CT Sheep, Wool and Fiber

Thank you all for your good wishes for sunny weather on Saturday - they worked like a charm! The sun broke through just as we headed out to Vernon for the Fiber Fest.

Right this way . . . Alien sheep?? Nope, bad photographer!Fluffy Bunnies . . . and a little guy who needed a sweater.Someone to keep these sheep in line . . . but Pea didn't have a chance of keeping me and Elizabeth in line with sock yarn around . . .this is the look he got when he tried!!

I visited with some old friends and met some new ones. I managed to pick up a few skeins of yarn, and a few more at a yarn store we passed on the way home. ** cough cough Colinette Jitterbug cough cough Malabrigo cough** Look for those in future Yarn P*rn posts!!

Rain, rain, go away . . . . .

because tomorrow is a Fiber Day!!!

That's right, it's raining again, but I'm hoping it clears up in time for the CT Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival tomorrow. I can't believe it's already been a whole year since my first ever Fiber Fest. Anyone else have plans to go? Elizabeth and I are going to picnic in that same spot on the little hill. Please do join us!!

In looking over my post from last year, I'm sad to realize I haven't knit up any of the yarn I bought yet. What is a girl to do?? Well, why not share? Would you like to win one of these sets of sock yarn?

Just leave me a comment!! I can't decide which one I want to part with, so I'll just pick that randomly too. You have until Thursday at midnight, and I'll hold the drawing next Friday.

Another thing I realized about last years Sheep and Wool Fest is that it was the first time I ever met blog friends in real life. That's always fun, because you already feel so close to the wonderful people you meet through blogging. And speaking of those wonderful people, I wanted to mention Nancy. She's been a wonderful friend, and one of the first to sponsor me and to donate a prize to my Diabetes Walk-A-Thon. And now she's raising money for a MS Walk-A-Thon, which is a cause very near and dear to her. If you can, please go over and help her out. Let me know if you did, and I'll give you another entry into the sock yarn drawing!!

MONKEY See, MONKEY Do

That's right. Everyone in blogland is knitting them, so I just had to knit them too.

Monkey
Cast On: 25 March 2007
Completed: 20 April 2007
Yarn: Mama-E's C*Eye*Ber Fiber Sock, Mermaids
Needles: Knit Picks DPNs US2 (3.0 mm)

I'll tell you, this pattern doesn't MONKEY around. It was very straightforward and easy to follow. Knitting these was more fun than a barrel of MONKEYS. Well, I'll be a MONKEY'S uncle, but these also count as my SAM3 April socks!!! Will I make it to the bottom of my April To-Knit List? Sure I will . . . . and MONKEYS might fly out my butt too.

Craft ADD

It is finally bright, sunny and warm here in New England, and I guess that's just what I needed to snap me out of my blue mood and make me feel like blogging again. In the past week, I've been working on all sorts of things, so I have plenty to show you. I've been knitting quite a bit, I sewed a pair of pajama bottoms, I've been doing a little counted cross-stitch, and Pea and I refinished our coffee table yesterday. I have so many project plans swirling around in my head, I hardly know which one to work on next!!

But blog-wise, I must show my favorite knit first - my Kiri Shawl.

Kiri Shawl
Cast On: 9 March 2007
Completed: 13 April 2007
Yarn: Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Ultra - Evergreen
Needles: US8 (4.5mm) Inox Circular. US10 and US13 needles for last row and bind off.

Please excuse the terrible lighting - we took these pictures on the day the Nor'easter hit!I only knit 10 repeats of chart two, and the shawl turned out the exact size I was hoping for. That was just an instance of beginner's luck, since I had no clue how much bigger it would grow when I blocked it. The whole process of blocking lace is just as magical as everyone claims it will be. I started with a thick, crinkled up triangle and ended with a large, light, airy shawl. I loved the whole process and can't wait to get started on my next lace project!!

A bit of a funk . . .

I had planned to post pictures of my Kiri shawl and the wedding from Sunday, but I'm having a hard time getting in the right frame of mind for it. Here in New England, we were hit with a terrible Nor'easter on Sunday. Luckily, it didn't take away from the happiness at the wedding (although most of my pictures are rather crappy). But on Monday as we drove home, we saw first hand the devastation it left. We passed a small dam and were surprised to see the same kind of mist you'd see at Niagara Falls. The amount of water pouring through and the sheer force it had was incredible. As we drove down-stream, we were not prepared for the flooding we saw. Houses with their entire yards under water, houses where only the second floor was visible, and sometimes, just a roof sticking out of the water. It was terrible.

