I've had 800 yards of laceweight camel down yarn in the stash for about three or four years now. It's just waiting for a project, I'm thinking one of the lace wimples from Knitting in America. Anyway, it is natural colored, and although it's a perfectly nice color, it isn't one I'd like right up against my face. So, I decided to dye it with black cherry Kool Aid, and it is simmering on the stove as I write. I did double strength on the Kool Aid, because I know camel down doesn't take dye as readily as wool and I like the more intense colors anyway. I'm hoping this will turn out well!

Our intrepid list moms are at it again. I think I may unsubscribe after this. There has been a polite, but high traffic thread going on about whether or not knitting has been dumbed down by all of the trendy, garter st, projects and yarns out there. So far, nobody has been rude, called names or insulted anyone, and it has been an enjoyable debate. It took less than a day for the list mommies to moderate the whole list (over a polite debate). I had this post rejected because it wasn't about knitting. I thought that the time directed toward, or set aside for knitting was knitting content, but what do I know? I'm not a list mom. I will leave out the name and email of the person to whom I was responding to preserve privacy.

"I think with today's pace and the hours we work, anyone who wants to get
into the knitting craze will have more opportunity of getting lured by
something fast, easy, and trendy."

People keep saying this (not just about knitting), but I'm not so sure this is the case. Technology has enabled cooking, cleaning, farming, production, etc. to go much more quickly and easily than it did in the past. Our work days are shorter by about 4-5 hours than they used to be, people spend less than half the time they did at cooking and cleaning, children go to school earlier than they used to, and we have leisure time in abundance, we take far more vacations, go to health clubs, go out to eat, movies, etc with much larger blocks of time than people in days gone by. We simply do not allocate the time to crafts such as knitting or sewing as people did in the past. We don't _have_ to do it to wear something, so we don't spend the time on it. Those women who used to sew by hand and knit suits at 8 or 9 sts to the inch did so while rising early in the morning to do chores, cooking over unreliable stoves, making everything from scratch (including some butchering and cleaning of animals), teaching children to read and caring for their needs, doing laundry in vats, washed dishes by hand, etc. They also helped on the farm, milked cows and such, raised a family vegetable garden, made clothes for the whole family, decorated their homes, and many other activities.

I once commented to my husband that women of the olden days would likely get so much more done than we do now, because of all of the conveniences we have now. He replied that they would probably fritter away their time just as much as modern people, since their work could be done in a rush and they could put it off as much as we do. If the work isn't absolutely, critically necessary, it tends to get pushed aside.

Regards,
Ranee

How long until this renegade gets booted off the knitlist, do you think? I may simply unsubscribe to save them the trouble.

There is a group of us working on projects for our churches/synagogues as a KAL. The official start date isn't until the 15th, though it is ongoing, so there is no deadline. We are acting as encouragement to each other. There are people making stoles, tallits, altar linens and so on. If you would like to join, visit Holy Needle and sign up. I'm also looking for someone who can make a button for the group. I'm interested in needles on their side, or rather, pointing from one side to the other with the ends slightly elevated over the points and the points crossed, and a halo around the ends. Anyone able to do that and send it to me in jpg? Thank you!

I just finished a pair of beaded needle tatted earrings! They were so easy, and so quick! It was literally a matter of minutes to make them. I used the pattern from Rozella Linden's Easy Tatting, and the method from Barbara Foster's Learn Needle Tatting Step-by-Step. I can already see how I will modify them for different designs. This time, I used royal blue thread and tiffany glass colored beads or harlequin or raku, that's what the colors remind me of anyway. I'm thinking of little red and white candy cane earrings as well.


There is a pattern online for beaded dragonfly earrings, also tatted, and I think I know how I can make them without buying the pattern. I just need to find the right bugle beads. I'll be taking another round of photos, so I can post Lara, finally. When I do, I'll make sure to snap a shot of the earrings also.

I had some photos of the suri alpaca and the perfect red alpaca I bought at Black Sheep on the camera still and uploaded them today.




Look at the colors in this yarn! I love it. It's only a little bit, but I have some ideas for it.

Here are also a couple pictures of recently completed objects. Please ignore what I look like, I just got back from a day at work and Rich made me laugh while he was taking the photo.



Here is some detail on the lace:


This is Amira's dress, she still won't let me take a picture of her in it, so here it is hanging from the chandelier in the living room.



Today at the shop, I bought eight skeins of Rowan Calmer in Coral to make Audrey. I didn't have to order it, as there was a bag in the back room, ready for me. I also bought two Debbie Bliss pattern books and a Jaegger baby pattern book that were all on sale 50% off! I am enjoying blowing my checks on knitty stuff, but will likely slow down when the kids' tuition bills start coming in.

That's what I've decided to call my two skein wonder (and it was - I had about 25 inches left of the yarn). It is orchid pink, I used seed st around the body and a leaf edging around the sleeves. It is finished, and I promise that within the next week I will have photos of both it and Amira's dress, and even Lara for good measure.

I followed the advice to make the shrug at the size for the width between my shoulders, but I wish I had made it a little larger. It fits, but barely, and it is quite pink. I'm thinking of giving it to a friend's daughter, who could wear it quite easily and looks very nice in pink. I like it a lot, but it somehow isn't really me. So, right now, I am cleaning it, and will let it dry and try it on again to see how I feel about it. I'm leaning toward making it a gift. I could also make another one (maybe even following the one skein wonder pattern a bit more closely) out of cotton for another friend's daughter.

I just ordered some Barn Red and Oatmeal Elegance to see if it will work for a vest pattern I have, the Los Lobe Hose pattern, needles to go with it and those pewter yarn ball earrings from Knit Picks, and will be ordering some Rowan Calmer from the shop to make Audrey. We have enough of it in several colors, but not the color I wanted for the sweater. Ah, well, it's not like I will be knitting it right away, anyway.

School is quickly approaching. I cannot believe that it is August already! At least I will only have two trips a day taking kids to school this year. Time slips by without my noticing it sometimes.