Spiral

I finished my spiral.  This is the project I started after visiting the yarn store in my home town last month.  This was a very fun thing to knit.  The pattern is here.  After the first 20 or so rounds, this is very intuitive.  Once you knit the body, the border is knitted on perpendicular to the body.  Every other row incorporates a stitch from the body.  So you are basically binding off at the same time.  I liked that.

Don't like to purl?  There are no purl stitches here.

My spiral ended up about 32" in diameter.  It's going to go on the back of a chair.  Or couch.  It could be made smaller or finer and be used on top of a table.  I've seen similar patterns used as baby blankets. 

Here are the posed photos.



Moo

I was stopped at a red light on the way in to work this morning.  I looked over and next to me there was a truck carrying two cows.  The one on the left (you can barely see her legs) was laying on her back, much as my Labrador retriever does.  The one on the right was looking down at my Jeep.  I had to take a picture.

I wonder if these cows had an appointment with a Chick-fil-A billboard.

Bye to my LYS

I'm sad to say the LYS in my home town is closing.

Over Memorial Day I was home visiting my mom.  After our traditional lunch at (webpageless) Magpies we stopped at Colorado Fiber Arts to visit the yarn.  Though the window displays were a bit bare, from the outside everything looked fine.

As we got closer we saw this sign in the window.  Oh no, what does it mean?

We went in.  I realized there was a lot less yarn than usual and some of it had been consolidated onto fewer shelves.  We talked to the employee who told us that the owner's husband got a job in another city.  So they were moving away.  If no one bought the shop it would be closed in June.  From what I read on Ravelry, this will be the last weekend they are open.   This truly makes me sad.  Colorado Fiber  Arts is a wonderful yarn shop.  There is a great selection of yarn, the shop is in a unique and historic building and part of town, and the employees are very welcoming and friendly.  For example, a few years ago I was home for a high school reunion and bought some yarn and a pattern there.  I then started the project when I returned to Houston.  I got stuck on part of it and didn't have anyone to ask for help.  So about a month after the initial visit I was back for my real vacation.  I went into the shop with my project, asked for help, and was invited to sit down at the big table where I was shown how to do the tricky part.  I'm really going to miss visiting the shop on my future visits to Pueblo.

Though I've been trying so hard not to buy yarn I had to make one last purchase at Colorado Fiber Arts.  I am such a sucker for projects I see made up in shops.  This time I fell in love with a big circular throw placed over the back of an easy chair.  I asked about the pattern.  Since it was a free one they printed it for me.  I bought some Cascade 220 Quatro to make it.  Here is my progress so far.

Hopefully I will have this done before the end of the month.

I'm really going to miss my hometown LYS!

Noro Whippoorwill

I think I'm addicted to this pattern, Whippoorwill.  I really enjoy the simple stockinette stitch.  The main part is knit with the new Noro yarn called Shiraito.  This stuff is 45% cashmere, 45% angora, and 10% wool.  It is incredibly soft.

Of course the most fun part of knitting with Noro is watching the colors emerge.  When you look at the Noro in the skein you never quite know how it is going to look when knitted.  Even after it's rolled into a ball it's still a surprise as you knit.

It will be quite a while until it's cool enough to wear this.  Until then I'll just look at it.