Can't Work Today

Dear Mandella,

I'm sorry, but I just can't be working. The sky has been too blue, the leaves -- even pine needles -- have been too full of color, and the weather has been entirely too magnificent. It is pullover weather. It is dig-out-something-warm-for-a-walk-in-the-crisp-outdoors season. It is the season that is the reason why we knit with wool even in the hottest of summer.

The colors are magical. Truly, the sky is this blue and the leaves are practically radiating color. This tree is just outside of my building at the Air Force base where I work full-time.

Yes, that's my building in the background, but my office is on the other side. I have to take a walk outside and around to see this tree, and when I do I never want to come back inside!

Well, I have been working, actually. I've had a horrendous week at both of my jobs, but I'm rewarded with two classes this weekend, both with Melissa Leapman of cable fame. See? I have my preparation swatches knit, my graph paper on hand, and her first book open to an inspiring photo:

The Leapman classes are also a reward for slogging through this very-much-altered version of the Dinan Jacket, here shown being done in Red Heart bullet-proof acrylic:

The truth is, it has to be done in this yarn. The dear person (Jane M) who will receive this is a teacher of "special needs" children. She needed something that would take numerous washings and God-knows-what-else. And it's quite a re-do, by the way. The original pattern is a cropped jacket that tapers from armholes to waist (where it stops). This version is straight up and down, going from hip to armhole with no shaping whatsoever. It has 3" of 2 x 2 ribbing on the bottom (another change from the original, which has only a rolled bottom). I've been slogging away at the stockinette portion (which is 10" so far, just an inch shy of the initial armhole bind-offs).

As you can imagine, I have amused myself with a few other things in the meantime, not the least of which is a fun little project of knitting my various scraps into mitered squares:

I know, I know; I have become my mother, using up every last little scrap. It's fun, though. I like stopping every now and then (as I have above) and looking it to figure out what kind of shape I see. So far it looks like a very colorful stingray that is having an extra fin grafted on. *sigh* It will take years for this blanket to be done, but it will be fun looking back and remembered what I knit from the yarns involved.

Oh, speaking of yarns involved, here is the leftover of a huge skein of Interlacement's Toasty Toes, a dk or sport weight washable yarn (shown in the Las Vegas Lights colorway). I'd originally knit a nice, thick pair of socks from this for my sister Denise; the leftovers are going to be a pair of thick anklets for my nephew Jerry who will be 6 soon. Not, of course, that I will get these done for his birthday, but they'll likely be done before Christmas. I'm nearly done with the foot portion of the first sock and will soon begin the toe decreases.

Oh, this one? Well, I don't know yet what it is. It will likely be a pair of mittens. It's from The Sanguine Gryphon. I think it's the Traveler, which is a dk weight washable wool, but I don't remember the colorway and I'm not going to fish out the ball band from the center of the yarn.

*sigh*

So much yarn and only two hands.

And then the weather turns lovely!

Hugs and good knitting to you!

Judith