Archives for January 2011

Last Wednesday night it snowed. The scene outside:

Inside:

Hand Update: It’ll be two weeks on Tuesday since I broke my hand. It hurts less, but still hurts enough to annoy me. Also I have no strength and very limited range of motion. Being the most impatient person in the world, I find this very annoying too. I am still not responding to emails for knitting help because I need to conserve my keyboarding time for the day job — the one that pays me enough to keep Lucy in kibble. 😉

Lucy would like to direct you to the Floppycats website where she is being featured as Ragdoll of the Week.

Thanks for your good wishes re: my unfortunate accident. Been to the specialist, hand is broken, no knitting for a while.

I am succinct by necessity. It is somewhat painful to type.

This blog will go on a brief hiatus necessitated by the ice storm we had a couple of days ago. To summarize, like a big ol’ dork I slipped on the ice, fell, messed up my left (and of course dominant) hand, and am unable to knit for a while. Prognosis and recovery to be determined after I visit an orthopaedic hand specialist on Monday. (Don’t worry, Mom — I’m fine otherwise.)

In the meantime, I have been exhorted to not move my hand, so I will not be responding to email requests for knitting help. Just so you know — I’m not ignoring you on purpose.

Lucy plans to have what she thinks is a well-deserved rest during this hiatus.

Knit on.

There are a few of items worth mentioning today.

Item Number One . . . SoXperience 2011!

Carodan Farm has announced the date and schedule for SoXperience 2011. The event is the second weekend in April — the 8th — 10th on Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.

Click on the linky-link above to go to the SoXperience page on their website to read more about the event and see who the speaker/teacher is this year.

Although I have lived in Virginia for my entire adult life, I’ve never been to Chincoteague, so I am very much looking forward to this event

Item Number Two . . . Signature Needle Arts!

Today Signature Needle Arts debuts their new sizes in their ultra-fabulous circular needles: a U.S. size 3 and a U.S. size 4. All of their circulars (sizes 3 – 7) are now available with a new cable. Lifted from their website:

“To achieve a consistent functional and aesthetic appeal across all of the circulars, the cable material formula has been changed to meet the micro-manufacturing demands of the new US 3s and 4s. The new formula accommodates the planned addition of other size circulars.”

I just happen to have one of the new circulars to show you.

This is a U.S. size 3 needle with the stiletto tip — my favorite cuz I love the pointy! The new cable is as great as the cable on the previous generation of their needles, if not greater. Here is a comparison.

The new cable is slightly thinner and slightly more flexible. I’ve not knit with this needle yet, but I’m betting I’ll find the cable slightly superior whilst knitting with the needle.

Item Number Three . . . Autumn Dream Scarf Pattern!

My Autumn Dream Scarf pattern is now available for sale in hardcopy here at The Loopy Ewe.

Item Number Four . . . Three-Day Weekends make for Good Knitting!

See?

All this boldface type in my blog post over-excited Lucy so she crashed early.

Work continues on the back of the Twisty Aran. See?

As I’ve mentioned, it is slow going due to all the twisted stitches and many many cables, but is a lot of fun to knit. I love the yarn: Rowan Calmer. It’s got a lot of stretch and great stitch definition so it really works well for a complex twisty design.

Speaking of yarn . . .

Check this out:

This is some gorgeous stuff! It’s a cashmere/merino/silk blend laceweight called Nona from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. You can browse the colorways here. It is 640 yards per 4 ounces, so it is on the heavier side of laceweights. These have become my favorites to work with and I doodled up a lace cowl design earlier this month that I think will work beautifully with this yarn.

Lucy Recommends

Early last month Lucy discovered the Floppycats website and blog and we posted about it here. This month she has another recommendation: Cat Scratchings, a new blog on the Animal Planet website. It’s a new addition to the site and what we have seen so far we love. Lucy gives it two paws up!