Not in Kansas ~

Started spring break by flying to....

Well, not exactly.... but what a great poster!!!!! Perhaps we'll follow Apolo on our next vacation!

Double fun ~

I finished the second hat of Noro and hot pink wool. I like the second one just as much as the first one, and they both look great!


The first one (left) has a rolled brim and the second one (right) has a ribbed edge, and I love the colors of both.


Which one is your favorite?

Red Wings win ~

We don't like the "shoot out" in hockey this year, as the Red Wings have lost a few games after a long struggle and overtime... only to lose in the shoot out. But, tonight we won in overtime...



Very happy, indeed!


Against Vancouver!

Fighting with a vim 2010 ~

Keep on singing that Michigan State Fight Song,
LOUDER!!!!!

as today is the big day of the game!

On the shores of the Red Cedar....

Elite Eight Michigan State ~

Keep singing that great Michigan State Fight Song, as we are in the Elite Eight!!!!!!

See Yesterday's Post for song and words.....

hey, let's sing it together!!!!

On the shores of the Red Cedar....

Michigan State Madness~

Getting ready for the big Sweet Sixteen game today with Michigan State... this is how best to prepare....

Until then, check out the Michigan State Fight Song, better yet, sing along with this amazing 4 year old (I wish I could tell you who he is... what a great singer!),

On the banks of the Red Cedar

Is a school that's known to all;

Its specialty is winning,

And those Spartans play good ball;

Spartan teams are never beaten,

All through the games they fight;

Fight for the only colors, Green and White.

Go right thru' for MSU,

Watch the points keep growing.

Spartan teams are bound to win,

They're fighting with a vim.

RAH! RAH! RAH!

See their team is weakening,

We're going to win this game.

Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight!

Victory for MSU!!!

Sock Hop Score ~

My lucky day! I have scored two skeins of.... (can you tell from the pictures?)



Oh, they are so beautiful...... you could say they are "Pretty"




...as in "Pretty Woman" by Crown Mountain Farms, Sock Hop sock yarn... that I first saw at the Sock Summit.... I do love those sales on Ravelry!

True colors ~

I mentioned to you that my oldest daughter does not think "my" Harry Potter scarf is made of the correct colors. She asked that the scarf I knit for her be the "true colors" as noted by the fan website The Leaky Cauldron so her scarf would be authentic.

So I ordered this Cascade 220 in the proper colors. Shown here, as a cast on and 2 inch start, next to my "done" scarf today.....


Shown here next to my almost done scarf (last week). I think both sets of colors look terrific.....

Beautiful magic ~

After tons of focused knitting, I've finished "my" Harry Potter scarf. It is beautiful and oh-so-soft and I loved knitting with this baby alpaca chunky yarn.

I am so pleased with it! It took me only a week of knit knit knit to finish it!

Tomorrow you can help me compare the "true colors"...

Harry at Starbucks ~

While waiting for my oldest daughter, my youngest daughter and I took a relaxing trip to Starbucks.

I knit on "my" Harry Potter scarf, and she ate a double chocolate cupcake and sipped a coconut smoothie.... great way to relax together! (the pink netting is to keep the long scarf from getting tangled with both skeins of yarn!)

Yarn Yoga chicks ~

They (not sure who "they" are, but they have a lot of influence) sometimes call knitting groups, "Chicks with Sticks" however we call our knitting group meetings, Yarn Yoga. This time, we shared our knitting group with chicks...


but they didn't have sticks - just lots of cute feathers and lots of cheep cheep cheeping!


(aren't they cute!)

March Madness begins ~

News flash..... we interrupt the reporting of the March Yarn Yoga to bring you the results from yesterday's most important game:

Michigan State wins! Click here for last year's reporting and best rendition of the MSU Fight Song!

Hurrah for Tom Izzo's team! Hurrah for Harry Potter knitting!

Yarn Yoga in March ~

We are back together again for Yarn Yoga. This month our projects are very fun and creative, as always! Marion is knitting socks on double points - love this yarn!

Debi cast on a new sweater pattern from our Whidbey Island trip - more lovely yarn here!

Debi's mom is crocheting baby hats for preemies - check out how small this hook is!

Lisa is knitting a beautiful shawl out of Miss Babb's amazing colorways....

Try to tell me that these are the wrong colors for a Harry Potter scarf!!

It is turning out to be great!

New Yarn Store ~

Have you ever checked out the Little Knits website for yarn? They have moved their shop, so we had an adventure at their new place today.


They have great yarn and great prices.

Lisa scored some yummy goodies - Lorna's Laces and some tencel blended purples!

I could be a genius ~

I need to knit a Harry Potter scarf before November. Actually, I think I've told you that I need to knit three Harry Potter scarves before the next movie opening day. I bought great yarn for the first scarf, lovely alpaca, that my daughter says are, "the wrong colors" so I began knitting this one for me.


