Onions!

Last night I sewed on the buttons of this sweater I made, nearly a year ago, for this little guy:
Spencer and Grandma Laurel. The sweater has been knit and waiting for Spencer's dad and mom to let me know where they were living or come to our house. Well today was the day that Spencer got his sweater. The good part: it will still fit him! Dad and Mom made it to our house to participate in a b-i-g family dinner. It was quite a fun afternoon, but I'm glad that stress is over.

After people left this afternoon, I went into the backyard to see how the tulip and daffodils were coming along. I was surprised to see that I have some volunteer onions coming up from last years planting. Granted the garden, what there is of it, is next to the cement of the foundation of the garage so gets quite warm. There are weeds and grass growing in my garden spot as well, but for the next day or two they will be ignored. In the front yard I still have some snow. It is still where there is not much in the way of sunlight and it melts a little each day as it gets warmer, or if I rake/shovel the snow out into the sunlight.

I gave four of my house plants away this evening. I sent them home to live with A-g and her husband, G. G likes plants and will take care of them very well, as long as A-g doesn't touch them, so he says. I know ES will be glad to know I don't have to move quite so many plants.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Felted Roving Rescue

Since I finished spinning the Sheep Shed Studio fiber, I have been busy spinning the Targhee I dyed at the dye workshop last August. The fiber was really felted, so I:

Pre-drafted,








Carded on the hand-cards,





And then have been spinning on the Hitchiker. I am attempting to use or spin all my little stashes of fiber and this is only about two ounces. I think it is turning out ok and with the carding it is a more uniform color of blue. I don't know what I'll do with it, but isn't that half the fun.

Hopefully more will be accomplished this weekend. Happy knitting & spinning

One Fiber Batt Almost Done.

I have been spending some time spinning. I have spun five and a half bobbins of this fiber from the Sheep Shed Studio. I have plied two bobbins and I like how it is turning out. I only have about half a bobbin left to spin and then I will show pictures of the plied skein.

Tomorrow is Au's birthday. I have to work late, so I did the birthday shopping today and will take the card and present over to their house on my lunch hour tomorrow. It is really different to buy a birthday gift for a daughter-in-law. I don't know her tastes too well and I think I remember what it was like at her age, but then again I'm not sure. I hope she will like what we got her. It has been quite fun to add her to our family and I have enjoyed getting to know her, even if I may get her tastes wrong. E and Au invited me to dinner on Sunday night. That was fun. Au made a really good chicken dish with rice and peas. It was really nice to not have to go home and cook. And the boys didn't want to go over, so it was just three of us.

I have a couple of quick knitting projects. ES's niece, Michelle, asked if I would make her a hat. I told her that if she would get me the yarn I would make one for her. She went right down and bought yarn before I could leave ES's dad and step-mom's place. She bought two skeins of Lion Brand Chenille which is working up very quickly and has pretty good yardage. She will be here on Sunday, and I think I will actually have three hats for her. Because of other commitments, we'll see how fast I knit in the next day and a half.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Back to "Normal"

There has been a lot of commotion at the house this past week. ES flew back to DC yesterday, M went to her mom's in SLC and A-b went back to his mom's house Saturday. My house is back to the temporary "normal". We will have lots of company this weekend also, so the house has to be cleaned and meals prepared.

I have decided I have to take time to spin. Yesterday, I had such tight knots in my back that I couldn't get rid of them at all. I need my meditative spinning to help keep those knots at bay. I wasn't able to spin at all this past week and that's not going to happen again, if I can help it.

As you have probably figured out by now, I like flowers. This picture is from the botanical gardens in DC. There were so many orchids! I really enjoyed myself there. I think I could spend days in there by myself. I thought about getting an orchid to add to my plant collection, but am afraid that it wouldn't fair too well. I'll just keep looking at them and drool.

Not much is getting done in the knitting field. I did make a hat for ES's niece, but bound it off too tight, so have to take that out to re-do. I am still looking for the pattern for the silk/scarf challenge for the guild. I'll find the perfect one soon I hope, because my fiber is just about all plied and I'm ready to knit with it to see how it will turn out.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Friday Picture

I wanted to share my favorite picture taken a week ago yesterday. This picture was taken at the Manassas (Bull Run) battlefield when the boys and I visited it last week. This day was cloudy and slightly drizzly, but a fun day none the less. I was surprised at how much interest the boys had in the Civil War battlefields (the two) we visited. R took off and was wandering around before C and I were even ready to get out of the car.

Happy knitting & spinning.

M is Home from Bolivia

M came home from Bolivia yesterday. It is good to have her home, if even for just a little while. We had quite a few people over to welcome her home and have pizza and hear the stories she has to tell. It was fun. She brought lots of things home from Bolivia. I will get pictures of the Nativity she bought for her dad and post them, soon.

This is the shawl I made for M at Christmas time. I was afraid she wouldn't get it, so I didn't mail it. I blocked it on Monday night and I think it turned out pretty good. I think she liked it, but we'll see how often she uses it. She bought two ponchos in Bolivia which she says she wears frequently, so it might not be too hard to switch to a shawl.

I have been working on socks. I know I have completed three pairs since the first of the year, more than I have ever done in any one year since getting back into knitting many years ago. I have a number of pairs I would like to get done, they are on the list. It's just a matter of completing some other projects so I don't feel guilty working on the socks.

Happy knitting & spinning.

New Sock Yarn

I thought I would let you know, we are home and almost back into our routine. Look what greeted us in the sun-room when we got home on Sunday. The amaryllis has two full open blooms and one bud yet to open. ES says its about on time. The last time the amaryllis bloomed, we had our house fire. That was one year ago today! Hard to believe that much time has gone past already.



I have to show what I picked up from one of the two yarn stores I visited in the DC area. At the first shop, in Chantilly, I picked up some yarn for baby booties and buttons for my button-up socks. I didn't have the socks with me, but the buttons match really, really well. At the second shop, in Manassas, I picked up some of Berroco's new yarn, Custom Sock. I got two different colors: gray and a brown/gray variegated. The mix is 50% super fine nylon and 50% super fine acrylic. Custom Sock is very soft and I think I can get some socks for the men in the family without any complaints of itchiness. The two skeins on the right are Plymouth Yarn company's new "Happy Feet" in color #2. It is 90% superwash Merino wool and 10% nylon. There are 192 yards per skein, so I might have some left over after making a pair of socks. I'm kind of anxious to try the Happy Feet, but it will have to wait until after the silk challenge is completed.

Happy knitting & spinning.