I really like the finished look of the Ada Fenick block. Though the breaks in the two cable columns look a little wonky to me, they are "traditional" to Celtic knot designs. What I like most about this block is the clever use of texture patterns underneath the tree of life. There are, two distinct texture patterns which give you this sense of depth that I find really interesting. Kind of like a horizon line.

This block is knit as one large chart, my favorite kind. Some of the symbols are unusual which made the first 13 rows or so a little difficult to read. But after that it was smooth sailing. I liked how the pattern continued to change throughout the entire block. It kept me interested all the way through.

All in all, the Ada Fenic block was thoroughly enjoyable!

These small scraps of yarn are all that remain of the two balls of Cascade 220 (The Heathers color #9414) used to knit a pair of felted slippers for hubby.

I can't believe how close I came to needing more! I really thought it would take 4 skeins to complete the project. What a nice surprise!

As you can see, these haven't been felted down yet.

The pattern is "Felted Kicks!" from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. You can read my original review of the pattern here. Though I used a different yarn I still used it double-stranded. I also knit the largest size to accommodate my man's feet. Only other change I made was the size of the needles. The pattern calls for US #13, circular, but currently my knitpicks options set only goes to US #11. Now, I'm no felting expert, but it doesn't seem to matter much. Maybe it takes a little more time to felt down...I don't know.

I love my pair of kicks, I'm hoping hubby will feel the same about his.

Shamrock by Still Burning

I just finished listening to the St. Patrick's Day episode of Moonlight Stitches and I'm inspired. Anne talked about this site which sells "clan aran sweaters", aran sweater patterns that identify a clan and shows its history. I put this term in quotes for good reason. Though the site appears to have a huge collection of really nice aran sweater designs that claim to come from the Aran Sweater Museum collection, I could find nothing specifically about the museum. That, according to dochara.com, is because the museum is nothing more than a tourist trap. It appears that Alice Starmore is responsible for debunking the the pseudo history of the clan aran sweater.

In any case, finding out that arans aren't the Irish equivalent to the Scottish tartan plaid, which did actually identify your clan, does nothing to mar my enthusiasm at the idea of a clan sweater.

Don't you think it could be lovely to have a family sweater? I do. With Janet Szabo teaching at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year, it is very tempting to consider putting together a sweater design to reflect my history and family.

I'm going to have to think about this some more. I probably also should finish the Great American Aran Afghan of Doom before starting another aran project!

courtesy of Card Catalog Generator at blyberg.net

As a knitting teacher, I often go home from class and send my students emails with internet resources that I hope will help them reinforce the skills we learned in class. I am sure I will be referring students to this site often, which is why I reccomend you add this site to your knitting bookmarks: let me explainKnit.

Sara's blog is subtitled "Sara's blog for explaining knitting things." Her posts are detailed and thoughtful explanations of some of the more confusing and/or difficult knitting techniques, such as double pointed needles, twisted stitches, chart reading, and much more. The site does not include pictures to demonstrate what Sara talks about, but if you are a verbal learner this is a most excellent resource.

"Swatch this!" by swisskiltbear

A new, free, and volunteer resource for knitters has begun: The Walker Treasury Project. The website seeks to create a companion resource to Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries by collecting and displaying new color photographs of all the stitch patterns in her treasury collections.

You've probably heard about this project already when Brenda Dayne talked about it, or maybe at Craftzine, or even Lime and Violet. And I know that. I just couldn't resist an excellent pun! (Get it? Swatch? !!)