Thanks for the comments on my cardigan. I wasn't sure if anyone would still be reading, but glad to see you're still around. My trip to Aspen seems like so long ago now, but I wanted to mention it here because besides having a great time skiing, we had a mini stitch and bitch every night!
From right to left in the photo, that's Erica, who I hooked on knitting 2 years ago on our ski trip; beside herin the middle is Susan, who's interest in knitting was rekindled after the trip last year and is now working on an intarsia dinosaur sweater for her son; and on the left is Ellen, who got me back into cross-stitching during medical school, and on this trip declared she was going to learn to knit. I was so impressed with her too- she picked it up so easily and wanted to absorb as much as she could. We did a swatch together in which she learned to cast on, knit, purl, make an eyelet row, and cable. By the end of the trip she had started a baby hat, and a couple of days after she got home, she emailed me to say she had finished it, and "it didn't look half bad!" Yay, Ellen! Another knitting convert!
The Apen Yarn Gallery was the yarn shop we visited there. It was very inviting from the outside, and they had some gorgeous yarns there, but they were very heavily weighted towards scarf yarns. If you lived in Aspen and wanted to knit a sweater, I think you'd have a hard time picking from ther selection. I will admit that I was very intrigued by the fur yarn they had though... there were beaver and fox selections in several different colorways, and the sample scarves there were so soft and luxurious. I was planning on buying a little bit of red fox as trim for a scarf, but when I went back for it the entire ball had been sold. (That was about $300 worth of yarn!) Ah well, perhaps I'll get some from the website below, or maybe I'll decide I can pass on it for now. Of course I came back with something though! From Alpine Meadow Artisan Yarns, this is "Rubies and Roses," a boucle mix of wool, silk, and angelina. It's the sparkle that really attracted me to this yarn and it will make a great scarf (one of these days).
So what's the current knitting? My knitting pile runneth over right now. My new sweater project is folded there on the floor, and I know some of you will recognize Dale's Gerbera that I'm knitting with some Sisik I got cheap on closeout at Webs. I did a baby sweater with some fair isle this summer, but this is my first adult sweater with some F.I. in it. I've been a little concerned about my tension being too tight with the floats in that section but it has blocked out nicely. For comparison's sake here's a view pre-blocking, and one post blocking (with an iron on steam setting).
So that's all the knitting content I've got for now. Life continues on fast-forward. I can't believe it's March already, and I can't believe it seems like spring already. The daffodils and cherry trees are in bloom here in Charlotte, and we're expecting temps in the mid-70's tomorrow! Yesterday I had lunch near where my new office is being built, and was pleased to see that the structure is all in place, and exterior walls are in place. The latest projection I've heard is that it should be finished and open in July of this year, and I'll be very happy to finally have a permanent work space. Until then, I'm still floating around offices in Charlotte, and up to Statesville 2 days a week.
Polluting the local talent with knitting is always a good thing! During our Snowmass conference, my karmic emanations influenced a fellow Bostonian to go the the Yarn Gallery, buy some BlueSky alpaca and start knitting her husband a hat during conference. Maybe it's just the mountains.
Posted by: Laurie | March 02, 2006 at 10:01 PM