[Insert Clever Mason-Dixon Line Here]

Ann and Kay have a lot to answer for. I have to admit, when I first heard about them, and looked at all the dishclothes that were being knit across the land, I was unmoved. I heard no siren song. I had no thoughts of log cabins or mitered corners or modern babies....

But then the book came out. And, sort of hating the cover, I picked it up one day. And had to buy it. I was hooked. Oh my, these ladies have such a way with color. I read the book over and over.

So you know the next step....you know the gateway knit here. Oh yeah, I did a couple of washclothes, I succumbed to the little cotton balls of yarn. But those are light-weight, those are merely little hors d'oeuvres...no, what I got the jones for was a log cabin blanket, something I could throw over my knees on winter evening when the thermostat is turned way down low.

So off I went to Woolstock. Now, Woolstock is a nice store, full of great yarn and helpful ladies and a wide selection of books. And when I say full...it's full to the point of having scores of balls of yarn leap off shelves should you try to liberate one. It's full to the point that you can't really maneuver. And full to the point that, with respect to Ella Rae's Amity, which I thought would be a good choice for this blanket, most of the colors are still in their plastic wrap way up high on the shelves. The difficulty one has seeing and comparing and playing with the colors explains why this blanket is a little...dull. Safe. Williamsburg.

But still....I love it. It's cozy and snuggly. I worked each square separately and joined them with a three-needle bind off in purple. I just have to weave in all the ends. Oh yeah, and do an i-cord edging. I think that'll finish it off nicely. But that, frankly, sounds like work. So meanwhile...

I started this.


I think it's going to be a baby-sized blanket. My daughter wonders why I'm going to the bother of doing this log-cabin style when it's almost entirely white, but it was just an idea I had. I want to see what the random dashes of colors look like. So far, I like it.

Oh, and my new, local, favorite yarn shop in the world, The Black Sheep, has a floor to ceiling bookshelf of Ella Rae Amity yarns...every color they make...and another one of Ella Rae's all wool yarn (the name of which I forget). And a big table on which one can throw skeins of yarn and play with color combinations. So there may be more blankets in the works.

Curse you, Ann and Kay!

Current Reading

Borkmann's Point - Hakan Nesser

I just started this one this evening. I had given it to my Dad for his birthday and he's loaning it to me. He said it was pretty good. I'll let you know.

What I really want to be reading though, is the new Ann Packer, Song Without Words, which I picked up this afternoon at Barnes and Noble. I loved The Dive From Claussen's Pier.