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 blast of summer

Well, it has been a long time since I posted. It has been a blur this summer. The kiddo finished first grade with flying colors, we spent 2 weeks in the pacific northwest, did football camp and CSI camp, spent a week at the beach in Rhode Island, and now we are getting ready for school to start back up!


The trip to the northwest was wonderful. We got to reconnect with some old friends and make some new ones at Oregon Suzuki Institute. The kiddo had a great time playing and learning with a ton of other Suzuki violin kids. When Institute was over, we went to Mt. Rainier for a couple of days and got to do some hiking and exploring. It was really fun.

We just got back from a week at my aunt and uncle's beach house in Little Compton, Rhode Island. We had a fantastic time. The entire Kelsey family was there... My sister, Aunt Caroline, Uncle Peter, his wife and 2 teenagers, and the 3 of us. We ate good food, swam in the ocean, played bocce on the lawn and collected a lot of rocks on the beach. A good time was had by all.













This week was a momentous week for me. I won first prize at the county fair for my kauni sweater and second prize for a shawl that I made for Ben's mom for Christmas. The prizes were $6 and $4 respectively! Oh, what will I do with my $10?

Knitting for Marines

It has been a big month of knitting around here. I have been the key organizer of a project called Knitting for Marines at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. My hubby is a curator there and so we were able to get access to the museum and so far we have had 2 lovely days of knitting in the main gallery of the museum. The idea is that we get knitter to come in and knit helmet liners for Marine troops stationed overseas. So far we have had pretty good turnout and some great press coverage. Today we had a few folks out knitting we made the local news in Charlotte, NC (more stations may pick up the story as well). As of today, we have 8 completed helmet liners in with lots more on the way. The original goal was to get 100 made in February, but the response has been so great that we are hoping to get 500, enough to supply an entire Marine Battalion. If any of you folks out is cyber space are interested, the info about the project is on the Museum website.

In other string related news, my Kauni sweater has come and gone again. This time I realized that I had not changed needles to the bigger size when I was supposed to so Rip Rip Rip I went last night. Maybe this one will be a keeper!

Yummy new yarn...

I spent my christmas money on something yummy. It came in the mail the other day all the way from the Netherlands! Check out this luscious Kauni yarn. I can't wait to make something totally cool and fair isle with it!




I have already started, and ripped out, and started again with the brown, yellow and green stuff. This yarn is really nifty since the color changes over such a long distance. I am knitting a fair isle sweater with two balls of the same colorway. I started one with the light green and the other with the brown and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I will definitely be ready for fall with that one. I am planning on posting my progress here as we go.

This is it so far...

I have started the two color ribbing for the bottom of a cardigan sweater. I haven't made a sweater with steeks in a really long time, but I don't think it will be too hard to remember how!

So far, I have a 12 stitch steek set for the center of the cardigan. I will use steeks for the armholes and the neck too when I get there. The biggest challenge is going to be figuring out if I want the sleeves to match or not!

I am not sure what I will do with the two other colors. The original idea was to use the blues and tans together for another fair isle sweater but now I am not sure. I was thinking maybe I would do Eunny Jang's Venezia from Interweave Knits (Winter 2006) but I am just not sure... I might be totally burnt out on color work after I finish the first one!

Yesterday was a momentous day for the kiddo. He won the "Character Counts" award at school. This is a really big deal. They give it once a month to the kids who best exemplify that month's character trait. This month it was RESPONSIBILITY and the kiddo got to go to a special ceremony and got a certificate, a silicone bracelet, and a photo with all the other winners that will be in the school lobby for the next month!

Christmas time is here...

Well, all the holiday knitting is done, save one mitten thumb. Ah, the joy of accomplishment. Of course I still have to wrap everything. At least the big thing is done. I made a large shawl for my MIL and it is done! It is not dry, but it is DONE! It is the Muir from the fall issue of Knitty.com. I love it! It will be dry soon!

The letter to Santa went out in the mail today. The kiddo asked for slot cars, a stuffed indian and a storm trooper. I miss the days when all he wanted was a new violin and some gummy worms, but I think that DADDY will love the slot cars almost as much as the kiddo! My sister is coming to visit for the holiday and that will be great. I don't get to see nearly enough of her and it is nice that she gets to stay for almost a week!

And Now We Are Six...

