Mitre Me This

This is pretty much all I've been working on.

It's a fun knit, you knit the squares, then you pick up and knit the side triangles. I chose to make the side triangles match one another so it wouldn't be too helter-skelter. The matching side triangles give it an intriguing hourglass motif.

And thanks to my friend Melissa  for this cartoon:

Don't forget to stop by Andrea's and check out all the FAF blogs!

Zauberball Madness

I'm not normally a fan of fingering-weight yarns, but the Zaub is fun. I don't even mind that the socks won't match, because there's enough yarn to take the socks all the way up to my knees! I did a toe-up, and split the ball in half, so I can just knit till it's done! Toe up socks are awesome that way.

I've made four panels for the mitred scarf. There would be five ... except I foo-ed one up and it was lopsided. I *thought* it was a simple, easy pattern, but I messed one up because I wasn't paying attention ... they're pretty quick to knit up anyway, but if I don't hurry I won't have a wearable scarf before Spring.

Here's a pair of slippers I threw together for myself, from some leftover Cascade.




That's about it ...




Oh, wait....


One small treat for myself.

A portable, ventless fireplace ... a Brasa fireplace.

It is perfect for apartments or small houses ... no batteries, no plug, no need to vent. It runs on "bio-ethanol," which is a really fancy way to say "de-natured alcohol." 

I love it. It warms the room and it's very cozy to sit and knit by! It's not the same as a wood-burning fire, but it's better than the eighteen candles I was lighting before.



Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Don't forget to stop by Andrea's to take in the awesome!

Oh, and if you want to give me and my friends some encouragement ... stop by our fitness blog, Three Friends Fitness,    and see what we're up to!  

Let Me Tell You About My Dreams

This morning, I hit the snooze button to the point of insanity. I finally gave up and re-set the alarm for two hours later, intending to call in sick after the alarm went off. Well, that's what I did ... but in the two hours between re-setting the alarm and the alarm going off, I had a long dream in which I repeatedly tried to call in sick, but couldn't ... either I was trying to call in to work on my ipad, or I was using my phone but couldn't press the right buttons and had to keep starting over, or I had a strange phone in a weird holster, that had no guts in it. I didn't feel a bit rested when I woke up. I frequently have exhausting, busy dreams, and wake up feeling as if I'd worked all night!

So I took a sick day, and had a nice quiet day. I started two new projects (no I didn't finish the WIPs, thanks for asking):

A mitered square scarf:

In Cascade, and the book is 60 Quick Knits with Cascade. I make eight of those squares, then stitch them together. It's a quick, easy project, you just have to pay enough attention to get the SKNP in the correct place.

I started a toe-up sock with a crazy Zauberball. It's mesmerizing, watching the color changes.

I ignored the growing pile of WIPs on the coffee table.

I walked my doggie, and we befriended a new Rottweiler in the neighborhood. He (or she) is very shy, but was happy to meet me. I think it's an American Rott, very large and sweet-natured, and with a lean frame, rather than a stocky one.

I'm pretty sure we're going to be BFFs.

And I photographed two of my stray kitties, Momma Girl and Coraline, in one of their favorite pastimes ... teasing the pit bull that looks out the bedroom window of the rowhouse next to mine.