Friday Fun

I've been knitting on the Adamas Shawl and am finally getting the hang of the pattern. It's an easy pattern, but as the rows got longer, my old-lady eyes had trouble tracking the little symbols. So, I figured out a hybrid, chart/written directions method that is really working for me. I look at the chart to start and finish each row, but for the pattern repeat, I've highlighted the written directions and just look at that.

I've been working on Cleopatra's stockings as well, and am up to the gusset. When I first saw how many pages the pattern was, I thought I'd never get it. But the pattern is really well written and easy to follow. It's just like a recipe with a long list of ingredients. It looks intimidating, but once you get cookin' it's a piece of cake.

My friend Joanne came over this week. She wanted to dye up some worsted weight yarn for a Baby Surprise Jacket. We used Cascade 220 superwash and it took the dye beautifully. I would recommend that yarn if you want to try out dyeing your own yarn. She has promised to send me a picture when it's done so I can see how the yarn knit up. Of course, there was a bit of dye left over so I dyed up a couple of skeins of fingering.

I got a package this week from the Loopy Ewe -- a new KnowKnits bag in the "Orchid for Alzheimers" color, and a fun new toy called a Stitch Saver. It's a tiny crochet hook on a key ring to keep in my bag in case of dropped stitches. Sheri really knows how to pack an order--I got a sweet handwritten thank-you note, knitting needle inventory cards, and two fun yarn samples.

I'm off to Long Beach in the morning to visit Brenna, eat frozen yogurt, visit Brian, watch the Surf Dog contest, eat frozen yogurt, and maybe even knit a little bit. I'm am crazy for the frozen yogurt in SoCal! Really crazy. I know, it's so eighties. But, it's this amazing new kind of frozen yogurt, and it's all I can think about when I'm down there. My kids think I'm coming down to see them. But it's the froyo. And the dogs in swim trunks!