Knits-plicit #1

It's been brought to my attention by the fabulous and friendly Bink that of course not all who read this blog are knitters! *crowd gasps* hehe So I've decided that little nuggets of knitterly explicit language will occasionally have to be defined when I forget to do so at the time of posting!

Today's knitsplicit term is "frog".
I frog, they frog, we are frogging, I have frogged.

The term refers to the unravelling of a knitted item - either partially completed or finished by removing the needles from the knitting, leaving the live stitches *gasp* exposed and pulling on the working yarn strand so the live stitches are pulled back through the row below and thus undone. In some cases, such as My So Called Frog, this must be done slowly and carefully - perhaps the yarn is delicate such as mohair and will come apart if engaged in rough-play, or in the case of my scrummy colinette the stitch fibres have felted ever so slightly to the other stitches next to them which stops me from pulling the working yarn through very easily, I often have to stop and gently pull the fibres apart before I can go on. Other times it is a very quick process and can be unzipped down the rows disturbingly speedily, with big sweeps of the arm as you "rip it, rip it, ribbit" - hence the term "frogging", or "going to the frog pond".

Teresa, from knitty.com explains frogging very well in this article. She also includes some helpful tips on frogging, and my personal favourite - a description of tink-ing back *grin* Which is 'un-knitting' if you will, hence K-N-I-T backwards = T-I-N-K, tink! Which I like very much as it sounds magical and makes me think of my faery days :) It's also a good technique to become familiar with as tinking back allows you to stay in control of your knitting as you un-knit a few rows to get to a small problematic area.

This cross stitch pattern from stitchykitty.com illustrates the widely held dislike for frogging!

Thus ends the knitsplicit lesson for today!

My So Called Frog

Here she is - the vibrant and spasm inducing beginning to my My So Called Scarf(started some months ago and then stalled with other projects on the go), in Colinette Point 5 Popsicle. Yum Yum *adoring gaze*

However! It is now becoming my My So Called FROG! Yes, that's right - off to the lily pads with this one. I adore ADORE it, but I have only 2 skeins of the yarn and knitting it as wide as I've done will result in a scarf too short for my desire!

It's ok, I'm not upset - I love this yarn in this stitch pattern so I'll definitely re-knit it, but with fewer stitches on the needles. And.. when I have a bit more time!

Million Paws Walk 2007

Sunday of last weekend was the fantastic 2007 edition of the RSPCA Million Paws Walk! Hooray!! *crowd cheers* It was, as last year, a fun-tacular day out with SO much to see and do!

There were big doggers...

Little doggers... (note the tiger print and Superhero outfits!! hehe)

Fast dogs...

And slooow dogs!

Dogs of every shape, size, colour and culture were out with their humans to raise money for the RSPCA in the riverside walk! I met Dad there with our lovely scruffy-muffin Chilli, my gorgeous good mate Binkett and Chris with their sleek and adorable TessBug - and we met up with Skoot's family and their doggers there too - it was a doggie day for all!

Binkett Chris and Tessbug

The weather was nice and cool, but overcast, and we did get a slight sprinkling of rain - but it was lovely :) A camel was even in attendance and some horses - last year we saw ferrets and a very bold cat on a leash! hehe! We all had SO much fun, it really is a great event to support the RSPCA and see the dogger community out at large. Chilli-muffin was extremely well behaved and I'm very proud of her :)

She loved getting cuddles from Bink - just look as those ears pinned back and tucked up paws!

Several years ago when I was living closer in amongst the city I did volunteer work at a nearby Dogs' Refuge. It was something I found difficult, but very rewarding and I certainly wouldn't stop doing it because I didn't like to see all the homeless darlings who broke my heart with their kind eyes and eager looks - the benefit to them was so high and I loved being able to help bring joy to their lives while they were waiting for their new family. Unfortunately where I am now there are no refuges or animal shelters I can access to do such volunteer work - they're all an hour drive away or so - which for the moment I'm not prepared to do. So for the moment I shall make financial contributions by joining the RSPCA and supporting them in other ways , volunteering at events and so on. There is so much delight in our being able to not only associate but bond with another species, it is something so special and worth cherishing. And for those situations where animals are not cherished or respected, it's important that we make the effort to step in and help them out.

