Suspended Animation & Handmade Soap

I guess this is what suspended animation feels like. I'm still on retreat and feeling like I'm disconnected from everyone and everything. No word when I'm shipping out to my next job. Even my unquenchable knitting obsession is wearing thin. I am proud of the fact I've made a definite dent in my yarn stash and made everything in my studio/craft room more organized and accessible in the 3 1/2 weeks I've been home. But enough is enough.

So far today I managed to finish & pack up the huge red Bohemian afghan I knitted for Whitney (my niece) and her fiance, Brendan, who live in Cranbury, New Jersey. I'm hoping the very red afghan (ironically, the color is called "Cafe Cranberry") will look good in Brendan's apartment which is allegedly RED. I think he likes red because he is Canadian. All of my Kansas relatives seem to like blues and greens (and possibly golds and browns). So being a red-lover scored Brendan a big, cushy afghan. It is nice, if I can brag for a minute. I used 12 skeins of Paton's Bohemian & double stranded it on a size 19 circular. I couldn't bring myself to do it in seed/moss stitch, which would've looked awesome but might've doomed it to UFO (unfinished object) Land. I wussied out and did garter instead. Just hope all those yarn ends don't pop out at the same time later on..

I also made Whitney a rather wide and long scarf out of Moonlight Mohair in shades of brown & golds. No, I have not become a Lion Brand fan (although I will admit to a secret fondness for Wool Ease - chunky in particular). Again, done in a basic garter stitch. I have to admit the combination of fuzzy mohair & glint of metallic gold is pretty attractive in the scarf. I hope Whitney will enjoy wearing it with her camel coat and will throw out the grey alpaca scarf I made her a long time ago when she graduated from Yale.

Also included two scrunchy spa cloths in pale yellow and a wedge of handmade honey soap. Don't know if handmade soap is a big thing in NJ, but maybe they can start a trend. Or inspire them to start a handmade soap business if the economy takes their real jobs.