You know it’s winter when everyone in the house gets a cold, and all three of us have been suffering for a couple of weeks now. Of course it had to come just when the weather warmed up and we finally recover when the cold hits again.  We’ve experienced the heaviest snows in 18 years, and to see a snowy Dorset is a wonderful sight.  Makes me wish we could have  Christmas all over again.  I did have this lovely knit to keep me company during my recovery.

It is the Wabi Sabi Shawl pattern from Yarned knit with Noro Silk Garden Lite. The yarn I received as a present from my mother in law and I had been itching to use it for months. With only two skeins I managed to do 7 pattern repeats, making a fairly narrow scarf, though I could have squeezed one more out of the last skein. This is a present for my mother who could truly use a nice scarf in the nasty Wisconsin winter.

I loved knitting this, mostly because Noro is soo lovely but the pattern was great. With almost 200 stitches per row I was worried it was going to be a real slog, but the garter stitch was peacefully mindless and the extended stitches kept my interest.  I love how the special stitches look like crochet shells, and the texture is wonderfully squishy.  I’ve even warmed up to fringed edgings.  I only wish I had a ton more yarn to make a beautiful textured throw to snuggle under as the snow falls.

I don’t dare check when the last time I updated was. It seems like years ago, particularly now that my time is completely monopolised by a very beautiful and very demanding little man. 2008 was a very poor year for knitting for me, but I don’t mind since I have the best finished project anyone could hope for.

2009 is a year of new beginnings, new baby, new president and new knitting. I am very slowly getting back to my feet with my hobbies. I’m enjoying knitting more than ever now, perhaps because I only have little pockets of time that I really have to relish when I get them. These days just getting out of my pajamas before noon seems like an accomplishment, and going grocery shopping is a downright adventure. I have managed to finish a hat for my bub to wear in this particularly chilly winter.

It is the Thorpe hat from Through the Loops modified for a baby’s head. Basically I just increased until it looked like it’d fit and then winged the earflaps. The yarn is a some leftover Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and Jaeger Shetland Aran. I loved knitting this and it was so quick that I finished it a day of on and off knitting. If only cardigans could be so easy to finish.

I’m trying to keep to one project at a time now as that’s probably my only hope of finishing anything.  Currently it’s something rather special for someone’s birthday, which is nearly finished and hopefully can be sent off this week if I don’t slack off.  A new knitting group has been started in my little village and that will at least give me a couple hours of knitting a week.

I everyone had a wonderful holiday and new year and here’s hoping 2009 is as exciting as 2008.

I’m so sorry, I never intended to be away from the blog this long. To be honest, there has been no knitting going on since I last wrote. Instead I was busy experiencing all of the typical first trimester symptoms, particularly fatigue and queasiness. My morning sickness wasn’t too bad and I’m sure a lot of women have it way worse, but the sensation was like being motion sick all the time. Every time I picked up the needles my stomach would turn. Even baking and cooking has been left to the wayside as I ate too many cracker based dinners. I’ve also had to learn to give up all of my favourite foods: cold cuts, unpastuerized milk, soft cheese, not to begin the list the stuff that made me feel ill. Finally, at about 10 weeks, I’m finding it easing away. I’ve had my first real meals in what seems like years, and don’t even need to take an hour (okay two hour) nap in the afternoon. I’ve started cooking again and it looks like maybe even knitting will be back on the books.

This is extremely good news because I had an exceptionally nice stash enhancement experience at Wonderwool Wales at the end of April. Yes, I went to one of the largest fibre festivals in the UK and did not blog about it. That is how bad I am. A big Wonderwool update is coming very soon!

Finally, Karen, tagged me ages ago and I’m now going to post my six non-important facts about myself. I’m going to cheat a little because I have no idea who to tag next, but the thought is still there.

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

1. I can poach the perfect egg everytime. I always say that if Gordon Ramsay was going to come over to my house for lunch I would make him a salad lyonnaise, complete with poached egg.
2. I met my husband 7 years ago in a chatroom online.
3. I still don’t have my driving license because I have horrible driving anxiety. Basically, every time I get behind the wheel I get visions of crashing and killing everyone. I’m fine as a passenger though.
4. I’m 50% Korean and even though I used to speak it fluently as a child all I can remember are baby words and words for food.
5. I have an incredibly poor sense of direction and get lost really easily. I lived in York for 4 years and it took me over a year to get to grips with the layout of the centre. When I take walks around here if we go a slightly different way I get confused and don’t recognise anything.
6. The thing I miss most about the U.S. (besides friends and family) is the snack food, the variety is staggering. We have nothing in comparison. My favourites used to be any sort of fair food, Cheetohs, and Taco Bell.

Next post will be a knitty one, I promise!

The lack of knitting means that I’ve had an unusual amount of time available for spinning.  Which is perfect when you have delicious roving that is just begging to be spun up.  Over the course of 3 or 4 days I finished a yarn that just seems to epitomise spring.

I had so much fun spinning this up, I loved seeing the colour changes emerge, sometimes very muted, othertimes quite strong.  I navajo plied it into a sock yarn, which was quite an adventure.  I’ve never navajo plied and it felt more like a battle than plying when I first started out.  By the end I really got into the rhythm.  I’m still battling my problem of underspinning/underplying and there are points at the navajo chains where my plies are coming apart a little.  Seems like I need to set my wheel at an even higher ratio.  No matter, I still love it.  A huge thanks to Karen for enabling me to make such a fantastic yarn!  Colourways like this are worth their weight in gold.

I’m glad I’ve finished this because I really needed something to keep me occupied over the next week in Cornwall.  I can’t guarantee that the weather will be cooperative so a nice pair of spring handknit socks seems to be in order.

I’ve got so many things to report and photos to take but the weather is refusing to cooperate.  Hopefully tomorrow you’ll see a finished object, a fashion guide, and something missing from the Wife.   If you are bored and like ceramics and pottery head over to the Husband’s blog “Off the Hump“  (He refused to call it “The Husband Pots”).