I've been away, and new yarn

It's been a while since the last post; sorry, blog readers. Bob, my better half, and I went to the coast for a music festival. We heard great music and I found a yarn shop that had wonderful stuff. I bought three different combinations of new yarn, one of which is pictured here. The purple palette is for me, definitely; not sure yet who'll receive the sage and lavender or sage and pinks palettes.

I got new yarn, and oh, such a head and chest cold. It's not bird flu, but I doubt I could feel worse if it were. I'll spend today drinking tea and dozing whenever I'm not using tissues on my rubbed-raw face. Aargh. I may not even have the energy to knit!

It's a good thing I'm not communicable via the blog. I can share my pic of the new yarn, however.

Oh, and my koi fabric was waiting on the doorstep when we arrived back home! The koi/lily pad pond quilt will take even more shape, when I'm physically able to put koi in the pond!

I hope everyone's well, figuratively and literally. I've developed quite an impressive cough over the last two days, too. I can still find comfort in yarn, though.

Intercontinental!

United Kingdom, baby! yeah!

In the mail today came this postcard from my SP, posted from the United Kingdom! I'm so charmed! I'm also burning with questions: is my SP a Briton, or a Scot? From Wales? Ireland?

I've been to the U.K., Secret Pal! I've visited London a few times (for work and for holiday), and Windsor, and I've been to Wales, and to Scotland (Edinburgh, Stirling, and through the Highlands). I'm a big fan of the tube in London, the countryside in Wales, and the lochs in Scotland. You're so thoughtful to send a postcard about the WWII knitting effort; I love the imagery of the women knitting at top, and belaying a zeppelin (lower left). A woman's work is never done!

Lovely gesture, Secret Pal! Thank you, thank you!

Mind the gap!

(Indirect) Contact

Oh, my Secret Pal is enticing me! In an email today, my SP asked for my wrist measurement. Wha? Wrist measurement?! For what wonderful thing, I ask myself?

SP, you're El Mysterioso!

6 1/2 inches, 7 with a little bracelet-y wiggle room. Just in case anybody else in the virtual world wanted to know. Kee hee!

Curvy quilts

I've just finished teaching a quilting class (did I mention that I quilt?) called Show Off Your Curves. It's my own "invention", in that curved elements aren't set into square blocks, but rather are featured in their own curvy wonderful ways. It all came about because of the quilt to the right, which I called "Orbital". It won a quilt challenge and spurred a class, and many more ideas for quilts!

The quilt I'm creating now has manifested itself as an abstract lily pond. I made curved arcs in green and blue, and when I pieced them together and set them on the background fabric, I started seeing rings on the water of a lily pond.

The leaves lend themselves to an abstraction of water lilies, so I added flower and dragonfly appliques and then hatched another idea: koi pond! I'll add some koi fish, swimming over and under the leaves, as though the quilt is a snapshot of a koi pond, from a person's perspective of looking down into the water.

I've been knitting, too, as time allows, on the celtic braid purple sweater. It's going well, but building the body of the sweater takes time. I was so gung-ho on the first couple projects, and they went so fast, that now that I'm knitting just occasionally, this sweater's taking a while. Good thing I like the color, or it'd be going really sloooooooooowly!

Well, color me delighted!

Day One of my Secret Pal experience, and I've received an e-card for Valentine's Day!

Thanks, Secret Pal!

I'm in!

Woo hoo! I just got word I'm in on Secret Pal 7! This is e x c e l l e n t.

I've just checked out my new Secret Pal's site and oh, the fun I'll have treating her. She's a fan of that bright "acid" green I like so well; maybe I can do a one-for-you, one-for-me type of buying trip for yarn!

I was lamenting I'd missed out on SP7, but now I'm in! That first paragraph in my Secret Pal questionnaire no longer applies!

I'm in! Yay!

Favorite color combos

My new favorite color combos are dusty pink and brown, and Tiffany blue and brown. These combos are just so YUMMY!

A few weeks ago, I was in one of my favorite local yarn shops, just minding my own business, when all of a sudden I spied a gorgeous brown sweater with dusty pink collar, cuffs, and waist detail! It was stunning, cute, cuddly...all good adjectives. There was just one unfortunate thing about it: it was knitted for a two-year-old. Now, because I'm neither 2, nor the size of a two-year-old, I couldn't just pluck it up, buy it, and treasure it forever; but I could, and did, buy some of the yarn with which it had been made.

