The other night I was tired, grumpy and had a headache. I thought I would relieve this by winding up a ball of Silky Wool that I had bought to try out. No real project in mind, just liked the feel of the yarn, thought it would relax me. Well, it turns out that this soft and lovely yarn is diabolical yarn. It wants to tangle up and turn into knots, it enjoys it. Rich saw me struggling with it after an hour and said that yarn never would have tangled up before the Fall.

I spent almost two hours untangling the mess. I finally got to the last foot or two and saw the other end, had to pull it through a loop to untie it and just the process of it running next to another strand of yarn was enough to make it not only tangle, but actually tie itself into a knot that was tiny and I had to take out by spearing it with a size one knitting needle.

I really love this yarn, it is soft and crisp, has beautiful color, is quite rich looking, but unless Elsebeth Lavold comes up with a new put up that doesn't allow it to tangle quite as easily, I don't think I will be buying it to use on the lovely camisole from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts with which I have fallen in love. I have six balls of Dale Svale in a gorgeous cranberry color, it knits to the same gauge as the La Luz, only it is in my stash and didn't cost $25 a skein. If anyone wants to gift me with three or four balls of the La Luz in either the iris or cranberry red or even the golden color, I will gladly accept. It does look gorgeous, and I've heard it feels quite nice, but $75-100 for a little camisole is a bit steep for me.

Anyway, I am almost finished with the lace edging on the christening cap:



Here is a slightly blurry, but closer look at the pattern:



I have two more to go, then I pick up along the edge and knit the cap back from there. I don't know if you can see the reflection from the shimmery strands in the yarn. I can see them, but I know what to look for. This is quite a lovely yarn, and if the alpaca lady is at Madrona again this year, I will buy more of it. It is fingering, but works up at dk-worsted doubled up, so can be used quite nicely in other ways.

Tomorrow is our first meeting of St. Martha's Guild for the New Year. We are to bring photos that we want organized and we are going to work on that, but I think I will bring my knitting too. I am at the raglan shaping on the first sleeve for Elijah's sweater. Next time I do a raglan sweater, I will do it in the round. I have done them top down that way, is it possible to do them bottom up? The fair isle bands would have been so much quicker had I only been knitting and not purling. I can do two handed color stranding, but this uses three colors in many rows, and on the WS I get to learn why continental knitters hate purling so much, it is a royal pain. I also know I am not going to enjoy sewing this up already. I will go on, though, I want him to be able to wear it. Since it is a blend of wool and cotton, even with the extra bulk from the stranding, I think he will be able to wear it through the spring and possibly on cool evenings in the summer. I still haven't decided if I am going to make it a crew neck or go ahead with the semi-turtle neck as it is pictured in the magazine. I guess we'll see where I get tired of ribbing.

I have not admitted to making a purse for our neighbor yet. I brought the bagels over to our neighbors today, though, and they have been pronounced fabulous. I use King Arthur's Sir Lancelot Hi-Gluten flour and the recipe from Baking with Julia. I have modified the recipe a bit, though, I include minced onion in the dough, and I skip the egg wash, as it glues them to the pan and the water from the boiling seems to keep the poppy seeds and salt on quite nicely. I need to get another order in on this flour, and on the French flour and artisan flour. Actually, I need to see if our grocery store will order them for me, since they have an account with King Arthur and then I can just pick them up at the store and not pay shipping. The Sir Lancelot also makes incredible pizza dough with some semolina in the mix. We are already planning our next grilled pizza party. We enjoyed them so much this past summer.

As for food for the St. Martha's guild, I'm thinking something like corn muffins with onions and peppers in them. Something relatively simple and quick, since I'll have to make them tonight after we're finished with Laudate and the kids. We are studying St. Nicholas tonight. We skipped him in December, because of time conflicts, but we thought he'd be fun to start with this month.

Well, I am off for now. I have to print out the Saint Study sheets and make rice for dinner.