I had a nice day shopping in Little Rock yesterday. I made friends with Fred the Cockatiel at Cockatiel Glass & Beads. I bought some toggles to make stitch markers and some beads for my Cheshire Cat shawl. I started the shawl, but I think my yarn is more sock weight than lace weight. I can't remember if I bought 4 oz. or 8 oz., so I'm slightly worried about running out before it's long enough. Time will tell . . . . It's a lace pattern, I'm going to use lifelines, and I'll figure out what to do with it when it gets finished.

I finished Margaret's goddess doll. I even made her (the goddess) a prayer shawl. I tried to name her, but she wouldn't tell me what she wanted to be called. Maybe she'll tell Margaret. Margaret and I spent a happy couple of hours knitting and talking and drinking coffee. We talked for the umpteenth time about forming a regular group for knitting. Maybe we will this year.

DH just came him. We're going to lunch at the mighty Wagon Wheel.

New Year's Day

Ok, so I need to learn a little bit more about felting. I had felted a piece of I-cord from some woold I had used to make a hat and mittens. I just threw it in with some other laundry and it turned out pretty cool. So I made some I-cord and a couple of small swatches from the Paca Paints that I'm using for the bag and threw them in with some random laundry. Oh no! It was the biggest wadded up mess I've ever seen! The swatches looked like lint balls and the cord was equally awful. At least I just ruined those before I threw the whole bag in.

My problem now is that seeing how those pieces look, I've lost interest in finishing the bag. I'm sure I will at some point, but at the moment I can't bear to think of a full skein's worth of knitting stockinette in the round only to have a potential disaster at the end of it. I know felting is unpredictable, but think my only choices were "great" and "total destruction".

I consoled myself by knitting some more on the pastel cardigan and starting a tiny shawl from some handpainted, handspun, beaded stuff to go on a beaded "doll" for Margaret. I'm also working on a double-point case from hand-dyed silk for Terry and assorted charms for the Cloth, Paper, Scissors charm swap.

Hmmmm, maybe I do have enough going on that I can live without felting!