Finally a F.O.: Chocolate Swirl Dishcloth

It's been a long slog, but I do seem to be back on the knitting track with this modest but meaningful (to me at least) dishcloth. My tension was off because of my bandaged finger and I totally spaced on the Kitchener (which I can't blame on anything but my tendency to totally space), but it's done, and it reminds me of chocolate, and I can knit again. I've put myself on the Branching Out bandwagon; the laceweight yarn is a challenge, but one that I fully intend to rise to. Onward.

Cool Link of the Week--Jive Turkey Hat

In the immortal tradition of the Chicken Viking Hat, Sara of goingcrafty.com has come up with the perfect Thanksgiving topper (pattern here). There's still time to click this one out for a holiday baby, or if you want to wait until next year you can make enough for everyone at the table. Think of all the family feuds you can circumvent if everyone's wearing one of these.

Back on the Blog

Well, sometimes life gets in the way of blogging, sometimes you're without a digital camera and know that there's nothing more boring than a knitting blog without photographs, and sometimes you're walking your dogs and you turn the wrong corner and run into a pitbull who clamps on one of your dogs and your hand gets in the way and you end up in the hospital for three days and unable to knit for a couple of months. Or, in my case, all of the above.

Anyway, I'm back on the sticks, starting out slow with a dishcloth, taking my time. My tension is a little wonky, but I'm getting there. Whew, because there's nothing like personal upheaval to make you want to knit (and drink, which I couldn't do for two weeks because of the antibiotics, but that's a whole 'nother story).

In the meantime, there's Ravelry, which has pretty much kept me sane (knitwise) during the past couple of months. If you don't know about it, go over there and take a tour, and sign yourself up for the wait list (not an exclusive thing; they're still in beta and don't want the site to blow up before its time, and the list seems to be moving quickly as they approach public launch). There are many ways to sing Ravelry's praises, but for me it's the ability to reference other people's work and queue up a dream list of projects. You wanna make a Clapotis? Well, at Ravelry, 3,026 people either have or have had the same idea, and you can check out their projects complete with yarn specs and modifications. Or let's say you have a couple of balls of Noro lying around...you can go to the Yarn tab and get suggested patterns. But wait...there's more! If you are so inclined, you can catalog your stash and needles (me, it just makes me feel even more disorganized than I actually am) or enter a world of social networking beyond your wildest dreams (if you don't want to cast your lot with the Clapotis Knitters Group, there's always knit-diddly-ittin-neighborinos (forum for Simpsons knitters) or completely arbitrary and pointless (forum for people who basically like to snark about nothing). It will never replace more intimate forums like Knitters Review, but as a knitting community it's truly impressive.

Good to be back; knit on.