More Stash for My SABLE

Some lovely friends, who spent their Christmas holidays in Peru, brought me back this amazing collection of alpaca lace and sock yarn. It is just beautiful and feels wonderful to the touch.

My stash has reached the point of being a S.A.B.L.E, "stash acquired beyond life expectancy, but that never keeps me from being grateful for more, or wanting more, more, more.

The sock yarn is 40% alpaca and 60% acrylic, which I don't think I've ever seen before. It's very soft and light, and I'm sure very warm as well. The lace yarn is 100% baby alpaca and is incredibly soft.

My January pair of socks, is about 75% done, but that didn't stop me from starting a pair of the alpaca. Well, heck, what's the point of being a process knitter if you deny yourself your process addiction.

I've joined a group on Ravelry that knits socks from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks." I'm about two weeks behind already, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

The January socks are made with Regia's line of Kaffe Fassett colorways. The colors are very nice and the striping is unusual, but I had a heck of a time, finding a starting point that would be the same on both balls of yarn. I've not had the problem with Regia before.

Eulogy for a Cat

I don't consider myself a totally sentimental fool about pets. I've had dogs and cats around as long as I can remember, but I don't dress them up or treat them like children. I do care about them and for them. Dogs, and cats in their own way, give love and affection without conditions.

In 1987, my husband and I had three cats who all contracted feline leukemia before their was a vaccine readily available. It was a very devastating period watching them each fall ill in turn and when the last one was gone, the vet advised us not to get a new cat for at least six months. At the time, I didn't believe I would get another one, but by the time the six months were up, we were ready and got a nearly grown calico from a shelter. We named her Gretchen.

Two weeks later, four neighborhood kids knocked on my door with a kitten. They had heard her meowing in a dumpster in the adjacent park. The other kittens of the litter were already dead. Someone in the neighborhood had told them we might need a cat. This is how Aggie came to be a part of our household.

Aggie was never especially friendly to people or other animals. She was a loner who seldom needed affection. She had allergies and groomed herself constantly which resulted in hair balls no matter what I did. But she liked to sit on my desk as I worked, she always seemed to be in the same room, and she always seemed to know when I was sick or hurting. Even without these things, when you have any pet for nearly 20 years they are part of your life. I will and do miss her.

And Now We Begin

In the Beginning: For several years I have been encouraged to begin a blog so friends could see and believe I actually want to spend hours of my life knitting rather than on other mundane activities such as joining them for drinks or other fun stuff. I keep repeating "knitting is fun stuff," but no one listens. They want to "see" what is happening, they want me to "prove" myself, so this, more than any other reason, is why I am struggling to put words to virtual paper.

I am a process knitter. On a scale from 1-5, I'm a four. When I look back over the past year, I have completed a lot, but I knit on whatever floats my boat for that hour or that day, so some projects take months or years to complete. There is just tons in the pipeline. For example, this year I gave as gifts two pairs of socks that had been in one-sock status for at least a year. On the other hand, I gave as gifts, two pair of socks that were started and completed in the same week.

In my defense, I believe (as all process knitters do) that it is good for your hands, mind and spirit to work with different fibers, needle sizes and stitches. I also love the adventure of trying new stitches, patterns, colorwork and yarn. I have NO discipline when it comes to projects. The very BEST part is the first two hours, or maybe the first two days, but you get the picture.

I am a medium "yarnie." Considering I've been actively knitting at least 25 years, my walk-in closet of yarn, while probably qualifying as SABLE, isn't going to get me institutionalized.

On Needles Today:
The first project is a slightly adapted Keepsake Shawl from Maie Landra's "Knits from a Painter's Pallette." It is unblocked at this stage and I was just beginning to add a lace border (not in the original pattern) when Christmas knitting became a priority and I had to put it aside.

The second project, it looks sort of bland against the blue spread is a Hanne Falkenberg kit I got as a Christmas present to myself. I know, I know....some excuse. It's the LaStrada jacket in blues and khaki and this is the right half -- the hole in the middle will be the armhole and the jacket is seamed up the back.

As always I have socks, and I am designing a hat, still on paper for a simple Fair Isle class at our local yarn store.



This is absolutely enough for today.

Happy Knitting!