Yarn Hop and Birthday lunch

One of the nicest treats I can think of is taking a good friend to a birthday lunch and then browsing through not one, but TWO yarn shops. Sunday found my friend Ellen and I eating at a lovely restaurant (translates to having a menu and not ordering by a number) then traveling to two wonderful yarn shops. The first shop was Amazing Threads, http://www.amazing-threads.com/home.htm where the store was packed with so many yummy yarns it was almost too hard to pick something out. Almost....I found a great lace weight, from Mountain Colors Yarns, the picture below does not do it justice...the colors are more vibrant and deep. It is truly beautiful and once the Christmas rush is done I will plot and plan what I'm going to make with it that is deserving of such beauty. http://www.mountaincolors.com/index.html

This is Winter Lace from Mountain Colors. The colors are deep purples, blues and a bit of a rusty orange, it is called Marias Falls, 50% Wool and 50% Silk....1200 yards of lace.

Amazing Threads was filled with knitters. The first conversation overhead was someone "lusting" after some sock yarn. We all laughed as we agreed it was a common feeling. Then as I placed 2 skeins of yarn on the counter, I was offered a basket to carry around, I quickly said NO! using the feeble logic that with a basket in hand I would fill it (and empty my pocket book) with more yarn than I could carry with just my hands. As I wandered around the corner, I hear the same offer being made to another knitter whose hands were full of yarn, only to hear her reply with a gasp, OH YES! I NEED a basket.....and more laughter ensued.....

Then we traveled to Needlework Unlimited. http://www.needleworkunlimited.com/ This is a chock a block full store, I can wander up and down, side to side and still not see everything. The employees are friendly and nice. I look forward to coming here, but it is only once in a while since they are over a bit too far from my house for a regular habit to form. But when I do expand my journeys, this is where I like to go. I also found a different weight yarn there from Mountain Colors

This called Mountain Goat, Juniper is its name...it is 55% Mohair and 45% Wool with 230 yards. But I just had a great time. I found wonderful yarn in amazing colors and can't wait until I can dive into a new project....

2009 Year of Lace

I listen to Lime and Violet's podcast. They talked about a new club....2009 Year of Lace. It sounds fabulous....the cost is a bit out of my budget at the moment, but oh, man it looks wonderful.....I've added their button on the side and here is the link http://yearoflace.com/....go look...and dream.....I'm still thinking about it.

A new violin

Last night my Anna went to school where we picked out a violin for her to play in orchestra. She is so excited. Doesn't matter that she doesn't know how to play it yet, her face glowed as she stroked the lovely wood of the "refurbished " (read used) violin. I'm happy she wants to learn and I'm happy they have a reasonable method of renting instruments. If it turns into a true passion, I will find a way to buy her a good violin. If it is used happily to play in school, renting is the way to go. She is already talking about her upcoming concerts in December. She already can play piano so that may help the learning curve. We will see.

Emily is healing beautifully from her surgery. I'm so happy we are over that hurdle and nothing new needs to happen until next summer. The people at Children's hospital were all wonderful to us but I'm glad we don't have to go back until summer.

My knitting is slowing at the worst possible time. I have a craft fair in 6 weeks. I sell baby socks, hats, scarves and mittens. I try and use up my left over sock yarn, it helps pay for the yarn, and the timing of the show helps me pay for Christmas gifts. The last couple weeks have been heavy with family medical stuff and I've been so tired at night, I'm lucky to do a couple rounds on a sock or a simple rolled brim hat. I'll keep working. I'll update with pictures soon of the craft fair items.

Emily did great and got through her surgery fine. She has had very little pain which is wonderful...she even agreed to model a hat I finished a while ago...

I was really proud of her. I knit on her sister's socks while I sat in the waiting room. But I wasn't able to concentrate very easily....but all is well now.

Anna is modeling another hat I made, I got the pattern from smariek's blog at http://www.smariek.blogspot.com/. She has many lovely patterns and great ideas....

The yarn for Anna's hat was a stash busting effort, I used some old Caron So Soft and paired it with a no name lace weight fuzzy yarn...the result was incredibly soft and with a slight fuzzy halo. It will be well used this winter.

I'm going to try and get several of my finished items posted and then track my current WIP's. How long can it still be classified as a WIP and not an UFO? hmmmmmm

Today brought a dramatic temperature shift from yesterday's 90 degrees high humidity....which means only one thing! It just may be time to bring out the hand knit socks!

These are currently my favorite pair, waiting for cooler temps....

Not only is this blog a new adventure for me, today was the first day of middle school for A, and the first day of first grade for E. So I wait until they get home to call me about their first day.

The newness of middle school can be daunting. I hope A's teachers can see my shining girl. I wait at work for a phone call, telling me she navigated the hallways successfully to each of her classes....that she was able to work the lock on her locker... that she found friends to eat lunch with. All the things that are so scary to her.

And for E, newly in first grade, I hope her teacher can see past her shyness and find my funny, smart, giggly girl who is so ready to learn.

Tonight when I'm knitting on my lacy cowl, my light providing a night light for A to fall alseep with and E already tucked in, I will repeat my prayer that they find their way in the newness of their schools. And that this year is one of challenges and fun.

A Beginning

Well, I'm going to start on a new adventure. I've been knitting for about 2 years now and it has become something I long to do more and more. This will be a recording of the journey. I have two daughters, A, 11, and E, 6. I work full time for a medical device company. My mother lives with my girls and I. Together we have blended into a multi-generational family. Our pug Gadget rounds out our life.

The socks I'm showing I'm calling my garage sale socks as I completed the first one while sitting in our garage trying to sell more of our things.

Socks are currently one of my favorite things to do. They are the perfect take a long project and I try to always have one in my bag. I usually have 2 different socks going, not because of second sock syndrome, but rather, I need a plain stockinette pair to be able to pick up and put down at any time and another one that has a pattern that I need to follow. Memorizing patterns is not one of my strong points! At least not yet. I clearly need to work on my picture taking skills. But for now, it will work...soon enough, I won't be able to take them outside, since fall has started here...

For now, I need to get A and E ready for bed. Tomorrow is a big day, E starts first grade and A starts middle school. Stay tuned...

This is a work in progress. I'll be adding pictures, keeping track of my WIPs and see where it leads.