’s “Good Grrl” sock yarn in the “Iris” colorway. Isn’t it a lovely color? It’s such a lovely spring-like color, something I can appreciate in the depths of winter. I think I’ll call the sock design “Sign of Spring.”

Lucy sez:

“Call it what you want, just let me sleep!”

Ta-da!

To recap, this is the Hanging Garden Stole, designed by Sivia Harding, knit from Tilli Tomas Demi-Plie silk, in the Parchment colorway, on 3.25mm needles. I used 3.5 skeins and did 10 pattern repeats for a length of 80 inches.

Here you can see the Picture Jasper chips I used on the ends.

So . . . on to something new.

Lucy would like you to know that I’ve turned the heat off since the outside temperatures have gone up a bit. But she has a solution:

She can keep her little nose warm by fluffing up her mane! 😀

It’s Day Two of a 4-day weekend for me. Ahhhhh!

I’ve been working along on the Hanging Garden Stole.

I’m at the point where I need to measure it and see how much more I want to knit before finishing. It’s getting pretty long.

You know, I realized yesterday why I could never be a vegetarian. See my plate at lunch yesterday?

It’s awfully hard to eat food that is looking at you.

Meanwhile, Lucy is helping with the laundry.

I’ve got a mishmash of stuff today.

To start, a picture of this morning’s sky, just before sunrise.

Next on the agenda, behold the most beautiful colorway of Wollmeise I’ve ever seen: Single Malt.

This is Wollmeise Lace, and this skein of yarn is most definitely going into the “to be knit soon” queue.

A question from the comments — how to bind off the Hanging Garden Stole so that it will be stretchy enough?

Well, the short answer is “loosely.” But how to achieve that? One way is with a Russian bind-off, which is nice and stretchy. Another tip — use a needle a size or two larger than your working needle. Me, I’ll probably just do my usual cast-off and make it loose by going up a needle size or two. I’m not planning on blocking the living daylights out of this, so I don’t need my bind-off to be terribly stretchy. I’ll probably just steam it with my iron when I’m done.

And next, an important public service announcement:

I received the following email from Rachel in Scotland:

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I run a small animal shelter and ethical pet supply shop here in Edinburgh (you can read about what we do on my website) and recently, what with the time of year and the economy being what it is, we have had a massive influx of rescues and we’re struggling to cope. As part of our fundraising efforts, and because I and so many of my friends love to knit, we’re all knitting wee cat toys and other items out of scraps of spare yarn, and then we offer them here on the front desk for a donation to the rescue fund.

You can read all about this on the Paws Here journal at http://paws-here.livejournal.com/6067.html

I’m wanting to get the message to as many knitters as possible, so if they have a little bit of spare time and yarn they can help us make a difference to these animals.

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Longtime readers will remember The Great Charity Mouse-a-thon I ran several years ago shortly after Lucy came to live with me. It’s amazing what a group of knitters with bits of leftover yarn and an hour to spare will accomplish. And there are many wonderful patterns for kitty toys.

Feline dimsum from Knitty

A huge listing of cat toys!

My main catnip mouse pattern is here, with links to other patterns.

STOP THE PRESSES!

Do you know what this is?

It’s the switch on my thermostat. Yes, it finally got cold enough so that I turned on the heat.

Lucy sez:

I can hardly believe it.