If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you.

-- T.S. Eliot

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The new year has started off well here, with lots of knitting and spinning going on (and I actually have photos to prove it this time!).

First, though ... I highly recommend that computers not be dropped on the floor. I found this out through personal experience, when I inadvertently pulled my computer off the counter just after Thanksgiving. What then transpired was a very funky computer (the little men inside obviously had concussions). Finally, I realized that it just wasn't working. First step was to reload the operating system ... which erased all the drivers. Bah!

Then, several hours over the course of several days on the phone with Dell had the drivers reinstalled. Then all the software. Then all the upgrades that downloaded. Then purchases of new software that just wasn't working correctly (One of these was QuickBooks, which I use to run my business stuff and just would not load. The new upgraded software is working fine ... knock on wood).

Ugh. No fun. But now it's working again (with some minor eccentricities). I should have bought one of those computers for the military (you know, the ones than can be blown up and still function).

Anyway, that's where I've been and why there's been no posting here.

But I did get quite a bit of spinning and knitting done in the meantime ...

First up, an entrelac hat designed by Kathryn Alexander. I bought this kit at the KR Retreat and promptly started it upon my return. It was so much fun to knit, that I plan on doing more. This is a fun, fun hat to knit (really it is; I am not into fiddly knitting but now want to do more hats and also a K.A. skirt like the one in the current issue of Spin Off) ...

Thanks to my darling daughter for modeling it (she wants one of her own, btw, in orange and turquoise and other *subtle* colors). I did make some changes to the pattern: it's a big wider, and a bit longer. Except that adding another two rows of rectangles made it too long (and one extra row of rectangles wouldn't have given me the extra peak), so I took off the edging and did a single crochet around the edge to pull it in and keep it there. It works, though next time I think I'll do a bit longer two-color ribbed edging to make the hat bigger instead of more rectangles. Or maybe not.

Once the hat was done (it took a little over a week), some Christmas knitting ensued with several pairs of fingerless mitts and a hat. No photos, though ... gave it all away too fast.

Then I spun this:


It's a four ply yarn of bison, cashmere, cashgora, and polwarth blended with angora, baby camel, alpaca, cashmere and other exotics. Man, this yarn is soft and wonderful. And even more so knitted. It is a smooshy, yummy soft yarn with a slight halo that I'm sure will grow between the cashgora and some of the fibers in the polwarth blend. Not quite a bulky weight yarn but it definitely has heft to it; I'm knitting it on size 10 needles and these seem perfect for this yarn in lace.

Last night I started a Pi Shawl with this yarn, which is it's intended use. Even though lace is usually better in two ply, I figured the simplicity of the Pi Shawl would do okay with a four ply, and I wanted a thicker yarn to make a heavier, warmer shawl.

So far, I am loving it. And can't wait to finish it and wear it when it's nasty and cold in February and March in Virginia.

I also spun a "novelty-ish" yarn with the rest of the polwarth / exotic blend ... I wanted something thick/thin, puffy and soft and used some of the techniques I learned from Maggie Casey at SOAR in her spinning bulky yarns workshop ...


Not sure what this will be for, but definitely something soft and squishy ... there's about 400-450 yards ... maybe several smaller projects. Don't know yet.

Now I'm spinning some silk/merino top I purchased from Morgaine at SOAR, a Chasing Rainbows 2 ounce twist in "Mesa," which is totally my color ~ a blend of golds and bronzes with hints of black here and there. This is practice spinning for the next project I'll be starting, which is larger and more complicated and a blend of merino/silk and silk. And that's all I'm saying for now. :-D Not quite done, so photo is forthcoming.

I also sent out a couple of wholesale orders in early December ~ Knitty Couture in St. Louis now has a bunch of STF yarns, and The Loopy Ewe also has another order of the Helen superwash merino yarn in stock. Now that the crazy holiday season is over, I am getting to work on several more wholesale orders, trying to get the next yarn and fiber clubs organized and underway, thinking about MDS&W (so maybe I won't be crazy busy in the two weeks just before the show) and sending out a few more wholesale packages to prospective shops around the country.

Happy New Year!