I am so excited! I'm going to teach knitting one day a week to kids and teenagers, age 10-18, who are in treatment foster care. One girl already knits dishcloths and the rest just want to learn. I have to get fingerprinted first believe it or not then the class will start after school ends. I've been thinking about projects and I think I'll knit up a few possible items and have each kid pick what they want to do. One possibility will certainly be a Spontaneous Scarf. A few of my students may be disabled so I will try to offer a wide variety of projects for different skills. I'm going to go through my stash tomorrow and pick out some fun yarns and needles they can use.









Here's a photo of my knitting organizer. It is a fishing tackle box I bought at Walmart for less than $3 and I really like it. It holds my Burt's Bees lemon cuticle cream, tapestry needles, stitch markers, Eucalan, bobbins, crochet hooks, hand cream, measuring tape and other odds and ends. I don't know why but I am not knitting as much lately. I think it is because of my lack of knitting-related purchases for Lent. Perhaps buying new things makes me more motivated to knit? Ah well only 1 1/2 more weeks.



I did sneak over to Elann today. I know I'm just torturing myself by even looking but those discounted Bryspuns caught my fancy. I'd probably break them though. I used to have a wonderful collection of Balene double-pointed needles (now going for huge sums on Ebay) but I broke most of them over time. They felt so wonderful in the hands and had really neat points.

The blue/green Spontaneous Scarf is done. I have the yarn for a purple one and I'm wondering though if I might not enjoy a purple Spontaneous pillow more. I'd use this technique for an afghan (DH keeps requesting one) but I'm worried about knitting an afghan I have to hand wash. I guess it is no big deal.



I got a fun book from the library - 100 Afghan Squares to Knit by Debbie Abrahams. Essentially this book is a collection of blankets and throws done in individual squares. I don't know why I couldn't just do something like this with the various stash yarns I'm using up for the scarves. Just pick a particular size for each block then use stitch patterns, patterned knitting, etc., to make a bunch of blocks and seam them together. It sounds kind of fun and in the book she even has beads and sequins in some of her afghans. I'm not sure how well those would work on the couch but I really think I should try to be more creative and just start knitting stuff up. I did see how she seamed her afghans and she uses the mattress stitch and the fake kitchener (Montse Stanley's name) to seam together tops of rows to each other.







Here is St. Enda in progress. I've decided I want to finish by mid-May - I think I can do the front piece and the collar in a month if I don't get sidetracked. DH has been busy lately so there will be more uninterrupted knitting time.

It was actually snowing flurries here today. Here are some pictures of our yard with snow. The Sandia mountains are completely invisible in the distance.























New Mexico is unusual in that it is a southern state with some incredible fiber resources. The Taos Wool Festival is the highlight of my fiber year every fall. Last year we also managed to visit Tierra Wools in Los Ojos on our trip to the festival. In Taos there is La Lana Wools which offers yarns and fibers dyed with natural dyes. There is also Weaving Southwest where I go just to lust after a Rio Grande spinning wheel every year.



Santa Fe has an incredible textile collection in the Neutrogena Wing in the International Museum of Folk Art (if you're in the area check it out just to see the gorgeous ancient indigo dyed Japanese firefighter's uniforms) and Miriam's Well offers the Santa Fe School of Weaving. There are also several neat fiber arts galleries on Canyon Road in Santa Fe including Thirteen Moons Gallery. Apparently they are only one of a handful of fiber arts galleries in the country. One time we visited Thirteen Moons we saw baskets made out of fish skins and quilts made of paper.







Espanola has the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center which offers demos and classes and supplies. Victory Alpaca Ranch in Mora has a gift shop and ranch tours of their 1100 acres. I haven't even managed to make it to these last two places yet.





