Yarn with Unicorns

What mythical beast are you?

You're a unicorn. You're very pure and innocent. Almost everyone loves you and you love almost everyone. You may be naive to the point of gullibility. You're pretty much incapable of violence, the exception being when someone you love is threatened. While your intentions are nothing but good, some might call you a "straight-edger." Your alignment is EXTREMELY *good*.
Take this quiz!

Some of the quizzes that make the rounds in blogland come out rather oddly for me - I am so NOT James T Kirk!! - but this one rings a big bell. That is, while I'm not 'very pure and innocent', I don't like some people (sometimes instantly!) and some don't like me, and I'm finally not so naive, though office politics totally escaped me. Guess I'm not an a**kisser by nature. I AM, however, pretty much a 'straight-edger'. Is there a female counterpart to Dudley Do-Right or Benton Fraser, that adorable Mountie from the TV series "Due South"?

Having said all that, I am a somewhat-retired Unicorn Collector! I have, stored away, carefully swathed in tissue, over 2 dozen unicorns. None of those blown-glass fripperies, either. I was very particular about the ones I chose, although my best-loved cousin gave me 3 of the very best and most elegant, ones he found in museum shops. I suppose this can stand as one of the Weird Things About Me, and as my vocabulary word for the day, somewhat jejune. BTW, the picture above is rather more of a horse than a unicorn by my standards; it's pretty, but it has a distinctly Arabian look.

Moving on to knitting, I've been busy. The back of my Ribby Cardi is done and the two fronts are ready for shoulder shaping. My stockinette is rather less even than I'd like, but I realized it's been 20+ years since I did any significant amount of plain stockinette. Practice will improve the purl problem. I finished and blocked the Malabrigo scarf, and it was received with great happiness! My friend's reaction was all a knitter could ever hope for. Working with the yarn was a joy, and I was pleased with the way the Vine Lace pattern looked, even with the heavy-worsted gauge.


Earlier I posted a picture of a swatch from the Lang Mille Colori yarn my online friend Curlerchik enabled me to get. After several changes of pattern and design to best show off the color changes, I've got a good start on a shoulder-shawl. I got only 2 skeins of this color, and I'm very pleased with it. The picture shows the deep purple most vividly, but the shades of green and teal are just as beautiful. This yarn is 50% wool, 50% acrylic, but it gives no hint of the acrylic content, and feels very much like the wool/silk Cherry Tree Hill yarn I used for a scarf a couple of years ago. Plus it's machine washable!

On Monday, I met Knitdevil Madge in Montrose for coffee and lunch and a short visit to Needle in a Haystack [no website yet], a very nice shop, carrying a lovely selection of yarns, many I don't find in my usual LYSs (including the Lang Mille Colori!), and lots of goodies for those who love needlepoint and cross-stitch.

Sadly, Monday evening I was attacked by some sort of cold virus, and I've been fighting that off since. The worst part is the big lump in my throat, that's making it hard to swallow. My remedies of choice are Zicam, Traditional Medicinals' Breathe Easy and Throat Coat teas, and the occasional Tylenol. I don't feel really miserable, just annoyingly subpar. And I'm hermiting for fear of passing this along to anyone.

This is a flashback to pre-blog days. DH drives a little Ranger pickup, and he likes to have the rear window open just a bit. But he gets headaches when the back of his neck gets cold. Regular scarves just didn't cover his neck enough, so I had an idea. This is a modified version of the Aibhlinn cowl from Knitty. It's less than a foot wide and works very well; the width and the shape help it to cover more of his neck. I knitted it from Wool-ease and Encore, just some oddballs I had on hand. This came in for a laundering, and I took the opportunity to snap a photo. It is a very easy knit and the texture is quite interesting.