I think I'm back.

Benji Yarn!

It's been a busy summer, what with visiting family in MN, have 2 separate grandchild visits, attempting to run a little business. OK, my attempts at that business were pretty minuscule, but hey, it was very hot, I had to catch up on life after grands' visits, and that's my story.

Friday was The Kid's last day of his visit, and the Hubbo had to go to work, so we hung out all day. I did the never-ending laundry, baked some bread, and finally did some good dyeing. He played endless games on the computer, watched tons of TV, and never did get dressed. In short, it was a wonderful day to hang out.

I dyed up some Benji yarn. Benji is skinny fingering weight yarn, 100% SW merino with over 470 yards of yarny goodness. It looks fluffy and fat. NOT! It's rather skinny, even skinnier than Penny yarn, but when it's all dyed up in the skein, it looks big and poofy. The minute you start knitting with it, it gets back to where it lives as a 3-ply fingering yarn. The yardage gives it a lot of yarn for the buck and it's perfect for shawlettes, scarves, and even socks. There's no nylon in it, so if you destroy your socks, this is not the yarn to use.

So here are some of the yarns I did. More either tomorrow or Wed.

Dream Garden and Deep Spice:




Lazy Day and Got the Blues:




Soft Cranberry:


You want before I post on Etsy? email me at fritzl234 AT yahoo DOT com.

Don't forget to sign up for the Magic Carpet Ride Sock Club. YarnYenta and I are doing a club again. All info is here: http://pennyrosesockclub.blogspot.com

And the end of September is the end of the Tikvah Shawl donation program. You buy the pattern, I donate all profit to NAMI!

Sharon - The first one is based on an embroidery floss thread that I own. The second one has lots going on, but then I overdyed it all with that wonderful reddish brown that I love, and all those colors kind of came together.

Tikvah means Hope!

Tikvah Shawl

Here she is, Tikvah Shawl! A charming shawlette knit top down in three triangles with a knitted-on border. Drapey, elegant, and very very pretty. Plus, she's not very difficult to knit. Thanks to Barbara, my test-knitter, for all her hard work.

Here's the best part of this project: all profits will go to the Minnesota chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Why NAMI? The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children with mental illness and their families. NAMI Minnesota offers education, support and advocacy, and vigorously promotes the development of community mental health programs and services, improved access to services, increased opportunities for recovery, reduced stigma and discrimination, and increased public understanding of mental illness. There are NAMI branches all over the country, and the work they do is amazing.

"Tikvah" means "hope", and my hope is that you will buy the pattern and enjoy knitting it. And then I shall donate my profits which are about 80% of the cost of the pattern, to this most-worthwhile organization. And I'll keep you posted on how we are doing with it.

Daisymum - Sure, I'd be glad to help you. The pattern looks far more difficult than it is. The nice thing about it is that all the triangles are alike except for the 2 garter stitched edges at the beginning and end. My test knitter is not very experienced with lace, and she did just fine all on her own. I was pretty impressed with her!