My First Log Cabin

I make no apologies: I developed my color sense while eating a bag of Halloween candy corn.

Yellow and orange are my favorite colors. I have loved yellow and orange from the moment I grasped my first Crayola in my hot little hand. Yellow and orange make me happy.

My first married kitchen was yellow and orange. So was my second. And my third. And my fourth. I painted our first bedroom to look like the outside of a pumpkin and accented it with bright yellow. You needed sunglasses at midnight. During the summer of 1968 when everyone else was out protesting the War, I was crocheting a yellow and orange blanket to take with me to Omaha that fall where I would be starting a new life as an eighteen year old bride. Imagine a queen-size afghan, all single crochet, all orange and yellow.

So is it any surprise that my first attempt at Log Cabin (big shout-out to the ladies at Mason-Dixon for the inspiration) would be yellow and orange? Stash yarn: Sirdar Nova. Knit Picks Harmony circs US9. I am loving every second. Actually I am loving it even more than EZ's Garter Stitch Blanket. It's like knitting sunshine.

What can I say? Yellow and orange make me happy. Knitting makes me happy. These days that's not a small thing.

Faina's Scarf and other things

Dallas is on blog hiatus right now which means I can sneak in and brag about her when she isn't looking.

I was poking around in the hall closet yesterday, dreaming of the moment when the leaves start changing color and I can drag out scarves and sweaters and fingerless gloves. You know: all the stuff that makes a knitter's life worth living.

I found the first multidirectional scarf I ever made: a sad narrow little excuse for a scarf with missing fringe and good intentions.

I found the trigger finger mittens (just typing "trigger finger" unnerves me!) I made by combining Elizabeth Zimmerman's Norwegian mitten pattern with web instructions on adding the index finger then copying a pair of gift mittens for the design. Who knew I could be that resourceful? Unfortunately they are big enough to fit hands five times the size of mine. I'm thinking about steeking them and turning them into fingerless mitts. If you have any suggestions (or really big hands) please share!

And then I found the fabulous baby camel scarf Dallas knitted for me a few Christmases ago. The pattern is Faina's Scarf and to say I absolutely adore it is to laughably understate my feelings. I'm one of those unfortunates who can't bear wool next to my skin. I turn into a red, itchy, miserable bundle of humanity. But baby camel is deliciously soft and gentle and apparently allergen-free. At least free of allergens that make me crazy. The pattern looks uncomfortably complex to me but the finished product is fabulous in every regard.

Right now I have the following on the needles:

• a second Irish Hiking Scarf
• 60% finished Vintage Velvet
• the ongoing story of the giant EZ Garter Stitch blanket
• Silk Garden Wavy
• (drum roll) my first Log Cabin!

What have you been up to?