Lollipop Silk ~

There is a story about this lovely fiber.  It came into my possession as the "lollipop" after a doctor's appointment. Remember, as a kid, when your folks promised you a lollipop if you made it through a difficult doctor's appointment in a brave way? Well, this doctor of mine happens to have his office very near my favorite yarn store...so when I learned that I had to have a less-than-appealing-procedure last Friday, I put my Christmas gift certificate into my bag as that reward "lollipop" if I was brave during this appointment. I did this once before, and it worked out then as a great reward, and made me think of the yarn shop visit instead of worrying about the doctor visit....

I was very brave, and didn't cry or freak out or faint....just did a lot of breathing deeply....and was fine at the end...  So my reward was the yarn store, and I looked around to find just the right reward....and saw this lovely 50/50 merino silk in these dashing colors of teal and green and red....

 

and that was all I needed to see to know this was my reward.  I've never spun 50/50 silk before, so I was a little nervous when I started spinning this afternoon... hopefully I'll have some pictures of my singles soon....

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????

Fifteen more squares ~

I told you about the Mystery Afghan... we are knitting this as an auction item to raise funds for the kids' church mission trip.  I'm sure I told you about this, right? There are over 270 little squares to knit, and then assemble, and the squares make a lovely picture once they are all together. 

 

Well, I knit the first 10 and thought that would be all that was needed from me until it was time to put them all together.  However....not the case... last Sunday I received another fifteen squares to knit...and I think I've powered through four of them already..... 

 

This is what worries me...with this square knitting that I'm doing now, and the acrylic knitting I was knitting for the trees, will I forget how to knit "real" knitting like socks and scarves and shawls and sweaters and hats????  I would really like to get back to my knitting, soon!!!!

More Plyed Yarn ~

Here are the plyed yarns from this week. On your left is the Lorna's Laces superwash rainbow, and on your right is the lovely Party Time Pot Luck roving. They are both lovely and bright and cheery.  You may be able to tell from the photo that both are Navajo plyed, and yet the Party Time has come out to a finer/smaller size as my singles are thinner with more practice.

There is only 58 yards of Lorna's Laces, with no fiber left, and about 60 yards of the Party Time, and I do have some fiber left, plus another bobbin to ply....

 I have about 30 yards of this Lorna's Laces in a two ply from my drop spindle days, but not sure I could use the two ply with the Navajo ply.... might look a bit odd and lopsided unless I was very very clever!!

Spring hike ~

Today is Monday, and officially starts the "no school" of Spring Break for our kids.  Today was also my day off, so it almost seemed like all of us were on vacation. How lucky that the sunshine came out today, and it felt like spring.  After a morning run, and then shooting hoops with my 13 year old, then we all decided to walk to the newest park in our neighborhood.  

 

We walked on the Big Rock trail and found this rock at the end of the trail.  Yes, it is a very big rock, so the girls had to climb up for pictures.  There was also a meadow trail, a wetland trail and a picnic table... a beautiful park for our neighborhood!!

After our walk, there were more hoops to shoot and lay-ups to make, and we had a blast outside!  I hope spring is really here!

Party Time Ply ~

I finally was able to do some plying today. After spinning for a half hour, I decided to ply some of the lovely Party Time Pot Luck roving to see if the colors would stay bright and cheerful, or if they would blend into muddy mud... and I think they stayed bright and cheery!  

 

I thought about making a two ply, but since I've been having such fun with Navajo plying, I decided to try to get that delightful "jitterbug twist" in the ply once again. 

 I love that part of the Navajo ply the best, that really tight twist that we love in Jitterbug yarn and Koigu yarns..... love that twist!! I love these colors!!!