Mossy Cottage Knits

Hello, and The Tale of the Foldable Squirrel

When I tried to define why I wanted to create this blog, at first I thought it was to “cyber-meet” other knitters and feel not so alone in my insatiable passion for this new hobby. Then I thought maybe it was to show off my knitting skills, but I immediately realized I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in aitch eee double-hockey-sticks of impressing anyone as long as I occupy the same universe as Wendy and FiberRavenSoiree. Then I thought maybe it was so I could showcase my writing skills but, as a technical writer, I’m programmed to generate dreary numbered and bulleted lists. Big, gaping, toothy yawn. Finally I concluded the blog was mostly so I could combine knitting minutiae with sharing the occasional odd thought and the amazingly strange things I’ve seen some people do. And then, out of the blue, the whole blogging idea took a 90-degree turn and metamorphosed into something completely different. My partner got wind of my blogging efforts and decided it would be fun for us to share with others the story of the dye garden we are planting this year. So it boils down to the occasional odd thought, comment or observation; Knitting Knews; and the Dye Garden Dyegest!

Today’s Odd Thought, Comment or Observation (not for the squeamish):
On the road right outside the driveway of my office building, there’s a squirrel carcass. And not just any squirrel carcass – an extraordinarily flat squirrel carcass. In fact, the only reason you can tell that it’s a squirrel is because it’s a slightly lighter gray than the asphalt. So now, the first five minutes of my commute home are spent reflecting on the physiological ramifications of going from being frisky, warm, and round to being dead, cold, and paper-thin. I cannot wait for some torrential rain to come wash Mr. Nutkin away. In my next post, an example of odd things people do…

Knitting Knews
I am a knitter but I primarily knit socks. (Who’m I kidding?! I’ve knit 22 pairs of socks and one scarf. That makes me a sock knitter who went slumming for a few days.) Here is my most recent oeuvre, a self-designed pair in a checkerboard lace pattern. These socks are named the Alhambra Socks, after the beautiful lacey Moorish building in Granada, Spain. The socks are knit in Lorna’s Laces “nearly solid” Bold Red and are for a DCW (Dear Co-Worker) who helped me learn how to pick up stitches for gussets. But for her hand-holding, I’d still be carrying around a sad cuff, ankle and heel concoction, sort of like the sock equivalent of a fingerless glove, but in the case of a sock, what’s the point?

Dye Garden Dyegest
In my next entry, I’ll include the first chapter of the Dye Garden Dyegest, a brief history of how we got to this point, what resources we’re using, and what we’re planting. Come join us!