Last week brought the kiddo's birthday. He is totally into knights and all things medieval at the moment so he had a chocolate Castle Cake!

Instead of a traditional birthday party with all of his friends and relations, he opted for a trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with just one friend in tow. We had a great time. The kids got to watch a few shows, ride ponies, eat ice cream, try out bows and arrows, watch jousting, get their faces painted and ride an elephant! The kiddo's face looked great with his knight on it!

Also in the news this week, I started working on Christmas gifts. The first in the pile is a bunch of dishcloths (some are the Ball Band Cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting) and one is the beginner dishcloth pattern that we used at Boersma's. I think these will end up being gifts for teachers and such...

I also started a sweater that will be for one of the kiddos... I just have to see what size it turns out first! (I love not checking gauge too well!) It is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a really nice navy blue. Should look great on one of the small boys I know! Of course, my kiddo decided he didn't like this color... He wants green!

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...

Back to school...T-minus one week!

Today we went and bought all the supplies that the kiddo needed for school. We had a great time exploring a not-so-local art supply store for things on the list and other treasures too. It was fun!


Last week we were in Rhode Island to visit my family. My uncle and his family have a great house in Little Compton, RI, right on the Massachusetts border. It was a great place to all get together! My sister and my other aunt came too and the kiddo had a great time playing with his teenage cousins. He also discovered Bocce. The kid can through a heavy ball remarkably far!

It was also his first experience with both ocean swimming (the Pacific is way too cold for swimming in Oregon) and with fishing (without a hook for obvious reasons...)

We got to explore the area around Little Compton quite a bit as well and I discovered a yarn shop that rivals Boersma's Knitting Basket! If you are ever in Rhode Island, there is a shop in Tiverton called Sakonnet Purls that is to die for! I found all sorts of goodies, and they have a little shed outside where every skein is $4. I, of course, could not resist that and got some lovely Cleckheaton and some funky Noro that is made of Ganpi (a sort of tree bark we think...) I am making a string bag out of the Noro and so far, so good!

We also ate way too much local corn. It was so good! As were the locally caught clams, mussels and lobsters. Yummy!

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.

The kiddo cooks!

We went to see Ratatouille over the weekend and ever since, the kiddo has wanted to cook things. He has a great kids cookbook "Pretend Soup" by Molly Katzen and today he was reading it before breakfast and found this recipe:

Bagel Faces!

The actual recipe calls for things like bell peppers and olives and cherry tomatoes, but this fruit version was a big breakfast hit! Strawberries for eyes and nose, peach slices for mouth and eyebrows! He even ate the whole thing! Of course, my thought about it was what would my vegetarian friend who will only eat food without a face think of this...

The Jockey sweater is still rolling along. One sleeve is done, and the 8 is stitched on in duplicate stitch. The other sleeve is about half way there. I finished the hand dyed socks that were made with the really cool blue, purple and teal handdyed yarn on the Oregon trip so, of course, I had to buy more sock yarn. I got 3 pairs worth of Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock at the shop where I used to work and stared the first pair on the trip. They are brown and tan and look like peanut butter cups! So far I like them a lot. I will post pictures tomorrow! I want to get a pic of the kiddo with the mostly done sweater on.

Back from Oregon

No posts for the past couple of weeks as we were on vacation in Oregon. We had a great time! The kiddo and I spent a week at the Oregon Suzuki Institute perfecting his violin playing and then my hubby arrived in time for the final concert at camp. It is a truly thrilling thing to see your little guy up on stage with about 200 other violinists all playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in unison! A good time was had by all and we got to spend a week with some amazing teachers and catch up with friends from last year.

After camp we headed to McMinnville to see old friends and old haunts. Of course there was a joyous reunion with all the girls at Boersma's Knitting Basket, where I worked before the big move east. The kiddo and I even spent a day teaching the girls to dye yarn with food coloring...

The set up in the unused top floor of the Boersma's store in McMinnville.

The kiddo helping mix up a batch of food color dye.

One of the final products...

We made it through 10 skeins of yarn and a ton of Wilton's dye without staining the floor. Needless to say, we all had blue and pink hands, and the kiddo had a few blue freckles! I have no idea what those gals are going to do with all of that lovely stuff... 10 mis-matched hand dyed skeins of worsted weight wool... but I can't wait to see!

