My friend Petula*Darling has been raving about how great the tv show Friday Night Lights is. I ignored her, telling her that I just didn’t have enough time to start watching another tv show.

But I am weak and found out that the show is available on the NBC website. By the end of the first show I was hooked. I won’t go on about the show, but I encourage you to check it out.

Over about a week I watched all 22 episodes of the season and knit on this little sweater. Over that time I cried over Jason, fell in love with the stitch definition of O-Wool, rooted for the Panthers, and finished this little sweater.

The sweater is now hanging in the shop (right next to the O-Wool). I can’t say enough wonderful things about the yarn and the pattern, Minnowknits “China Doll”, was simple and fast. I plan to make something cabled out of the yarn in the future.

My friend, PJ, picked out the absolutely adorable buttons:

After six months the sweater is mine. I will change the buttons to zebras if there’s a new little boy on the horizon (one of my sisters has big plans ;-). I think these buttons are too girly for a boy though.

I was going to write about my new project for work, but I did some searching and found out that neither the yarn nor pattern are on-line yet (brand new products from Alchemy Yarns), so I’ll have to go take pictures of the yarn and pattern at the store tomorrow. I’ll write more about it then.

For the last 10+ days I’ve been sick. First with the flu (for about a week) and now a cold. That makes for not much knitting, spinning or dyeing. I have three bumps of superwash Merino roving soaking in the basement sink, ready to dye, but have no energy to do so. I’ve got three knitting projects within arms reach, but no inclination to pick them up (though, I have updated the progress bars to the right–I’m not completely out of it ;-).

I ordered roving and set up the venue for the dyeing class I’m teaching in April. If you want to come and dye sock yarn and roving in rainbow colors, this is the class for you. I’m ordering dyes soon. Since it’s March, there’s a 20% discount on greens. Too funny! Contact me or Unique One if you want to come play in the dye with me.

When I recover from illness and survive my civic meetings (two budget, one planning) this week, I’ll be back to knitting and dyeing. My goal is to have pictures of completed items this weekend.

I don’t have babies any more. My youngest is 5 years old. But, people come into the yarn store looking for baby projects all the time; mostly for grandchildren or nieces/nephews, and occasionally their own children. It’s fun to knit for babies. The projects are small and knit up quickly. You can try out a new yarn and knitting method without worrying about a big project.

What kind of things do they look for?

It varies. Somedays it’s intricate fair isle sweaters, patterns from Dale of Norway, and other days it’s gansey’s, like the ones from Yankee Knitter. Last summer it was a lot of baby blankets (we have our own patterns that you get with purchase).

The one thing that makes the biggest difference is the presence of a sample. We’ve got dozens of sample items knit up at the store. Sweaters, blankets, hats, scarves and socks adore the walls and countertops. Often people will bring a specific item up to the counter and ask for the exact pattern and yarn. I guess the sample makes it real.

These samples are the reason I’m making the Frog Tree Alpaca Handpaint cowl I’ve been writing about. But next I want to make something for a baby. I’m considering this pattern:

It’s Minnowknits’ China Doll pattern.

Here are my questions.

• Would this be a good boy’s sweater? I would put it on one of my boys, but other people have different feelings about what boys should wear.
• Is organic yarn important? I’m considering O-Wool. (click on the “Hand Knitting” link in the left sidebar to see the colors)
• What color would you choose? For a boy or girl? I love garnet, but the oatmeal looks so . . . organic.

Answer away, peeps!

This lovely new yarn is so new that I couldn’t find a picture of it on the web. So, I took my own. Frog Tree Yarns imports alpaca from a co-op in Bolivia. I’ve played with their worsted weight Merino–lovely, extra soft, single-ply Merino in lovely, bright colors–and their fingering weight alpaca–soft, two-ply alpaca in many yummy colors. And, this week we got in a brand new yarn: fingering weight alpaca, hand-dyed in fabulous colors.

(colors: Poppy, Cactus rose, Cabo sunrise, Tide pool and Zen garden–click on the pic to get a closeup of the yummy yarn!)
I love this yarn. It’s expensive, almost $40, but you get 420 yards of yarn, enough for a small shawl or a pair of socks. Or, a warm head snood-like creature. It’s really a big tube. I thought it would show off the color of the hand-dyed yarn. I’m enjoying knitting this yarn. It’s like the solid fingering weight alpaca, but the colors change with almost every stitch.

I’m knitting this for the store. It going to be a cowl (pattern: Head Huggers by Nancy Lindberg). If you stop by (after I’m finished, of course) you’ll be able to touch and feel this sample. The yarn is not listed on the store website, but give the shop a call and it can be shipped to you.