1. Don't forget it's Maker Faire this weekend! Be prepared for some crazy traffic, a crush of people, and to have the top of your head blown off in wonder.
2. A reader named Pardis asked that I mention something really important: If you're in the Bay Area, you can come to Pinole on Saturday and be checked to see if your bone marrow is a match for a baby who needs it. Another fellow PensFatales writer also needs people to do this for her friend Joy. Info on local testing here, or here are instructions for doing this online (for those of you not in the Bay Area):
[From Joy's letter]: The first step
in the process is to log onto the ‘Be the Match’ site: http://join.marrow.org. After completing the qualifying
questions (toward the end of the process), enter JJ1605 into the field labeled “Promo Code”.
When you complete this process, a donor testing kit will be sent to
you. Once it arrives, you will simply need to swab your cheek
and send it to the donor matching center. If you are identified as
a potential match, you will be further tested and, ultimately, asked
to give blood (NOT bone marrow) for a few days in a row (it is
much the same as giving blood to the Red Cross).
Getting into this national registry could save someone's life. And god forbid, if anyone we know and love gets sick, we're gonna be really glad that the registry is getting bigger all the time. Consider it for me?
3. As a reward, have a listen:
It's a lovely song reader Ange Takats sent me — how she learned about the knitter's curse after making a beanie for the boy she loved.
4. And after all that, you get to see my new cowl! It's Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings pattern, made in Mountain Fibers (their worsted weight, not sure what colorway this is — I lost the ball bands). So soft and squishy! And just the right weight for me here.
Hard to take a photo of a red thing near a red thing by a red thing, so this one is a little better:
It's made with a true moebius (a la Cat Bordhdi), which is halfway cast off with that picot edge, then knit around. I modded it by making it wider and longer for my linebacker shoulders, and I love the way it fits (can't remember exactly what I did, but every time it said to M1 every 15 stitches (for example), I'd M1 every 10 instead. I also did an extra repeat of the pattern at the neck and at the end of the body.
Can you kind of see the moebius there? Love it.
I love the fit. And since I'm always too hot to go out wearing sweaters, this little half-sweater should suit me just fine. Love love love.
Beautiful! I love mine, too. It’s an awesome garment. Did you include the beads?
It looks gorgeous on you (or rather you look gorgeous in it). 🙂 And I will totally do the bone marrow thingy. Thanks for mentioning it! xox!
Oh, it’s so cute! I love it.
Cowl fever takes another victim! Every time I make a cowl, I end up giving it away. But in the few minutes before someone snaps it up, I like leaving them at my desk in case I get chilled.
Nobody really wants my cells, else I would already be in the registry. Hope they find a match!
I’ve started a bunch of different cowls and shawls with a particularly pesky ball of yarn and think perhaps the one you’ve posted might do the trick. Will try!
Saw Annie’s nearly finished Cade sweater today when we met for coffee. Looks really good in the brown tweedy yarn she chose.
I’m in the registry in Canada and therefore available to folks down your way. Did it 20 years ago when you had to give 10 vials of blood just to test! It’s all so much easier now.
If you’re at Maker Faire, you might want to check out Lloyd Kahn’s talk on mini-homesteading on Saturday afternoon. Wish I could go.
My first time actually getting to your blog. Your cowl is just gorgeous! Oh! Wow! You’re quite the professional knitter. And it looks so nice on you.
Going to browse around here. All the best to you.
Finally you doing a Rachael again 😉 This shrug is the only thing I missed on your book (like for the author’s photograph) which I really enjoyed. A knitter’s dream come true!
Love the song and the cowl and the plug for bone-marrow-screening registration. Thanks for all three!
Nice knockers. (Well, SOMEbody had to say it.)
🙂
Love the cowl….yes, it is like a little half sweater…what a great idea and it looks fabulous on you.
I can’t emphasize enough both how important it is to join the registry, and how incredibly EASY it is to get on the registry! Just fill out 1 form, swab the inside of your cheek (that’s right, no blood or needlesticks involved!) and you’re done!
And btw, I agree with MaryB!