Best Quote I Heard All Day
Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.
--Dr. Seuss

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

And something else.

That's right, gang. Christmas is closer than you think. Two and a half scant months away (almost). So once again, it's time to start thinking of shitty knitted gifts.

For those readers who are not familiar with the Christmas Crap-along, every year I have a contest to see who can knit the most disgusting Christmas item. Here are the particulars:

• Item must be knitted in non-natural fibers in your choice of colors
• You may add any and all surface decorations that you desire
• Submit a .jpeg of your knitted crap to me at knitz@optonline.net. Make sure the photo is no bigger than 500K.
• Deadline is Friday, December 23rd. Winning entry will be published on December 24th.
• And the prize is: Four, count 'em, four skeins of Koigu. Enough to make a nice scarf or something.

You know what I like. And I don't want to see just entries from Carol this year. Now get out that Fun Fur and get to work.

Inspiration Point
I wish I could say that my lace swatching has been fulfilling but it hasn't.

You know how you look at a stitch pattern and you can't wait to get going on it and then when you're knitting it, suddenly you realize that...it's a bore. And you'll never finish it and don't ever want to look at the pattern again.

That happened with this lace pattern that I modified from Susanna Lewis's book.

My design plan was to create a shawl that would be viable in laceweight, fingering and DK. This yarn is Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk--lovely to work with. However, the pattern is much too holey. And a stone bore to knit. So back to the drawing board. I've found something else.

Ultimately this shawl will be knitted with the DB and with Morehouse Farm laceweight in Aquarius. Yes, it will be for publication, which is why I'm showing only the swatch I'm not using.

Looming, Spinning, Feh
Nothing on the loom. Didn't get to the warping this weekend. It rained about 8" on Saturday so we spent some time dredging water from the laundry room. I did get some spinning done on the Starry Night; however, that fucking bag of fiber never seems to get smaller. I've filled up all save one of my bobbins so it's time to get plying. And with Rhinebeck less than a week away and this stuff now a year old, I'm wondering if I need to buy more fiber.

Of course I will. It's inevitable, like death and taxes. Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and more rare and handy fiber.