Tonking along, tinking back

Gryffindor shrug is fabulous!! I'm having so much fun - a lovely relief of straight forward, 5mm needles as opposed to lace and 2.5mm needles! Lush red, squidgy yarn flowing through my hands and the little centre-pull yarn cake jumping about as I pull more and more yarn from it - almost finished the first ball!

The other night I came across something unsual however.. At one of the KBF (knit back and front) combos I did something very creative and couldn't quite figure out what it was I'd done so differently.. I continued on thinking it might blend in to the lacey look of the shoulder increases.. but no, I wasn't happy without and I knew I couldn't live with it - it was time to tink tink tink and unknit all the way back through 3 long rows to the errant KFB!

tink tink tink

It is happily fixed now and I'm continuing my blissful cruise along :) Many more stitches done today and yesterday on Grandad's Pressie, I'd love to be able to catch up with Gran and Grandad this weekend to present the gift? Maybe..? We'll see!

Knitterly Day

CitiKnits group today was, as always, SO much fun! I always have a ball with all my fellow knitters and crafter - such enthusiasm and fibre all in one spot!! Just look at the table full of projects, new yarn acquisitions, books, magazines and tasty beverages!

We all admired Helen's new Fetchings out of delicious cashmerino aran (I think?) - so soft! So snuggly! Now we all want to knit up a pair for our morning work commutes ;)

Michelle and Yin made some yummy yarn purchases which they wound into centre-pull balls using my trusty fantabulous woolly winder and swift - hoorah!

Michelle (in her gorgeous newly knitted top!) with her Knittery Watercolours (do you think she's in mid serenade song to her yarn?)

Yin with her scrummy Envy

There's a Jaywalker frenzy going on at Citiknits with Anne, Yin, Michelle and Helen all contributing to the zig-zagging! I'm looking forward to getting involved too, and have the yarn at the ready, but must be good and get more done on my other projects first :) Michelle's also knitting away at the Jo Sharp Beret pattern - man, that girl knits fast!! Here Yin models how far along she is! Very nice!

I continued my knitting of Grandad's pressie - SO close to finishing!! It's become a very fiddly process though - look! Only 4 stitches on each needle - yikes!

My magical Hogwarts knit is officially on the needles!! Yipeee!!! And would you believe I got guauge PERFECTLY! I'm thrilled to bits! Next time I will definitely be ordering yarn through Bendigo Mill in NSW - Have you seen thier range and prices!?

When Skoota saw me knitting away he teased "Oh yeah, a McDonald's knit hey?" and now I can't get that out of my head whenever I look at it!! Bloody Ronald McDespicable! hehehe

A lovely day :) How could it not be when it's spent with such lovely, friendly cuddley knitters like these!!

Fitted Gryffindor two-tone knits!

Yippee!! I went out yesterday and purchased 8 balls of cheap'n'cheerful 100% wool to start knitting up my Two Tone Shrug from the fantastic Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits - hoorah!! =D

I was very restrained and did NOT decide to knit it out of naughty expensive malabrigo as I had initially intended (but thanks for all your help all the same Leah! I'm still hanging out to try it some day!!) and even then only purchased the 8 balls - 4 scarlet, 4 golden - which is a total of 440m, half of the metre-age the pattern claims I'll need. But I wanted to be sure, to be logial, rational and calculated rather than impulsive and wasteful - so we'll see how it swatches up and how far it goes before I dash out to buy up more, particularly as they're machine dyed and the ENTIRE store basket had the same dyelot PRINTED on the ball band, not stamped on! So I feel pretty safe there :)

I've started swatching and am SO excited!! I can't wait to get cracking on it! Must have it finished in time for the moofie premiere and for the 7am line up for the book release!! *breathes heavily and excitedly* EEEEE!!!

Although I must calm down. Really. *stern look* I still have a little bit of Grandad's OVERDUE pressie to finish up (although I'm soooo close to the end!!) and last night I had a rather disturbing dream that is making me REALLY REALLY want to finish Gran's shawl for her - so I can only knit the Shrug as relaxing easy take-a-break-from-2.5mm-needles knitting until I've finished those other two projects. I've also decided to enforce a half-hour-a-day rule on the lace shawl. I must find at least 30minutes in every day to knit on the lace shawl. I ADORE knitting it and am having such a blast seeing it come together, but it has been put aside for too long and I must do something to remedy that!!

