Detente Day

I made it halfway through grading yesterday, and then I realized that my brain was fried. It's been a month of no-weekends now, and things are progressing ok. Enough that the world will not come to an end if I stop for a day (I hope, anyway). So, today I declared a detente.

We cleaned the house. I cooked for the week. And, I knit.

I've been working on knitting up the BFL that I dyed and spun. The stitch pattern has great texture.

And I like how the colors are blending.

This is a thick and soft scarf; I think it will be a favorite. It will also be pretty long; I'm getting about 18" a ball, and I have three balls of yarn, so it will be a good length when it's done. I cast on sometime last week, and I'm about halfway done now. It's nice to have a fast project on the needles!

The stitch pattern is easy enough that I can (mostly) knit without looking, so it might qualify for bus knitting. Hopefully I'll finish the scarf this week, rather than letting it languish (a common fate for scarves around here).


Branden built me a warping board this weekend, and we've been winding the warp for the next weaving project. True to character, I'm diving into a big project next, which I'm pretty excited about. More details later, but here it is on the warping board:

And off:

(That's half of the warp. Still need to wind the other half.) Aren't the colors pretty? It's a cotton weaving thread, and it has great sheen. I'm looking forward to having it on the loom.


We stopped at the yarn shop on the way home from the farmer's market and got this:

That's a ball of Manos with a skein of handspun. Sorry for the dark picture, but it was really the only way to get good color representation. Tonight, I've been working on a couple of swatches:



So far, I'm thinking I like the diamonds best. Hopefully my newly returned weeknights will help me to get a few more of these knit up this week. Swatches make rewarding projects for in-between times!

It's been nice having a day of craft in the middle of the craziness. I should declare detentes more often.

Also, thank you for all of the comments that you have been steadily leaving for me. I have seen and appreciated them all, but haven't responded. They do make the week a bit brighter, though, so thanks!