Knitting Fun Weekend!

mafghan
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I had a lot of knitting fun this weekend, and got a whole lot of progress done on Juliet. I finished the 10.75 inches (that's about 42cm, right?) of garter stitch rectangle, then made a lovely eyelet border and the right front with a nice traveling rib pattern. I am now making the back of Juliet, which features traveling ribs converging to a center point. That was a nice surprise, since there's no picture of the back of the garment in the book.

But, on Sunday afternoon I switched projects because I went to a little workshop featuring Louisa Harding at my LYS. It was so nice of her to come to our little shop in addition to the more well-established one in town! Around 30 people came to work on a little bag pattern using her yarns, and to hear her story of how she got to be who she is.

I admire both her and her husband for finding meaningful work doing what they like (and it helps to have talent and training in those fields) and for finding work that allows them to be with their children. My former employer's volunteers would like that part. She hardly saw her first baby, because she went back to work with a vengeance right after she was born, and didn't want to repeat that with the second baby. Good for her.

I got a photo with Louisa, and also a better one of the Shiny Green sweater--am just waiting for the kind photographer to send them to me.

So, since I am thinking of afghans and not getting any suggestions for mine, I am sharing this photo of an "interesting" afghan I made in 2005 I think, for a former colleague after her first and only (so they say) baby was born. She also had a beautiful, energy-efficient new house full of bright colors, so I made this for the house. (Too bad I'll never get to see it finished!) Anyway, yes, it is sitting on a tuba. A concert tuba makes a good stand.

I made it from Berocco Foliage yarn, sort of following one of their patterns. Well, really I just made a bunch of mitered squares and connected them, then added a border and a crochet picot edging. I like the way Foliage changes colors, but I don't like how it pills or how incredibly "acrylic" it feels. I made a vest from it, too, but rarely wear it, due to the pilling and fuzzing. Still, it is an OK yarn for something that needs to be machine washed frequently, which is why I used it here. Um, also because Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon weren't available to me yet!

Stay tuned for photos of my workshop project, the green sweater and Louisa Harding!