A Pattern! Tiny Scarf.

This little scarf won't keep your neck very warm, but it's pretty and the yarn (which I'm pretty sure is bamboo) is soft and smooth against a sensitive neck. It'll look lovely with a little brooch to close it, don't you think?


And because I'm always taking and never giving when it comes to content online, I've written it up like a real live pattern.

Tiny scarf that's really way too easy

CO 24 stitches using the crochet-hook cast-on.
Knit 3 rows, and always slip the last stitch of the row purl-wise with yarn in front.
Begin Pattern:
Row 1: K3, (k2tog) thrice, (yo, k1) 6 times, (k2tog) thrice, k2, slip 1 purlwise wyif.
Row 2: Purl
Row 3, 4: Knit.
Work those four rows until you get sick of them or the scarf is the length you like (Mine will just go around my neck twice with a little stretching), then knit 3 rows (slipping last st), and bind off.

Some things I've been working on are:
Pacman on acid. This is the Sunburst Sling Bag from Just One More Row, size medium, and


Rachel Calado's Fern Clog Socks
(click here for non-Ravelry link). They're lovely in this yarn--Kertzer's "On Your Toes Bamboo", which is 75% bamboo and 25% nylon. I'm completely done with this first sock and have yet to cast on the second, but I totally WILL. I swear.

Log Cabin

It is done. I had finished the knitting and bound off but there were still just a few ends to weave in (I did most as I went) and some ends to trim, and for some reason that was enough to make must just set it aside for a couple weeks.

In this blanket, I'm particularly proud of my picking up stitches, as I got my bumps all lined up.



It's worked in Caron Simply Soft on size 7 needles, and following the instructions for "How to Log Cabin" in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I've got on my ravelry here.

Between each brilliant shine

Yesterday Rachel and I were on our way out to run some errands and saw that someone was already using my car!



But we agreed that lizards are generally safer when NOT on my car, so relocated our new friend.
Since it's spring, there is so damn much life everywhere. Our sago (I totally would have thought it was "seigo" from how my mom pronounces it) has these new fronds that look like they came from outer space. Maybe they did. I don't have a hard time at all believing this plant grew when dinosaurs roamed about just exactly the way it does these days.



For a while, I had difficulty reconciling a despairing attitude on my part with the greenness all around. I would see these instances of life, but just behind them lurked Death. It must be the season for roadkill, and for tiny eggs knocked from their nests, inhabitants dying before they ever knew life. A cat who looked like my dear late Kitty had been hit by a car and I felt all my old scars reopening, not healed as well as I'd thought. I was pretty sure I was losing my mind, as these weren't only emotional scars--one morning upon arriving to work I noticed my wrist was bleeding. Oh, of all the days to not have band-aids in my bag!

The conclusion I've drawn from all this, the only LOGICAL conclusion, is that work is bad for me. I'll have to do something ELSE with my life.

potent ninja

First, the tree:

And also, an absurdly beautiful day. I took a walk to get some vitamin D, and found this flower growing by the driveway:

I don't know what kind it is, but I like it.
Progress on my LogCabin blanket has been embarrassingly slow. I knit maybe three rows today. But, since I've run out of one of the colors, I'll be done very soon.

Tomorrow I'll be sitting at a table at church, hoping against hope that I can generate some interest in my knitting group. Oh yeah! That's the whole reason I got on the computer now instead of going to bed. I'm easily distracted.

The Spirit of Some Friendly Imp

Hooray for noticeable growth on our tree.
During work hours I've been having trouble staying awake. I find myself sort of nodding off and hallucinating at different times, and reading things in my visions which are completely unrelated to the papers I'm reading in real life. Today I read something about Egyptian Cotton, and a phrase involving "paranormal purple papers". Today's title comes from yesterday's hallucination. It's entertaining! But I've got to find a way to stay awake.

Shoots & Leaves

Yesterday:



Today:



Work exhausts me. I can't believe I'm still up at almost 11pm when I know full well tomorrow will arrive too early yet AGAIN.

It's ironic, really. The way that they keep the building air-conditioned to a temperature between "arctic" and "absolute zero" means that this would be a great time to have more warm hand-knits, and yet the fact that I am working this job means I have no time for knitting. I've been squeezing in a few minutes each night to make a little progress on my Log Cabin blanket (no pic now), but that's all. Sigh.