Patron Of The Local Arts

I’ve mentioned it before, but Thaddeus and I buy almost all of our art from local artists. We’ve been fortunate to have a friend, Nora, who has been supporting local artists in the Bucks County area for her whole life.

Belated Birthday Gift
This past weekend, we went out to eat with Nora, and she gave me this incredibly beautiful and thoughtful gift.

These are hand-crafted, rosewood needles that she picked up from a local art store in New Hope. They’re US10 needles, and they feel incredible, so I’ll have to swatch up Carol’s yarn on these needles to see if I can come up with some way to use both knitting related gifts at the same time.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle the hedonism of it all.

Current Knitting
I got started on the new sweater, using the handspun Blueface Leicester.

It’s going somewhat slowly based on two factors. My schedule (which had me working even yesterday, on Easter) and the fine gauge of the yarn/fabric. At over 7 stitches to the inch, and doing the equivalent of garter stitch, the progress is slow, but very satisfying.

Readers’ Comments/Questions
Fredda asks, “Was that a serious “Yay” for the 200 stitches??”

Absolutely. You know how much I like fine gauge knitting. I even considered going down a needle size, but I really like the softness and loft of the fabric on US3’s.

Marilyn asks, “Why are we both working in technology? There must be some reason besides the money but I’ll be damned if I know why I like it.”

This career has been extremely good to me, and actually, so has this project. I usually go through hellish times once or twice a year as I move from project to project. In the last three years, this is really on the second time where life got so stressful. I figure it’s worth the money.

Regarding the Bird’s Eye Shawl, Karen asks, “What yarn were you using?”

This is one of those questions where a little Google search would have resulted in the answer, as this question has been asked before (see the Google search of my web log at the top left of my web site). It is the merino laceweight yarn from Skaska Designs.

Regarding the Blueface Leicester, Anne asks, “What brand of ball winder are you using? One of those Strauch winders?”

No, just one of those cheap, plastic, Royal winders. This is almost the largest I can make using it, so it does have its limits.

And finally, regarding the new sweater, Mhairi asks, “Looks like it will knit up beautifully – is this a Spring sweater , or a wait until Autumn (Fall)?”

Definitely a “wait until Autumn” sweater. It will be a thinner fabric, but still yet quite warm…I think.