Spring Cast On!

I thought I should celebrate spring with a cast on of some favorite yarn, Natural Dye Studio...now discontinued...of course....

First Daffodil of 2016!

First Daffodil before Valentine's Day!  How beautiful!!! 

Spring is here ~

I think that spring is finally here, as the grass is growing and the trees are budding out. The yarn in the shops are light and airy, and our knitting dreams are filled with Shibui Cloud scarves and linen blend cowls.

What to cast on first, as we need to be aware that if we cast on now we need to knit fast enough to be able to wear these spring and summer items before the autumn weather returns our knitting dreams to wool and alpaca blends.

Chicks on the move ~

We added eight lovely chicks to our farm menagerie this spring. So cute and small when we brought them home and put them in their little wagon in the garage. With their heat lamp and straw, they grow to be a bit bigger there until we can move then into their chick condo next to the chicken coup.

The chick condo boasts of shared water facilities with the hens, so they can meet and greet over drinks. They can visit but not go into the other area yet, but just a bit of acclimation for the older hens and the wee chicks.

We had a lovely day this weekend to move the chicks into their condo, and they seem to be getting along with the hens.  The hens are curious about the wee ones, and the wee ones are still running around with boundless energy...Spring is here!

Easter Crepes ~

One of my many blessings is a man that can cook. For Easter morning, he fixed us these amazing strawberry crepes with real whipped cream topping. (look how happy she is!)

They were amazing.  They were so amazing that we thought about not having Easter dinner, and just having more strawberry crepes....(except our neighbor is allergic to strawberries, and since their family was invited for Easter Dinner, we thought that might be bad manners....)

Here is our chef and my plate of yummy crepes!  Major Yum!!!

Pagewood Farm Spring Yarn ~

I am happily amazed at how spring-like this yarn has turned out! Hurrah for Spring Colors!  Here in our region, it snowed two days after the First Day of Spring, and I know that many areas of the country still have a lot of snow...so many of us knitters and spinners are going for spring colors and hoping that spring will be here soon!

Here are two pictures of the skein in the sunshine. I think the picture on top looks more like the "real" skein, as there is a lot of pink in the lower picture, and that is not the case - although I love the look of both pictures!

I think the colors blended well and just a few spots where there was a bit of thick and thin spinning.  I am improving each spin and ply that I do.

Hurrah for another 179 yards of spring yarn! Hurrah!! Now I will have to search Ravelry for something great that takes 170 yards! (I put in the plyed bobbin picture too, as I think it looks darker on the bobbin, isn't that interesting?!)

Track begins ~

I would show you pictures of the first track meet on Thursday, but it was snowing....yes, snow and also hail and sleet, plus some regular rain.  I can tell you that the kids had goosebumps in their tank tops and shorts, yet were still super fast. 

 

These are pictures from Saturday's meet. A big invitational with lots of schools and tons of kids. Very exciting!

Much warmer, and the kids were also super fast.  Plus no goosebumps in their tank tops and shorts. Very excited that track has officially started. Spring much be coming soon, right?

Ahhhhh, Cashmere ~

This cashmere yarn is really soft. Really. Plus it is feather light, and I have to be careful as I pull it out of the wound ball, as it is ever so fragile as a 2-ply. So soft, and the colors are so soothing for me, especially as we are getting such a teaser for spring...daffodils are out (and getting poured on by the rain right now) and are the happiest of yellow in our yard!

This scarf is the happiest of pastels, outside on our deck, right before the rain started! Gotta love this cashmere!

Earth Day Yarn Yoga ~

I was very glad that we had planned an Earth Day Yarn Yoga last month, as I knew I would be able to knit something other than the mystery squares for the afghan because the squares were all due at church that morning. There was an extra spring in my step walking through the courtyard at church, through the spring trees to the sanctuary entrance, as I knew I had sock knitting in the car, waiting for Yarn Yoga....As one of my church friends greeted me at the door with, "Welcome" she also said, "Hey, I have my squares for you!" and reached into her bag and pulled out a zip-lock bag with lots of yarn...but I didn't see any squares.... She said, "I started one,but didn't really like knitting them, so you can finish them and just give me back my needles when you're done...."  Remembering that I'm at church, I knew that there must be a lesson here, so I said, "Sure, I can finish the square for you, and return your needles"  and she smiled and replied, "Oh, there are three squares in the bag"  No sock knitting for me on Earth Day.....just more squares that will never end...

Thankfully I have wonderful friends to share the square nightmare with.... and we had a lot of fun at our Yarn Yoga... Lisa knitting on a shawl, Marion knitting  bunny slippers, Debi knitting a shawl, Kathy finishing two scarves and Patti knitting a lovely brown scarf..... and I was knitting garter stitch squares....

Happy Easter ~

A happy and blessing filled Easter to all of you!  Here are the girls in front of our lovely tree at church. A perfect day and a perfect celebration!

 

Sunshine and blue sky too!

Socks in the Sun ~

Saturday was such a lovely day - full of sunshine and blue sky and all of us in the northwest were gawking at the sky as if we had never seen blue sky.  Spring in the northwest is like that....The best of all things added to this blue sky is track practice! So there I am, sitting in the sun and knitting on socks while my 13 year old is running hills for track practice. How lucky am I?

  

Very lucky, indeed.  In fact, I was feeling so great about the sunshine and blue sky, and finally being able to knit this week... that I decided to live on the edge and NOT knit those squares while in the sunshine, and just knit on these sweet socks for my 16 year old....

  

so I did... and felt deliciously naughty for not knitting those squares, and knitting for family..... that really isn't a bad thing, is it????

Clapotis Spring ~

As I've been looking out our window, and seeing our spring flowers being dashed by our rain, I wonder when I'll finally be able to take some pictures. Today is the day....
Here is Clapotis with Pink Friend and Trilliums.

Clapotis with daffodils.....ah, perhaps spring may be here to stay?

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!
~~~~

Rookie yarn ~

Wow... it does look like yarn....there are parts of the skein that are even consistently plyed.

There are lots of parts that are thick and thin....

I do love the yellow blending of colors... and the yarn is very soft merino ~ although I found out at the spinning guild that merino is not the best to begin spinning with, but it was so soft that I couldn't resist the roving....


This is my first yarn from my spinning. I'm happy with the experience, and have learned a lot. Plying still mystifies me, so I'll need to try that again....

Wow - real yarn.... I made real yarn....

Hurrah!!!!

Trillium and Whidbey ~

Another beautiful day to knit outside. Our trillium are in bloom in the back yard, so I was inspired to knit on my Whidbey Island scarf in Manos silk/merino.

If this yarn was in worsted weight, I would certainly knit an entire sweater as it had beautiful short color changes and knits oh-so-soft.

I love how this scarf looks, however it is taking a long time on these small needles....I need to learn to knit faster....

Tea with Sedona ~

We are having a beautiful spring day, so I'm outside on our back deck, knitting my Sedona scarf. I'm thinking of our wonderful vacation and those beautiful Red Rocks.

I'm relaxing having tea with my spring Starbucks' mugs ~ they look like Easter eggs to me, all of my favorite colors of mint green and pastel pink and blue.

Perhaps spring is really here....let's hope so!

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!

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!

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!

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!