Friends Are A Good Thing

Yes, friends are a good thing, aren't they?  There have been times in my life when I didn't have a peer group and when I think back about it, they've been some of the most difficult times to get through.

A year ago I thought I didn't have a peer group.  Isn't it strange that now I think of other knitting bloggers who I've never met in person as my actual peer group?  Today I talked to another knit blogger on the phone for the first time - so sweet and nice, she is.  One of the nicest.

I started this post a little out of order - I need to get the big stuff out of the way first.  I know there are a lot of people waiting to hear how the meeting went with our new attorney.  We met with him on Saturday morning and everything went pretty well.  Hopefully I'll continue feeling positive about it.  There probably won't be much chat on the blog about anything for about two weeks because we won't be filing our motion until August 18 or maybe 21-22.  There will be personal service upon my X.  I like that part.  He'll have the opportunity to feel like barfing and unable to breathe at the same time.  I hope it lasts a while.  Then we'll have a hearing to set temporary orders around August 30-Sept 1 (possibly) or September 5-8 (more likely).  It just depends on when the motion is filed.  SO - no more court chat necessary until at least Aug 18.  :)

In the mean time.... let's see.  I knit finished knitting a sock for my son during the trip to Texas and back.  I won't show a picture - it's a boring short sock in plain stockinette in a darkish color suitable for a 14yo boy.  He'll be glad to receive it.  When it has a mate. 

Back to what I was saying - friends.  Friends are good.  I guess they wouldn't be friends if they didn't make you feel good about spending time together (um, reading their blogs and emailing?).  I have a friend right here at home (in my town!) that's been good to me.  Remember my dear friend *L* who moved here earlier this year from Wisconsin?  Miss L took a little trip back to Wisconsin in July so we took care of her darling little dachshund puppy "Max" while she was away.  It was during a crazy crazy time with our attorney so I wasn't feeling like getting the camera out - too bad because Max is a cutie.  Emeline called him Maxy and loved playing with him and the big kids enjoyed having him here too.  We know that we want a dog some time but having Maxy here made us quite certain that we're not ready for it yet.  Too many baby toys around right now.  And puppies need a lot of attention - like focused attention.  With two babies in the house I'm not ready for that.

Sweet Miss L thanked me in only the way a thoughtful fellow knitter would - by bringing me back yarn from the trip!!  Yay!!  My first two skeins of beautiful Trekking XXL sock yarn!  And my first two balls of Cascade Fixation!!  And two fabulous balls of K1C2 WICK - a yarn made from soy - oh I want more of this.  I must figure out how to get more of this - like enough to make a tank top.  This would be absolutely PERFECT yarn for a summery tank top!!  Thank you so much Miss L.  I can't wait to cast on for some Trekking socks - and they'll be MINE.  All mine!!  ::insert evil laugh::

I've done quite a bit of yarn dyeing over the past several months.  Some to sell.  Some to give away in swaps.  Several people have mentioned starting these log cabin afghans from the Mason-Dixon book (a book I don't have - can you believe it?  I also haven't knit Clapotis yet - arrest me).  Wendy is using her leftover sock yarn to make a log cabin afghan.  I've been wanting to use my sock yarn swatches and bits and pieces and leftovers in a similar way and have been experimenting lately with how I can use it most efficiently without doing the same thing everyone else is doing.  At first I thought I might make 2" garter squares like a tiny washcloth and sew them together like 4-patch blocks with the points in the middle of each 4-patch section.  I decided I would have a lot of wasted yarn that way and unraveled the squares I had made so far (about six).  So I cast on at one corner and have started knitting one gigantic garter stitch washcloth from this leftover sock yarn.  A while back one of my commenters said I should make a memory blanket or something while I'm going through all this custody stuff.  I'm actually making socks for all the kids and have started on sweaters now too.  But the memory blanket idea hung on. 

This memory blanket, though it's mostly sock yarn swatches that I've kept after dyeing yarn, is more of a memory blanket of my knitting and blogging friends that have been with me through this custody thing.  I look down at the yarn I'm using and for a lot of them I know who bought it.  Or I know how it was inspired and whose comments about the colorway left an impression upon me.  Or maybe it was a swatch from yarn that was sent to me as a gift.  Or leftover yarn from a pair of socks I made for one of the children too.  I'm enjoying this project very much and definitely have no problem working on it.  Plain garter stitch has never been more entertaining.  I get to knit with pretty yarn - most of which I dyed.  I get to think of my friends who have bought the yarn and provided lots of moral support over the past several months - and I get to anticipate using this snuggly blanket for many years to come.  It might seem unmatched and a little plain and rugged to others but I really love it.

One of the yarns used on the memory blanket, you haven't seen before.  I don't know why but I never made any big deal about the yarn I dyed for Dye-O-Rama.  And I never made any mention of the incredibly neat lady who was my pal - Maura of Knitting Nomad and host of the podcast KnitTunes.  Maura lived in Japan at the time so the yarn had a LONG way to go and it seemed so exotic to be sending my package to her.

At the same time I was involved in Dye-O-Rama I was also participating in the Knitters Tea Swap where you swap tea and give a fiber gift to your swap pal as well.  My Knitters Tea Swap pal (who I sent to) was Allegra of FiddlesticKnitting.

Both Allegra and Maura are artists in their own way and I couldn't stop thinking of both of them as inspiration for my Dye-O-Rama yarn and the fiber gift to go in the tea swap package.  I thought and thought for quite some time and somehow came around to looking up a picture of the Vincent Van Gogh painting, Starry Night.  (I always loved that song.)  Both girls are musical, art... you can see where I'm going with this.  The Memory Blanket has a nice size portion near the corner so that it can be seen as closely as possible to its intended form - knit from the swatch I kept of Starry Night.  When I dyed this yarn I was pretty nervous.  Probably had to build up my courage with a few glasses of wine because I specially ordered a double skein of the wonderful Louet Gems Pearl undyed yarn for this project.  I kept a printed picture of the Starry Night painting by my side during the entire dyeing process and I think that really helped guide my hand.  I was going for an Impressionistic result and I think I did a pretty good job with it.  I really doubt if I'll ever dye more of this colorway but it's a special part of the Memory Blanket so I thought I would show it to you.  :)

I made the yarn in a self striping style with a pretty long repeat.  The blue is obviously the starry sky with the swirling clouds and moon above the green trees and house tops below.  When I printed a picture of the painting I could see little bits of color like candles in the windows of the houses.

Tomorrow Next time (who knows when?) I'll be divulging the news of a new obsession.

Everybody have a wonderful week!!  :)