a spring day

Crafty Girl was picking crocus in the yard today and artfully arranged them in a small clay pot.
Then we got a sheet and had a little photoshoot, just for fun.

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In other news, I am going to New York City for three days visiting with an old friend, sightseeing, yarn crawling, eating out...I'll see you all back here on Wednesday, April 1st.

Meanwhile, enjoy the flowers.

Now I'm going to turn off this machine in honor of Earth Hour.

turn off the lights, will ya?

Just got a reminder in my inbox for EARTH HOUR.

Wherever you are, and you have lights (and any appliances that you can spare) on, turn them off for one hour tonight at 8:30.

If you can't do it tonight, why not try another night? Once a week, or once a month?

It's a good time to learn how to knit in the dark.

first in a series

Sometimes, you have to just go for it and buy yourself a present.

This one comes in installments, four times over the next year: my spring parcel just came in the mail.

I bought a Sheep Share from Foxfire Fiber in Shelburne, MA.

The package was beautifully wrapped with tissue paper

-- protecting this treasure inside:

I went for the whole "Farm Yarn Stash" in Natural, and I don't care if you know how much it cost. It is worth every single penny to me. Because someone out there is taking the time to lovingly raise sheep, shear them, and have the yarn processed naturally. If you go to the link above, you will see the line-up of precious skeins that will come my way over the next year.

Leah and I have been tossing an idea around as to what to do with it. The words "slow knitting" came up.

I will keep you posted.

habitat

As we all know, knitters and spinners are at home practically anywhere, but it's especially nice if they have a knit-in at an arts center.

This one was sponsored by 4 area yarn shops.

I stayed for a little while to soak up all kinds of good vibes.

After I got home, I checked in my yard to see what was coming up.

And speaking of habitats, I made this hat over the weekend. A completely addictive knit.

I took this picture as the light waned, so it looks a bit pale. The yarn is Jamieson's Shetland Heather, in the color "horizon". The hat got a bath and is now blocking. I need to get it in the mail for my mother's birthday!

disagree (1), agree (1)

This year, I applied to get into the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair on Memorial Day weekend.

I did not get in.

Also, I applied to go to the Sock Summit.

I got in. Portland, Oregon, here I come.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I am the least Irish person around, but I like parades and music and celebrations. Also, this time of year, I take my green wherever I can find it!

This past Saturday, we had two St Patrick's Day parades to go to. One small one in North Albany, which spanned about a half block, but was not short on fun.

Then we went on the the big parade in Albany, which on that gorgeous day drew many thousands of people.

Here is our Crafty Girl, who is a member of the Color Guard and Marching Band, getting ready for step off. Note the green bands she had put on her braces.

The streets were so crowded that Dear Husband and I missed about a third of the parade, but what we did see was amazing enough! I took a million pictures, but I'll spare you the fire trucks and local officials.

This little girl was my favorite parade onlooker.

St Patrick working the crowd.

After the parade, I went looking for some green in my yard.

I also have green knitting on the needles! Here's the back to THIS. I can't wait!!

Enjoy your day, wherever you may be, and the luck o' the Irish to ye!

spring preview

some writer I am

Relating to my previous post.
I want to blame the fact that I had been sick and out of commission.


Yes it's a knitting book, 18 designs.


I think that's all I can say right now. :)

did you say something?

At the beginning of the year, I swore to myself that I would only post about finished projects here on this blog. No more "this is what I'm working on". A lot of those works in progress didn't get finished (yet), and then I get disappointed with myself and worry that I disappoint you.

I am currently working on a commissioned shawl for Mostly Merino 's Margaret Klein Wilson. She gave me 4 of her sportweight skeins at Rhinebeck last year and I have been plugging away at a top down garter stitch shawl which will be displayed in her booth to show off the yarn.

The other thing I have been working on is writing a book. There. I said it. Knitting the beautiful expanse of the garter stitch shawl has given me ample time to ponder (and stop and write and keep tweaking designs) what I want to say in the book.

So far, what I have is an agent who wants to see a proposal, and the whole thing is still so much up in the air I can barely even grasp it. Some days it feels more real than others. On the days that it feels real, I tell myself that this book will be written whether I can find a publisher or not -- it's that important to me.

Then I try to hold on to the importance of it all, for me, and I tell myself that I can totally do this. I was desperately trying to work it all out that I would do this book and then tell you, in a year or so, "Oh, by the way? I have a book coming out!". I didn't want to jinx myself; disappoint myself or you if it didn't work out in the end. So I've only told very few of you. In the meantime, it was getting harder and harder not to talk about it. Over the weekend (being sick in bed may have helped a little) I've come to realize that I can't do any of it myself. I need you.

It is costing me a huge amount of effort to tell you and to ask you. But I'll need you to tell me that I can do this, I need you to prop me up when I'm too tired from working my job and still have a deadline to fulfill. I need you to be my knitting companions like you've always been, my enablers, my questioners, I need you here with me, my dear friends. Especially when and if I get the rejection letters, I'll need someone to hand me a box of tissues.

I have no clue if there is anything I can ever give you in return, other than my boundless gratitude. Can you deal with that?

Knit Night

Knit Night is tomorrow, Thursday, March 5th.
7 to 9 pm at Panera's in Glenmont!
Come one, come all!

finished blankets

Do you remember?

My dear friend Amy finished the acrylic one weeks ago, and donated it to a local agency in Bennington, VT, that helps teenage moms. Thank you Amy!



Meanwhile, the measurements for the a 4 A blanket were falling short of their requirements. Pat, a workshop participant, made 10 (!!!) more squares. I made 2 more, which added up to two more rows of squares.

I finished last week and mailed it out. The final dimensions were 32x42 inches after blocking.

For each row, I crocheted 6 squares together. Then I crocheted 8 rows together into the afghan. It was nice having it on my lap while I was working on it, and was imagining the little child it would eventually cover.

I used single crochet throughout and finished it off with two rounds of it. After a wash and block, I mailed it out last Friday.