Napkin rings

I forgot to take a photo of the finished napkin ring before I gave it to Katie for the Knit Scene photo shoot yesterday. doh! But here it is in progress. And the backside as well. Actually it is easier to see the pattern before I made it a ring. The double knitting helps keep the shape--so it really does function as a napkin ring--no starch needed! All my knitting these days is small--but I can see the potential in this little bit of knitting--wouldn't it make a great pair of socks or a hat? Even a sweater--but it is hard for me to imagine doing double-knitting on size 0 needles for a project that big. I'm still working on my Dad's sweater--started in 1996. Each year between Christmas and his birthday in February I make progress on it--a little bit of progress. Maybe this will be the year that I finish it. 10 years later! The problem is that it is millspun and brown. I thought it would be faster that way--(the millspun that is--I didn't consider how mind-numbing millspun brown would be)--but it has turned out to be much slower. And Dad has lost weight since I started--so we'll see if it is too roomy or not.

Catching up on projects

Here is the spinning belly piece that I mentioned in yesterday's post that I started while I was recuperating. It is the first in a series based on the Three Fates Greek Myth of Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured it and Atropos cut it. So it is an image of my hugely pregnant belly (with Hannah) and my hands spinning. When I started this piece it mildly shocked my husband, mother, mother-in-law, and Kelly's aunt. I think they are okay with it now. But it just shows my belly, nothing else. I've also started a small piece of a poppy to fit inside a Fobbie--a cool invention made by my friend Liz Mrofka for wrapping packages.

Lulu is eyeing the yarn on the chairs. I was too lazy to wind the skeins into balls--I'm sure I'll be cursing my laziness later on when I decide to move the project elsewhere. This is the sampling stage of the Knit Scene staff project--the napkin rings. Actually, I think I'll be lucky if I get one done. And if that one is not my sampler, then I'll cooking with fire. Or oil. Or whatever the saying is.

I ordered my yarn for the project while paying close attention to the colors, but forgetting to look at the size of yarn (on the web sizes are easily over looked by folks like me who usually make their own yarn and aren't used to paying attention to sizes of millspun yarn--that's excuse, anyway). So the yarn arrived and it is gossamer weight--beautiful, lofty, and very fine. I proceeded with my plan--to make a double-knitted fabric with a leaf motif. So I'm doing charted double-knitting on size 0 needles. See why I'll be lucky to get more than one done by next week's photo shoot? Here are the front (orange/yellow) and the back (green) with the leaf motif starting to appear.
I'm also very excited about the new desk in my office. It is perfect for both work and play--filled with my photos, stamps, and special papers. On the window sill are the three pieces that I worked on--two reframed for the Hibberd/McGrath gallery in Breckenridge, Colorado and one completed Iris piece for Heidi. I need to put them in their frames and then send them off to their destinations--but for the moment it is nice to have them around.

Surgery=beading time!

Well, who knew? I really didn't expect that I'd be able to get much of anything done while I was recovering from surgery (a myomectomy to remove fibroids--benign tumors in my uterus that had grown a lot during my pregnancy)--but I did! I was able to finish up Heidi's Iris and start a new piece. I'll have to post photos of it later as I haven't shot any of it yet.
I thought I might get a lot of blogging done while I was recovering--but sitting at the computer made me nauseous. It was nice to have a break from my normal routines.
I also got to spend a lot of time with Hannah--now the house seems empty without her cheerful little chirpy voice filling it up. She's started singing. So cute! She's been singing the bottle song ever since the doctor said no more bottles (she's been weaned to cow's milk since July after we couldn't resolve the biting issue) at her 15 month appointment. So milk is delivered in a sippy cup now--she takes one sip and throws it away.
I was hoping to do some spinning, too, while I was recovering--but found it was too physical and too much for my abdominal muscles--I'll try again soon. I have a staff project for Knitscene to work on next--I've been working on ideas--but need to try them out on the needles.