Where Have I Been?

A college friend guilted me into finally joining Facebook. Yeah, well, that's a nice time sink. And what did I find when I got there? Not only is my MOTHER on Facebook, but so is my GRANDMOTHER. I feel like such a Luddite -- me, who used to be on the cutting edge for a living. And I have to say it feels good.

So, I've been spending time over at Facebook catching up with college friends I'd lost track of (including my Sophomore roommate who I thought had dropped off the planet). And I'm hooked. So that's where I'll likely be if I'm not here or at Rav.

There HAS been knitting, too. Both of my before-Christmas unbloggable sample knits have been finished and dispatched to their rightful owners, though one apparently took a rather circuitous 3-week trip between Tucson and Virginia. And there is now a new unbloggable sample knit happening. Just a peek, though:
Shhhhhh!

There, that's all you get to see, but look CABLES! Haven't made cables in a very long time.

Knitting for myself is progressing. I have only one project on the needles. Yes, the Nihon Kimono Jacket, but just look where it is:
Nihon Kimono Jacket Almost There

I am at that tedious hundreds-of-10-stitch-rows application of the neckband, but it's coming. Then only two seams and some blocking lay between me and a) a new jacket; and b) starting a new project.

And, yes, I have that new project all picked out. I plan to make Jared's Hemlock Ring Blanket. Original, yeah, I know, but I could use some just-interesting-enough-to-keep-me-entertained knitting in the round right now, and it's getting chilly here in the desert. Besides, I still have quite a bit of heavy wool that really isn't fit for Tucson sweaters, so some of it at least is destined to become a blanket. And I will probably make it larger than Jared's.

What yarn? Don't know yet. In an effort to motivate myself to get the other stuff done I haven't allowed myself to hit the stash yet, so a decision on that will have to wait, probably until the sample knit is done (it's about halfway there and a really quite fast and simple project). And it has a deadline.

Nihon Kimono Jacket Almost There

What's the K-man so interested in? Well, believe it not, it ain't the yarn (though he certainly is nearly powerless to resist yarn); no, it's the needle. For some reason, he is the second cat we've had who sometimes is more interested in the needles than in the yarn. Go figure.

Okay, this is a long enough catch up, but I must leave you with this:
Harry Potter Yarn!

That's Lupin, Tonks and Harry from Opal's Harry Potter line of sock yarns. M got them for me for Christmas, but, funny enough, we almost wound up with twice the yarn. After she "wrapped" them in a gift bag and put them under the tree, the cats knocked the bag over one day and out came the yarn. Thus I canceled my planned trip to the LYS to get them for HER.