Critters and Spectacles

if i were a quilter

All crafty people, please go read this story about quilters donating their work to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. The chaplain at Walter Reed blesses each quilt before handing them out to the wounded, many of whom question whether they "deserve" to receive the quilts. So many of us have done some sort of charity knitting, whether it's Afghans for Afghans, the Red Scarf project, and so on, but to see this kind of story showing just how much the effort (and what a beautiful effort it is) means to people is really touching.

I made ONE New Year's Resolution this year, and it was to take a sewing class. I've got a quilter in me, I just know it. Of course I'll be busy with baby blankets for a while, but still...

Speaking of baby blankets, here's a week-old photo of the blanket I'm making for youngest sister Alia (due May 13th - Mother's Day, actually, if I'm not mistaken).

There will be 27 balls of Knit Picks Shine in the blankie when it's all done! Colors are Grass, Bachelor Button and Sea Spray. I finished the first multicolored block, and am almost done with the first solid green block.

I'm home sick from work today, so in between bouts of reading and checking work email, I may get a little bit of knitting done. We'll see. Really, I want to go back to sleep.

comments kerfuffle

I've had some problems recently with configuring the comment section of each entry. As far as I can tell, I've disabled the security code that I used to require to help prevent comment spam. However, the code sometimes shows up, and sometimes does not. Very confusing. Anyway, in the previous entry, I tried posting a comment without using the security code (which I couldn't see anyway) and it did show up. I'm still trying to resolve this, but I *think* comments can be posted. Have a great day!

an update! at long last!

First things first: it's snowing. And, Georgia native that I am, have mixed feelings. It's exciting because yay snow! And yay - a return to weather that should be normal for this time of year! But I'm always a little disappointed, mostly because the "normal" snow behaviors I grew up with don't seem to be the norm for here. A light dusting of snow doesn't get read as "Winter Storm 2007 - stay tuned for emergency updates!" Rather, it gets cleared away pretty quickly and easily and people go along with their lives. So really, I'm being a big baby, but Dave just got back from the store on a toilet paper and kitty litter (and beer) run.

Last night's DC-area knit bloggers meet up and yarn swap was fantastic! I met tons of new people and have gotten much encouragement to actually update every now and then. Thanks so much to Sarah Snargle for hosting and to Vibegrrl Lara for co-hosting!

I came home with MUCH more than I should have - my haul was in no way equivalent to what I contributed. I hope the knitting gods won't frown on me too much, but everyone kept telling me to take it! The BIG SCORE was a large bag of mercerized cotton in all kinds of beautiful shades that I want to use to make a Mason-Dixon Log Cabin blankie.

(yeah, lame that I didn't take everything out of the bags again, but I've got the colors in the order that I want to use them!)

Three balls of Arucana Nature Cotton, and one of Arucana Nature Wool...

...and four balls of beautiful light green Rowan Cotton Rope!

There were lots of lovely yarns there and lots of hilarious and talented knitters. Thanks for including me!

Posts yet to come: my current baby blankie for living-in-Alaska sister Alia AND the major repair that I had to do to Dave's sweater after we discovered MOTH HOLES!!! (don't worry - everything I brought to the yarn swap last night has always been kept in plastic bags and was moth-free.)