It’s Heart, from the Winter 2008 Knitty. That’s my handspun Coopworth from ages and ages ago, recently dyed with cherry Kool-Aid a summer or two ago.

Heart, from the Winter 2008 Knitty

It’s either K’s or School Girl’s Valentine’s Day present. He laughed like hell when he saw it, because it doesn’t look like a heart exactly. But it was quick and easy, and it’s done.

My present, on the other hand, may possibly arrive on Friday. Maybe.

I’m still working away on a few things: my Cathedral socks and Margaret. Plus I’m casting on for these during the final/long program of the pairs figure skating tonight. If I feel like it – go Team Angstylvania!

For example, I had to improvise the black yarn for the bag. As I mentioned in the first post, I had to dye dark gray wool instead of using black. The woman at the store and I guessed at the amount of yarn I’d need. To be really blunt, I guessed wrong.

I did luck out and happen to have at least 2 skeins of black worsted (you know, like the pattern calls for) and am working with 2 strands held together. Not my favorite thing to do, but it’s working.

Now I need to figure out how to do the design I had in mind. Right now I’m not sure whether to make it a part of the flap or part of an outside pocket, which would be partially covered by the flap.

• Realize that you really, really need a carry-on bag to properly take advantage of your Xmas present.
• Realize that you really really cannot afford one now.
• Come up with an insane plan to make one yourself.
• Set out on the Epic Voyage to your favorite yarn store.
• Wait patiently in the parking lot until it opens.
• Find out that, sadly, they don’t have nearly enough black yarn to complete the project. But the owner has an idea…
• Come out of the store with 3 skeins of dark gray yarn, 1 skein of variegated scarlet, and 3 packs of dye. Head home.
• Soak yarn in warm water and dish soap. Eat lunch.
• Finish lunch, discourage dog from eating the table and chairs, and dissolve dye packs into boiling water.
• Fill up rest of pot with cool water, put in skeins of yarn, fire up the stove hood and open the door to the garage, turn up the stove very slightly, and wait.
• And wait.
• And wait some more.

And well, that’s where we are right now. I’m hoping that the dye will exhaust someday; and when that someday happens, I can rinse it and hang it up to dry. Then I can get started on this.

I’ve been working on some knitting. Our library recently got Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines, and I’ve started my version of Margaret. Here’s one piece I can show you, the back:

That's what a heavily curled back looks like

I also have one of the front sections completed. I did have both front sections done, but apparently my brain took a teensy vacation while doing the left front and I must now redo that one. Knitting tip for you: when using needles that look almost the same size, it always pays to check a second time before you start in. It also helps if you’re reasonably sober when you’re working…

I went and treated myself to some more sock yarn this week as well. Ray at Knitivity had a lovely color for the April “Surprise Me” club: Spanish Shawl.

So pretty, I'm almost afraid to knit it up

I also started a little crocheted piece this past weekend. No pictures yet, not till it’s finished.

What else? Other than the horrific trip to the zoo (I’m thinking of how to make it up to School Girl and her best bud/trip partner) and yet another round of the icks, there hasn’t been much worth mentioning. I’m still wrestling with whether or not to write about our placement day – hey, it’s only been a month ago – and some other adoption-related things have come up, but those are something best left for another day.

First, today’s the official celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in the US. Here’s the full version of his most famous speech:

And here’s a link to 10 other, less well-known but arguably more enlightening and uplifting, quotations from Dr. King, courtesy of The Bilerico Project. They’re all great, but my personal favorite is #10.

Today, January 19, is the 200th birthday of short-story writer, poet, and drunken opium junkie Edgar Allan Poe. I can say that, by the way, because I am a fan. A fan in huge capital letters, lit up by 1000 LEDs.

My introduction to Poe happened at a Halloween party at school. Our 4th-grade teacher thought it would be a great idea to have us listen to a scary story. The story he chose? “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

Just like “Dark Shadows” did several years before, it gave me nightmares. It also got me hooked on Poe, and introduced me to the short story “The Gold Bug”; still one of my favorites, and it was a real thrill to see Sullivan’s Island in person many years afterward.

I’ll also be working on something for myself today. Here’s a hint. Not sure if it’ll be finished…