Monday, June 9, 2008

Back to Blogging

Hello dear readers,

Sorry for the recent 2-week blogging hiatus. No, I wasn't on n a fabulous vacation --haven't had one of those for years. We're in the midst of transitioning work spaces, so it's been busy-ish, but I shouldn't have neglected you or the blog for this long!

Before talking about recent knitting projects (I'll save spinning for another post), there was one really exciting event that I was lucky enough to attend last week in my hometown on 6/3/08. Any guesses?
We waited in this massive line for a few hours.
Eventually we walked in serpentine fashion, deposited beverages & umbrellas outside and found seats. Via cell phone texting & mini web page browsing during the wait we learned that Barack Obama was the Democratic party nominee. Wahoo!
Shortly thereafter the headliners arrived on stage.Here's a view of what it's like to see Obama speak from the nosebleeds. The crowd was fired up and ready to.... make lots of noise. At times it was soo noisy that I 'heard' the speech by reading the prompts on screen.
serious yay!
***
A co-worker of mine recently gave me a lovely gift - basenji sock blockers. They were patterned after a Fiber Trends blue blocker size medium, although these are thicker and taller than the pattern.
He used oak for the foot/leg, and used walnut to join them together. Apparently he also made the brass hanger, too. (He is not taking orders for future blockers. Sorry.)Here's how it looks in action -
(and yeah, I finished the Monkeyfish socks too. :)***
Since it's summer, I'm back to lace and sock knitting full-time.
Laminaria projects kept popping up all over Ravelry, and I just couldn't resist anymore. Laminaria is a form of kelp, and it seemed to want to be green-- you know?
Last week I pulled a skein of yarn from the stash purchased from an (unknown) etsy seller for a short shawl to match a green wool tulip skirt that I wear in the fall. The yarn itself is a lovely 2-ply. One ply is silk, the other is wool. It does have the dry, papery feeling of some wool/silk/cotton blends. (Think Jaeger Trinity)
Once received, the color was much too bright for the skirt. The more I knit with it, the more this variegated shawl started to look like nasty military camo gear. Uggh.

So, once I finish knitting Laminaria, I'm planning to over dye the shawl via immersion- perhaps ombre green, darkest at the tips?

At lunch-time, I've gone back to a one-time loser project to start anew. So far, so good.

8 comments:

Guinifer said...

The orange Wollmeise is back!

I watched Barack's speech with Puck, he was so excited it was really fun. Then I sent him to bed and I cried because Mr. O makes me so darn hopeful, and I was sad too for Hillary...you just know how badly she wanted this time in the White House.

Cathy-Cate said...

Sonne is looking good and hopefully more forgiving this time!

What gorgeous sock blockers. Quite a friend.

Was Renee a lot closer than you were? : ) Or was she taking pictures of the screens? Looks like a very exhilarating occasion. Cool that it was in St. Paul. You're part of history!

Debra said...

Renee (goodyarn.blogspot.com) and I went to the event together. Actually, she was sitting in the row behind me and took much better photos!!!

Anonymous said...

I would have loved to be there (except for the standing in line part -- I don't stand well for long periods). Yay for Obama!

Knitted Gems said...

The sock blockers are beautiful.

Maybe it's just me, but I really like the green of your shawl. But, I'm not the one who has to wear it. So, overdyeing it is a great idea. Good Luck!

Debra said...

Kathryn: Sorry, I don't know how to contact you otherwise. I can say without a doubt that you probably heard the speech better than we did. After coming home, I think we all watched it again. :)

Holly said...

Nothing wrong with "ugly military camo gear" - grin.

But it is too dark and bright for the current US colours.

If you want to donate it to one of the brits - I can probably find you a taker!

Rebecca said...

The blockers look awesome. And the socks look great.