Malika's Aeolian Shawl

I used a beautiful lace weight alpaca to knit this for Malika.  In my mind this is like a long distance hug of fibery goodness.    

All done, un-blocked in it's "cat yack" stage.  I had to use a contrasting merino lace yarn to bind off the edge because I ran out of the main yarn.     

Soaked, squeezed dry, and stretched to within an inch of it's life!  Pinned out to dry on our futon.  It's beautiful, I love it and can't wait to see how mine comes out.  

The yucca leaf pattern that makes up the main part of the shawl.  

The agave and flower edging, pinned out to dry in perfect little points.  

Another shot of the  flower edging.  

There are actually little tiny glass beads in the flower that didn't show up in any of these photos.  They are very nice and add just a touch of glitz.  

Lia's Blanket

A blanket designed for my friend Malika's little one, Lia Christina Barros.  

I adapted the Northern Lights stitch pattern from one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries, and added a contrasting seed stitch border.  I might rework this pattern.  Then Lia will get another blanket. 

Lia's Bear

Made from a super soft chenille like wool acrylic blend.  The bear feels like velvet.  

All photos taken with my cell phone, sorry for the poor quality.  

Succulent Garden

My new little succulent garden.
In a cereal bowl from JoAnn's Fabrics.


Not sure what this one is, maybe a sedum.


I'm pretty sure this one is a sedum.


Some sort of echiveria.


Not sure about this one.


Another echiveria, probably of the same variety as the first.
This one is going to flower soon. It has a long stem with two little buds on the end.


The buds (resting on the probable sedum).

I couldn't stop buying these guys at $2 a pop.

Shamrock Shuffle 2009

Pre race, in the slush and snow.


Post race, Sandy and I looking very pleased with ourselves.



While training we decided that we wanted to be able to run the 8K (5 miles) in less than an hour. On race day we decided that we just wanted to finish the race. We managed to complete the course in 58.75 minutes, running 11.75 minute miles.

We felt pretty hardcore about the whole thing as only 13,500 or so of the 40,000 registered runners showed up.

The Chicago Tribune's write up is here.

Fern Cowl

Stephanie's birthday present. Fern stitch cowl out of Cascade Pastaza, a wool and llama blend. I didn't block the cowl because it started developing a really nice sculptural quality that I thought the birthday girl would like.




And two "detail" shots. The picture quality is pretty crappy since I had to use my phone.

Dirty Sheep!

More Peanut!  I've been spinning up the second batch of washed wool.  You can see that it isn't quite as washed as the first batch.  The new batch is to the right, the first batch is under it, to the left.  It's not too different, enough that I feel like a slacker though.  I'm pretty sure that the rest of the dirt will come out when I wash the finished yarn.  We will see I guess.  

You should see the floor under my wheel!  I pull out the little burs, plant stems, and short bits of wool as I go.  It gets pretty bad by my feel.  I need to sweep.