Oooh! It's so lovely KNITTING!!! =D

Is it contagious?

Yupp!! Knitting certainly is catching!

Skoot's Mum was a knitter many moons ago when skoot was a littlie, and after a few years hibernation- I am thrilled to announce.. She is a knitting once again!! =D

After a couple of scarves she was back in the game and wanted to do up a garment - a round neck vest to be precise. So we hunted through all my magazines and books and settled on Sloane from Lisa'a book Yarnplay (mmmmm.. yummo!) . So after selecting the yarn, working out the tension she liked on a range of different needles, it turned out we'd have to re-write the pattern to use the guage she liked, so we did! It's looking MARVELLOUS!!

Ma-Skoot and I customised it a bit as she prefers a logner type of vest than the cropped Sloane delivers, but that was a pice of cake as she simply added more rows - knit til it was the desired length! Wednesday night Ma-Skoot came over to finish off the neckline of the back - the pattern seemed a little strange and we couldn't figure it out! Eventually we decided to wing it and simply do it ourselve, and, again, it looks MARVELLOUS!! hehehe Ma-Skoot is so enthusiatisc, she's onto the front now and zooooming along!

So exciting to have another knitter in my midst :)

Mothers' Day Knits

As I was bagging up all my balls, skeins and fluffy stuffs I came across this single ball (only 50m long) of Freedom 100% wool - delish! I bought it very early on in my knitting career, at my first visit to an actual yarn store I think! I picked it out for the quintessentially 'Mum' colours - pretty much all her favourites in ONE! But had left it aside, and when I'd finished all of my Skoota knitting projects I had other things on my mind (don't we knitters always have a dozen or so 'waiting in the wings' future projects we can't wait to get on to! And because I didn't have a set plan for it I didn't fish it out.

On going through my stash and making up an inventory I discovered that what I felt as an early kntiter (earlier, rather) was true - I really DIDN'T have a grasp on how much yarn can become how much of a knitted up item! The metre-age/weight didn't really compute, so I ended up purchasing many single balls of yarns that I liked for their colour, texture or whatever else - but ONLY one. It seemed a much more frugal way of doing things - sure it's an impulse purchase, but only a small one! It is now that I realise how difficult it can be to create something out of 50m of such a supoer duper bulky yarn!! So I cracked out my 20mm needles (yupp, you read right - TWENTY MILL! I bought them for ornamental purposes initially!) and started to knit a scarf width piece to see how it looked on the most gugantuous needles I have. And it looked great! Garter stitch on 20mm needles was EXACTLY what this yarn was happy to be!

I'm not a huge one for "Mothers'/Fathers' Day" as I think every day should be a day we show our love, appreciation and gratitude to our parents (and it seems like an excellent marketing ploy to amp up consumerism..) - but I never let them pass without a little something, preferably handmade, to express my love :) So this time around the timing was perfect and I decided I'd have the scarf knit up in time for the Sunday lunch skoot and I were putting on for our Mumsies!

So on Saturday while we drove out to the stunning local bush area in the hills for the lads to engage in the time-honoured sport of Down Hill Mountain Biking (in which I drive the 4wd ute up and down the hill picking them up and loading the bikes at the bottom, dropping them at the top then meeting them at the bottom for another go!) I knit all the way there in the car, knitknit when we stopped at the servo, knitknitknit while I was waiting for them at the bottom of the hill, and before we went to go home the scarf was done! Yay! Hoorah for quick, chunky knits! =D

The uber bulky yarn has a fantastic drape and snuggle factor and isn't too suffocatingly warm when knit up on the 20mm (how HUGE are they?!), and although not normal scarf length it's long enough to tie around the neck once, or wear with a scarf pin.

I'm delighted with how it turned out and was thrilled to gift the new knit to Mum on Sunday - as you can see she was equally delighted :)

Temptation

Tuesday last week was a very trying time.. it was a FABULOUS time! But very trying.. and you will soon see why *sigh* Helen and Ann are sadly bringing their brillo knitting store Knitting Inspirations to a close, and as a result Helen had two HUGE SUITCASES FULL of delicious yarn at the Library Knitting group!!!! Noooooo!!! Check out the feeding frenzy!