I cast on for a ribbed scarf, thinking that would hide the yarn carried up the side for the stripes... it looked horrid....ripped it out..... cast on double pointed needles as if it were a hat, so I wouldn't have a right and wrong side....


couldn't get double pointed needles to work for that cast on and first row.... ripped it out......then....after a stroke of genius, I cast on with two circulars like it was a sock!


No wrong side....no showing of the yarn carried up the side, as it is hidden inside...and it is soft and beautiful too....great yarn..... (I know you're thinking,"how smart is that!")

Spring ~

The great signs of spring are here ~ trees in bloom ~

such beauty in the front yard..

Laundry on the line ~

Such beauty in the back yard! This is my view from knitting on our back deck today ~ lovely, indeed, to be knitting outside!

Another one ~

I liked that Noro and hot pink hat so much that I cast on another one immediately. It is looking very different than the first one, as the Noro colors occur at a different part of the hat.

I like this one just as well as the other one. This one started with ribbing, and the other had a rolled edge.

Both are great hats!

Famous Chicks ~

Our girls and chickens were on the radio today - very exciting and very fun!

A great story about raising chickens and saving money for college, and how great these daughters are together!

They are great!

Basket for yarn ~

Did I mention that I also scored on a basket made in Uruguay - woven and beautiful! My sister and I each bought one.


Since it was the last day of Sew Expo, the basket sales were at a big discount as they didn't want to have to package them up to take them home.

Perfect place for my yarn, my spindle, and fiber too!


Lucky me!

Six for Troops ~

I'm sending six helmet liners to the Helmet Liner Project today. Hurrah to Sue that knit two, and to Marion, Debi, Lisa and I that each knit one ~ what a great Yarn Yoga knitting group....

Bravo to us for our charity knitting, and Bravo to the brave troops that will be wearing them.

Interweave is here ~

I'm excited to review the new magazine from Interweave Knits!




I hope to have time this weekend to fill up my cup of coffee and sit outside in this spring weather and read all about new patterns, new yarn and get some new inspiration!!! Hurrah!

Handspun sale ~

We were at the Sew Expo this weekend and I didn't buy any fabric. First time, ever... in the 20 years we've been going.

We took some classes, and even got lucky as "stand by" for a beginning crochet class that was sort of fun to play around with....

There were only a few booths in the entire fairgrounds that had yarn or fiber.. I do wish they would expand with more yarn. Sew Expo is the place I bought my Philosopher's Wool sweater kit several years ago, and learned to "Fair Isle Knit" with two hands from a class with Ann. I did score this handspun yarn for just $5 a skein...not bad for soft wool barber pole...

Help for Sock Summit ~

I mentioned that I've been looking at lots of patterns. On my vacation I found a pattern set that I've heard about through many sources, the first time through one of my favorite podcasts The Knitmore Girls where Gigi knits through almost the entire Little Box of Socks. Since the Box is individual patterns that are "lose" meaning not bound in a book, I couldn't find it at a library to review, or open at a bookstore... it was always sealed....



Imagine my delight when the yarn shop on our vacation had an open copy to review.... and review it, I did.....



and then I bought it.... so now I have lots of pattern help for my remaining Sock Summit yarn... P.S. Not all the yarn pictured is from the Sock Summit....just the majority!

Harry Potter colors ~

The next Harry Potter movie comes out this November (I think) so I am going to knit a few Harry Potter Gryffindor scarves for my kids and myself...

As we always wish we had them during the movie premiere... and we promise that we'll have them by the next movie....

So I get this great yarn on my vacation, so I can start knitting a beautiful scarf to be ready by this fall... as I'm not a fast scarf knitter, as I find them a bit...boring.... except that now Hannah tells me these are the wrong colors.....

What??? They are the same colors as her socks I knit!!!!??? (aren't they?)

Vandals revisited ~

I'm still thinking about new projects... which means I'm looking at lots of patterns...

I saw this book while on our vacation, and it had lots of possibilities, even some Christmas Stockings which always have a special place in my knitting heart....

Perhaps I'll have to try one of these patterns for Vandals socks, and finish them before my kids are done with High School......that should be enough time?

Destiny achieved ~

Sometimes, if your knitting seems to be fighting you, you need to listen very carefully to find out what it is really supposed to be.

As much as I wanted this Noro and hot pink merino to be a gradient shaded scarf, of the Knit One Below or slip stitch variety... it just wouldn't do it...


Tried as I might, changing patterns and changing needles.....

The yarn combination wanted to be a hat..... in the spring, with the daffodils....

and it looks so great that I'm casting on another hat just like it with the leftover yarn!