If you're in New Mexico and you're looking for an angora bunny, Pam Larsen at Rio Rancho Rabbit Rescue has this cute female named Fuzzy Mama. She needs to be spayed and is hoping to find a good home soon. Pam also has a bunch of cute baby Netherland dwarf rabbits who were dumped in an arroyo behind a car dealership in Albuquerque. For info on all the terrific rabbits available for adoption here, visit the Four Corners Bunnies web site.

I'll have a pair of self-designed mittens to show you tomorrow. I have decided to continue designing mittens to fill up my boxes of Christmas presents. I was hoping to find some new stranded color knitting designs in Charlene Schurch's new sock book or Nancy Bush's new sock book but the Knitpicks book preview shows mainly textured sock designs. I'll put off getting them - it is good to save my money anyway as Peaches wants me to donate to help pay medical expenses for THIS poor rabbit who was set on fire. The need for charitable donations really doesn't seem to end lately, does it?

Here are two projects from Andean Folk Knits, both knit with Nature Spun sport weight. The mitten cuffs were done on size 4 dpns and I had to go down to size 2 dpns for the rest of the mittens. The hat was knit with size 4 dpns.

As an undergrad I lived at a special dorm called International House at Illinois State University. You had to interview and have foreign language experience to get accepted. Every American student got paired up with a foreign student.

My first roommate was Huey-Mei from Taipei and when she
went back to Taiwan I was paired with Izumi from Kyoto. There were
students from all over the globe and we had many special international dinners cooked by the students. I had a friend from Nigeria who helped me with my French homework and I planned a kegger for our dorm with two great guys from Iraq.

Seeing all the similarities and differences between Americans and other countries was fascinating. But all was not hunky dory. Watching the evening news there took on a different meaning because there was always somebody from a country in trouble. This was during the Iran hostage situation and we had to be careful in the parking lot because some of the Iranian students had their cars vandalized. One of the Ethiopian students from our dorm, targeted in a campaign by Amnesty International, has just been released from prison.

This weekend I've been thinking of a sweet girl with beautiful long hair from Pakistan who lived on our floor. Oxfam has a news release about their efforts to help the victims of the horrific Pakistan earthquake HERE.

I've finished two projects from the Andean Knits book but you'll have to wait until next week to see them. I've been sick with a bug this week and don't have the energy to write up the details or scan them. So far my attempts to make Peaches bring me some tea and clean the house have been unsuccessful.

I'm off to lay pathetically on the couch and watch the baseball playoffs. Fortunately the games aren't on Fox today as their annoying baseball coverage makes me sick enough when I am feeling good.

I don't think I'm going to Taos Wool Festival this weekend. I'll probably decide at the last minute on Sunday morning - it depends a lot on my mood.

My mood this weekend pretty much depends on the actions of this man.




I will definitely be wearing these socks.

Here are the Petticoat socks from Weekend Knitting in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. Not the greatest scans but you get the idea.

YIKES! Gasoline prices have risen 50% in the past 2 years and there may be more increases to come. Home energy prices are also increasing drastically - our state utility company says that natural gas costs will rise at least 50% this year. Our subdivision water bills will double this year.

The USDA estimates grocery prices will increase at least 3.5% this quarter. Fresh fruits and vegetables, the mainstay of my diet, rose 6%. Real estate prices are rising dramatically - over 20% this past year in some hot markets. And a new law will double many people's monthly credit card payments this year to ensure you are paying off more than just the interest on your debt.

I guess it is time to start knitting from the stash. Fortunately the cost of yarn has stayed the same for me. Sure, there are more fancy frou frou yarns for people who think knitting a $150 fluffy scarf is a good idea. Personally I am grateful for Knitpicks and Elann who often have some basic wool yarns in lots of colors.

My biggest expense has always been books. There are some new knitting books that are $40 plus but I generally live without them. Or wait until I can find them used. Bookfinder is the place to go to find the best used price on a book. If you buy a lot of books like I do, you may be better off checking out a book discounter like Edward Hamilton or Bookcloseouts so you can save on shipping. I buy a few knitting books and a LOT of cookbooks from those two places.

Here are two interesting articles - Ten Things You Should Never Buy New and Ten Things You Should Never Buy Used.

Peaches is not concerned about any increase in cost of her favorite greens. Here she is with her cat friend Bosco. It took her almost 2 years to start hanging out with Bosco although he's always adored rabbits.

I finished the gloves yesterday. Here they are.







My knitting production for 2005 is way down. I don't even think I finished a single project in June. We are 3/4 of the way through 2005 and I've done 12 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of mittens, 2 hats, 2 pairs of gloves, a cloth, a cozy, and some finger puppets. (In 2004 I finished 36 pairs of socks, 14 hats, 9 scarves, 4 pairs of mittens, 4 pairs of gloves, a baby sweater, and some miscellaneous stuff.)

The lack of interesting knitting patterns the past few years finally took its toll on my knitting output. Fortunately there are plenty of new books coming out to get my production back up in 2006. In fact I have to go right now and check to see if Amazon has the new Charlene Schurch sock book available yet.