What's on your needles right now?

I'm making a scarf using Light and Lofty in Sage Green. The texture speaks for itself, so I'm just using a simple garter stitch.
It's a sensual treat to work with this yarn .. so soft and soothing. I believe Lynn would call this "fiber therapy."
Rose

I feel compelled to say first that I finished a sweater for Louisa today. I finished knitting it on the 30th and I am counting it toward 2004 rather than 2005. (I don't have an actual total; I'm going to keep track this year.) It turned out pretty cute, though if I were to make it again I'd use smaller needles. I used 9s and Encore is really better suited for 7s.

Yesterday I did the calculations and cast on a yoke sweater for Josie in some vintage orange wool from the 70s that I'll be doing some contrast pattern work in some handspun; the handspun is reds, oranges, golds and pinks. I'm going to use a mosaic pattern that makes little dancing people around the yoke.

I'm also plotting out what yarns to use for a version of this tea cozy. I don't have Kureyon; I'm going to use up a motley collection of bits of light bulky handspun.

I also have plans to make a new pi shawl out of three natural colors of Romney I'm spinning in the grease--white, gray and dark gray/near black. I'm finding I really like wearing shawls pinned behind my back to make a sort of shrug and I have only one big pi shawl that's getting a bit ratty. I keep finding Josie draped in it dragging it across the floor.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

Those of you in the Portland area, I need two more students for my Your Sweater Your Way class which starts 1/11/05 (next Tuesday). We'll be knitting a yoke sweater like the one I'm making Josie (sans little dancing people)--except you can choose any yarn, any gauge and any size. We just need two measurements, the length from hem to shoulder and the widest chest measurement. We're calculating out the pattern as we go. Once you've done it you'll be able to make a yoke sweater for anyone in any yarn--it's really easy, I promise!

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

Hello, I am new here and teaching myself to knit. Right now I am knitting a kitty blanket on size 10 needles with left over yarn from a crochet project. Next off I will be learning to cable, again kitty blankets. I find that I am less intimidated with Kitty blankets because they don't really care if the stitches aren't even and the local humane society gets the benefit of the blankets. They send one home with every kitty adopted.

There's a fine line between hobby and obsession. I had a running start, and I hurdled that line like an Olympian.

When St. Martha of Nutley strolled out of prison on March 4th, I was captivated by the poncho she wore. I did a google search but couldn't find any poncho patterns which replicated the poncho.

A few days later, my sweet husband returned from a one year assignment in South Korea, and the poncho was forgotten.
Last week, while cleaning out the junk mail folder of my hotmail account, I spied an email from the Mary Maxim company announcing the arrival of the Martha poncho kit. It appears that I was not the only one obsessed intrigued by this new garment. Mary Maxim was deluged by requests for the pattern. So, too, was Lion Brand yarn.

Off to market I traipsed for four skeins of Lion Brand Homespun and a 9 mm crochet hook. A few hours of obsessive crafting later, and voila! I was part of the leading edge of a cultural phenomenon. Yes, I've already started to make another poncho. Stop looking at me like that.

Photographic evidence of my poncho obsession can be seen on my blog.

The "Martha Poncho" only looks complicated. Basically, it's a big granny square, with only 2 corners instead of four.
I'm working on my 3rd right now. This one is for my mother-in-law. No, really, I swear it is!!
Rose

...That I started in college, far too many years ago. I did put it down for a while to make two scarves. It's in a denim blue wool and it seems to be going in fits and starts. This is the first sweater I've attempted--it was supposed to be a challenge, and it has been! Maybe one of these years I'll actually finish it.