Hat for Lois

Last week I found out that a dear theater friend just finished 5 months of chemo for ovarian cancer. I lost touch with her when I went hermit last year, and never have I regretted it more. She is one of the people who, during my year-long illness ALWAYS called to see if I wanted to get out, or just a visit. I regret I wasn't there for her in the same way. I put my love for her into a soft hat that frames the face in such a way that you can't tell if the wearer has hair or not. Its made from two cashmere merino blends so it feels lovely.
The Wonderful news is she had a follow-up ct scan and was told Friday that she is in remission! The chemo Worked! We'll be getting together for dinner with her and her husband, Jim in early September :-}

Knitting, designing and lovely color wallowing

I've spent the past week knitting in my spare time.
There are too many projects to fully explore in just one entry, so I'm mentioning them here then scattering them a bit over the next few days in blogs of thier own.
First started was a Florida-weight shawl I made for Liz, my lovely mom in law. She seemed to really like it! I will have a pic up in my main otterwise blog today about our visit to Lansing for Liz's birthday.. (see link at right) I had enough fiber left to make a small head tie scarf for Lynnie, my beloved Sis in law :-} She looked good in it!
While in Lansing I visited Rae's yarn shop, RAE'S YARN BOUTIQUE. Rae and I have heard a lot about each other from Lynn, but this was the first time we've met. I had a lovely time at her shop. I can't say its fully wheelchair accessible, as the back of the shop seemed a little crowded. I didn't have my wheelchair at the time as we hadn't planned to stop and shop anywhere. The difference is that Rae is kind and caring. I felt that anything I was interested in she would bring to me, so I have no qualms about stopping by should I be on wheels the next time. She also gave me a project to work on, so I am happily busy knitting for the next few weeks.
I am also working on a luscious Goddess shawl (from COLORJOY) for Lynn in a gloroius Colinetter Mohair colorway called "Kingfisher", and I get to keep this one too when its done being a store sample!
A few weeks ago I worked on going through a patten meant for Lynn's Turkish Sock class she gave in Allegan a few weeks ago, adding some colorwork from a mitten pattern she had written to the basic sock. (image at end of post) The sock is cute, but only big enough for a rather chunky elf.
I also used the traditional Turkish pattern (but without the stripes) for my first sock of a pair of Ocean socks, and found a different Ocean yarn to make a second pair with a very different knitting pattern.
Probably the project I feel most glad about is a hat I designed a few days ago for my friend Lois. I will write more in my very next blog entry today or tomorrow, once I have the images processed.
So stay tuned! I have material for about 5 different blogs this week!

New Favorite Inspirational Quote

I have a new favorite quote.
Nora Roberts was interviewed by Eileen Putnam for the monthly feature "Writers on Writing" in the August 2006 issue of the 'Romance Writers Report' (the magazine for the national Romance Writers Group)
She's speaking about disciplining yourself to write, not waiting for inspiration or your muse to show up.
"Go track down that fickle slut, drag her back, chain her to your keyboard and get to work."

Secret projects and dyeing and so forth

I am working on a few secret projects... some of the folks for whom the projects are inteded read this blog... So no pictures yet...
I do have a few pictures from a failed dyeing attempt... I was playing around.
1. I became so engrossed in the process that I didn't notice when the plastic bags slipped off my hands
2. I used a dye intended for non-animal fiber, which turned the wool into overcxooked spagghetti
3. it felted instead of just drying...

but I did have fun!

Thermos Cozy!

In honor of my first travel on my own recognizance as it were (see my otterwise blog link to the right of this page), I made a thermos cozy! Its based on a colorjoy design called Bags To Go and made with some luscious soysilk blend gifted to me by my sister in law and friend, Lynn. The pattern is just recently released and not yet on her site or on knittingzone.com with her other patterns. If you are interested, follow the link and email Lynn.