Internet as my Morning Muse

My morning routine involves exercising my dog. She wakes me for this event, and I know from experience her gentle insistance means I need to respond at once, so, however clad, I take her out, hoping sleepily that the school buses and job holders have already passed by. If the coast is clear, we'll go to the road to retrieve the paper. Then it's coffee and computer time.

I confess I'm on so many e-lists, I have a hard time keeping up. But there is nothing I'd rather do at my day's beginning than reading mail and exploring links. As previously admitted, I'm easily enabled. I share the thrill of discovery of a new pattern, technique, resource, and I am always inspired by the work of others. I spend a lot of time looking at pictures, reading blogs and checking out enticing, fiber related websites. Along with the coffee my wonderful husband makes me every morning, this computer activity really jump starts my creative thinking.

My creative joy is in learning a technique and planning the project. I spend happy a.m. hours virtually selecting just the right colors and textures for a pattern I like. I should mention I do the same thing in my head nights when I can't sleep.
Lately I've been consumed by a vest called Blazing Sleeveless Blazer which I found in the Fall issue of Knitters Magazine. Yarns called for are no longer manufactured, so I've had hours of fun going over possible substitutes. I use Wordpad as my design board, copying color swatches from online offerings.

I feel blessed in so many ways, and one of my major gratitudes, I now realize, is freedom from boredom.

multidirectional scarf embellished

mdscarf2, originally uploaded by Fiberdabbler.

I tried adding coral eyelash on one side of the scarf only and added fringe. I had a turquoise eyelash that also matched, but I opted for the coral in hopes it would add some brightness when I wore it with my dark teal jacket or my purple raincoat. Also experimented with eyelash in the fringe, but it just didn't look right even when I used only a couple of strands. DH disapproves the lash embellishment, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Since it's just a surface stitch, I can remove it easily. You can see the plain version lower down.

There is a hat in Ginger Luter's MD book that I think would go quite well.

zigzagscarf

zigzagscarf, originally uploaded by Fiberdabbler.

I knit this scarf with Cherry Hill's Rustic Silk, 50/50% merino/silk in "Wild Cherry". Made up the unique zigzag design seemed lost, so I reversed crocheted an outline in a contrasting color, Tahki's New Tweed,
which had flecks of color complementing the Wild Cherry. It matches my purple raincoat. Folks will think I'm a Red Hat Lady (in spirit I am). I want to do a hat to match this scarf and will use a pattern from Iris Schreier or design somthing on my own.