Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

     This summer is turning out to be the "Summer of Dishcloths".  So far I cant complain too much.  I've found I have to pace myself because of the cotton.  Some brands bother me more than others.  I've found that Pisgah Peaches and Cream is soft enough I can just knit to my heart's desire.  New Spinrite Peaches and Cream and Sugar and Cream, I have to be more careful with.  It does make sense as the old P&C is a different type of cotton.  The cotton fibres themselves are longer, that's why old P&C is softer and doesn't shed when being knit.  It was also made right here in the US, in Pisgah North Carolina (or maybe South I can never remember)  After the mill closed over a year ago, I made sure to snap up as much of the real P&C while I still could.  The rights to the name Peaches and Cream was retained by the new mill, Spinrite, which bought out Pisgah.  Spinrite is a Canadian mill that manufactures ...

     How do Celtic cables and coffee go together do you ask?  I'll show you.  I give you my first project of Round 2.  I made this for the Sheep in History challenge.  Here are the challenge details: Ever since somebody first looked at a sheep and said, “Why is that sheep warm and I’m not?” humans have been fascinated by fiber and what they can do with it. Your challenge is to make something that consciously reflects, replicates, and/or adapts a historical technique or pattern from a Rav-sanctioned craft, providing visual documentation* of your inspiration. (For the purposes of this challenge, “history” is anything that happened at least fifty years ago, and “fiber” is anything that can be spun, woven, knit or crocheted. We’re easy.) I drew my inspiration from traditional Aran Sweaters.  The lore surrounding these sweaters is pretty nifty, in my book.  According to Wikipedia most of the lore is unsubstantiated but I like it just ...

     I was looking through a couple of my older blogs and realized that I glossed right over a couple projects.  I felted that oven mitt back at the beginning of June.  My Husbands grandmother passed away at the very end of May, the funeral was June 4th, the day before our 8th anniversary.  We traveled home the day before the funeral, it was in that time that I was able to felt the oven mitt.  I put it in with three towels and put the washing machine on the hottest setting.  I tried not to peak every five seconds but since it was my first felting experience I was a bit nervous.  The oven mitt sank to the bottom, under the towels, so I couldn't really check it, so I let it go for one complete agitation cycle.  Once I heard the basin refilling I dug the mitt from the bottom of the washer to see.  I couldn't believe how much it had changed in just a few minutes of agitation.  The pattern stated that no stitch definition shoul...