Of course I couldn't really get a good shot or take one at a nice angle due to the amount of jostling, teeth gnashing and elbow poking (no not really) as knitters dove into the piles of Jo Sharp, Debbie Bliss, yummy cottons and luxurious blends. And all the while I stood back. Yes, I know it's hard to contemplate, and it was even harder to carry out - but I did not purchase a THING. Not one little solitary, divine, bargain-basement-bootylicious ball or skein. *sigh* And I'm proud - yes, proud - not sad! No more impule purchases for me! If the Silk Road Ultra had been there sitting in a little plastic wrap I would have snaffled it all up for Cleaves, but Helen had only the Aran left so I declined.

What DID take my fancy was the huge amount of delectable green (c'mon, my favourite colour now THAT was self control!) Jo Sharp Cotton... oooooohhh so tasty!!

But that too stayed there for some other lucky knitter to discover! It was funny, I went over for a browsal then mentally said "NO!" and walked away to sit and knit then somehow found myself back there again!! *shakes head* like some sort of crazy magnetism!

Instead I have saved my dollars to invest in other things, and have more of an incentive to complete my current projects so I can move on to others :) I have put a bit of money aside, however, for an exciting international endeavour!! =D A friend from work - a fellow knitter - is travelling to her native city of San Fransisco, and when I mentioned that I listen to a podcast from there (Stash&Burn) and she exclaimed "Well if there's anything you want me to pick up for youwhile I'm over there let me know!" EEEEEEE!!!! So that shall be my little indulgence :) I emailed Jenn and Nicole of Stash&Burn and asked their advice for good yarn stores in the San Fran area and any other fun knitterly things they could suggest, exotic US yarns I could suggest getting etc.. and they were BRILLIANT! So I've sent my fantastic generous mate off with a detailed list of yarn stores, a couple of Must-Haves (koigu) and a colour printed sheet of some of my favourite skein colourways so she gets an insight to my colour palette!

... disaster struck...

Sort of like awe-struck.. but different. Quite different really. And worse *screws up face*

THE CREEPY WEEVIL THINGS GOT INTO MY ENTIRE STASH!!!!!!

*cries*

Well.. *calms down a little* maybe not aalll the wool, but I saw one in another 100% wool ball, and that was enough to send me frantically wrapping all my yarn in plastic and shoving it deep into the freezer to KILL THE HIDEOUS INFESTATION. Then I suddenly realised that my roving, and spinning fibre is of course.. made of wool!! So went dashing into my nestie and found another foul festy one in a ball of the beautiful Tree Tops Colour Harmonies fibre skoota gave me for my birthday. *sigh*

So now it's all completely air tight, vacuum wrapped in plastic and half of it frozen to ensure DEATH on the evil weevils. And I am out to scour the internet for excellent natural remedies to keep this from happening again. *big sigh* Any hot tips and advice would be GREATLY appreciated - Thanks Anne for your kind words of sympathy! :)

Violated

After the discussions with Scrumptious Bum about my unfinished projects, and after musing on the many tips and stash topics on the eps of Stash and Burn I've been religiously listening to, I decided I would open up the lovely wicker chest of yarn in my studio and make up a little inventory of my stash. And look what I found.....

*horror film knife-stabby music* AAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHKKKK!!!! OhmyfkingWhatisTHAT?!?! EEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!

I'll tell you what that is. It's a foul, squirmy, wool-destroying, revolting little weevil-worm-bug.

I had picked up this label-less ball of yarn to inspect it, as I'd done many balls before it, to figure out what it was exactly and add it to my list. But I saw this strange little hole, like someone (some THING) had drilled into the ball. A perfect crisp edged little bore hole. My stomach dropped, I pored over the ball and to my horror discovered the little bastard wiggling around in the midst of the yellow strands. I leapt up and dashed out of the room, brandishing the ball of wool to Skoot, terror in my eyes and I gabbled "Athing!!! Lookatit! It'saweevillywormyandit'sinmy STAAAASSSH!!" Frantically trying to extricate my camera from its case so I could take a photo then be rid of the foul festy intruder (see how dedicated I am to my blog *wink*). The camera wouldn't focus for some reason and I HAD to get this thing OUT of the house so I took the best i could and dashed to the front door, whipped the lid off the big green bin and chucked it in with disgust.

