Yes, I am still here!

Wow, it has been a while. I really don't have a good excuse-- just life getting busy. I did manage to finish the mohair wrap Labor Day weekend. I am pretty happy with it... although I think that if I use this pattern next time I will cast on more to make it a bit longer. Here is a picture of the blocked wrap. I will try to get a picture of the finished piece on a model-- maybe from knit night. I did manage to watch a few movies this week-- "Martian Child" is a wonderful little movie staring John Cusack as a recently widowed sci-fi writer considering adopting a hyper-imaginative 6-year old boy who believes he is from Mars. (BTW, Joan Cusack plays the sister and just about steals the movie!) Another movie is "Penelope" staring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy about a young aristocrat cursed with the face of a pig-- which can only be broken when she finds true love. There is a big lesson in acceptance and loving one's self in this one (perfect for those mother-daughter movies). Finally, there is "No Country for Old Men" staring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem-- another Oscar winning Cohen Brothers movie. This is just one more example why I don't like the Oscars-- I tend not to like the movies the critics lavish praise on. Don't get me wrong-- the acting is fantastic in this movie, but it was extremely violent and a bit weird (a Cohen Brother movie trait) with none of the quirkiness of their other movies. It certainly does not rank up there with Fargo (yes, violent but with some of the best one-liners, and O' Brother...).

Back to knitting-- I did start a new pattern, this is for another shawl, both pattern and yarn is Lion Brand Homespun. This is a really soft and think yarn-- I think it will be very warm. I am a bit concerned it will not be large enough when finished (it is bigger than it looks in the picture), but we shall see. This may be a present, so I will not go into much more about it just yet...

Oh well, off to catch up on Prison Break and Frantic (New season of TV-- and I am sure a few new projects to work on!)

September 5th

Boy, it has been a while since I did a post. This week was quite hectic. I had a lovely dinner with friends on Monday. Tuesday at work was pretty busy (after the long weekend) and Tues night I had the joy of sitting in the dentist chair for 3 fillings-- not fun at all. My jaw was sore for 2 days! At times, I can be a news hound-- and this week with the convention and hurricanes, there was a lot going on. Wed night was Knit Night with the ladies. I really need to take the camera next time to get a picture. We spent time eating peach tart (made by me) and admiring each others projects (and some knitting!). Jill brought her recent experiments in hand-dyed yarn-- she is starting a web-based business selling hand-dyed yarns and I must say the colors were wonderful (yes, I know, a picture would be nice)-- so there was much fondling going on(of the yarn mom, the yarn!). I will have a link when it is all up a going. Paula shared her purchases from the LYS in Mackinaw -- she had a wonderful blue angora that really wanted to go home with me!

The recent WIP is going well-- here are the most recent pictures. I have decided not to make a poncho, but go with a shawl/wrap. The pattern calls for 4-5 balls of mohair-- but I am on #3 and that may be it-- we will see. The first picture shows the work, the second a close-up of the pattern. I really need to work on my staging-- I know!

I have noticed a couple of things with this pattern: 1) double check the stitches used in the pattern, this one was short a few stitches after I calculated the repeats (this is why math is your friend --you youngsters out there!)-- or it was right and I will have a loopy pattern when all is done!; 2) don't try to rip or frog mohair-- shoot, even resist un-knitting unless absolutely necessary; and 3) because #2 is an issue, just accept the mistakes and go ahead an knit those extra stitches together.