I've been...busy.


We all remember the deco ribbon purse. I was at AC Moore helping a friend pick out yarn for her first knitting project and I picked up this ribbon because I wanted a more spohisticated bag. As it turned out, the bag was a perfect match for my Halloween costume:



Arwen, from Lord of the Rings. Where did she buy that AMAZING costume? SHE MADE IT FOLKS!!! Yeah, I spent many hours cutting, pinning, sewing, and otherwise constructing this bad boy. You can't see them very well, but I'm wearing elf ears too. It was a fun night.



Sam, my roommate, was Galadriel and also made her costume. Patty is a van Dyck portrait, Alison is a dead woman, and Sarah is a pirate.

Other than that...I've been really busy with school and traveling. I went home 2 weeks ago and last weekend I went to...

Boston! I love it there! I got to see Harvard's campus and I'll definitely be applying there for PhD programs. Exciting! I visited 2 yarn stores in Boston but didn't bring anything home with me because my finances just don't allow for impulsive yarn purchases these days. I think that about does it for updates...

What she was waiting for

I don't have time to post pictures now, but if you went to the link we sent you, you already know that I finished the blanket.

I finished the blanket Friday morning and labor started Saturday night.

it's rainin' pumpkins

I went to the Sept. spinning meeting determined to buy no fiber. I chanted 'no fiber, no fiber' all the way there and then Erin, one of the spinners who also happens to be a fantastic dyer and who also happens to stock Cloverhill with her phenomenal fiber, had made seasonal colorway rovings for the shop. I was utterly helpless in the face of it, truly. Before I knew what I was doing I was buying up 4 oz of merino/tencel gorgeousness in "late harvest". It was like an out of body experience. I could see what I was doing but had no control. The colors are so lovely (of course the pictures can't do justice, again). I spun (rather badly but slowly I improve) all of it up that very weekend and started knitting without even stopping to scribble any sort of plan, just had to knit. Wanted something simple and small that looked kind of "viney". Couldn't finish last weekend because of Robin's visit and of course the now legendary "illness" of which we shall not speak had to pass, but today...today is pumpkin patch shrug day! I love it so much today really should become a national holiday in it's honor.


fanged sheep pumpkins and other things

Seems appropriate for Friday the 13th and all...but first,
whole lotta finished objects going on! Actually many of these were completed a while ago but only now can be revealed because they have found their true home at last.

Much knitting for the much anticipated baby McD.

Loved these kinds of warm-up tops when I was a kid. Thought they looked so cool. So here's a little knitted version. It turned out a little wonky. Had to reknit the sleeves and back a couple times to make it right and then still didn't really work. It's what I get for making it up as I go along.


This is actually the MasonDixon knitting books warsh cloth turned into a bib. I love the texture and don't we all know that baby bibs really just hang there doing little good while the kid eats and then, afterwards, get used as washrags to wipe down the kid, the highchair, the floor around the highchair, uh...the walls...the ceiling...the walls in the living room...



The MasonDixon knitters claim that a baby that has a burp cloth with an interesting pattern is 40% more likely to go to an ivy league school. It's hard to tell in the photo but I used really bright lime and yellow for this...I love it! But with Caleb and Brandy for parents the kid has no choice but to be a kind, wonderful genius anyway. The pattern is even more "interesting" than intended because I actually screwed up the color repeat and didn't notice for inches. That's what I get for knitting during my student's screening. Honestly, by the light of an old black and white movie that green and yellow look exactly alike. So like any knitter worth her rosewood doublepointed needles I made it a "design feature"!



But here's my favorite...I almost couldn't stand to stuff him in the box to mail and thought I'd have to hand deliver him!




But lest you think that I've been sitting around doing nothing since completing the mcd load, there's been other fibery happenings but I'm still too puny to go take pictures. So here's a few shots of the pumpkin carving at my house last weekend to entertain you as we close...ah last weekend, when my best friend in the world Robin was in town and life was good and there was no hint of the stomach flu that has made my week a blur and I even felt well enough to try a big fried worm from Zimbabwe (no it's not what made me sick) and I carved pumpkins just like we did in college. No they aren't your traditional jack o'lanterns and they are only minutely relevant to a fiber post because of the fanged sheep but here they are...scared aren't you

Brest dressed bear

You read the title right.

So when you are pregnant you have to take lots of classes. Even though I'm pretty sure cavewomen knew nothing about a "focus object" or breathing techniques when they delivered, you just aren't a good parent now if you don't do these kinds of things.

So last Saturday was our breastfeeding class (called feeding by those too uncomfortable to mention the first part). When we got our registration confirmation letter it informed us we were to bring a baby doll or stuffed animal about the size of a baby.

So I took the little black bear in the purple sweater that I knitted. We definitely had the best dressed, if not the most lifelike baby in the room. No one commented on the cute sweater and I did my best to be offended.

You really haven't lived until you have spent your Saturday morning with a bunch of other pregnant women, their ill-at-ease husbands, and a bunch of animals propped up on Boppy pillows. And, oh yeah, the class was taught by a lady who was clearly from Minnesota.