Luckily I have a reasonably modest stash, so there wasn't much at risk. The few things I dashed back in to inspect and plastic wrap were the stunning and lovely skeins I ordered from afar from the Yarn Wench, the Sunshine Yarns Dragon yarn, the box of Tahki tweed and my own handspun/hand-dyed. My most particular fright was that my most heavenly of heavenly acquisitions, the Yarn Wench skein that is destined to become a work of art, not actually knit up, would have been infested.. *sighs with relief* but luckily it appears the yellow ball was the only victim to the festy hateful little weevil thing. *scowls with look of revulsion*

Here sits most of my yarn in the box I was transferring the balls and skeins to as I wrote them down on my little list. The yellow was right down the very bottom corner of my stash basket (only 5 inches deep anyway!) and it seems all these other lovelies are unscathed, I would have noticed as I was inspecting them of fibre content, brand etc.. They will of course get a much more thorough examination when I get home today!!

This box below was whisked almost immediately from the vicinity of the evil weevil's deeds, as it is full of the tahki stacey tweed Mum bought me for my birthday and we had to ship over from the US. Balanced atop you can see my most treasured skein, the yarn wench *sighs with love* These have of course all been scrupulously examined *sighs with relief* and all is well :) At the front of the box you can see my little skeins of first ever hand spinning! Those are DEFINITELY to be protected from the foulness!

Now, I DID have a smelly clothes protector in amongst the basket, I wasn't toally derelict in my Stash Protector duties, but it was still partially wrapped, so it must not have been strong enough to reach the far ends and corners of the basket. Nevermind. It's a good learning experience. A scary experience. But definitely good for the life lessons!
p.s. I'll take better shots of my stash later in it's entirety once it's all had a check over.
p.p.s Don't worry Michelle, your Shimmer is still safely wrapped up in its bag :)

Postal!

Whee! I have finally had some packages arrive in the maiill!! I've been waiting rather impatiently, excitedly and frantically for the arrival of two super-brill packages in the mail - one, the stunning fantasteric Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel I purchased from The Book Depository, and two - my Secret Pal package!! (I know there's one on the way as she told me she posted it on 13/4 - how excitement!!) . Although the SP package is still keeping me in suspense I did receive the Book Depository package - and it's *pause for effect* FABULOUS!

I love love LOVE this book and am so thrilled with all the yummy patterns in it! I had heard about it and liked the sound of it, but the absolute clincher to making the purchase was seeing this on Leah's blog 'Between Stupid and Clever'. The two tone shrug.. Mmmmmm..

Leah has done hers in delicious Malabrigo Worsted, in Gryffindor colorus no less!! I was so inspired I deced I must make one the same, just in time for the Premier of the new book and movie!! How awesome and timely! Leah was awesome and helped me work out how many skeins I would need so I could purcahse the yarn even before the book arrived on my doorstep! I hunted down the right colours of Malabrigo at a store that would ship to Oz and started to justify to myself the amount of money I would be spending on this yarn and postage.. Unfortunately when I mentioned this brilliant plan to the Scrumptious Bum he didn't quite understand my need to purchase MORE yarn and start ANOTHER project, when I still had so many other waiting in the wings - particularly the others I have waiting with the yarn even in my stash!! So I was somewhat deterred from the big purchase, and after more discussion we came to an understanding that he was concerned for me, not nagging, he wanted to make sure I didn't get too caught up in the excitement, always looking ahead to future projects instead of enjoying the ones I'm doing now - not getting caught in a vicious habit of starting a project, making it part way through then becoming enthused abot a new project and leaving the last one for dead, thus never finishing anythign and existing in a perpetual state of guilt and obligation. I let him know that that is my greatest fear, and I don't want to be under the control of my stash, I want to be the happy knitter that uses and adores all her yarn and doesn't feel guilted into obligatory knitting by her crafty conscience. So all is well :)

I will still knit the shrug, and I intend to still knit it for the Harry Potter Premier (see my side bar - time's ticking down!!) but I shall visit my local (if somewhat under-stocked and not-so-inspiring) yarn store and see what I can find in Gryffindor colours in a worsted weight, instead of hitting the expensive stuff just now.