Here in Albuquerque we have the most incredible LYS, Village Wools. Their class schedule is amazing and highlights local fiber pursuits with Navajo weaving and Spanish Colonial Colcha embroidery classes and even classes on how to make baskets out of pine needles. The Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta takes place Memorial Day weekend at the fairgrounds. I've been to this event previously; the show is mainly art quilts but has some knitting related vendors and some fun hands-on demos like silk painting and bobbin lace.



These fiber resources are just the tip of the iceberg here in the Land of Enchantment.

Here's my most recent FO - the Harald mittens from Viking Patterns for Knitting in Tahki Sable (70% wool/ 30% angora). I did them in size 3 needles and think the size needles called for is an error. I did the cable pattern twice, not once, on the cuffs and they're quite nice. I'd really like to do more fun patterns from this book. I'm not sure who will get these mittens yet so they go in the knitting box.







And here's the brown/neutral Spontaneous Scarf. This photo shows the mixture of yarns a bit better than the last one but I still need to get a close-up.



Not much knitting to report lately I'm afraid (the blue green Spontaneous Scarf is going slowly for some reason) but I hope to get back to St. Enda this week. I just got some new knitting books out from the library and I'll report on them this week also.

Spontaneous Scarf

Yep - that is a Spontaneous Scarf you see! The pattern is in the Winter issue of Spin-Off but basically you cast on until you're sick of casting on, then knit in seed stitch lengthwise with a different yarn each row. Go wild and use up all your odds and ends of different fibers and weights. I add on the fringe as I begin & end each side - I just tie a knot every four ends. I just love these - totally mindless knitting but fun to constantly add new fibers and play around with colors. In fact I'm using my Tracy Eicheim spindle right now to spin up some single play mohair/wool hand-dyed wool just to use for another Spontaneous Scarf. Bet you can't knit just one.

Today was a gorgeous day so I sat outside and combed out a lot of the gray alpaca fleece. It is full of VM (vegetable matter - i.e., hay, burrs, etc) so it is best to do this outside. As I was combing I would occasionally let some fly loose in the wind. The neighborhood birds are going to have the softest nests. I still don't know what I'll do with this alpaca when it is finally processed into yarn. Well I'm off until Monday! Hopefully there will be some excellent knitting time this weekend.

Blogger is having problems and I can't get images up. So you may have to wait a little longer for the photos of the Spontaneous Scarf.

QUARTERLY REPORT





My purpose for doing this blog is to become more productive and to keep a better record of my fiber experiences. At the end of 2002, I was dismayed to find I had 3 sweaters on the needles and two more planned and my knitting output for the year hadn't been great. And my stash was getting too large and unfocused.



Since the first quarter of 2003 has passed I thought I'd do a quarterly report for the first quarter for 2003 to keep me honest.



Items Finished:



1.Child's mittens - my own design after a friend requested them

2. Meida's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia for a friend

3. Fuzzy Feet in stash wool for DH

4. Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan for myself

5. Traveling Stitch vest

6. Red Spontaneous Scarf to use up stash wool for knitting box

7. Brown/Neutral Spontaneous Scarf for knitting box

8. Harald mittens from Viking Patterns for Knitting for knitting box



Items in Progress:



1. Alice Starmore St. Enda

2. Dale of Norway Trondheim

3. Green Spontaneous Scarf



Other Things Accomplished:



1. Combed and spun 1 bobbin of gray alpaca

2. Dyed yarn and fiber in Easter egg dye

3. Abandoned the Best of Show socks from Socks, Socks, Socks (3 colors every row was getting annoying).

4. Possibly abandoning some other future planned projects - DH says he's not sure he likes the Vogue Knitting Map of the World afghan and I may not do the spring socks from Socks, Socks, Socks.



Future Planned Projects:



1. Entrelac socks from Spin-Off socks book

2. Dale of Norway Kashmir sweater

3. Alpaca mittens for Joelle

4. Several more Spontaneous Scarves (you can't knit just one!)

5. Alice Starmore's Celtic Keynot Pillow

6. Make a complete inventory of stash yarns and fiber and books