FO: Dream Swatch

Great, inventive stitch pattern and lovely yarn - makes for super-lightweight fabric:

Just call me Squinty McWrinkles...

Chevron and on and on...

The Chevron Scarf
Pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: One skein Koigu (blues/browns), one skein of some other fun bronzey yarn (lost the label!)
Needles: straight US5

Loving this:

Too bad it's a gift, I want to keep it for myself! Oh well, will have to make another...

On a completely unrelated note, I have decided that I need to start running. Running is a good thing - it's free, it gets you outside, my husband does it. Only one problem: I hate running. But I've vowed to force myself at least until I can run five miles. In a row. Without stopping.

I started today. I did a bunch of research here and here to find the best way for a non-runner to start running and even ordered a book or two. Here's what I know so far: boy, am I not good at it. How can you be bad at running, you ask? Well, I can't really tell you, you'd have to come watch for yourself. I suck major wind and get all blotchy in the face, really, it's quite attractive. If you see a redheaded lump on the side of the road dry-heaving into the bushes, please, send water and an oxygen tank.

Today's "run" (and I use that term looooosely):

• 5 minutes of warm-up and stretching
• 20 minutes of intermittent running, walking and limping at certain points
• 5 minutes of sprinting for home at the end just to see if I could indeed sprint for 5 minutes. OK, so really it was about 2 minutes of sprinting, two of slowing down almost enough to be loping along and the last minute trying not to puke before I hit the front door.

All in all, a good day. Have to start somewhere, right?

Harry Potter people...

...are the best kind of people. And I am a Harry Potter people. Person. Sure, we wish the world was magical, full of scary and sometimes venomous creatures, but there's mischief and a natural curiosity there, too, which I personally think is rad. And they are super, SUPER nice. Because they send you gifts.

I've mentioned before the Harry Potter knitting swap I've been participating in. Today, just for blogging on my character blog, one of my "housemates" sent me this:

440 yds of superwash goodness in the "Crookshanks" colorway:



Out of the clear blue sky, yarn and Starbucks appear in my mailbox?? I mean, come on - sure, we're a little batty, but clearly after seeing this, you can't argue with the awesomeness of Harry Potter people.

Dream swatch, dream weekend?

This is Wendy Bernard's Dream Swatch pattern that I'm doing for a knitalong - very cool pattern with the long, sweeping stitches. I started it in this black Reynold's Soft Sea Wool, which has incredible stitch definition, but I'm not so sure it highlights the long stitches very well.


So, then I started a second one, because now I'm kinda obsessed with the pattern. I'll definitely finish the black one, but really, what could be better than GREEN!?



I'm fascinated. It's going to be a great knitting, listening to music, sitting in the sun with friends kinda weekend!

Like I need another fiber obsession...

I haven't blogged in forever...because I've been spending my weekends up in Frenchtown learning something new...

Spinning. Because I need another fiber obsession. It is So. Freakin'. FUN! I took a class that ran for 4 weeks up at The Spinnery in Frenchtown. Betty is the best teacher and the store is BEE-YOO-DE-FULL. Full of unbelievable things. And I met the nicest people in my class (Ginna, Jamie, Jody and Connie, here's a spinning shout-out to ya!) Seriously, if you're even remotely in the area and want to learn to spin, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Betty let us borrow all the spinning accoutrements one needs to go from straight-from-the-sheep stinky, dirty wool...

To the finished product!

Washed and clean, I can't believe I actually picked, carded, spun, plyed and prepped this stuff:

It might not look like much, but I love it!!

I have no idea what to make with it, but I'll figure that out. Just as soon as I convince Greg that I must add a spinning wheel to my list of prized possessions!