..here goes, hopefully more than NOTHING

..which is almost what I expect to happen when I try to put in pictures.

I had a nice knit today with my friend, Joan. Joan, the enabler.... in capital letters. Or so it is said. But part of her enabling is her ability to support and encourage....knitter enablers really are a good bunch....so it is with the courage that she imparted this morning that I attempt my second post, this time WITH pictures..... (and someday, I'll even be able to turn your name into a link!)

So HERE is my excitement for the week. Jan. 17th was the official cast-on day for a project that I am so incredibly excited about. My very special niece graduated just a few weeks ago from Penn State. I told her that she could pick any sweater in the world, and I would make it for her.

Wasn't that brave of me? We spent a bit of time sorting through different styles on the web, from which she chose a Dale of Norway style. Well, how exciting is THAT....I knew JUST where we needed to go. So we went to my very favorite local yarn store, where there are THE most incredible patterns available....those of you from the area who love to go to Oh Susannah know just what I'm talking about.....and there she chose her sweater.

Now is where I try to put a scanned picture in.......just the fact that I figured out how to scan is nothing short of miraculous...but here goes......

...and there it is, right above......Now ask me if I've ever done stranded colorwork? Nope......

OR...how about the intarsia on the insert of the front over there......hmmmm I guess the sheep in Miss Charlotte's sweater would count, so yes, I have done intarsia. But basic intarsia. I am SO excited to be doing this sweater. I've already been wowed by a few things.....like how that row of purled stitches mades that neat fold line for the facing......like how as I try to make friends with my left hand and have it work in concert with the right, that when I came to the second row of alternating color stitches, all of the white were twisted. Only then did I realize that I was wrapping backwards with that left hand.

I'm still a bit befuddled by the space where the previous row jogs with the next row......but I think that will come. Now, if I can figure out where to fit my picture of where I am...which is a bit farther because of the lovely knit that I had with Joan this morning.

Well, that one landed at the top. I have NO idea how to position these pictures; but I'm just going to be pleased that they're there....at all.........Besides, I now have a BOOK refer to for the rest of all of this new knowledge that there is to be had about doing a blog. So in between knitting and the rest of life, I'll read that book in bits and pieces and eventually have all of this figured out.

I was really hoping that Kate would just know all of this already and take care of it. She is being shy this week, I guess. And what a good idea!!! You DID say that you taught Our Gal Sal to knit as well.....well, then I think Sal ought to participate also. So when you gals are finished thinking about it, just hop on. I mean REALLY...it's not as if anyone actually READS this, eh????

So thanks Joan for the courage! I'm off to knit with my fine cup of coffee..

A Brave New World

...and we are brave, indeed! Welcome to the very first post of our very first blog....atleast I think it's our very first blog. In case you ...well, there really isn't anything ELSE to read at this point, so it is likely that you DID read the intro...this blog is by two LEC grads for knitters.....Part of the brave part is that Kate doesn't know yet that she has a blog. I mentioned to her that I had become slightly addicted to *reading* knitting blogs and suggested that we do a blog together. I told her that if we did one together, when it became painfully apparent that I had nothing to show, I could use some of her knittings and just say that I had made THAT as well. If I remember correctly...she said that ..well, more or less....that it was a great idea. Remember that, Kate? It's funny , because she said that I should write a blog because she thought I was the 'funniest damn writer that she ever knew'...which I think is funny, because I always thought SHE was the funniest damn writer that *I* knew. So any way you look at it.....there is hope that it will be, if nothing else.....funny.


As I mentioned, Kate and I met years ago at a little college by the sea...no lake......that would be Lake Erie...or as we used to call it, Lake College for Erie Women..... I was a sweet young thing...and Kate was...well, I'm not sure if I'm able to say what we used to call her at college...I think it was a tongue-in-cheek reputation that she appreciated....it is rather funny to think back on.

I'm sure I never saw Kate with a pair of knitting needles in her hands at the time. Maybe a martini...or a Rolling Rock....or a Genny Cream....but never knitting needles. I'm sure *I* was never seen with knitting needles in those years, either. Knitting is something that until about two years ago I was certainly certain that I did NOT need to be learning, much less have an interest in. It's all a long story, but I know that Kate is a very experienced knitter, and I am not. So I'm sure Kate will let me steal her pictures and have you all ooooh and aaaaah about how clever a knitter I am. ..Works for me...

But even though Kate isn't a...well.....fully INFORMED co-host of this blog, I'm sure she won't mind. She may be too busy to write much for a while. She is preparing to be married this year. She is marrying a man named Leopold, but she just calls him Jim for short. He must be a nice man, because he had the good taste to be asking our Kate to marry him. I think it behooves us, as knitters, to share with her a few warnings about what she is embarking on....as she makes the transition from being an independent woman to sharing a bathroom with a man. But we'll do it kindly and gradually. It just wouldn't be right for us to not warn her about thing like.....well, like things that go quiver in the sink. NO ONE warned ME about THAT one.....and damnit, I would have appreciated it if someone HAD!!! So there, Kate.....my gift to you....a fair warning that you will be witness to things that you were sure you never needed to witness before.