I can print!!

My new printer arrived today. I've been printerless since my daughter yanked a paper out of the old workhorse, an HP Laserjet 4+. I LOVED that printer. Apparently when she "encouraged" the paper to come out faster it broke a gear, which then fell into the fuser to the cost of $166 for repairs. Since the printer was $200 to begin with four years ago, and they're going for $40 in working condition, we decided to retire it.

My new printer is a Samsung ML-2010, and it's small enough to actually sit on my desk. Not that my desk is small, 'cause it isn't. It's just that 1.) it's usually covered, and 2.) the old one was huge, and there was no way it would've fit on my desk. Well, it would've fit, but nothing else would have.

I'll never own another inkjet again after all the trouble I had with my Epson and the inks drying out constantly. If I need color printing, it's faster and easier to send it to the Wally World photo lab.

On to the knitting content!

One of the projects coming up is the Rose of England KAL (from the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting by Kinzel), and here's my yarn:


It's a gorgeous, 2,500-yard hank of yarn from my internet friend Elizabeth. Thank you, Elizabeth!! It's going to be absolutely perfect for that ROE shawl. The official start date is Sept 9 and I'm not letting myself swatch until all my fair stuff is done. We'll see how well I stick to that!

Also on the needles is a dishcloth from the Mason Dixon knitting book, although I'd saved the pattern from this website before the book came out.

I wasn't too excited about it until I saw them done in a variegated yarn and a solid yarn, and I was totally intrigued by the color changes. I'm really enjoying both of them, but after the second one I'll be done for a while. I'd forgotten how hard 100% cotton is on my hands, especially if I neglect to select the right needle size. These will probably be Christmas gifts for someone who raved about cotton hand-knit dishcloths a few years ago. They won't coordinate with her kitchen, but who says they have to? I like that they're happy and bright.

And in my Crafting-ADD world, I also had to try the Shadow Knitting technique. It's been calling to me for quite a while and I finally had to give in and just do something small to make sure I had the concept. Voila, a small hot pad:

What? You can't see the design? Oh, let me turn it a little:

Yeah, I know I'm a nerd. I'm eyeballing the kimono (scroll down on this page) from the Shadow Knitting book in a big way.

There. Now you're all caught up with me and my life. ;-)