Spring is here!

This weekend was so nice.  It really is spring.  The trees are all blooming in the neighborhood.  There are a ton of Bradford Pear trees in our neighborhood and they all look like they are covered with snow!  The cherry trees are starting to bloom as well.  You can just begin to see the pink haze of blooms on the trees.  They are supposed to be in full glory in a week or two.  

I just sent off my first pattern that is going to get published.  It is going to be in Cast On Magazine's winter issue this year.  It is a really lovely Christmas stocking that is done in simple fair isle.  For more than that you will have to buy the magazine!

Knitting at Cub Scout meetings...

It has been an exciting week here at home.  We had 2, count em, 2 cub scout meetings this week.  We also had a long anticipated play date with the kiddo's good friend Dora for a Wii tennis tournament.  We also had a violin lesson with grandpa in tow.  I am really glad that we have no real commitments this weekend.  We even get to have dinner, all together, at one time, eating the same food!  I could get used to that!  

In knitting news, I just sent off my first pattern submission to knitty.com.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be accepted.  It is a lovely fair isle stocking.  We will have to see if the folks at knitty.com like it as much as I do!  Now it is back to the design drawing board to do something for the next issue of Cast On magazine.  

I made mittens a couple of weeks ago.  They are stunningly lovely mittens.  I got them finished a couple of days before my oldest friend in the world's birthday.  They whispered in my ear that they really belonged to her.  They are made out of Lumpy Bumpy yarn in greens, yellows and browns.  They look like a Monet painting from up way too close.  Of course, I listened to that little whisper and mailed them off to my lovely friend, Jen.  She is an intrepid mitten wearer in a world that seems to love gloves.  Now I am making a matching pair for myself since I bought way too much Lumpy Bumpy a few years back!

Long time gone...

I actually can't remember the last time that I posted here.  I am such a bad blogger! 

Oh well.  Life seems to intervene in strange and time consuming ways.  The helmet liner project is still rolling along.  On President's Day, I hosted 4 lovely ladies who usually knit with us at the museum.  We spent a couple of hours opening packages and checking and tagging helmet liners. We also spent a good amount of time noshing on yummy food.  Kay brought the best Caramel Popcorn I have ever eaten!  We managed to get 457 liners tagged and bagged!!!  

After the tagging and bagging, we all sat down at the dining room table and I taught a workshop on Entrelac knitting.  There had been many requests for a class on this since it has gotten to be so popular lately.  It seems like every knitting magazine has featured an entrelac pattern in the past couple of months!  We had a ball and I think everyone learned something new.

I started knitting a giant aran sweater for myself right after Christmas.  This is a sweater that has been waiting a long time to get made.  The yarn for it was a gift from my dear friend Cindy when we left Oregon.  It is her homespun from her own sheep in a lovely natural brown color. The pattern, as I wimped out on designing something of my own, is Alice Starmore's Na Craga from Aran Knitting.  So far, the front is done and the back is started.  I might get it done in time for spring.  Maybe!  

I have also been working on finally writing the pattern for Henry's stocking.  It is almost ready to submit, but I haven't gotten done proofing it or taking pictures.  The final sample is still on the needles, in need of  a toe.  As soon as it is finished and blocked, it will have a photo shoot and then off it goes!  

Otherwise, life around here goes on.  The kiddo is doing great in school and continues to play the violin (almost 4 years now!)  He even practices almost every day without too many complaints.  I am so amazed by his focus and the effort that he will put into violin.  I know that it is hard work and I am constantly surprised by his willingness to keep on working.  He is a good soul!

This weekend we are off to the Army-Navy Basketball game at the Naval Academy with the in-laws.  It should be a treat.  I haven't been to a basketball game in probably 25 years!  I think the last one I went to was one I played in in high school!  Go Navy!

The amazing SOAP-MAN!!!

Well, it has been a while since the last post. Our house has been consumed with costumes for Halloween, and just for fun, but mostly we have been enjoying the continuing adventures of Soap-Man! Soap-Man is a superhero straight from the kiddo's imagination. He wears a white suit with a hood, shoots out soap and bubbles at his enemies, and is generally a great guy to have around. Since the sewing machine was out for costume projects, we figured why not make a "real" Soap-Man...

The kiddo designed him, I sewed him and we both worked on the decoration (that is sharpie marker on white muslin!) Soap-Man is very snuggly, but not particularly soapy in fact. He has been sleeping with the kiddo every night this week...

Speaking of knights... For Halloween, we had an appearance of St. George, the dragon slayer! The costume was fun to make and the kiddo loved showing off his dragon. Thank heaven Ikea had such cool dragons! He had a blast trick-or-treating in this one!

At school the assignment for Halloween was to recite a nursery rhyme and the kiddo was assigned:

Dickory, dickory dare,
The pig flew up in the air,
The man in brown,
Soon brought him down,
Dickory, dickory dare.

The kids had to have costumes to accompany their rhyme, so we have the pig!

All in all, Halloween was a raging sucess at our house. The kiddo had fun, we have enough candy to last us until next year (almost 3 1/2 pounds!), and we have some great dress up costumes to play with too!

As Soap-Man says when confronted with evil: Lather! Rinse! Repeat!

A string bag

I got some groovy yarn in Rhode Island in August and made some of it up into a string bag. I really like how it looks. It should be pretty tough too! The yarn is Noro Ganpi Abaka (apparently this is tree bark or something...) and it was in the sale shed at Sakonnet Purls in Tiverton, RI for $4 a skein! I had to have it even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it! Now I know!

I ran out of the yarn before I got to the handle so I used some black Aunt Lydia's Crochet thread from my stash to finish it. It looks pretty groovy to me! I have enough yarn to make a couple more too! These will be way cool for the farmer's market... And maybe for christmas gifts too...

The New Old hat is done...

Here it is in all of its glory!

Now I am on to a cardigan for me made of Manos del Uraguay wool in a groovy brown/golden multi colorway. So far I have ripped out the bottom edge at least 3 times. I think I have settled on a yoke style with a stockinette body (with purls somewhat randomly placed for a bit of texture) and a bit of random garter stitch in the yoke. The idea is from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. Pictures once it looks like something!

A new old hat...

Well folks here is the story... My father in law has this very old hat that he bought in college that is white with a bright orangish red stripe and a pom-pom on top. He wears it when he goes running. It is pretty ratty looking, so I decided that the perfect christmas present for him would be a reproduction of the hat. I started it a few days ago... White and bright red Encore worsted weight yarn in a brioche rib. It looks really great so far. (Pictures to follow if I can find the camera!) I just hope that he likes it! Of course, I will have to wait until Christmas to find out since no one wants a hat to run in in July in Virginia. It is just too hot! Today it is about 85 degrees and so humid that I was afraid to take my book outside for fear that the pages would start curling!

Today was the first day of the kiddo's soccer camp week. He seemed to have a lot of fun, although it was marred a bit by a bout of separation anxiety. I am not sure how to reassure him that I will in fact ALWAYS come back to pick him up at the right time. I guess we will just have to be patient with each other.