Have you joined Ravelry yet? If you knit, I would highly suggest joining. They’re still beta-testing, so you may actually have to just get in line and wait for your invitation. I think it took a few weeks before I got mine. If you do join, or are already there, I’d love it if you add me to your friends, and I’ll add you back. I’m just getting started, but boy oh boy, this is one handy website. You can enter all the projects you’re working on, keep track of patterns you’d like to make, your yarn stash and needles, join groups and knit-alongs, and all sorts of handy things. The only downside? This could be dangerous for my yarn budget. I’ve already added a pretty stole pattern to my queue, and I’m not even done adding all the projects I’ve actually finished or already have in progress.

A lot of my enthusiasm for Ravelry right now also has a lot to do with the change of seasons. I just knit a lot more when it gets cold out, so I’ll have lots of pictures of knitted things for the next few months.

Blog business: I’ve been slowly cleaning things up around here. I decided to move all my links, except for family members, to their own page. You can click over there on the right if you’d like to have a look at some other excellent blogs. I’m nowhere near finished, I think it’s going to be a pretty darn long list, eventually. I’m also still fiddling around with colors, so my apologies for the clashing colors at the moment. I’m just doing a little here and there, as I have time.

This is quite a boring blog post, so I’ll end by sharing some CJ3 videos from recent shows. Go buy a CD if you like what you hear :o)

Two things I’m making at the moment:


I’ve started quilting the baby quilt. I have to confess that I’m a bit of a hand stitching snob. I just really like hand quilting better than machine. And except for the very sore fingers that I get because I don’t use my thimble properly, it’s a perfect tired-in-the-evening-watching-TV kind of activity. I’m just free-hand quilting a square spiral starting in the center of each block. I love the wool batting I got, it’s so easy to quilt through and it’s nice and fluffy. I’m not sure what will happen when I wash it. I still have a good sized scrap left, maybe I should make a doll quilt and see what happens in the washing machine.

I also started a new pair of socks for myself:


I was lucky enough to get some Vesper sock yarn back in the day, and I’ve been hording it forever. I wasn’t sure what kind of pattern would bring out the striping of the yarn the best, but I like what the little cables are doing.  The pattern is the Uptown Boot Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2003.

There’s a little bit of a Harry Potter discussion going on in the comments to the last post, come and join if you’ve read it. I’ll be adding my thoughts later today too.

Where did everybody go? I don’t get tons of comments, but it’s just been crickets chirping this week. I hope you are all okay out there.

Along with the quilt I’m working on for the nephew (who will be arriving in October), I’m knitting a cute little sweater. Coincidentally, it matches the quilt quite nicely. I actually tried making this little guy a long time ago, but was frustrated by an error in the pattern or in my gauge, I’m not sure which. Let’s just blame it on the pattern, shall we? I found some green yarn to replace the light blue. Last night, after sewing up my last quilt block, I settled into bed with my laptop and a movie, a bowl of popcorn (light butter, so my hands wouldn’t get greasy) and knitted away. Petey joined me, and although the movie was only so-so, it was quite a nice way to spend the evening, I highly recommend it.

And just because I’m sure everyone has been wondering, here’s a little geese update. They’re a couple months old now, and happily living outside. We gave them an old dog house, but they seem to prefer to sleep in the weeds, which they have also done a fine job of mowing down. They’ve grown on me a bit, they are quite cute and are learning to stand up for themselves against the chickens, who think that the geese feed must be much better than their own and are always eating it. When they get fed up with the chickens they snap and grab at tail feathers. That seems to keep the chickens in line.

I went ahead with the scarf gift, and was knitting feverishly until late last night and then again for an hour this morning before work:

Luckily the recipient is a very small person, so I stopped once I knitted about 46 inches. I used the pattern for Misty Garden from the Scarf Style book. The yarn is Trendsetter Muse, a mohair/acrylic blend which is super soft and fluffy, just like a cloud. The pattern is a really easy 4 row repeat, so it was good, mindless knitting. I think it was well received, and the yarn has lots of subtle color in it, so it will go with just about anything. I like it better than a $20 gift card :o)

