ink n paper, hooks and needles

Arya's birthday is in November, although we're not sure exactly which day.  In honor of her 2nd birthday, I decided to make her another sweater.   Alex and I looked through Ravelry and loved the Dogosaurus Rex pattern by Paton's.  Unfortunately, it's from an out-of-print book by Paton's, "Another Dog's Life."  Fortunately, I found it from a seller in Canada.  (Yay!)  It was a bit expensive considering that I only wanted one of the patterns, but what a cute pattern! I made it a bit too big, but it's still really cute on her!

It's 3 am and I just finished knitting the Cruzado Cowl.  I'm not sure why I stay up really late like this.  I'm going to be so tired tomorrow.  But. The cowl is done.  (Well almost done.  I still have to weave in two ends.)

I finally finished the Brickless shawlette on October 15th and it's time to block it! As I was working on this pattern, I was concerned about the effect of the different tensions of the different stitch patterns (netting, ribbing, and garter).  The netting tried to be open and the garter on the one side helped but the ribbing on the other side pulled in and caused the netting to pucker up.  I didn't like it, but felt pretty certain that a good wet block would clear it up.  I didn't want to use individual pins along the edge like I have in the past, so I purchased a blocking wire set.   I used them for the first time last night to lay out this shawlette for blocking.  It was more difficult than I expected to weave the wires along the edges and not as quick as I had hoped.  Still, I think it was quicker than just using T-pins.  I mis-judged the size, or rather the length, of this shawlette.  I should not have blocked it on my bedroom floor.  We couldn't clos

I was packing for a five day trip to Elko, Nevada to attend my nephew's wedding and realized that I didn't have a project on my needles that would travel well.  I looked through my Ravely queue and my pile of stuff I'd like to work on that hasn't been queued and decided to make Brickless using the beautiful Salem colorway hand dyed by Abstract Fiber in Portland, Oregon.  I can't work on anything in a moving car that is going to require me to look at the work very frequently because I get motion sick very easily.  I was packing hurriedly but a brief look at the pattern for Brickless made me think I could manage it while riding in a car but it would be interesting enough that I would want to work on it in the motel, too.  I grabbed the needles, pattern, and yarn and put them in my travel bag. I drove the entire day and then we visited with family that night, but I really wanted to get the shawlette started so I could work on it the next day.  I was tired and