SWAGgering

Wednesday night I got an email from an old friend and sorority sister, Nancy. She and her family, who live down near St. Louis, would be driving through town Thursday . . . would I have any time to get together? Well, the workday was out with as busy as it is there, so we drove out to her brother-in-law's house for a few hours last night. Mind you, I've not seen her in about 9 years!

Simon came with me and did a great job of playing with the younger bunch of her 9 kids. Yes, 9 kids! Ranging in age from 16 years down to 16 months. Here is Si drawing for Susannah, and regaling her with stories. Susannah is 11 ( I think). She and her slightly older brother were adopted from Guatamala a little over a year ago.

Here is Nancy's husband, Tim, with their daughter Elizabeth.

. . . and another of Simon drawing for the kids. Now he and Susannah are joined by Samuel and Jubilee. It sure was great to see them all! 2 hours isn't NEARLY enough, though! Hopefully Nancy will be back through town for GCC Homecoming!

On to knitting . . .

In bragging about the great swag I got at the KC last week, I starting wondering what SWAG really meant. I found a site that gives a brief modern definition of the word as "stuff we all get", but my good friends at Wordcraft found a much more authoritative, reliable sorce at Michael Quinion's World of Words, and I thought all y'all would want to know. It's a great word with a long and fascinating heritage!

I haven't done much knitting this week. Ironic after breaking the bank on yarn last weekend, eh? It's been too busy at work, and I've really just come home and collapsed in a heap every night. It's Summer now, in full swing, and all the little darlings are coming to the library in droves. I'm going to KnitWits this morning, though, so I'll knit and maybe even start a new project, and I'll update you later.

Friends don't let Friends buy Bad Yarn

This past weekend was the long-anticipated Knitter's Connection. It was a great Wed-Sun of classes with a yarn market, etc. Great convention by all reports. I didn't get to go to any of it, really, except for the market, but that, alone, was awesome! It seemed, even on Saturday morning, like a lot of the sellers were getting low on stock, so that's good for them, too, right?

Everyone who pre-registered for only $10 got a great goodie bag o'swag. Yarn and mags that I would probably not have bought on my own, but it's thrilling to have some of these odd balls around to play with, and since I never buy mags it's fun to have those to look at and maybe even try a pattern from!

Of course, don't for a moment think that I didn't buy any other yarn! Oh no, my friends! Just look at all the delicious hanks I procured! Yum! Sock yarn coming out the wazoo! New Stash from Yarn Love, and some really cool "Evolution" yarn (100% wool that has been super-stretched and heated to change the molecular makeup so that it drapes like silk and still wears like wool from Chameleon Colorworks and some great 'silk soc" made from silk and nylon (feels like heaven) from YarnSmiths
Neighborhood Fiber Co who also gave out her logo stitch markers made from printable shrinky dink sheets,


And the title skein for this blog, you ask? Look at it's lovely brightness! Look at the fantastic mix of contrary colors! If only you could feel the sweet, smooth merinoness of it . . . and smell it's delicious "I'm going to be even more beautiful on your needles" aroma. Let's all drool together! Knittingbrow knew that I would love it - I walked up and he had this in my hands before I could even say hello. "Here," he said, "It's Vegas Brights." And I was sunk. Sold. No need to look further. Every yarn seller in the universe should have KB at their booth. This is from Interlacements.

Sunday night we celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. We took them out to a really nice dinner and gave them a DVD with some of our old home movies on it. My sister arranged most of it, and I was really impressed - it was great. I persuaded hubby to bring along his camera for some nice pictures. My folks are in the front row with me, then my brother, sister, bro-in-law, son and hubby in the back row. We have a small family, but it's still rare for us all to be together. We watched the movies during dinner (the restaurant provided the TV/DVD player) and it was nearly perfect. Don't my folks look great? Doesn't seem like they're old enough to have been married 50 years . . . but it's all true! Congratulations Mom and Dad!

More Birding pics and a Meme

First the meme - please post your answers to these questions either in my comments, or on your own blog, and then let me know you've posted!

