Winter Is Here!

I'm being beat about the head and shoulders from multiple parties for not updating, so I'd best get to it! ;)

35 degrees and holding. Seriously, this morning's temp is today's high. In other words, COLD! A quick trip to J. Jill last weekend with Uska produced some lovely flannel jammies and a great sweater, so I'm ready to stay warm. To be perfectly honest, I've been wearing both to work all week. Fortune smiles on the telecommuter: only the dogs see it and they have no comment.

The scavenger hunt is on and I get to spoil a lovely person whose name and location will remain secret. I'm very excited!

I haven't worked on the black turtleneck much due to the demands of the silversmithing class, which I must say is awesome. I've decided on my first project and it's been blessed by the instructor: a representation of the Seattle skyline as a brooch. It's a skyline I've been fascinated with for years and have taken many pictures of it from the Ferry (all of which I no longer have, and that's a long story for another time). Barbara, half of our instruction team, had a lovely suggestion to implying the water of the Puget Sound. I'm still considering whether to add a stone, what kind, and where. Top of the Space Needle, maybe. And the piece contains the Kingdome, which has since been replaced by a new stadium.

Please send prayers out to my friend, Jim. Jim, and his wife Kay, have been a very close friends of my mother's for over thirty years, and I spent much time at their house while I was growing up. They both have meant a lot to me, and I have always held up Kay as a model of what a woman could be and could do. Jim has been active in a variety of pursuits, most recently archeology (he's been on many digs!) and photography. He's a terrific photographer, and some of my favorite images come from him. Jim is dying of cancer and I'm so sad to see such an enormous life pass from this world. Mom says the end is very close. If you're reading, Mom, I got your email and I'll send cards.

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Knitting Scavenger Hunt Profile

Mom, I know you're waiting for something more substantial. Just know that I'm getting to it! I start my silversmithing class Saturday, I have work up to my eyeballs, and I'm still not quite over my sinus infection. I have to certify a production fix Friday night so I might have a little downtime during those hours. In the meantime, here's some required information for the Knitting Scavenger Hunt Swap Thing.

1) Do you knit, crochet or both? How long have you been doing it?
I knit, and I've been knitting for 14 months.

2) What is on your needles right now?

• Black turtleneck sweater from Classic Knits by Erika Knight, in Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK
  
• Skinny long-wise scarf to be adorned a la Kristin Nicholas, in Cherry Tree Hill's "Springtime" colorway
• Modern Quilt Block scarf, from Knitting Daily (and Folk Knits) in the pattern's colors, in Kid Silk Haze.
  

3) What is the most frequently used tool in your knitting bag?
You mean besides my pattern and needles and yarn? It would have to be my stitch markers. Man, I use them for everything! A very close second is my flexible cloth ruler that I can poke pins into.

4) What are your 3 favorite yarns (fiber type or brand)? What are your 3 least favorite?
Favs: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino, RYC Cashsoft (all weights), Lorna's Laces Shepard Wool superwash (all weights).
Not Favs: Lion Chenille Thick & Quick Print (bleeds too much), Lopi (too scratchy), Lily Sugar'n Cream Crafter's Cotton.

5) What is your favorite color?
Blues/Purples. I've said in the past that I don't care for purple (YFB pals have heard me say that!) but after I went home I looked through my stash and I have more purple than any other color!! So, that said, I revise my statement: Purple isn't a color I usually wear. I don't think there's a color I really detest, though, except anything camouflage.

6) If you had a 5 minute shopping spree in your LYS, how would you plan your attack?
I'd probably go straight to the Cashsoft and grab about 20 skeins of whichever color grabbed me first, enough so I could knit something major, like a sweater. If I still had time, it's straight to the Cherry Tree Hill section and their yummy colorways.

7)What is your favorite FO and why? (post a pic if you have it!)The dreadlocks hat, I think, because it is so funky. I don't wear funky much because it draws so much attention and that makes me uncomfortable. And yet...I totally dig this hat. There are two, actually. I knit them in a bulky wool/silk yarn. The first one was with the yarn doubled. It's a very heavy hat for MLH (My Loving Husband). The second was single stranded, pictured, but not long enough, This yarn isn't that resilient. Despite all that, I love these hats. Be nice, now, I shot the model one with my camera phone. Here are two more: the heavy one on MLH, and the lighter one on Kat.


8) What are your favorite things to knit/crochet?
Socks seem to be a recurring theme, but I'm still a newbie and haven't tried everything yet.

9) Do you collect anything?
Books and maps.

10) What are your five favorite things (not necessarily knitting related)?
In addition to knitting:
Reading Playing flute
Time spent with my husband and kids - all of us together in the same room is such a rare treat these days.
Time spent with my girlfriends - knitters and non-knitters alike
Photography

11) Are you on Ravelry? What is your ID?
WeeBitEccentric

12) Do you drink tea/coffee/cocoa?
Herbal tea, white tea, Coffee (not flavored), sugar-free cocoa

13) Favorite Sweets?
My mother's shortbread sugar cookies, almond cake, plain old cheesecake, and fresh fruit. It's high season for clementines right now and I can't get enough of them!

14) Any allergies?
I'm highly sensitive to soft, flowery perfumes; I start sneezing and my eyes get watery and I turn into a puddle of mush in about ten minutes. Hay fever occasionally knocks me on my butt.

15) Do you have pets? kids?
Two dogs, Maggie & Tasha, both age 7. Two boys still living at home, Nick and Patrick, 21 and 19, respectively. All are potty trained.