In between my feverish knitting and making meatballs for our potluck at work today (recipe: 2 bags frozen party meatballs from Trader Joe’s, 1 bottle Soy Vay Island Teriyaki sauce, also from TJ’s, dump all (er, both) ingredients into a crock pot, turn it on under your desk when you arrive at work in the morning, thus torturing everyone sitting near you with that delicious aroma, and serve 3 hours later, when they’re all hot and bubbly), I’ve been doing some reading lately. I’m generally a pretty fast reader, but my latest book, Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell has taken the better part of two weeks to read. It’s challenging, in a very good way. I’m not quite done, but I keep thinking about it. Here is my review so far:
 
Cloud Atlas is really 5 novellas, split into two sections each, surrounding a sixth novella in the middle of the book. What makes the book so amazing is that each story is told in a completely different voice and all are very different styles. Some of the reviews on Amazon compare it to a Russian Nesting Doll, which is sort of apt, but not completely. In one interview I read with the author, he described the structure as if holding up a mirror. One reason I’ve taken so long with this book is the abrupt changing of styles. Each story is so fascinating and well-written, and the first halves of each novella have ended with suspenseful, cliff-hanger scenes so that I keep wanting to skip ahead. It’s just all so clever, without being pretentious. I wish I could explain it better. It’s very original and I highly recommend it, if you’re up for something a little more challenging. I’ve already requested another of his books from my library, so it should be ready and waiting for me when I’m done.

Have you read anything lately that you highly recommend? I’m always looking for good books to read! I’ll have to list some of my other recommendations, if anyone is interested.

Oh, I almost forgot, someone bought my little snowman. I can’t even tell you how excited I get when I see those e-mails from etsy and paypal. It’s always just a little unbelievable to me that someone really will pay actual money to buy something I made. I’m off to do a happy dance now! :o)

I made a sock for Fall:

The other one is underway. Mr. Lucy was laughing at me for taking a picture of one sock, but I was excited and had to share. It’s my second pair using the Embossed Leaves pattern, which I just like so much. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces and the colorway is called Aslan. I may have bought this yarn just because of the name. I’m not much of a beige/brown person, but this colorway is actually quite pretty. I wonder if I can rake my rug?

Last weekend I decided to join up with the Apartment Therapy Fall Cure, and cure my guest house of all its ills. I made a lot of progress. I got rid of four big 3-drawer plastic bins. They were ugly and they took up a lot of space and they weren’t working. As I was clearing out the drawers I kept coming accross fabric that I had totally forgotten about. Now it’s all arranged on shelves and I can easily see what I’ve got. I’m such a sucker for organizing gadgets, but just because something is made to get you organized, it doesn’t mean it actually will. I’ve thinned out my fabric quite a lot, but there is still so much! I’d better start using it. Here is a progress picture:

The main thing I want to get done, after I get all the junk cleaned out, is to paint everything white, and then I’m going to hang some curtains in front of the bookcases to finish everything off nicely. I’m sure I’ll be showing more progress photos as I get things done. The TV may also get a new table and I have some other ideas percolating as well.

I’ll leave you with some current chicken portraits:

That’s Fuzzy in the first picture, and then one of the Silver-Laced Wyandottes and one of the Rhode Island Reds. They are looking like little chickens now, I’ve started calling them chucks at Yvonne’s suggestion in the comments a couple entries back. I think that’s a perfect name for them and it makes me smile. They are starting to make little clucking noises, although they still peep a lot. They like going outside and scratching around and they love the lettuce and cabbage leaves that I bring them for treats. So, the chucks seem to be thriving :o)

Finally, the second sock is finished:

I tried to hide my first attempt at kitchener stitch on the toes, because it’s just not so pretty, but that’s okay, these socks are for me, and will probably just be worn around the house, because, really, I don’t have a yellow, turquoise and green outfit to go with them. I really didn’t think that second sock was ever going to end, but then, suddenly, it did! I like the fun factor of this yarn. The stripes were nicely formed as I knit around the legs, but then I got the feet and they’re all weird and wide. At least they match, more or less. I do like the way the stripes narrowed at the toes.

This past weekend I gathered together my Backtack supplies:

I got some Sis Boom fabric, and lots of sparkly buttons, so I’m thinking about a very glamorous pointy kitty, a la Paris circa 1950. I’m making a softie for the one and only Super Eggplant. I can’t wait to get started. I did some other sewing this weekend, I’ll have to share that tomorrow.

The lilacs are blooming:

I’m trying to learn to use the macro on my camera. There’s a really great show in DIY Network, called The Whole Picture, I’ve been Tivo’ing, so I’m learning a bit more about photography.