The visit to McMinnville also included visits with old friends and a reunion picnic in the old neighborhood, which featured meeting the new owners of our old house and finding that the kiddo's height marks were still on the door frame in the pantry. We transfered the height marks to some paper to bring home (we had done it once before, but alas, that was the only thing that got lost in the move...) It was great to see all the old neighbors and the house again.

After a few days we were ready for adventure so we packed up and headed to Mt. Hood. We spent the 4th of July playing in the snow above Timberline Lodge and stayed there for the night. Timberline is one of the very few places that you can ski year round so we were able to watch skiers and snowboarders while we hiked! The next day we went back down the mountain by way of Hood River, OR (famous as the spot that John Kerry took a day off of campaigning to wind surf). We stopped at one of the kiddo's favorite spots, Bonneville Dam and visited the dam, navigation lock and fish hatchery there. It is really neat to see since it is a HUGE dam and this was the first visit that we have made where there were fish in the fish ladder! Lots of Shad and a few Steelhead and Salmon too!

It is nice to be home but we all miss Oregon. It was hard to come back to the Virginia summer, but since we were met at the airport by adoring grandparents, we will all survive just fine...

Look, ma... No Sleeves!

The bodice is done and all it needs now are sleeves!

Today was a fun day. The kiddo and I packed up and went to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. for the day. We saw lots of cool creatures (yes, even the pandas were out in force today!) The best one was the octopus. It was just finishing with it's feeding when we arrived and that was a very active octopus. It had finished extracting it's own meal from a PVC pipe that the keepers hid it in and was schemeing for the fish that belonged to the anemone that was it's tank mate. It was flashing colors and changing the texture of its skin and sending tentacles out every which way. It was soooo cool!

Tomorrow is the big pack. The kiddo and I leave Saturday morning for a week of Suzuki Violin camp in Oregon, followed by a week of fun after daddy joins us. We will have 4th of July on top of Mt. Hood. It should be a great trip, and be a chance to catch up with old friends and neighbors while we are there. The challenge is packing for the two of us for two weeks, some hot, some cold, some wet, some dry, in one oversized suitcase. We also have to get one small violin through 2 airports as a carry-on item! We have done it before and I am sure that we will do it again!

The Jockey progresses

I am almost done with the back of the jockey sweater. The kiddo has decided that he wants the number 8 on the sleeves so I worked out a chart for that since it won't be long before I am on to the sleeves.

Wired knitting

Last night I started playing around with knitted wire again. Here are the results...

This bracelet is from Nancy Wiseman's book Knitting with Wire. It is actually pretty easy to make, but a bit hard on the finger tips. I like the color coated wire a lot. As soon as my fingers heal up a bit, I will make another one!

The jockey sweater has a front...

The front is done... Disregard the weird whiteish stripe going up the left side. That is just a piece of waste yarn marking off 5 row increments so I could count easier!

The back is started and the kiddo has decided that he wants to have the number 8 on the sleeves. There was actually a jockey wearing a shirt with a pattern remarkably like this in the Belmont Stakes this weekend! His was red and white, but same idea...

The sad demise of the green monster...

Well, I had about 14 inches of the back of the green monster finished when I decided that I had better write down what I was doing. In the process of writing, I counted the stitches on the needle (apparently for the first time) and discovered that instead of 90, I had 96! Oops! Upon measuring the width of the piece, I discovered that it was 18" wide. The kiddo is a skinny little beast so a 36" sweater would be WAY TOO BIG!!! Plus, I would probably run out of yarn with the darn thing that big. SOOO, out come the needles and the ripping process began. Thirty minutes later I had 2 balls of yarn and no sweater in sight. I cast on the correct number of stitches (I actually counted this time, TWICE!) and now I have about an inch complete instead of the the 14 inches that I had before. Ripping out good work sucks, but not as much as making a sweater with one short sleeve because you ran out of yarn at that point!

The green monster

Well, this one is called the green monster. Of course, every kid will be jealous of it... The kiddo dyed the yarn himself in Kelly Green Wilton Icing Color. He told me that he didn't want stripes. I suggested half and half on the front, he countered with quadrants so it would look like a jockey (he really got into the Kentucky Derby). He even wants me to put numbers on the sleeves. You never know!

I also finished the blue and green socks for the kiddo this week. They look good and he likes them...