Feral Knitting

Sweet Fiber!

This is Melissa’s newest venture– her own hand dyed yarn! She has a sock weight and an aran weight, which you see here. Of course the colours are gorgeous, and of course my photography skills do nothing to showcase her mad talent. If you want to see some killer pics, check out her blog.

She asked me to test knit for her, so I’ve been swatching and flipping through my Barbara Walker’s trying to find just the right showcase for her yarn.  Beautiful work, as always, Melissa. Something tells me you are going to have a very busy summer!

And I think it is safe to say that summer is finally here. My tomatoes are flowering, the strawberries are green, and the irises, azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom. I was never much fond of my azalea. It’s this peachy colour that reminds me of a lot of paint jobs in a lot of living rooms sometime around 1989 (usually paired with Hunter Green.) Behold! a corner of my garden:Gorgeous! I’ve missed summer, which is unusual for me. Last winter seemed interminably long.

and what of Matt?

well, I found some inspiration in the photos posted by the Rigid Heddle group on Ravelry and warped this one up:

It’s meant to be very loose, and I used lace weight Merino for the weft and Misti Alpaca lace for the warp. My dent spacing is too wide, but that’s all I have to work with right now, so I’ll see what I can come up with. I intend to gently full the scarf afterwards. I’m hoping for really nice drape. I’m learning that with weaving, the thinner the yarn, the more fluid the project. I guess that applies to knitting too, but you know me, always figuring things out the long way.

All right– you were all spared the story of the Demon Spider because my image was mis sized and this post has already self-combusted enough times to keep me from tempting fate yet again. Suffice it to say it was Very Big Spider and I was Very Scared. I was going to follow it with a happy picture. Now I’m just going to give said happy picture. It will produce happiness in my readers, but with not the same effect that terror followed by happiness produces. I have failed.

Oh well. Oh, wait. yes, the picture:

There he is, asleep with Melissa Monkey. Melissa Monkey is just the right size for cuddles and limb chewing, which are valuable traits when deciding upon which stuffed creature should accompany you to dream world when you are five months old.

He and I have the most interesting conversations nowadays. He looks at me, purses his lips and goes, “Bwrrp!” and grins. I repeat to him “Bwrrrp!” and he grins happily, then ducks his head in embarassment. Silly baby!

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