A New Hampshire Knitter

... like I need another hole in my head.  But a new hobby, I have. A few months go, when I went to New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, I bought a Learn To Spin kit from one of the farms that had set up a booth there. It sat in my stash since, waiting for me to pull it out and use it. Last night, a friend of mine came over (after we had dinner at a local Thai restaurant) and we sat down and learned to spin. We were armed with our spindles and copies of Respect The Spindle , and fiber in hand, prepared ourselves to muddle through this new skill.  There was confusion at first, but when we got it... ... we celebrated. And we spun. Friends. Thai Food. Fibery Goodness. Mark Harmon. All is well.

The lack of knitting mojo has abated... at least, slightly. Once a week, I try to make it to quilting class. Sometimes, lack of time or lack of funds take precedence, but there's a quilting class that I try to get to once a week. Well, Nancy, the woman who runs the classes out of her home has just installed hardwood floors and has requested that we not wear our shoes indoors. Reasonable. So I would acquire slippers. But rather than buy something, I would knit them. Use stash, save money. When I knit something, I like to know what to expect. My first pair of socks drove me crazy. I'm not one for trusting the pattern, even though it's something I tend to preach. That's why I had to read the pattern to the Pocketbook Slippers many many times before I could bring myself to cast on. The directions just didn't make sense. I knew I knit a square, then I seamed up some side and voila, slippers, but I couldn't for the life of me look at the pattern, and see how i...

I have been abandoned. Not by a person, no, something else. I have been abandoned by my knitting mojo. My grandmother loves to exclaim to anyone who will listen that I am constantly knitting. Constantly. And once, it was true. But I don't think I've knit in almost two weeks. Partially, the reasons are external- I have so little free time lately that when I do,  I can't do more than stare glumly at the television set. But that effect is a double edged sword- because I am so tired at night lately, I have been left uninspired. By my  yarn, by my queue, by my works in progress. This is an awful feeling, one that I'm sure many knitters are acquainted with. Maybe soon, my mojo will return. Hopefully, soon, my mojo will return.

I spent a half hour in line at the post office today, mailing out tax returns for the law firm I work for. Since I didn't have my knitting on me, I finished a book I was reading on my kindle- Surrender The Wind by Rita Gerlach . Set after the American War for Independence, it follows Seth Braxton, an American who fought for independence, only to become heir to a wealthy British estate. A sense of obligation and a desire to see his sister again (who returned to England at the beginning of the war) drives him to England, and shockingly, it is the unexpected love of a woman who keeps him there. This story starts off strong, but in my opinion falters from there. I kept reading only because I wanted to see if they would tie it all together. Each plot twist was too definite for my liking, ending as the next wave began to swell. While everything was brought together at the end, it was done too neatly. I would give this 2.5 stars (out of 5).

In January, I wrote about the sock monkeys I knit for my cousins' daughters. Well, I haven't given Jen's daughter hers, but Michelle's daughter received hers. And, apparently loved it. I received a hand drawn thank you note a week or so ago, and it tickled my icy heart. I hung it on my wall, because it's kind of awesome when a 7 year old (admittedly prompted) writes a thank you note. I'm sure many crafters have often experienced the disappointment when a handmade gift is given with nary an acknowledgement, or if there was one, a lackluster one. I had also made my aunt (Michelle's mother) a tote- the Medallion Travel Bag. I had made one for myself one in the second half of 2010, and my aunt admired it, but said it was too big for her. So at the beginning of this year, I decided to make one for her, holding the yarn single instead of double like the pattern calls for. The result? Perfect. I had felted mine in my washing machine, which is a f...

Guess what I'll be spending my Sunday doing?

I knit this chunky cabled hat last July. I found it quite easy to knit, but I wasn't sold on it. It found its way in and out of my gift bucket several times since then, migrating from there, to my winter stuff drawer and back and forth. However, yesterday, New Hampshire got it's first (and probably only) winter storm this year (not including that storm in October.) As of this morning, You Don't Know Our Women was in my winter gear drawer, so after a momentary debate, I decided to look knitterly and wore it. I pulled it on my head before I left the office today, and one of the secretaries, who considers herself a bit of a fashionista, saw it and exclaimed, "Well, you're looking rather chic today." Me? Chic? Who'd've thunk?