At the finishing line, almost
Okay, it’s no longer weekend, but the belated updated is due to having too much to do during the weekend, not to having got worse. In fact I’m quite all right, but my husband and younger daughter have caught the cold. Poor them. Yesterday I had the best vitamin shoot you can have: I went with Ludde for his first show training. There where five puppies and five adult Afghan hounds gathered, and it was great fun. For those of you interested in Ludde pictures, there are pics from the trainings in Ludde’s blog.
Someone said in the comments that knitting is good medicine for colds (thank you for all the lovely comments, they really cheared me up). Indeed it is, and especially stockinette knitting is good. Mindless knitting with a steady rhythm, and no thinking involved. My brains were not up to par during this cold, and when it took me two days to knit one and a half sleeve and the stockinette portion of the yoke of the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, it took me two more days to knit the cabled portion of the yoke. That is not many rows a day, considering that the cabled part is less than 20 rows high. Any way, I finished the yoke yesterday and picked up the stitches for the first button band in the morning today. The fit of the cardi looks very promising, and I much look forward to finish it. I’ll visit Helsinki on Thursday, and I’ll look for buttons then.
I have promised pictures of the mittens I years ago knitted from yarn made out of Afghan hound hairs. This yarn was one of the first I spun after learning to spin, and it is not a very even yarn. Nor is the carding of the Afghan hairs and the wool anything to brag about. But the mittens are very, very warm. The fairer part is knitted out 50% wool 50% dog hair, the darker only dog hair. I think the pattern is taken from Anna Zilboorg’s book Magnificent mittens, started from the tip and ended with the pompoms in the cuff. Click here for a detailed pictureof the cuff. The pictures are a bit dark, and I guess you have a hard time believing me when I say they were taken on Friday, at twelve o'clock daytime, outside. Yes, the weather is lousy again.
I’ll be back tomorrow (I hope) with answers to Romi’s meme, and my candidates for the You make my day award I got from KaisaKaisa. Both need quite a lot of thinking about, and I think this entry is long enough as it is.
Comments
Isn't Ludde beautiful. I rarely see Afghans around here any more, are they rare now? Tangled Yolk is looking great, I may need to splash out on some Felted Tweed ;). Glad you are feeling a bit better, there are some horrid colds going round here lately too.
Posted by: Lin | January 21, 2008 04:29 PM
Hi Maud,
Glad to hear you're feeling well enough to knit again.
Your afghan mittens are beautiful. I met a woman once who spun dog and cat fur into yarn and she said it was the warmest yarn for hats and mittens.
Posted by: RuthieJ | January 21, 2008 04:54 PM
Well - you have speedily past right by me....I have an excuse, but still!
Posted by: Pat | January 22, 2008 01:06 AM
Glad to hear you are feeling better...the tangled yoke looks great and I love the color you chose!
I've always been curious about using dog fur as part of the spinning/yarn process...thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Rachel | January 22, 2008 01:28 AM
Lovely mittens! Can't wait to see your cardi.
Posted by: tiennie | January 22, 2008 04:15 AM
Thanks for sharing the Afghan mittens! Very lovely, and interesting edge on cuff. Also enjoying Ludde's photos.
Posted by: Val | January 22, 2008 10:26 PM
I hope the rest of your family is back to normal now. I went to Ludde's blog and he is so gorgeous and he looks like he's got a nice personality, too. Does he have a brother? I want one!
Posted by: Francesca | January 25, 2008 03:15 AM
Lovely mitts! They look really soft and fluffy.
Posted by: juuli | January 27, 2008 10:25 PM
The sweater looks great, can't wait to see it finished. The mittens are nice, too. Glad you are feeling better!
Posted by: Nancy | January 28, 2008 06:28 AM
Just want you to know, I've given you the coveted "You Make My Day" Award. But you mustn't feel obligated to play unless you want to.
Posted by: kathy in juneau | January 30, 2008 09:54 AM
Ludde looks like (he's??)very soft and cuddly. I'm glad you had such fun. Can't wait to see the Cardigan done. What a pretty color (it looks sort of bluey-greeny on my computer)
Posted by: Mea | January 30, 2008 03:33 PM
I love the afghan mittens! My friend just spun up some of her Bernese Mt. dog hair ;)
It looks like you may have gotten it already, but you make my day too!! no obligations, just warm feelings!
Posted by: mel | February 1, 2008 03:54 PM