We did though, realise that most of my stash sitting there is from my first newbie knitterly months when I would snatch up a lovely looking yarn without any idea of what i would knit it into, and without any understanding of how much yarn is needed to knit particularly items. As a result many of my awaiting fluffy balls of colour aren't even sufficient metre-age to make anything out of! I shall have to combine them to make on project. Skoota recognised this, and ackownledged that with my now increased knowledge of knitting ins-and-outs, I have an increased sense of logic and rational at times of yarn purchase-ment :)

p.s. Worsted is the equivalent of about a 10ply, is that right?

p.p.s I also received the April Spunky Fibre Club parcel - isn't it awesome!! So bright, so vivid!

I've had to bow out of Amy's Spunky Club for now - my fibre stash is accumulating faster than I can spin it up, let alone knit from it!! But I highly recommend it to all fibre enthusiasts, even if you're not in the US. I found the postage quick, and prices very reasonable to be an Aussie participant in the Spunkiness of Fibre Clubs :)

What type of yarn are you?

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!

Hehe super cute! Though I have to say, I'm never shy of my mistakes - that's how learning comes about and all experiences of life are worthwhile, but apart from that I'm happy to be mohair.. as long as I don't make people itch!! :)

Pick-me-ups

Still feeling low.. BUT.. Have seen, experienced and done some lovely beautiful things lately so that always makes things a bit silver-lined doesn't it?

Rainy weather has set in finally, and I'm adoring it. I love to hear the rain or thundery wind and wild weather outside while I in and out of sleep, or on the couch reading. I like to stand by the back door and look out at the sky, and weather. Doing that the other day, admiring our plants and the fresh breeze, grey sky and atmospheric mist of rain which deepened into rain-propelled sheets - I saw this little fellow sheltering under our back patio.

His friend was sitting on the fence, and when the rain fell harder, he too flew in under cover - sat on the edge of our Steva pot and glanced about at his new surrounds.

For non-aussie folks, these little birds are called Willy Wag-Tails. A name coined due to their long straight tails and the constant swaying motion the little darlings have when sitting still. They wag their tail back and forth, back and forth then dart off after a tasty little bug that's jumped up out of the grass. Then they stop again, back and forth, back and forth - and they're off! They really are very sweet little birds, with a lot of gumption too! Often I see them on their own, or in a duo in a mid-air attack on a crow, or other significantly larger bird, shoo-ing it away out of their territory! (and it seems they always win too!)

The other reason I was so drawn to the back window, gazing out across out planted lovelies - was to see my favourite-est planted lovely, the Roo Vine. On a day trip up in the hills one weekend with Huggable Mum, we went into a darling little gift store which had a small nursery section out the back. Mum said she'd like to gift me a plant from the country style garden selection of potted goodies - of course I was delighted! I was so drawn to this beautiful draping, wild looking vine - a vine that drew me so but I had never seen any quite like it before. I adore vine, we had one that grew over the front of my childhood home, and another stunning vine that covered the back pergola too - I think it's in my blood!

So the other day skoot and I spent an afternoon re-potting some plants and making them feel a bit more comfortable in larger venues - including my lovely Roo Vine! He's looking very please with himself now, I even picked out a special pointy trellis for him to climb up and have positioned it in his pot for him to grow on. Each time I go outside I check out how he;s going and whether any new little tendrils have grasped the trellis or are shooting out reaching for something to hold on to.

A visit to a very good friend of mine, hugs, loveliness and a delightful surprise gift! But not any ordinary gift.. a Knit-Related Gift - Hurrah! Posh Pooches a gorgeous book of knitting patterns for Doggers.

And it even came with a set of needles with liddle DOGS ON THE TIPS! How gorgeous is that?

And finally delicious gourmet roast potatoes, made for me by my beloved - perfectly moist and soft, with a crispy outside, tasty herb seasoning and doused in flavoured grapeseed oil - Mmmmm..

I've made you envious now, haven't I? I'm sorry.

Work on Grandad's pressie continues, to the exclusion of other crafts and tid-bits. I'm finding myself really anxiously keen to knit up an actual garment for myself. I think I might have to cast on and start working away at the Central Park Hoodie, even though I have my other things on the go - it'll be nice to know I have something going for me too. And to feel the wool through my fingers, and the yarn sitting in my lap will be a very nurturing settling feeling I think :)