Any guesses

about what this thing is?

Is it a fossil of an ancient neanderthal piece of knitting?

Nope, its another terrible picture of my own knitting, a swatch for this.

Some of you know I am to be a proud stepmother-of-the-groom next month. I need just the right outfit, right? So I have a pretty dress I want to wear, but it has no sleeves, and I feel the need to have a bit more coverage, so my plan is to knit this lovely shrug to wear with the dress. The dress is very plain, light beige, and I am thinking I will actually knit the shrug in green or maybe yellow for a bit of contrast.

The pattern lists Tahki Cotton Classic as a possible yarn for this pattern. Now I have about 14 skeins of this yarn in my stash. But I don't have enough of any one color, and anyway, the colors in my stash are all cool blues, which doesn't go well with the beige of the dress. So I will have to buy more of whatever color I choose. What a shame.

A pretty thing for Karen

Coming soon in the mail for Karen: one finished clapotis. It only needs to be washed and blocked.

I am hoping that it stretches out a bit after blocking. I didn't have quite enough yarn so it is a bit on the small side. Which is fine for a summer wrap--it could be pinned in the center of the chest or worn throw over the shoulder like this. Anyway, I hope Karen likes it!

knittblogging with beautiful pictures

How is that so many knitbloggers take such beautiful pictures? They use flowers in their photographs, and their pets pose perfectly for the camera. They have cheerful smiling children modeling finished products. They are careful to photograph anything they may want to post about. I am not one of those knitbloggers.

I have only one for you today, an almost finished Clapotis.

Really, I take the worst photos. I am so lazy. What kind of knitblogger simply drapes her knitting over her computer to take a picture of it? Its truly inexcusable.

Its a testimony to the beautiful simplicity of the pattern and the loveliness of the Patagonia Nature Cotton yarn that this picture is even worth posting at all.

When I finally finish the Clapotis, I'll get my husband to take a picture of it. He is talented with the picture-taking, I am sure it will come out lovely.

(can you tell I have a blog-inferiority complex?)

Come Away, O Human Child...

This is Karen.

She and I have been friends a very long time. We found each other when we were 15 years old and my father became the pastor of her church. We used to write notes back and forth during worship. We played music together, and once during a Christmas Eve service, we literally enacted a dream our church organist had, of us walking down the aisle together, singing a duet (all by ourselves!) of "Once in Royal David's City." We spent countless hours in Karen's parents' basement, having sleepovers and parties and talking about a million things that seemed SO IMPORTANT at the time. We went on many long car trips with a flock of girlfriends, these were pilgrimages, really, to the state of Maine for days of sitting on the dock in our flannel night gowns and drinking coffee.

New important things happen--important events like weddings, (Karen married this guy, Ilan)

important people like that new baby whose toes you see sticking out that baby carriage up top. I can't believe Karen and Ilan have a baby!

Well, it started to sink in, after I was able to spend time with the new baby, sweet, funny-faced, intense little Hazel. Let me just say right now, I love her.

I wasn't real organized about taking pictures on this trip, so I have no pictures of Karen or Ilan holding their baby, although it did seem that during the entire time we were there, they never put her down. However, I do have pics of everybody else holding Hazel. Here, for example is Kate, our other friend from HS (who also spent time in Maine on the dock in a nightgown drinking coffee), who lives in the Boston area and joined us for the evening. I'm sorry, its not a very flattering shot of Kate, but I do love the picture!

That Ilan is so silly. And here is my beloved husband, also doing his part. (yes, he is multi-tasking, cuddling a baby while playing scrabble against his palm pilot.) Just minutes before this picture was taken, Hazel was screaming her head off.

Yup, Bill is a miracle worker. And of course, I did my part too.

Just minutes AFTER this picture was taken, Hazel was screaming her head off.

And of course, there was knitting on this trip. Lots of knitting. We took the train from Philadelphia to Boston, a trip that takes 7 hours each way, so 7 +7 equals...a lot of knitting time!

This picture of Clapotis was taken in Boston before we left for home. It is now even longer, and I believe it is safe to say it will be finished before long. That's due to the incredible seductive power of the stitch-dropping in the pattern. The pattern calls me...Come away, O human child, to the needles and the yarn...if you knit only a few more rows, you'll get to drop another ladder!*

*apologies to Yeats.