It's June in Georgia - A Great Time to Think Sweaters!

Now that the move is settling out a little, I have some time to actually look at some of my in progress projects. One of the major ones is the sweater for Necropolis I agreed to make after his post Christmas pronouncement of "You never knit anything for me."

Well, this is true. I never really considered it as 1) Nec's tastes in clothing are almost as particular as mine and B) I figured it was a waste of good yarn to make the effort. However, with his whiny-butt statement, I set off on the unenviable task of trying to find something I thought I would find remotely interesting to knit, and he would agree to wear. Eventually, I stumbled on one of Brooklyn Tweed's submissions to Interweave Knits in the Fall '07 issue. It's called Cobblestone, and it just a basic sweater. Now, Nec's not generally a sweater type of guy. And, I was very upfront with him (ad nauseum) that if I took the time to do this, I would be expecting more than the occasional wear. He agreed, and I set off to find the right yarn.

This proved to be a challenge of epic proportions.

We live, basically, on the line that equatorially bisects the state, affectionately referred to by all Georgia History students as "The Fall Line". Last winter, I wore my wool coat a grand total of twice, and only because I wore a lighter weight dress than the temperature required. We haven't had anything resembling real snow or ice since MUC was an infant (he's now 7). And, even I don't wear pullover style sweaters unless it is COLD (re: not in a very long time). So, if I expect the sweater to see some wear time, the yarn would have to be a special blend. I was thinking something like a lighter weight wool, but with some of the same warm/cool properties of a silk blend as well. Try finding that in a commercial yarn. It was either near impossible or prohibitively expensive.

Which lead to my chatting it up on Ravelry on one of the boards. I ran across someone who actually does the washing/dying/carding/combing/blending, and better yet, she was a dream to work with. I gave her my less than specific, obtusely general ideas, and she turned it into a roving that was just wonderful. I spun it into a yarn, and checked to see if the gauge was at least in the ballpark, and we were cooking with gas! (By the way, I really can't say enough wonderful things about Julie and her fiber, so if you're looking for something of that nature, I really suggest you check out her Etsy Store ).

I've spun a specific amount of the fiber, to check my yards/oz, and then we'll determine the exact amount I'll need for the entire project. This is something I'm really looking forward to seeing to the end result.

Been a Long Time Since I Rock-n-Rolled

I knew it had been a while since I had posted anything on the blog, but I really hadn't realized quite how long until I finally got around to putting up a new post tonight. I can blame some of it on the move (we moved into a new house...have I mentioned that?), as we went for quite a spell without TV, cable, internet or house phone service. We still had our cell phones, but as for the house number, it hadn't transferred. The whole house transaction happened from start - Nec and I decided we would look for a house to purchase - to finish - signing the contracts, mortgage papers, papers that say we are who we say we are and all possible aliases we might potentially use - within 3 weeks. Therefore, by the time we knew where we were going, it took a while to contact the utilities. And, they were in NO hurry to switch services.

Now, services are up and running, and the household, while not unpacked, is at least moderately functioning. With school now out, I spend a large portion of my day entertaining The Things while pretending I'm unpacking. When we all get cabin fever, we go outside (in the extreme heat) and work in the yard. Frankly, we have more fun there. Unfortunately, it's just too hot to do too much. Like most kids, MUC can create fun. Here's a shot of Sprinkler Kung Fu.

I also caught a pair of cardinals bathing themselves on the soaker hose in one of the flower beds. These pictures aren't the best, as it was late in the day, but the birds were really fun to watch.



It's been mentioned to me that pictures of MUC tend to feature more prominently in this blog than those of GLB. It's not an intentional thing. It's rather more a difference of personality and age. I can get decent photos with The Things, as you can see.

However, photos of GLB on his own tend to go something like this.

If you hit the link, you see what I mean.