4 Things to know about me: I love puppets, I love to tell and listen to stories, being around people cheers me up, I'm generally a positive/happy person even in the midst of trials

4 things that may surprise you: I sometimes lose sleep at night worrying, I have never bitten my nails, I sometimes like to be alone, I used to be even more talkative than I am now

4 jobs I have had: Librarian, puppeteer, seamstress, music teacher

4 places I've lived: Columbus . . . Boardman, Ohio . . . Grove City, PA during college (only 2 for me)

4 favorite foods: sushi, cheese, dark chocolate with nuts, high quality ice cream

4 favorite TV shows: The Muppet Show, Ned's Declassified, Wild Thorneberrys, The Simpsons

4 places I'd rather be right now: on a beach, camping in the mountains, with friends at a coffee shop knitting, sleeping

4 people who will post answers: Yarmando, Aunt Gerry, Mom, CychoLibrarian and maybe Sock Princess (yes, I know that is 5)

Now for a few pics . . . here you see my Mom, Mike, Dave (if you look closely you can see him kneeling behind my mom) and another birder, all trying to identify a warbler. Warblers are all small birds, smaller than my fist, all about the same shape. They're tricky to ID because they're all the same silhouette. I was not up to the task, but I did enjoy seeing and hearing them.

This is a cool shot of the fallen trees. I like the rugged, un-touchedness of this.

Here is a cool log - rotted out and growing new plants. My mom called it "nature's planter" and her pic of it was better than mine, but I figure I'll be humble and show you mine. Sigh.

This is a little barn swallow posing for me. I was close enough to touch him, but he was being very indignant.

This is why - he was protecting his nest. You can see the tail feather sticking out if you look closely. This is right at the entrance to the visitor's center. Very cool. Did I mention we saw over 100 species on Saturday? Well . . . Mike saw them. I wrote them down, and I saw some of them . . . but not all.

Friends, Chalk and WIPs

March 27
Started another hat today. I just feel like I always need something mindless and chunky on the needles for those moments of the day when my brain doesn't work at all but my hands need to keep moving.

March 29
One of my WordCraft friends was in town for a conference so a few of us met up for dinner! Me, Nancy (from Chicago) and Anita (also from here in town) . . . Mike and Simon were there, too, but they wanted to take pictures, not be in them.

March 30
I got home from work and Si was very excited - he finally had his chalks out for the first picture of the season - can you guess which Civil War General this is? He's very excited about hopefully participating in another Via Colori this coming Fall. He did it a few years ago, and loved the experience of sharing his art with the public.

I'd started this pair of socks a week or so ago, and it's some of the most lovely yarn! It's infused with Aloe and Jojoba Oil, and it's so soft and good to touch. I finally figured out, though, that what I really want to make with this is gloves, so that someone's hands can benefit from all this soft conditioning goodness. I've been searching and I've found what looks to be a good glove pattern for sock weight yarn. It's actually for Opera Gloves, but I'm just using it as a guide for shaping the hands and doing the fingers. I'll be working on these for a while, but I figure I've got all summer, right? They'll have nice, long, fold-up-able cuffs because I am not tinking out this beautiful ribbing!

I seem to have start-itis! I decided to just start another neck scarf. I sure hope this is enough yarn to make one of these! It's such a fun, easy pattern and turns out such a beautiful product. Another thing that I don't know who it will be for, though.


I think all this project starting is a symptom that I am nervous about moving forward on my tank top/shell thing. Grr. I need to shape the neck, so that means I need to do math again. BLAH!

Spring!

March 21 (yes, we have dates again!)
Spring has sprung! There are even more beautiful little crocusii in my garden today than earlier this week when I took this pic! yay! We also have paperwhites blooming. Ahh - spring!

