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Friday, February 5, 2010

Here's hoping...

That this year doesn't fly by too quickly--I'm thoroughly sick of holiday knitting. So much so, in fact, that the latest acquisition of Wool Ease Thick & Quick -- originally intended for use as holiday 2010 knitting (hats!) -- will be used in a multicolored vest for ME, dammit. I actually need some practice knitting an item larger than a cowl, that has some shaping (armholes, neckline), in order to get a handle on these parts of sweater knitting before I start on Plaidman's sweater. He & I looked through The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, to see & discuss the possibilities. I have never knit a sweater, so I'm looking for one that will have simple construction with minimal shaping, but that will still allow me to throw in some cables (he likes cables, and I can do cables!). I have a large pile of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, in three shades of green. No, his sweater will not be plaid. I am so intimidated by the idea of sweater knitting! But it is the main reason I wanted to learn to knit, along with knitted lace, and of course socks, oh and don't forget shawls....shoot, if it can be knit, I want to knit it!
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Some time ago, I was on Ravelry in one of the forums, reading a thread & noticed that Debbie Stoller had an entry in the thread. Well, Debbie's book Stitch 'N Bitch was my ticket to Knitterhood -- she taught me to knit! And I have been so pleased & grateful, I just had to send her a message saying so. I wouldn't care at all if she didn't respond, I just had to let her know how much it meant to me to be able to do all these neat tricks with string & sticks. But she did respond! And very graciously, too. I suspect she may be a really nice gal, so if you haven't read her books, please do. She's also launching a line of moderately priced natural-blend yarns, of which there are three currently available. One is a wool & acrylic, another is alpaca & acrylic, and the 3rd is bamboo blend. I haven't seen or fondled them yet, but I intend to look for them the next time I'm yarn shopping.
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Ok, now the bad news: Plaidman has been laid off. Thanks to the stimulus package, he'll get a little more $ each week than he would normally have gotten. And he's still a non-smoker, so he's saving a lot of money there. Of course, the reason he's a non-smoker is his development of heart-related problems, for which he has to take lots of expensive medication--and he has other medical issues, again requiring expensive medication. But hey, he doesn't snore as loudly as he used to! I noticed that within days of him quitting--now I think I may be a louder sleeper than he is!
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Well, I have somewhere else I need to be pretty soon, so TTFN!

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1 comment:

Amy said...

Aw I hope your man works things out soon, I'm sure your sweater ill cheer him up no end - cables make EVERYONE smile :D I love Debbie Stoller too, I think Stitch n Bitch was my first knitting book, it's fab! I've listened to a couple of podcasts interviewing her and she seems really lovely! Thanks for visiting my blog, enjoyed reading yours!