Psychic Knitter

It's hard to believe that it's October! It's sounds incredibly trite to say but time really is flying by.

Exciting things have been afoot in my knitting world since I last posted. My talents are growing in leaps and bounds! Well, not really but I am trying. I completed a class where I learned how to knit lace. The project is a lace shawl with a beaded border. I am just over halfway done with it. It has been quite a challenge! Reading the pattern is not difficult, it just requires a great deal of concentration so I have been locking myself up in my office where there is silence and my high intensity lamp. LOL As frustrating as this process has been, I guess I must like something about it because I signed up to take a lace scarf class which starts in the middle of this month. OMG! The teacher is wonderful which is the main reason I'm jumping into yet another challenging project. Rick's specialty in knitting is lace, and he has done some beautiful pieces. For you Ravelers, he is Rick Martin and is in my friend's list if you want to check out some of his work.

I am THRILLED to report on two FINISHED PROJECTS! The first is that my tarot cloth is finally finished! I cast it off yesterday in the presence of my two knitting buddies. It was quite a moment of relief. This cloth was my first non scarf project which I started 3 years ago. It's just a simple rectangle and I really can't explain why it has gotten lost in the shuffle for so long other than to say that the yarn, is slippery and bumpy and when I was first knitting I found it to be quite a challenge just keeping it on the needles. It has some mistakes in it of course. My favorite is that i managed to knit my stitch marker into it. It's a beautiful marker too. A dark pink polka dot bead wrapped in black that is now a "charm" on the piece. In those days I didn't know how to unknit for one thing, and for another, I didn't realize it wouldn't come off I guess. LOL

The other finished project is a group charity project I've been working on all summer.It has been hosted by a local yarn shop called THE RECYCLED LAMB. A group of us have been working on the WARM UP AMERICA project and will be donating 13 afghans to the Denver Rescue Mission's Family Division. There were many squares donated from various people making this a real community project. We all enjoyed it so much! Rick likens it to a quilting bee, with all of us gathered around each week knitting the squares and then piecing the blankets together giving us an opportunity to get to know each other a bit better. My ability to knit and drink with my knitting group wows the other gals. Until they see the quality of my knitting. LOL We are excited that there is a new project starting this week! The group we will be knitting afghans for is a local group called Family Tree. They provide shelter and temporary homes for women and their children who are victims of domestic violence. We have set a goal of 8 afghans and I believe they are to be delivered around the holidays.

This last Saturday night I hosted the Downtown Denver Stitch n Bitch's monthly Sit n Spin. Two of the gals in our group are expert spinners and have graciously offered to teach the rest of us how to spin. A few of the gals have wheels and others have spindles. I was surprised at how different and beautiful the wheels all were and portable too! WOW I have a spindle and it's not only very portable, it takes to the air well. OK, so I didn't actually throw it but I was tempted! There were a dozen of us spread out in my family room spinning, talking and eating(too much good food from everyone) and drinking (calms the nerves while spinning LOL)

For this month's knitting for myself, I am already working on a SWAMP WITCH shawl. It is a pattern from ANTI CRAFT. It's simple and fun. It uses four different yarns, so it's a good project for those extra balls of yarn in your stash. The pattern is available free on Ravelry.

The best part of this time of year for me is knitting outside on the porch or backyard and taking in the already changing colors of the leaves while I keep an eye on the fur babies. YAY!