It's still May

Dear Oogy,
I'm finding May to be a much better month than the extended April that finally made an exit.  I finished a scarf:

I'm calling it Organic Sugar Scarf.  The weft is organic cotton and the blue in the warp is yarn made with sugar cane.  I used hemstitching to secure the open warp areas.  I like hemstitching very much.
I also, with the help of Mr. Neuro, set up some shelves so that Brownie could observe his territory from on top of the book shelf in my home office/fiber room.

Unfortunately, he has also taken this gesture as an invitation to fling yarn from the cubbies below.

And I have also made progress on the project for May: knitting backwards!

The stitch marker that you can see just before the twist is where I began knitting backwards.  It is not difficult and is great for doing entrelac.  I'm working on a post that has a heavy dose of neuroscience, with a focus on how our plan to do something new each month this year is giving our prefrontal cortices a work-out.  Go PFC!
Love,
Neuro
PS.  How are we going to choose which UFO to tackle for June?  I have SO MANY.

April's Extension

Dear Oogy,
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that April should have at least 45 days, not the usual 30.  April is the busiest month in our academic year, with year-long projects coming to fruition and students in a frenzy to both finish their degrees and get jobs.  Someone at work last week was joking that April seems to have been extended this year, and they didn't even know about how our Thing a Month plan is evolving into a Thing a Month and a Half.  While I am excited to tackle May's backward knitting in entrelac, it might be another few weeks before I have the energy to do it!

I guess another way to view our scheme is to say that we will BEGIN a new thing each month, with the idea that if it's fun, we'll keep doing it all year.  This is the approach I am taking to textured weaving.  I finished the place mats:

I liked the hemstitching so much that I used it again in a scarf.  When I used it in the place mats I did not understand how the hemstitching would secure the border--I now know that it can take the place of tying off the ends, but it is necessary to leave enough fringe so that the whole thing doesn't unravel.  Another texture element in the scarf is the intermittent placement of unwoven warp.  I thought there was some chance that the weaving was tight enough that the warp threads would remain open, but as soon as it came off the loom the weft crept in.

So, I did a little after-loom hemstitching, and now it looks great!

I suppose now I should expand my repertoire beyond the hemstitch...
Love,
Neuro