Baby Surprise ~

I finished the baby blanket and it looks wonderful!

I love the way it knit up with the happy colors and the ripple pattern.

A perfect knit for the baby and new parents!

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Happy Anniversary ~

Hurrah! 22 years ~ Happy Anniversary ~




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"To Do" list ~

I have a long "To Do" list for knitting, do you?

1) Cast on a hat from my own hand spun yarn


2) get busy on my green sweater...even if it is the slogging part, get busy!!! (Geez, I don't even have a recent picture of my progress - BAD!!!)

3) turn the heels on my alpaca socks that I keep in the car for "waiting" knitting that I don't have to think about (as I DO have to think about heel turns, so my Happy Birthday socks are now in the car)

4) do more spinning of the merino/tussah silk fiber.....


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Look what I found ~

Remember when I mentioned that I was finishing my Whidbey Island scarf, and it seemed to be short....and I thought I would try to block it in such a way that it would be longer and skinny... and I hadn't blocked it yet, when I found this with another current project...

Yup, another ball of this great yarn.....I really thought I'd only bought one skein ~ the last one at the yarn store...but here is another one... so I'll need to undo the cast off, and keep knitting....How crazy is that?

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Special Presentation ~

I didn't knit tonight as we were at sweetie H's special presentation night of reflections.

Her presentation went very well, as she was poised and expressive ~ plus she surprised her uncle by describing him as her person of influence as he helps her with sports and coaching and lots of love and support! Bravo!!
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More Tonka Toy Joy ~

The earth work of our front yard is almost done. The big dump truck is gone, and now the back hoe is all that is moving our dirt around. The big concrete cap is over our septic tank lid ~ lovely, eh?


Here's the view from our second floor.


Here's the view from the street. We will plant fruit trees in the three green bins next year, as we haven't put in irrigation yet for this year's planting... so that will wait until next year...


perhaps we'll plant pumpkins in there this year...wouldn't that be fun!
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Sunday at Starbucks ~

Bonus day today, as sweetie E and I ended up at the Starbucks in our area that is open latter than 6:00 PM. Lucky us, as I was able to knit another wave on the Multnomah Shawl while sitting with sweetie E.


I am making great progress and I think the lace wave is working well, plus I think I have enough yarn...it is taking more that I originally thought. I'm getting excited to finish this shawl so I can see what it looks like when blocked!
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Wavy part ~

The Multnomah Shawl is coming along, and I learned how to do the 'wavy part' while knitting with The JitteryKnitter after the Local Yarn Store tour. We are both knitting this shawl, and if I would have had my camera with me during the tour, I would be able to show you how beautiful her shawl is on size 3 needles with yarn from Miss Babs that she bought at Sock Summit ~ very beautiful, indeed.


Here is the wavy part of mine... it is coming along now....
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Yarn Tour ~

Each year the yarn stores in our area get together for one weekend and host a Local Yarn Store Tour. This year 25 shops came together to sponsor this event.

This the the first year I've been able to go to any of the shops. The JitteryKnitter and I went to four of the 25 shops. We entered all the raffles, and received four free patterns! This one, below, was the best of the four ~ a very beautiful shawl.

The best part of the day was spending it with The JitteryKnitter!
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Library love ~

I love the library. I love our library. We have a library system that shares books from all the area libraries, so we can get many many knitting books and magazines.


There are a few knitting books that we don't have at the library, it seems there are those that only are distributed to yarn stores...

But, in the meantime, I am methodically checking out all of our knitting books, and getting inspired!


I recommend that you check out your local library for inspiration!
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Walk to Library ~

A Monday tradition has become walking to the library as soon as sweetie E comes home from school. We love this chicken that marks the entrance to our City park where the library is located.

We have been having fun as she tells stories and we get our exercise.


And try to figure out what kind of tree this is.... a monkey tree?
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Shawl progress ~

I had to buy larger (now up to size 11) and longer needles (now up to 36 inches) for the Multnomah shawl, as the yarn needed to have more room on the needles.

