Thursday Tab- Beauty Contest Fashion Show Dolls

I don't have any information on this set- the scans were shared by a friend. But I'd put it at the early/mid-40's.

Wordless Leftover Yarn Sock

Before I dive in. Again.

Well, it's time to start work on MG Fantasy V4.0. The editors who saw the manuscript universally loved it, but they also each had exactly the same complaint: they wanted more. So I'm back at it- adding material, which, odd as it might sound, is a lot harder than cutting.

But before I buckle down for the afternoon, I thought you'd like to see these:

 I took this shot a couple of days ago,

 and then finished the pair the next evening.

 And then I cast on another pair- I'm not out of variegated leftover yarns, but I am a bit limited in the yarns that I'm using on these socks because they have to be machine washable and dryable (and no matter what the labels say, some superwash yarns do felt, so I'm only using yarns that I know absolutely will hold up to vigorous wear and laundering). That said, I really like the combo of these solids with the blue and gold. Rather bold, don't you think? (And in case you wonder- the coral really is leftover yarn- I needed about 10 yds from that ball for another project, so it technically meets the requirements for Leftover Socks).

And my good friend LouAnn, one of the many wonderful people I've met at SAFF over the years, sent me this package of yarn, just because. LouAnn, aka Winter Mountain Fibers in Tennessee, has a wonderful color sense. The larger skein is 1,100 yds of fingering weight wool, perfect for a shawl. The green and yellow is sock yarn. Thank you thank you thank you LouAnn- your friendship means everything to me!

Cool Beans!

Here's a wonderful You Tube review of Fearless Fair Isle Knitting from Jeanne and Sandy at Jimmy Beans Wool!  Too Cool!

Wordless Sunday- Unused Vintage Biltmore Postcard

Finished and Unfinished, a Commercial Success, and a Return Trip

I met with my knitting group yesterday- as always, it was wonderful to see everyone. After the meeting, I ran errands, and then met Frog Girl for a Gramma Girl supper. We drove back home in the dark and spotted several deer in the ditch. Live deer. Live deer ready to jump out in front of the car. Luckily, none did.

 In addition to the hat and mittens from earlier this week, I had another FO to show off yesterday. Someone very dear to me said wistfully that a plain cream handspun hat would be lovely. It is a measure of how dear that person is, that I actually knit a plain cream hat for her (for Christmas- she has to wait). It turned out beautifully, but man, it was boring to knit.

Side Note; I like how my new scanner picks up stitch definition and color, but the scanner bed squooshes things- the hat isn't *ruffly* at the top, it just looks that way in the scan.

I'm down to using non-self-patterning leftover yarns for socks now (not that I don't have lots of self-patterning yarns in the stash, but none of them, at the moment, are left over). I love how these colors came together. This pair will be for Ladybug Girl, and the upside is that if she outgrows them (all of the girls have Magically Expanding Feet), she can give them back to me, since they fit me now. (Ignore the gray hair that just happened to be on the scanner bed...)

On a totally different subject- that Subaru commercial where the ex-couple spot each other at some sort of reunion, but yet do not speak to each other, bugs the hell out of me. But the background song has been in my head forever. I finally Googled it yesterday (typing: Subaru commercial song into the window) and found this:

This is now my new favorite song. You want proof? I bought it on iTunes yesterday before heading to Aberdeen, and I listened to it on steady repeat for 43 miles, and I didn't think about that stupid reunion ex-couple even once. 

Can someone who is musically knowledgeable tell me what that kind of rhythm is called (where the main beat seems to be a bit behind the rest of the song).  

And finally, I am happy to announce that I'll be teaching again at the Michigan Fiber Festival! The 2012 festival is August 18-19, and workshops run from August 15-19. I'll be teaching classes Aug 15-17. I'll announce the roster and times when registration is open. I'm thrilled to be invited back!

Thursday Tab- Cathy does something French

My grasp of French isn't even rudimentary, but I'm pretty sure I can figure out what most of the captions say on this set.