March 22
The cats love to join me when I'm knitting. My lap is warm, I don't shift or move much, and there is that lovely, tantalizing, moving yarn to nibble at when they can stay awake! Sam, however, usually can't stay awake.
Also in this pic are my falling-apart jeans. Mom - you'd be happy. When I first wore these jeans to the Knitwits group, they all made fun of me! I know, I know, you don't want to hear that I wear them in public, but SOMEtimes on my day off I need to REBEL! And let's face it, if my version of being REALLY rebellious is to wear falling-apart jeans - well - how bad can I be?

March 23
I've dug out my shell again, with the goal of completing it in time for Easter. I've started the fancy cabled yoke part, and it's complicated, so I can only do it when I'm sharp and not overly distracted by life or TV or whatever. This is NOT something I could take to Friday morning Knitwits! Or to book group! But it should certainly be something I"ll WEAR to those kinds of places (to show it off!)

March 24
I still need to weave in the ends and felt this - but don't you think this will be a fun Easter basket? Small, but fun - and it was a stash-buster!

March 25
Every homemade sweater deserves a matching hat, don't you think? Especially when there is enough leftover yarn. This is for Mikey - knit to his specifications (longer in the head, not too tight in the ribbing . .. blah blah blah). :-) Next, I think I'll make him matching booties.

As Advertised

I promised you more pics and here they are! First we have Simon, sporting the new red and black cabled scarf I made him. He loves it! It's from Baby Alpaca Grand, just like the scarf and hat I made my dad.

Here is Kushi, the newly adopted daughter of our friends, the James'. She is absolutely delightful, and is still learning English (being newly moved here from India). She's wearing the sweet little hat Megan made for her. Having never seen snow before, Megan tells great stories of Kushi needing to be convinced that she needed pants and socks and boots to go outside last month. She does seem to like the hat, though, but the shirt and pants she has on the in the picture were the 3rd or 4th outfit we saw her in that afternoon. She loves wearing pretty skirts!

This is Megan, taken by Kushi. She really liked using the camera.

I bought this beautiful yarn at the Merc when Cider Moon was having their trunk show there. It's some of the most wonderful yarn I've ever used. I absolutely adore the colors and have been fondling it for a long time trying to decide what to make. I finally settled on the moebius cowl.

I added some extra stitches to the circumfrence and I wish I'd had a second skein because I was hoping for more of a shawl-like garment . . . but as you can see I used nearly all the yarn and the scarf is only about 8 inches wide. Next time I"ll get 2!!!

And before you say anything don't worry - I know it doesn't go so well with my tie-dye.

I am still thoroughly in love with knitting moebius'.

More pictures tomorrow and I think I'll be caught up!

I haven't forgotten about you!

I've been feeling icky since returning from San Jose, and I'm just now feeling like I have energy and time to do work and home AND blogging, so here goes. This is the little Carnegie library in 'da hood of San Jose - my friend Jim took us there. Cute!

Here is Jim - we met his wife, Viki, too, and we had a great evening together having awesome sushi and then coffee outside. Lovely! I know Jim from the Wordcraft site - see the link to the right.

This is my Lillehammer hat. DH is modeling it for me, and it's his now. He's even given it a test-wear while birding last Saturday. He says it looks silly, but it sure kept him warm! Maybe it's a little too femme for him. Who shall get it, then?

The moebius baskets and the Lamb's Pride Chunky yarn have, since I discovered them, inspired me to think about the new CML logo. It's the colors. One of our PR folks is a pink addict, and I just finally got around to making this basket for her. I thought I'd snapped a pic of it after felting, but alas, I didn't. It awaits her return from her vacation on her desk, filled with pink candy.

And the final pic posted today is my new sock. This is yarn that I got in NYC, infused with aloe vera and jojoba oil. It's lovely to work with, and I'm really enjoying the colors. Come back tomorrow for more pictures. :-)

Boy Scouts and Pics

Monday, Feb 19 found us off work and out of school for Presidents' Day, but we all got to go to Boy Scouts! It was fun to see what the boys and folks do at a meeting, AND I got to do a lot of knitting there. It was fun!