The brown yarn is a lovely Jo Sharp yarn in a classic brown, and the pink, oh, the dusty pink, how I love thee! The pink is a nubbly and soft yarn in about the same gauge.

Now, the shop had enough pink in my estimation for big-girl sweater cuffs, collar, and waist detail, so I bought four balls of the pink.

The shop did not have enough brown for a sweater for me, so I bought one ball of the brown so that I could search other sources for enough yarn, but have the exact brown to match.

Just look at this combination. Isn't it a chocolate-covered cherry?

Secret Pal questionnaire

Secret Pal 7 is on, and although I didn't get in on this exchange in which a fellow (mystery) knitter spoils you with knitting-centric stuff for three months, (and you she), I still want to live vicariously through the Secret Pals' experiences!
To wit: I have completed the Secret Pal questionnaire, which ordinarily would be paid some attention by my Secret Pal, but which I completed just for my own darn fun.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? I don't avoid any fiber except the weirdish/trendy stuff like funfur. That stuff just is not right. But I have two sweaters going, both in TLC Heathers yarn, and they're great. I love that stuff. It's already made two great scarves for me, too. I do also love the higher-dollar yarns, so no, not a snob!

2. Do you spin? Crochet? Nope, neither.

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? A canvas tool bag that my better half, Bob, bought me for Christmas. I would LOVE to have one of those rollup silk or cotton rolls for needles, hint hint. I've been coveting one at my local yarn store and just haven't bought it, thinking I can make one myself. Alas, that one just never gets made.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I haven't been knitting long, but I'm an intermediate/advanced knitter. I love cables and I've done garments, so I think I can handle most intermediate and some advanced stuff.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes; Amazon.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) sandalwood, spice.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Yes; chocolate and hard caramels.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I quilt! I quilt with enthusiasm! I collect fabric and yarn! Also have painted and sculpted and weaved.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Yes, I'm mp3 compatible. I like alternative rock, Motown, 70s music (but I hardly ever admit it to anyone. Oh, the shame!)

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I like the "heathers"--heathered purple, oatmeal, heathered green (medium sage)--and periwinkle and Tiffany blue and BROWN and dusty pink. I also love orange and that new-wave color of green which I call 'acid green'. I don't much like variegated yarns; I prefer solids or a tone with slight variations (heathers).

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Cats! Two cats, who are such good company. They let me live with them.

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes, yes, yes, no. At least, not yet. I've knitted scarves and a little pair of mittens, and have patterns for hats which I've not yet tried. And I did see a pattern for a poncho I might try, but I don't think I'd wear one, so I probably won't do a poncho.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I love Jo Stevens yarns, and Debbie Bliss yarns, and yes, TLC Heathers yarns. I like wool, alpaca, cotton, and synthetics. I haven't used the chunky or superchunky yet, or the really small-gauge stuff. Typically, worsted weight, size 8-12 needles.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Funfur, some of the "ladder" yarns, that kind of thing. I really prefer the more classic types of yarns. The new-fangled stuff is just too trendy for me.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I love cables, which may be why I like the plainer yarns; easier to see all the knitting stitches! My latest obsession is cardigan sweaters and intricate cabling.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? So far, scarves, sweaters, and mittens.

17. What are you knitting right now? Two sweaters, mittens, a scarf, and a pair of ruffled Mrs. Beetons wrist cuffs.

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes! Really, I like any kind of gift. ;)

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Straight, please. I'm using circulars right now for one of the sweaters, and I'm getting used to them, but I really prefer the straight needles.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Bamboo, baby! Although some of those resin/composite needles look interesting. I've also done a pair of baby mittens on a set of borrowed aluminum needles and now I think I need a pair of my own.

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Nope, unless by 'yarn winder' you mean me.

22. How did you learn to knit? A very good and patient friend sat with me for an afternoon and got me going. Then she supplied instruction books, lent me needles, and hey, the rest is history.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? A couple of months. I'm new.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Scooby Doo, but I'm not very into cartoons translated into knitted pieces. Favorite animal, cat. Favorite bird, chickadee.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving.

26. Is there anything that you collect? Fabric. Music. Dishes, much to Bob's chagrin.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None! Help me, please!

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? I'd love to have the Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation book. I really want to make those alligator mittens, among other things.

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Hmmm, I have enough new techniques for now.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I'm not, but I'd like to be because 1) I love socks, 2) I wear through my socks all the time, and 3) my feet are often cold. I wear 9 women's US.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) January 26.