Fiber Raven Soiree

Wake up!!

I was awakened this morning by the crushing weight of a 100-pound German Shepherd dog bounding joyfully onto me in my bed. This is pretty hard to ignore, especially when the crushing weight produces a very long tongue with which to wash the sleep out of my eyes.

Last night, the Feral Knitters meeting was cacophony in its purest form. We meet in a public area of a small mall-like conglomeration of bookstore and food court. Apparently the bookstore schedules occasional talks by authors and the like, which are given in a curtained-off area within the public area. Last night a speaker with a monotonous voice, whose audience numbered less than half of our knitting group, droned on behind the curtains. It was annoying and amusing all at the same time.

Aside from that, we a had a good time pretending to knit (who could concentrate?!) and chatting and catching up.

Felina Schwarz is knitting a tam of her own design which is looking lovely. Katie Swanson has come up with another stunning design for a tam, using not only the standard shetland yarn, but adding to it some angora, a la Bohus-style knitting, and incorporating purl patterns. Wow! She also showed us a gift knitted for her by Susanna Hansen, a lovely Bohus-style hat from Poems of Color. None of the pictures I have ever seen of this style of knitting has ever done it justice. I'll be looking for these kits in Maryland this year.

Our Mossy Cottage Ryan was there wearing her knitted nametag on purpose to torment me for my lack of ingenuity in coming up with one of my own. Why couldn't I have a short name like "Ann" or "Iva" or "X"? In my stubborn way of thinking, I figure if I have to knit a whole six letters I might as well knit a veritable banner: Madame Arabella V. Glitchbane, aka Sheila. So there.

And what was Madame Glitchbane doing? She had decided that in the absence of Dunedin (Alice Starmore's discontinued merino yarn), she would try using a traditional 5-ply gansey yarn (Creskeld British Breeds) as a substitute for the Elizabeth of York vest from Tudor Roses. Since this is not a next-to-skin garment, and since gansey yarn shows off texture wonderfully, it seemed logical. The result? Purt-near perfect! Can she get it done before the first weekend in May? Depends on the distractions thrown her way.

The first of which, as it turns out, is a knitting day at the Chateau, which is where I am off to today. Yesterday was filled with torturous life-risking painting on Very Tall ladders, and today is my reward for surviving. And if you ask me about the peach, blue, yellow, green and coral highlights in my hair I will swear to you that it is the latest in haute couture fashion.