Also, I've made such progress that the stitches were getting crowded on the others.... I think this should work up to the 229 stitches I'm working up to......Lots of fun here!
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Spinning merino/silk blend ~

I tried spinning my new fiber from Webs, the merino/tussah blend. I'm also using a different drop spindle that we won at the Sock Summit.


So far so good, and yet I can feel that the silk fibers are shorter and softer than the 100% merino I was spinning before.


I have so much to learn....
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Cast on Multnomah ~

When I was visiting my mum, she asked for a shawl that matches the blanket I made her. With a shawl around her shoulders and her blanket on her lap, she would be warm all over.


So I cast on the Multnomah (Ravelry link) that I've heard so much about....with the same alpaca I used for mum's blanket I gave her for Christmas...



It is pretty fun knitting so far~ this is my first shawl....
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Spring is back ~

Walking today with sweetie E, and it appears that spring has come back to our area.

Sweetie and flowers are beautiful!

Let's hope spring turns into summer, and not back into windy and cold rain!
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Holiday bazaar time ~

Although it is just May on the calendar, we are getting ready for the holiday bazaar in November. I've knit a few hats already, plus I did these beading projects today. The first are snowflake necklaces, with the snowflake being a scrabble tile...



These "badge necklaces" are for name tags.... These two are prototypes to test out the badge holder.



I'd hoped to knit today, but didn't......rats......
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No Stanley this year ~

With sadness I report that the Red Wings are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.


No Stanley this year....very sad, indeed....photo courtesy of Photobucket
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Sox on the plane ~

Flying back home gave me some time to work on my alpaca socks. I am at the gusset now, and knit about an inch on the plane during the four hour plane trip.

It has been a long time since I've knit on these....


Why do socks take so long for me, when the podcasters I listen to finish them in days?
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Finished Whidbey Scarf ~

On a road trip across the state, I finished the Whidbey scarf.

It is beautiful, and the yarn was so great to work with.

However, the scarf is short, so I'll have to block it and try to make it longer!
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Mission work ~

We are blessed to have a great church that does great mission work. We raise funds by having a very large rummage sale twice a year. When I say, "very large" I mean that there are rooms of treasures, a room for housewares, a room for sporting goods, a room for shoes, a room for purses, hats and scarves, a room for holiday items.... the workers begin setting up and organizing on Sunday, continue to sort treasures and organize on Monday, and by Tuesday at 5:00 the doors are open to sell to the public. Here are some pictures of our wonderful workers...

Having fun in the jewelry room...

We do have fun, too!

P.S. There is a place in the sale where there are crafting items, and I've found yarn and needles before... however this sale I only found one new ball of Rowan Tweed...for 25 cents....not bad, I guess!
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15th Birthday ~

Happy Birthday to you, sweetie ~


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Trying new fiber ~

If you've not tried WEBS for yarn and fiber, I recommend that you do. Look what arrived from that special place. One is merino......

One is merino and silk.......

So I can get more practice spinning.....
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Spinning help ~

I first reviewed this book from our library. There were so many "holds" on it that I had to return it before I could really study plying.

Lucky for me, I found a great deal on this book on Amazon, so I decided it was worth the investment. I'll let you know if it turns out to be a good investment!

Thursday not knitting ~

On Thursday nights when I'm not knitting, I'm with these great people. These people work and volunteer to make their community a better place, and we are all better for their efforts.

Hurrah for all the community volunteers!

Hurrah for all those that work so hard and give their time for their community!

Hurrah for 10+ years as a volunteer!

Hurrah for being blessed with such a great job!

Summer early ~

Ahhhhh, look what showed up in my mailbox today!

Hmmmmm, time to relax and think creative thoughts....Hurrah!

Sawyer's still lucky ~

Remember Sawyer of the "very lucky" fame of this and this and this?

Yup, he's still lucky as his sweetie Grandma M knit this darling monkey sweater for him.

What a lucky guy!!!