Knitting comes kicking

I put down my needles when we moved to Houston & have only made maybe a project every year or so since then. Suddenly, I want that feeling again. Last Monday, I went with C****** to the older of the two yarn shops in town (I love the new shop, but they only seem to have teaser skeins; one maybe two but never enough for a project) & bought the merino I have had my eyes on for a while. I still do not know what I want to make but the price is 40% of what it was & so I figured now or never.

C****** also got a skein of a gently variegated blue/green merino & plans to make herself a scarf in the feathers & fan pattern, or old shale or olde shael or whatever you wish to call it. This will be her first foray into lace, but I am confident she can do it. I looked for a link to this very old, very well known pattern but could only find people trying to sell it. So here it is:

row 1: knit
row 2: knit
row 3: knit
row 4: knit 1 /k2together x3, knit 1+yarn over 1 x6, k2together x3/ knit 1
row 5: knit
row 6: same as row 2
row 7: same as row 3
row 8: same as row 4
row 9: same as row 5
repeat until
4th from last row: same as row 4
3rd from last row: knit
2nd from last row: knit
last row: knit

You repeat the bit between the // however many times you want the pattern repeated. I recommend an odd number, say three or five or seven, but it is your call. You can see it is a toughie.

I am afraid I do not have a picture of my own but you could go here. Those of you who are very interested will notice some variation in her instructions & mine; I did not get the pattern here, but it is more or less what it will look like.

This October, Stitches (do not worry if you have never heard of it) will be in several places around the country, including Hartford. I am kinda-thinking I might kinda-wanna go. I mentioned this to A & he said "sure, whatever" so I am fairly certain he was not listening. Me & Mom went to the first one ever in King of Prussia, PA back when I lived in Joisey & she lived...where she does now.

Even today I am not sure I would have enjoyed it so much if it had not been for Nancy Bush. Mom wanted to take a Shetland Lace class & I went along for the ride. Nancy Bush was then better known as a writer/teacher in the more practical sock-world, but she was our instructor. She talked about being stuck in Unst (although she did not seem to see it as stuck) because of some confusion about the ferry & it was the most entertaining lecture I have been to since Jello Biafra spoke at UCONN & explained that the Reagan administration was really building StarWars so they could launch nuclear waste into outer space thereby polluting the galaxy & we should stop worrying about world peace & start worrying about littering.

So, knitting....I should probably see if the needles re-take & I am actually still knitting in say August before I make up my mind about Hartford in October. & if I am getting on a plane anyway, maybe I should skip CT & just go straight to Tunbridge.