Yes, I suppose it does sound somewhat grandiose, but by God, I’ve had it with all the detritus that has plugged up my energy lately. I need flow!
A little esoteric for you? Ok. The house is a wreck, I’m a wreck, my knitting isn’t getting done, and all of the wonderful things that I’ve been wanting to do are so far out of scope, I’m apt to get to them sometime after Nixon is re-elected, unless…
I’ve taken matters into my own hands. I started by organizing the closets in the shop. They were pits. They’re still less organized than Martha would have them, but frankly, it’s 2003, and the days of making Martha Stewart a roll-model are behind us (just don’t quote me on that). I then went through the bedroom and did at least organize a lot of the mess, put everything into new stacks, and shove the stacks unceremoniously into a seldom used closet. There still needs to be some organization in that closet, but that’s for another day.
The really big work has been in the basement. We’re supposed to be getting our wheels in within the next few weeks, and I already needed room for the looms. I started on the basement late last week, and the morning of Memorial Day, my friend Christy came over and absolutely blasted the whole room. I’d taken her down there to show her the minor progress I’d made, and when I moved a couple of things (yeah, I’m one of those people who can’t leave well enough along), she jumped right in. By noon, we had the entire room reboxed (tons of old Red Heart for charity projects and old afghan projects that never happened), the floors swept, and the desk, sofa, both looms, and the warping tower cleaned and set up. It’s still not exactly public-space cleaned, but it’s definitely workable as studio space.
So now, I’m back upstairs, and it’s time to run break-neck for the end of the month, our guild newsletter that needs to go out tomorrow, and web updates. Oh, and I suppose there’s that whole working thing, too. Thank God, I work at home and can be in the office at three in the morning without anyone questioning what I’m… Wait a minute. Did I just say, "Thank God, I… can be in the office at three in the morning?" BWA-HYEE-HYEE!! That’s freakin’ rich!! I’ve apparently lost my mind.
Anne’s Amazing Shawl
And then, friends and neighbors, there are our friends and neighbors. One of our newer friends is a wonderful woman who has pratically fallen into our lives splash. Anne contacted Rob one day quite some time ago asking for a pattern for Koigu’s Charlotte’s Web Shawl. We set one aside for her, and somehow, between that setting and her arrival, the pattern vanished. We searched everywhere for it, couldn’t find it, and having never had any other contact with the woman, we were sure that we’d absolutely lost one customer for life. And it really sucked, because she seemed really nice.
Well, she came back. Not only did she come back, but she also started making friends. She hasn’t been around for very long, but she’s become one of those people that drops into your life and makes you wonder where they’ve been all this time.
Anyway, she fit into our insane little band of wayward fiber hooches frighteningly well, and her Charlotte’s Web Shawl pattern finally did come in. Anne, if you recall, inspired me to take up needles on this project. Now, mine is languishing, and hers… well, her’s is simply amazing. Judge for yourself.
Rachel’s Ravishing Rambling Rows Afghan
Don’t you just love alliteration? Since I’m already showing off other people’s work, let me tell you about Rachel and her Rambling Rows Afghan (from the Cottage Creations pattern). If you recall, I started one of these (yes, it remains on the unfinished list) some time back. My friend Rachel saw it, and thought that it would make a nice project to give as a gift for friends of hers who were expecting a child. The dad-to-be, as a commercial artist, was painting an undersea mural all around the nursery, and they were avoiding the typical pastel decorations. So Rachel made this.
She chose five dynamite aquatic shades of Cascade Sierra (cotton-wool) and absolutely blew the barn doors off knitting this thing. Granted, it is a child-size afghan, but she did finish it in record time. One comment that she made to me during the knitting was that it was addictive; she had to knit the next panel just to see how it would look.
I understand. Mine is very different both in color and fiber (mine’s knit in Cascade 220), but needing to see just one more panel is universal. It’s a fun and relatively simple pattern.
To the right is the colorway as we laid it out in Photoshop when she was picking out her yarn.
Oh, and before I forget, the massive bowl of pansies was a gift from my wonderful friend, Margaret. She, Anne, and I are going to do some weaving together over the summer. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am. Anne and I wound the warp for the fingering-weight sock yarn scarf in the most recent Handwoven over the holiday weekend for practice, and we’re already gearing up for whatever comes next.
Hmm… those wheels are coming in soon. 😉