Once we got home and turned on the T.V., we heard about what had happened at Virginia Tech. As the details continue to trickle out, I feel sicker and sicker about each fact I hear.

So in lieu some meaningless pictures of my shawl, let's take a minute to think about how precious and fragile life is. Hug the ones you love, and tell them how happy you are to have them in your life. For just this once, knitting can wait.

WIP of the Week - Kiri

Bound off . . .

In the bath . . .(ETA: Okay, I just realized that picture makes it look like I was soaking my shawl in the toilet bowl. I assure you, it was in my sink. I just did a bad cropping job - I clearly should have left more of the counter visible!!)

Blocking!

I love it and I now understand the magic of lace!! FO pictures to be taken tomorrow when it debuts at a wedding.

Yarn P*rn of the Week

Debbie Bliss Cathay in White

White yarn? With all the gorgeous colorways out there, I'm posting white yarn?? Do I know how to keep you guys interested or what??

Okay, but I am very excited about this yarn. First, because I bought it to knit the beautiful Tahoe pattern by my talented friend Kirsten. And second, because I got a really great deal on it!! White was the only color left, but that's okay with me. It's a very pretty, creamy shade of white and it will go with everything in my wardrobe.

So there you go. White yarn. Asleep yet?? I'll try to make my next post a bit more exciting for you!

What to post???

So, what do you post when you've got no WIP progress because Kiri looks the same as it did last time, only bigger? And you've got no Yarn P*rn because you are trying to avoid the stash so you aren't tempted to cast-on something new? And you've got nothing exciting to report because you've been spending all your time on your BORING and text-heavy on-line course, learning the ins and outs of system units, serial ports, motherboards, CPUs, RAMs, BIOS, OS . . . . . zzzzzzzzzz.

Well, if you are me, you look for a way to procrastinate. You find inspiration in pretty Easter cookies posted by Jessica. And you simultaneously avoid studying and come up with something slightly blog-worthy! Here's a small sample of what I made.I didn't have many supplies on hand for this impromptu cookie-fest, but I think I did okay. The biggest challenge is always altering the recipe so I can enjoy a few too. For the cookie dough, I changed the 3/4 sugar to 1/2 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup sugar. The texture and taste came out fine, but this seems to be a bland dough that is meant to be covered in sweet decorations. Unfortunately, if I did that, I could no longer eat them, so my cookies are fairly plain.

I did make a icing for the "ugly butterflies" (they really are!!) based on this recipe. After reading the reviews, I used 1 cup Splenda and 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and added some almond extract. It tastes funny on it's own, but is quite good on the cookies. My basic "Diabetic Rule of Thumb" when baking is to always use 2 parts Splenda and 1 part sugar. Your baked goods won't be sugar-free, but they will taste much better. I'd rather have a small portion of something great than a large portion of something that doesn't quite measure up.

Okay, procrastination over. I'm off to read about booting Windows, or "what happens when a PC starts to load Windows". Oh please, somebody save me!!!

Getting back on track

Thank you all for the sympathetic comments to my little flood last week. I don't deal well with those home emergencies and found the whole thing overwhelming. But, yesterday some lovely delivery men from Lowe's came with these:
Nothing like shiny new appliances to make everything seem better. I love having my freezer on the bottom now - it's so much more convenient and I have to wonder why these models are so hard to find? The household budget isn't very happy about the purchases, but they were very necessary and our tax refund will cover it. So things are looking good. I even managed to catch up on all my e-mails and blog reading today. Now if I could only get the reading done and quizzes completed for my on-line courses, I'd be completely back on track.

Speaking of getting on track, it's hard to believe April is here already. I think a monthly To Knit list is in order, to help me figure out what exactly my goals and deadlines are and to help me finish projects instead of knitting out of control. So, my goals for April are:

1. Finish and block Kiri Shawl in time to wear to a wedding on April 15th.
2. Finish second Monkey sock.
3. Finish a pair of Fetchings as March's Holiday Headstart project. (Ooopps, yes, I'm a month late on that one.)
4. Find and knit something for April Holiday Headstart project. (I think I have something picked out, just waiting for the pattern to be released.)
5. Swatch and start Tahoe when yarn arrives. (Would love to finish in April too, but that's not likely.)
6. Finish (or at least work on) Red Koigu Socks.

That's quite a list, so we'll have to see how it goes.

April has also brought a new round of Runagogo. I did manage my 100 Miles by April 1st, and I've reset my ticker for Round 2. But I've upped my personal goal to 200 miles. I think that may be a bit much, but if I can make it to 150 I'll be happy. And if I end up doing the 200, I'll be extra proud! Want to walk too? It's not to late to join.