Little Blanket

My concern: How do you show your friend dealing with a life altering illness that you care?

My daughter and I discussed my desire to support Lisa and let her know she is in my prayers. My inclinations lean toward doing something and we came up with the idea of making a blanket of portable size so she could take it along to chemo.

A few years ago, many volunteers offered their talents and time to create a large version - The Hope Blanket. Donations were made the American Cancer Society and the blanket was given away. Luckily, I still had the patterns and enough of the original yarn to make this for Lisa. She actually was a contributor and her square designs are included in her new blanket.

If you have a minute, please stop and say a little prayer for those who are dealing with any type of cancer. Before you say 'Amen', please include a little blessing for Lisa.

I just couldn't wait

The Alka shawl is blocking, but I had to share. This pattern is from Myrna Stahman's book.

Confession, the book was daunting at first. It became less intimidating once it was quiet around the house and I could actually make notes. There are suggestions in the book about this particular shawl design and changes to be made allowing for bulkier yarn.

The yarn is one of the Sonoma colorways from the Hope Blanket.

This shawl is a sample for Briar Rose. If you catch them at a show this season, check it out. The colors are always so much more beautiful in person. I will put up more photos after it dries.

Spinning and the art of macaroni

I've been experimenting with my spinning. The red and tan roving is a mill end and is my first attempt at spinning thick and thin.

Something told me to spin and ply a little to see how it goes and when the fiber was wet it smelled very, very bad. When dry, it smelled fine. Coby had a tip that worked like a dream.

Run VERY !HOT! water and put some Dawn dish soap in then soak the fiber for 5 min. It is important not to move the fiber much to avoid felting. After the soak, run VERY !HOT! clear water and soak for another 5 min. Finally, spin the water out in your washing machine. There was just a tiny bit of fiber here and it squished out between towels.

The fiber smelled fine afterward.

In the meantime, the desire to spin finer weight yarn had arrived. This is angora, merino, and silk from Susan's Spinning Bunny. Originally 2 ounces, nearly half is spun up. We'll see how it goes once the ply has been finished.

A couple of projects made with Briar Rose are around here, too. A Myrna Stahman shawl is on the needles made with Sonoma. Guess is that it is about 75% complete. With increases every odd row, it is difficult to estimate. The rows are nearing 300 stitches and it is apparent that the progress will slow by the sheer volume of stitches.

Finally, this hat and mitten pattern will be carried by Briar Rose. Christy Roosien wrote the hat and a matching scarf pattern that is incredibly adorable. It is knit with 2 strands of Fourth of July on large needles. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

One more thing to share. Mother's Day was low-key and that is fine with me. Sunday night, Bugg's boyfriend dropped by with a present.

My very own macaroni necklace! Let me tell, you, the designs have gotten cooler than when they were in Kindergarten - waves!

The kids laugh now, but still think it was pretty cool that I actually wore the jewelry made from food to work (at a bank) when they were little. Just to stick with tradition, I wore this necklace to Bugg's tennis match Monday. The boyfriend smirked a little, but he must have been so proud.

Coming to a show near you

Remember that blanket?

Wanted to let you know that it will be with Chris during the following shows:


Great Lakes Fiber Festival
May 24 & 25th 2008 Wooster, Ohio


and

NEW!! - Knitters Connection
"Knitters Market"
June 12, 13 and 14, 2008 Columbus, Ohio


Be sure to stop by and see Chris at the Briar Rose booth if you attend either festival.

Donations will be accepted at both shows (and online) until June 21st when we will draw a name and mail the blanket to one lucky donor.

Good luck!