More Ravelry Love!

I received another great package today. This one is from my "Hands Across the Sea" swap buddy, SuperMonkey.

It is a box full of British love. Check out the beautiful sock yarn! And there are Twiglets! Lots of yummy looking chocolate and salty snacks for me. This will keep me going through the holidays for sure.

Mmmmmm- assorted British treats.

I'm a Winner!

I just got a package of happiness from Ravelry pal Knitterotica. I correctly guessed when she would hit 500 posts and was rewarded with swag:


There's a skeleton lolly, chocolate, tunes, and handmade stitch markers! The stitch markers are a beautiful blue- my favorite color.

I feel so validated.

Why That's Really Arbitrary!

I've been given an assignment. I am to photograph myself in my biggest mixing bowl.

Here ya go:

I habba code in my node

I finally caught a cold. I'm sure I had it coming with all the stress of last week.

I was taking it easy and listening to Cast On today. Brenda talked about lace knitting and also about feeling like her thoughts were jumbled.

I thought about how lace knitting usually looks like cat yak until it is blocked. Last week, as I was prepping for what felt like lecture 1000 of the week, I hit the wall. I couldn't pull it all together and I felt like there was no way this lecture was going to be any good. But when I stood up in front of the crowd, it all clicked and came out much better than expected. Just like lace after being blocked.

But now I have a cold. And another gabilliion lectures this week. Husband wisely fed me garlicky pasta and red wine for dinner. I'm feeling better and ready to face the week.

Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I'm so tired.

I have a hectic lecture schedule this Fall. I love it, but I'm a little burned out right now. I'm giving a lecture tomorrow night on Women in Art, and I haven't finished writing yet. The topic is an easy one for me, and I have all the images ready to go. I just can't facing writing any more right now. It feels like all I do right now is write art history lectures. The house feels like chaos because I don't have time to do anything about it. It was rainy today- the perfect day to curl up and knit and read, and I couldn't.

For a mental break, I listened to Cast On for the first time in a long time. Something about Brenda Dayne's voice makes you feel like everything will be ok. Which it will be.

And while I listened, I worked on this:
It's my father's Christmas present- a vest from Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle. I'm anxious to get into the body of it so I can see how the colors will really look.

But now to bed.

Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

I never thought too much about my yarn or finished object photography. But after reading various general comments on Ravelry, I looked at my pictures with a fresh eye and went ew.

So after finding some great advice on the photography forum, I tried again and really tried to learn about the features on my camera. I'm particularly proud of this one:

It's Berocco's bamboo yarn. The sharpness of the photo is better than anything I've taken before and the color is pretty true.

And I took a photo of my current work-in-progress- Hedera with Cherry Tree Hill yarn. I think the pattern shows up better than anything I've photographed before. I still have a lot to learn, but this is a great start!

Read a Banned Book!

Banned Books Week 2007 ends tomorrow. Have you read a banned book lately?

Don't have time to read a book? Then head over to Pacifica.org to hear Allen Ginsberg read Howl.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness . . .