Sky Scarf

We are in the midst of the longest, coldest winter in many years. 

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow. Since the first of January we have had only two cloudless days. We have had six days with partial sunshine. 

Last fall I decided to make a "sky scarf" for 2014. I chose five colors, one white, two grays and two blues. Each day since January 1 I have knit two rows in whatever color the sky most resembles that day. Here is the result so far:

There is a notable lack of blue. The above picture represents 36 days. Today's stripe will again be white. 

Other WIP right now include a large wrap in a cabled pattern, a shawl for myself made from two skeins of hand dyed sock weight yarn, and a pair of socks. Not bad! Only four active projects.

Til next time,

Knit on!

Destashing , the Frog Pond and WIPs

I have been trying to bring order to my stash. I love  my stash. I love the colors and the squishiness of the sock weight yarn. I love dreaming about what I will make with each skein. 

I've been buying most of my yarn from indie dyers this past six months. I enjoy supporting micro businesses and the women who run them. I joined a yarn club last fall , a first for me, and got some great one of a kind yarns! I'm knitting a garter stitch shawl with the December club shipment. I loved the pattern that came in the shipment, but I wanted something a little simpler. This will be my first shawl once it's complete. 

I did some destashing as well. I still had some inexpensive acrylic yarn hanging around that I knew I wouldn't use. It is all on it's way to a thrift store where someone will buy it and love it.

I created a frog pond with projects I have started but don't love any more. I have frogged two projects and will repurpose the yarn. The first project frogged was a shawl that I just wasn't liking any more. Love the yarn, so it will become another shawlette or a cowl of some kind. 

Currently on the needles I have a wrap for my dear aunt I am working out of yarn she purchased for a project years ago. The yarn didn't fit the pattern, so I am repurposing it into something she will use and love. I have a shawl in progress made with two different sock weight yarns that I am making for myself! The last project currently on the needles is a Michigan Sky Scarf. Each two row stripe is knit in the color most representing the color of the sky that day. More about that another time. 

Since I am never content with less than four or five projects on the needles, I will be casting on some socks soon. 

Until next time,

Knit on!

Knits and Bits and Bits and Bts

I so enjoyed Yarn Quest 2013.  It was wonderful to discover "new" knitting stores, make new friends and of course come home with some yummy yarn and new patterns! 

My dear friend and I broke the Quest up into about three days.  We went to Painted Trillium, Country Needleworks, JT Stitchery and A Grand Skein the first day. The second day we went to Henny's in Caledonia, Lady Peddler in Hastings, and Your Local Yarn Shop in Battle Creek.  So much fun! The third day we went to Newaygo and discovered a lovely yarn shop, The New Ewe, run by some wonderful ladies. Grand Haven and Ada rounded out the Quest. 

I made new friends, found a new knitting group and generally had a great time. 

I am currently working on a shawl that was in time out since last year, a scarf from Yarn Quest, just needs to be bound off. I am working on a thank you gift for someone who did me a great kindness.  

I haven't touched my spindle in quite awhile. I started and stopped with a couple of things. I think I am just in a knitting mood for the time being. I recently joined Plurk; I am making some new friends over there too. 

On the home and family front we have found a new church after 18 months of searching. After two weeks we felt home. I am already on a praise team and will sing on June 9 for the first time!  I joined the choir as well.  The grandkidlets had a great time their first Sunday. 

School will be out in 6 school days. I am so ready for the school morning rush to be done with! Now to find things to keep them occupied for the summer!

I've backed off from the business idea for now. I have some things cooking. One thing I am thinking about is knitting photo props. I know quite a few very good photographers who take beautiful baby pictures. I will have to take a poll and see what kinds of things they are interested in!

Currently I am resting my knee after some overly exuberant gardening. Lots of knitting on tap for the next couple of days.  It's already much less swollen. I get up and putter around and then come back to my chair. 

Life is good.

It's been a long time since I wrote in my little blog!  

Today is July the Fourth. Happy Birthday America! Thank you to all our military families. You sacrifice as much as your spouses during deployment! I appreciate each and every one of you!

This is my first year participating in "Tour de Fleece"  Tour de Fleece is the spinner's take on Tour de France. We spin each day the racers are biking and see how much we can get accomplished.

I am pleased to say I have spun 140 yards on my little drop spindle since June 30th. It feels good to get back in the groove of spinning. I haven't spun in months! My goal is to finish spinning the superwash merino batt I got from my friend Paula last year, as well as to begin the brown alpaca roving I also bought from Paula! I'm making great progress!

I have some two ply yarn from this batt that I spun last year. I still have to soak and dry it to set the twist. The rest I am going to leave as a single ply. It is roughly a sport weight yarn. It has some beautiful shading. I am eager to find a smallish project for it when it's all done.

My dear hubby had major back surgery on June 4. We have been home together a lot. We are enjoying all the together time :)  He is doing very well. He broke out with shingles in the hospital after surgery; that's been the worst bit of his recovery. 

Since I am home most of the time, I have plenty of time for knitting and spinning. I hope to accomplish a lot this summer. 

I have many little hats that I must get photographed and listed for sale! They are cute as can be! I have sizes from preemie to toddler. As soon as I find someone with a good camera I can use, I will get them up on the blog.

Happy Knitting!+

To Stash Or Destash--That Is The Question

 I've been going through my stash. I recently received a destash  that will nicely complement my stash. I love getting destashes!  I am going through my own stash to see if  can bless someone with a destash.  I love finding treasures long forgotten. I love finding yarn and pattern together especially! It's like Christmas at any time of year. 


I must confess I added to my stash while we were on vacation last week. The yarn shop I visited had yarn on 50% clearance! What's a girl to do?!?  I was so committed to using what I have before buying more. *Sigh* I did get ten skeins of one color that will make a gorgeous sweater...when I find the right pattern :)


I got three skeins of a multi-strand elasticky yarn that intrigues me. I think it will make adorable headbands because of the 1% elastic content. I will have fun experimenting. 


I just finished knitting a couple of  coffee cup( to fit a Starbucks to go cup for example) cozies. I once heard that a knitter never met something that wouldn't be better if it were cozied!  


I think I will begin a shawlette  for which the yarn and pattern have been patiently waiting in a tote. The yarn is a light and summery peach color--perfect for the lovely days we have been experiencing. 


To answer the question in my title....I'm thinking stash and destash. We will see what treasures I find as I unearth bags long buried in the closet.


Happy Knitting!

Traverse City

We spent a much needed vacation week in Traverse Cit y.We stay in a beautiful resort  on the East Bay every year that has rock bottom winter pricing . We go with another couple and we just hang out and have a lot of fun, rest and relaxation . The guys like to watch movies and we girls go down to the lobby and sit around the fireplace and knit and talk . Bliss!  We usually go in January or February, but this year waited until the last week of March . It paid off to wait! There was no ice or snow ;  the colors of the bay were breathtaking when the sun came out and the light played on the waters . We collected shells on the beach( yes, there are shells at Lake Michigan!) The weather was mild enough to open the door to the balcony and listen to the waves washing up on the shore.

Of course, there was shopping on Front Street. We had to get our annual Cherry Republic fix as well as the fudge. One of my favorite yarn shops is in Traverse City. Lost Art Needlecraft and Yarn is small, but well worth exploring each time we are in TC. This year I added 10 skeins of merino superwash to my stash in a nice warm beige/tan, enough to make a sweater. It was on clearance for 50% off. I found some very cool yarn for baby hats too.

It feels so good to take a break from the routine. To let everything be "paused" as it were for a week. It's all there when I come home to pick up where I left off.  I need to find "pause" time in my week. I have a wise aunt who calls her pauses mini vacations. Every Thursday she does only the necessary-meals and dishes-and spends the rest of the day relaxing. Catching up on reading, napping, whatever she wants to do to feel refreshed. I can learn from that. What wait an entire year to "pause?"    Something to ponder...I think all of us, especially women, need to learn that pausing to savor a moment ,  a hug from  child, the beauty of the blue sky, will refresh us in the middle of our very busy and hectic days. So, pause.....

Patience

Patience is a virtue I am learning to practice as I mature. There are days when my patience is sorely tested. Today for example. I just finished this post for the first time only to hit the wrong button and have the original disappear. Since I am writing about patience, it occurred to me how funny it would be if I lost it and let fly a few choice words. ( I didn't)  These are the days when it is necessary for me to take three deep breaths and reset the patience meter!

On February 28th I had knee surgery. I was hoping it was going to be the "clean it up quick and get on with life" variety. After all it was arthroscopic, and we all know that folks who have arthroscopic surgery are on their feet  in a week as if nothing happened. Not this lady! I am still off my feet except for excursions to get food, drinks, snacks, and showers. I do a few small tasks while waiting for the microwave; then I must get back to my chair lest my knee swell up like an over inflated balloon!I am exercising my patience. I say exercising, because patience comes easily to no one. It's more of a choice than an in born virtue.

Knitting has taught me to exercise patience, especially lace knitting. I have never met a pattern that loved me on first sight. Every lace I succeeded at knitting was a hard fought exercise in patience and endurance. For awhile, I gave in to the "I just must be one of those people who will never/can't knit lace" kind of thinking. I am perseverant by nature( my dear hubby would say "stubborn" --silly man) so I determined that I was going to conquer   accomplish lace knitting.  It is still not easy for me. I have to frog nearly every piece I knit up to three times before I get it. But I am getting better at the counting, repeats and other things necessary to knit a beautiful piece of lace. I have some beautiful things to show for my persistence and patience.

So, I am exercising patience through these healing and recovering days. I have taken time to look at patterns, get ideas, knit,knit,knit, find a more uniform way of sizing wee hats. I have had time to think of what other tiny treasures I want to offer.

Patience=Freedom.  I don't have to get all unhappy and bent out of shape over a slow cashier, a traffic jam, a late appointment, an infuriatingly complicated pattern. I can take a deep breath, choose my 'tude and practice patience.

Now, off to find something to knit. It's time for some lace, I think!

Happy Knitting!