Tuesday, Feb 20 shows Samwise feeling all better and overseeing the doings of the kitchen sink again from his favorite perch. Sweet boy kitty!

Wednesday I wore my newly-finished Mohair neck scarf. I had it tied for a while, but it was too warm around my neck, so I used this little pin to clasp it. :-)

Thursday, Feb.22 I finished up the legwarmers. I did them on magic loop, I think a size 9 needle. They were fun, easy, and they look good!

Today is Friday, Feb 23. I went to Knitwits at the Merc, and then to lunch with some of the ladies. Very nice time! Before that I met up with my pal Carol at Panera. Last time we met at Bear Rock, but they're not opening til 10 now, so they suck. The group went to Villa Nova for lunch - very good Italian food at normal-people prices. Was just like back home in Youngstown, it was so good! Don't they all look like nice ladies?

Boy Scout Camp!

Feb. 16, 2007 - several pics

Simon left this evening for a few nights in a cabin (no running water!) with the Boy Scouts. Hope he doesn't freeze his patootie off!

This is some of the snow - you can see that there was so much the driveway couldn't even been completely cleared. Ugh! About half of that pile is ice, too. You can't see it well, but the side of the house is coated in about an inch of ice, as well.

After being traumatized first by her brother, Sam's illness and disappearance, and then even MORE traumatized by his return home, Rosie is finally back downstairs - here she is nearly falling off the window sill by the kitchen sink. She was so enthralled by the dripping faucet that her drooping backside didn't bug her.

Well, on the third try the neck of the sweater finally fits over DH's head and it's ready to finish. I have about a dozen ends to weave in, and a few holes where I added the new balls of yarn, and then some blocking, and it's donesky! And he even likes it!

Picture This

Feb. 15, 2007

Yea, yea, I know - I need to tink back and fix that neck hole. Sigh. The colors look good, though, right? Right???

Sweater Obsession!

2-14-07 My second snow day in a row (unprecedented!) found me inside ALL DAY! it was great! I did knit a bit on other things, and I made breakfast, lunch, dinner for myself and Simon (and b and d for DH), along with cookies - yum! But mostly I just worked like a woman obsessed on this sweater for DH. As you can see, I've started the decreases at the top and I've been adding in the color. Still a lot to go to finish the neck, but I am thinking it's looking pretty good. Also, it'll probably be done before Monday - that's my goal, anyway. :-) I imagine I'll be back at work tomorrow, but it should be a great office day since I was originally scheduled to be doing a puppetry workshop in Zanesville and was going to be gone all day. Given that they still had a Level 3 Snow Emergency all day today, and that things are generally a mess, the workshop is cancelled. (yahoo!)

More Pictures!

I don't have enough pictures to cover all the days I've missed, but there is a goodly batch, and I'll try to get back to the one-a-day thing today. Promise!

Well, Samwise has been our worry the last few days. Monday he was perfectly fine - exhibit A shows him sleeping on Mike's lap, thoroughly happy. Tuesday he started acting weird and Wed morning we were sure he was sick. It took him in and he had to spend 3 days in the hospital! He had a urinary tract blockage, poor baby boy!
You can see his front leg, where the IV was in. He seems better now, but he's still recovering. We're all very glad he's home.

On to WIPs:
Mike's sweater is coming along well. This is the body. Now I'll knit up the sleeves and then I'll join them at the armpits and knit the rest! It's really cool, with lots of math to do along the way. There's a group of us all making sweaters with EPS (Elizabeth's Percentage System), explained pretty well here.

I cast on this hat at knit group Friday morning, and finished up by the TV in the evening. It's made of Lush Yarn, and it knit up in a jiffy. It's for a friend of mine who is going through Chemo - I just saw her at a meeting Thursday and didn't even know she was sick until then. This is very very soft, and I hope she likes it.

I also just cast this baby on. I would like a fancy neck scarf like the one I made my mom. This is all mohair, though, and it's already bugging me a bit, but it should make a pretty little scarf, and it's still outrageously colored, so it's my style.