A is For...

This year I am going to participate in the 2008 ABC Along being hosted by Knitorious. The basic idea is: "Members in this year-long group -- knitters, spinners, fiberists -- post a photo to their blog and/or the Flickr group every two weeks to correspond with a letter of the alphabet. Photos can be related to fiber, but do not have to be; they should reflect the personality of the photographer, and something of importance or meaning to them.
Post at least one photo in each 2-week period to match the corresponding letter of the alphabet. There are 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters of the alphabet, allowing two weeks per letter (Weeks 1&2=A, Weeks 2&3=B). Example: "A" is for... Alaska, asparagus, alpaca, astronomy, aperture... Whatever you choose, it should have some meaning for you."

So I proudly introduce my first photo, Anna Adorned with Alpaca. Yes, Daughter does have an actual name and coincidentally it starts with the first letter of the alphabet. She may drive my nuts sometimes, but she is wonderful company and a pretty good person. (Although she did come out into the living room this morning, crawl in my lap, look up at me with her big hazel eyes and tell me, "Mom, your face is oily, and I know something that could get rid of stubborn age spots.")

Although you can't see it in the photo very well it's the Glitter Alpaca Stole. The pattern and yarn are both from Cherry Tree Hill though I think their Glitterspun Alpaca has been discontinued.

This stole started life several years ago when a friend took me to a ladies retreat in Wisconsin. As we were driving down this 2 lane road in the middle of nowhere I saw a sign for a beauty salon/yarn shop/something else that I can't remember but may have been crafts or furniture. Friend and her mother asked if I'd like to stop (like I'd say no) so we went in and looked around. The kit for the stole must have jumped into my basket when I wasn't looking. I wound the yarn into balls during the retreat and started it in the car on the way home. I struggled with it a bit until I decided that it would be a lot easier if I charted the design out instead of trying to go with their line by line instructions. Once I did that the thing flew off the needles. I think it's one of my best pieces of work, although I can show you exactly where the mistake in the first repeat is.