You’re probably wondering if I do anything OTHER than watch the Lambcam and Chuck these days, right?

Well, yes.

You know, of course, that I finished my afghan the other day. I love it, and my only problem with it is with the ruffly border. It LOOKS great, but makes it almost impossible to fold neatly, so it doesn’t look as lovely draped over my red chair as it really deserves to look. But, well, I can deal with that. (And didn’t I tell you this color was going to be just smashing against my gold-yellow walls?)

My current project … well, there are two. One is to make Chappy some kind of smallish blanket out of the remaining 7 skeins of yarn leftover from the Sylvi afghan. He doesn’t really like having a big blanket in his crate, anyway. He’s had a towel to snuggle with in his crate since he was a puppy–one of this big, bath towels. (Ideal for puppies because they can chew on the ends without causing too much damage, and they’re easy to clean in case of accidents.) On the occasions when I’ve given him a second towel, though–if it’s a particularly cold night, or he’s still damp from a bath–it takes him longer to settle down and get comfy. I think it gets in his way.

This, of course, is one of my main arguments for him as to why he really can’t have my pretty, large afghan for his crate! But, a smaller one, made from the remaining seven skeins? That should be just about right. I’ll probably just cast on 50 stitches and knit in seed stitch until I run out of yarn … although, I wonder if he’d like a border?

My other project is the Fountain Pen Shawl which I just started. Actually, I started it just before Mom and I went dog-sitting at the beginning of the month because I needed a more portable project than the Sylvi Afghan. But then, we were so busy entertaining all the dogs, I never actually had time to sit and knit. (Besides, I only ever knit when I’m socializing or when I’m watching television, and since the only thing we watched while we were away was Friday Night Lights and I was busy petting Silas at the time, knitting wasn’t really an option.) So, basically, I’ve been technically working on this since March, but, really, have only just got going.

The yarn I’m using for it (and this was supposed to be particularly appropriate) is my MVFF Cormo that Jessica dyed for me in the MVFF colors. You know, because I was bringing it back to Martha’s Vineyard to knit. But, well, at least it visited the island, right? And, as always, it is a sheer pleasure knitting with yarn I’ve spun myself. I almost went for a solid lace yarn out of my stash because I think this pattern is gorgeous and variated yarns can draw away some attention, but, well … it’s my handspun. I couldn’t resist.

And the color is really washed out in that picture. I’ll try to do better next time. It looks more like this … because, well, it’s the same stuff:

Actually, it’s kind of interesting. Right now, I’m not only knitting some of that MVFF-colored MVFF Cormo into a shawl, but I have a new skein of the plied yarn, right off the wheel.

AND I have a bobbin being spun of some of the still unspun roving. Which means that at this moment, I still have some of the dyed-but-unspun wool, I have an active bobbin being spun, I have a bobbin of singles that I made on Saturday that’s waiting to be plied, I have a completed skein that just needs to be washed, and I have a ball of yarn being knitted into a shawl … all from the same batch of dyed Cormo.

How cool is that? It’s like the Lifecycle of Roving.

Did you know it’s Liz/Lizzy B’s birthday today? And, to celebrate, she actually wrote a blog post!

I showed you pictures of Baby N being born live on the Lambcam the other night, but did I tell you that Susan said that I get to pick the name? How cool is that, huh? All because I picked up my phone and called them to help them position the camera so all of us in internet-land could view the birth as it happened. The rule is that the name has to be a font, and it has to start with an N. So what did I pick? Nickelodeon.

And yes, of course, I DID watch Chuck last night and it was amazing. The hardest part right now is (1) seeing how great it is and how the writers are completely changing the basis of the entire show and (2) not knowing if it’s coming back to explore that. Not to mention that, much as I am encouraging all of you who haven’t watched to watch … well, is it fair to get you hooked when there’s only one episode left? (That we know of.) I’m drawing comfort from the fact that the sets haven’t been broken down and that there are so many really great articles from professional television watchers raving about the show. It’s not just crazy fans, you know? What I hope is that NBC really does plan to renew it but is riding the wave of incredibly good free publicity. I mean, if they told us now that they were renewing it, we’d all breathe a sigh of relief and shut up, and stop talking about it so much. I mean, you can’t buy this kind of free press, and if I have to pay for a third season by (1) shilling this show to every person I know and (2) living at the very end of my nerve endings until the Fall schedule is announced on May 5th, so be it. I am willing to suffer for two more weeks SO LONG AS THE SHOW COMES BACK!

Oh, and as soon as I’m done here, I’m going to go check out what music was played in last night’s episode, because it was fantastic. It’s really appalling how few of the artists I’ve heard of–especially since so many of them are from the 80s. But this is my main way of expanding my musical horizons these days–by following up on songs played in favorite tv shows. (Hey, it works.)

• Tags: Eye-Candy Friday, Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:You’re Probably Wondering // 7 Comments »