Knitting bug

The knitting bug has bit hard and long this time. Normally it bites, I start a project, and that's as far as it goes. But in the past couple of weeks I've completed two projects, and am soldiering towards the completion of a third, the cable-knit sweater I started for Erin but now hope to complete for Fiona. When I rediscovered it in a closet, it was about half done. I've now just got a little over one sleeve to go.

Ravelry is definitely my cup of tea and my membership invitation arrived at just the right time. It's a place on the web for knitters to set up personal databases and share them with each other. Databases of yarns in their stashes, of projects on the go, of projects completed, of favourite designs, of patterns, heck, even obsessively detailed records for every needle of every size, length and configuration you own. All shared, cross-linked, friendly-like, accompanied by social networks, message boards, profiles and integrated with Flickr photo accounts. I find it so funny that there are thousands of other people out there who take pleasure in this sort of obsessive virtual cataloguing and organizing that, at least in my case, bears absolutely no resemblance to any real-life organization. Whatever. I like entering my needles and yarns and project dreams, and I like updating the little slider beneath my current project to show my estimated per cent completed. Maybe it'll all translate into some sustained interest in knitting. Who knows?

If you're enough of a knitting geek to have signed up at Ravelry, and have made it to the top of the invitation waiting list, you can find me over there as moominmamma.

There's a charming little yarn shop in town here that carries a lovely selection of natural yarns. Many are artisan spun and/or hand-dyed. It's called "The Inner Ewe" and is tucked in the back corner of the lotto outlet / newsstand. But the lady who runs it is retiring at the end of the month and the shop will be closing. So you can imagine the urgency with which I headed down with my chequebook in hand. I think I might even have to go back again. If I keep up the knitting there will be a lot of mittens and socks in my future, and Sophie's sweater is going to be lovely.