Buried in acrylic

I need to stop nagging ruthee about her non-blogging...i'm only managing once a week at present. Silly holidays got me behind.

Why do I choose projects with yarn that I hate? The White Buffalo was a delightful exception, but now I'm trying to plow through 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun for a shawl for my mom's birthday, and while I love the feel of Homespun and its wash-and-wear durability, I am SO friggin' sick of knitting on it. Could also be because for time-saving sake, I went with straight garter stitch--you can SO get away with that with Homespun--so I'm bored out of my skull.

And I'm completely (FINALLY, the Knitting Bitches would say) over working with yarns that are majority acrylic, or some other manmade, petroleum-based fur. Too stretchy, you work it too much and it squeaks, and did I mention too stretchy? I'm trying to start the Cozy pattern with the Heather Rose Wool Ease, and I can already see I'm going to be frogging it and looking for a better lace pattern. Cozy's easy enough to get the hang of, but it's an involved pattern and a real bitch to look at and tell if you're doing it right, for a beginner. I must be ornery today too, damn moon being in Aries, because I think I want to switch to the dark blue because it's winter (in normal states) and the Rose is irritating me, but I chose the Rose so that I'd actually be able to see the lace pattern once I got going...there's no pleasing me.

Encore's nice too, used that on the hat and booties, and I'm glad I have some more to play with for the baby blankets and whatnot. Starting in February, the KBers are doing a Shawl Knitalong, ordering yarn from Knit Picks and working off a common pattern from the book "A Gathering of Lace." It's a really beautiful, spiral patterned shawl, and I decided I'm going to go in on that. It'll be nice to create something pretty and have instant help along the way.

And off topic, I've officially started planning and training (well, in my way) for the Avon Walk! I got the 2006 handbook and T-shirt this week, have been watching what I eat, doing yoga in the evenings to get to know my body, and making lists to prepare. I won't start fundraising hardcore til at least February, because it feels kind of funny when I just got done begging for Autism, but I'm not scared about my money goal yet. Ask me again around August :)