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Finally Friday

What a long and stressful week! I'm considering it officially over around noon today. Let the weekend begin!

I'm still chugging along on the Himaraya scarf. I like how the dark and light yarns are patterning the Multidirectional Diagonal scarf. Working garter stitch always makes me think of Elizabeth Zimmermann's engineered garter stitch wonders. I bet she would have like this scarf pattern.

I have enough of this old Himaraya to knit a longish scarf; I'm aiming for a good six feet, and there is yarn enough to create a matching skully-type hat. Should keep my recipient plenty warm! How's your holiday knitting coming along? I'm ready to return to gloves, myself.

Pups

Pups are still a bit peaked, but coming along nicely. Who knew a simple vaccination could cause such canine havoc? Thursday afternoon, though, everyone enjoyed a nice stretch in the sunshine and fresh air. The pups and I thank you all for your kind thoughts and comments regarding their pup-health. I was very touched, and read each message to the invalids.

It's Friday! Mike Jack and Della say they don't care to join in any reindeer games. Have a wonderful day, and a wonderfully satisfying weekend!

Happy Thursday

Here are our convalescents, getting a bit of sun today:

Mike and Jack are completely better, but are still being cautious with themselves, since it seems to gain more snuggles. Dachshunds are prone to being dramatic, but those hives were way too much! Thank you all for your kind comments.

Knitting

I've finished the Grape Arbor-colored Multidirectional Diagonal scarf. This is an addictive pattern! Completely mindless, yet yielding very snazzy results.

This one, using about 350 yards of handpaint, has come in at just under six feet of scarf. It's a warm one, too. The colors are much nicer in person that what you're seeing in the images. Truly grape-arbory! with winey purples, grape-leaf greens, and grapevine browns. Wool purchased from ebay seller Russtrees.

Now there's only the Himaraya scarf to finish up, and my Christmas knitting is done. Oh, except for those blue and white gloves...I think I'll be giving an knitting-IOU for those.

Off-Topic

There is some extraordinary origami at this site. Don't miss this artist's paper portraits of the Buddha and of the Archangel Gabriel. (via BoingBoing) Also via BoingBoing, Customizable Bobble-Head Dolls--the perfect gift for 39.95.

Pups

It's Thursday! (Thank you, Tamara, for keeping up our closing line tradition on Wednesday in the comments!) Della says Romp while You May, for Tomorrow You might have Hives!

La la la

Oops! We don't have knitting to show you today! More about that under Pups. So let's talk about my newest old book, Knitting in the Nordic Tradition (ISBN:1887374310). Do you have a copy? Please treasure it, because it is officially out of print. The author is Vibeke Lind, and if you can read Danish, there's a nice biography page here.

I wasn't always knuts about stranded knitting, so I missed this book when I began collecting information on Norwegian knitting. It only took knitting one Dale of Norway design to become hooked, of course!

So, about this book. When I finally tracked down a copy, the seller told me I would want "to knit something from every page." I thought that might be hyperbole, yet, now that the book has arrived, I see she was completely right. (By the way, I bought her last copy.) I do want to knit something from every page! This isn't a book of patterns or designs; instead, it's a book of comprehensive information on how to knit everything Norwegian, from socks to gloves to sweaters and everything in between, and all of it two-color. There are more than 100 graphed pattern charts, hundreds of meticulous line drawings, and dozens of inspiring photographs of knitted items. I'm delighted to add this to my collection of ethnic knitting books. I had heard that the translation to English was not very good, but I think its fine and immensely readable. I Love This Book. Two Thumbs Up! Huzzah! If you don't have it and want to obsessively hunt down a copy (as I did), here's Amazon's entry to get you started. Good luck!

Pups

What?? No puppy photos? Yes! There are no puppy photos today. The dear little doggies went to the vet for their yearly vaccinations and Mike and Jack had unexpected and dreadful reactions to the vaccine for a horrible spirochete called Lepto-something. You can read more about the horrible spirochete here, but basically, our darlings swelled up like Texas toads and broke out in hives all over their little miniature dachshund bodies. Completely all over! Even the insides of their floppy ears!! Poor pups. They had to have histamine blockers before they could come home, and they were quite miserable until the antihistamines kicked in. We were appalled (and itchy). Except Della. She was just bored. Our half-hour visit to the vet turned into a six-and-a-half-hour visit. Mike and Jack are both much better at this writing, yet I don't want to snap flash-photos in their little puffy faces. Tomorrow, we'll resume snapping flash-photos in and of their furry heroic faces, provided they feel 100% better.

Until then, happy knitting! and Happy Wednesday!

Mitered Squares and Short Rows

That's what I'm working on; more mitered squares and another Multidirectional Diagonal scarf. The new scarf is in a discontinued Noro yarn called Himaraya. The color stretches are still intense, but shorter and more random than Kureyon. Colors are moody blues:

I like it!

37th Street Tour

In Austin on 37th Street, the residents take a very whimsical view of holiday decorations. Monday night, Sister, her son, and I took a stroll down the most curiously decorated street in Austin. Found objects are re-purposed with strings of light, and the mundane takes on new artistic meaning when draped with festive lights. Here's some of what we saw; I hope it inspires you to new heights of silliness when considering your own decorations!

A shrubbery car:

An Outré Tableau:

Ye Olde Motorcycle:

An EZ Bizarre Oven:

Holiday Bevo, the UT mascot:

And my personal favorite, the Shrine to Elvis created from an old ice machine:

Yep. We're in Texas, and It's Tuesday. Pups are going to the vet. See you tomorrow! Have a happy knitting day.

Necessary Knitting

"Ho!" I said to myself this weekend. "I need a sweater!" So in an act of faithless glove, I put my little glove needles down and picked up an Unfinished Object abandoned earlier in the year. It's the "Mitered Madness" sweater/jacket from designer Carol Lapin, and it's knit in Noro Kureyon, color number 51, which is very urban and mysterious and gray and black and brown.

This is the left front, so you'll have an idea of what it looks like. The back is already finished, the left front is finished, and the right-front is nearly finished, so I think I'll be able to wear this to California at the end of the month. This sweater was perhaps the prototype of the design "Bounced Check," featured in the first Simply Knit book. Isn't Noro fun? You can see the original model here.

In other knitting news, I worked a bit more of the third Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf. See how it grows?

Garter-stitch seems to soothe frayed neurotransmitters, whether in short-rows or in mitered squares.

Pups

It's Monday! Mikey says Deck the Halls.