the quacking fiber addict

Genius creates, and taste preserves.
- François-René de Chateaubriand (1768 - 1848)

Today I woke up at noon, almost exactly. This was slightly problematic, since I had set my alarm for 11 am in order to roll out of bed, dress, grab my dyeing supplies and run to pick up M. Because my alarm never went off (arg!), I ended up barely brushing my teeth and running out of the door a bit flustered. It should be considered a major achievement that I even remembered to bring my yarn to dye. Yesterday, Emmos, M and I agreed to meet at the UO Craft Center at noon (makes my wake-up problematic, eh?) to have a "dyeing party".

Here are what we came up with, that I got to take home (check Emmos' and M's blogs for their goodies)... The top yarn is Knit Picks Bare laceweight merino, the brown and red below it is baby alpaca fingering weight, the vibrant yarn below the alpaca is Knit Picks Essential tan overdyed (thank goodness), and the bottommost yarn is Knit Picks Bare Essential:


I dyed the 3 lower skeins the fall colours I wanted (I have no idea why, but I want orange things right now...) and Emmos dyed the top yarn. She wants to knit another lace shawl (pattern undecided) and wanted a nice, dark mahogany yarn. She hated how it turned out. I loved it. I offered to trade one of my undyed skeins for it, and I'm sure she thought I was crazy. But, I think it's gorgeous, so hopefully we're all happy. Now, all I need to do is figure out what pattern to knit (commercial, free, or my own?) and find the time (ha!).

Anyway. After our little dyeing party was kicked out of the Craft Center (they wanted to close and stuff), we went over to the Buzz to have out Knotty Knitters meeting. By the end of tonight, I had this much done on my latest pair of socks:


3 repeats of the damask pattern and 2 rows into the 4th. They're going pretty quickly and keeping my interest, which is a good sign. I think I'll finish this repeat and then start the heel flaps. Should be fun.

And, as for D's gansey, I am to the armholes. I haven't had a chance to work on it today, but I plan to make some progress tomorrow. It's a nice, simple knit. Thank goodness, right?


At this point, if I don't have enough yarn for a sweater D is getting a vest. Screw it, I tried. I've got the Dalebarn yarn to make him a Fair Isle sweater - I just need to strap some steel to my backbone and make myself knit it.

Yeah. Right.

TheBon mentioned to me tonight that Stitches West will be held in San Jose (near San Fransisco) CA this February. I talked to my Dad tonight and he's all for the plan of holding off my visit until then. It had been tentatively planned for me to visit in November, but they're all for me waiting until after the new fiscal year starts (hahaha). So, that's something.

I have a doctor's appt early tomorrow morning, so I need to get ready to sleep...