I'm very happy to report that the 'Clapotis' is finished and at Glowing Kay's house being blocked (for the low low price of a lovely Riesling).

I have since started a purse for my mother that was actually a Mother's Day present made out of yarn I purchased at Stitches 2006. I haven't seen her in person since prior to Mother's Day, and did send her a backup present to make up for the fact that her purse was still not in her possession (let alone even cast on yet!). The yarn is from a local place 'Kiparoo Farm' and I am really enjoying knitting with it. Makes me wonder what took so long to get this project started. Oh yeah, I remember. I never want to knit something I'm supposed to knit, just something I want to knit.

Before I forget to mention, this is 'National Be Nice To New Jersey Week'. I had to mention it since so many knitters I know are from Jersey- and admit it.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

It's official!!!! 'Shaun The Sheep' will finally make it's television debut in the United States on Sunday July the 8th on the Disney Channel. Yeah!

This is also the same day as my Stitch and Pitch road trip to see the Pittsburgh Pirates. Funny enough, when I called the Pirate front office to make sure I would be able to still get a goodie bag if I used a ticket purchased somewhere other than a yarn shop, the gal sounded horrified and announced, "You just can't knit anywhere in the park! We've had to get special permits to allow you all to knit in the designated are you will be in!" Let me guess, the area will be surrounded by police with teargas in case we get out of hand??????? The inmates did such a good job at last week's game that we decided to let the knitters come on out this week???? Give me a break!

So remember, you can't just knit anywhere you please, but a great new cartoon will be the reward at the end of the day.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

One of these days I will figure out that every time I knit in the sun- I get funky sunburn.

In order to steal myself a little knitting time today, I took the kids to a model airplane air show. Not knowing we would stay so long, I neglected to bring the sun screen. Whoops. I now have a burned left arm, burned right forearm, and burned right thigh. The rest of me is still pasty pale. Lovely!

Off to the Drive-In tonight. I'm going to practice knitting by touch during the two movies 'Surf's Up' and 'Evan Almighty'. It was either knitting by touch or using a light to knit. Anyone who has ever been to Bengie's Drive-In knows that the bug element demands the lights go out. I can't wait to spray the DEET all over my sunburn. Auuggghhh!

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Weather is a funny thing in Maryland. It's doing one thing at one point in time and then- WHAM!

Case in point would be yesterday. As soon as I got done blogging about the perfect weather, storm clouds rose up and smacked us hard with a good storm. Because of this, there was no sports camp and I got to go to sit 'n knit. The best part was arriving to see Miss Christine had brought the perfect new child for us to ooo and ahhhh over. GiantsKnitter made the cutest tank top for her (Yet another of Giants Knitter's awesome creations of late!)

I was very excited to attach the final ball of yarn for my 'Clapotee' shawl. I can't wait to have another shawl to wear! Here's hoping my little people give me enough time to knit this weekend!

Happy Knitting and Spinning

Happy Summer Solstice!

The weather is perfect in Maryland today. I hope that everyone gets a chance to sit outside and knit, since it is the longest day of the year.

Exciting news... the kids are off to San Diego for a couple days in July, which means I get to go to Sit 'N Knit on Thursday July 12th!!!!!! Yeah me. (Yes, I am planning that far in advance!) Hope to see you then, if not sooner.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

It's Socks That Rock Day at my house. My third package arrived just now and I am holding a wonderful colorway called 'Firebird'. The pattern for this one is called 'The Solstice Slip', and from the pictures the yarn and pattern look great together.

My son was looking at the yarn, and after some reflection he said that the colors remind him of Hong Kong. The red reminds him of the palaces, and the oranges and pinks and peaches remind him of flowers that might be found there. I can't beat that description, so there you have it.

Off to the kid's end of school year Jello fight at church. My church was never this fun when I was a kid!

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

I'm trying to keep busy and not concentrate on the fact that today was the very last day that I will ever drop my children off at elementary school. E- gads!

I've got to pick the 'Clapotee' back up and get to work! These hot summer days have everyone blasting their air conditioning and freezing those of us dressed for the hot weather. I have been using my 'Falling Leaves' shawl every day and I need to mix things up a bit. It's two thirds of the way done, so it really should not be an issue. The problem is convincing myself that I want to work with a wool/silk blend in 97 degree weather (don't forget the humidity!). So much for this project being a Christmas gift.

In sock news, I'm still loving working on my 'Embossed Leaves Socks' from the Interweave 'Favorite Socks' book. However...these socks look all adorable and slouchy on this model's skinny little legs, and I've got to say- all the Ben and Jerry's I've been consuming lately so that I don't consume the same amount of alcohol is not helping these socks look slouchy on my now chubbier legs! Why can't we women crave carrot sticks when stressed? Then my socks would be cute and slouchy.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Congrats to my babies. Today was their Elementary School Graduation Ceremony. I'm surprised that I felt a little emotional at the end. The kids have only attended this school for two years, and all of us were more attached to the other school, it's faculty, and students. However, graduations and new beginnings apparently will make me teary eyed where ever they are held. On to Middle School. (Help us all!)

Thanks for your support yesterday! I love my children...and their repetitive noises. Weekly sit 'n knit ( read- mommy alone time) helps me to like them as well as love them. Discussions are in the works for a traveling "get out and knit in public" Wed. night schedule. Perhaps getting to a Fredrick Keys baseball game for instance. Let me know any ideas you may have.

Today was tons better! I had a day to myself without work or children and I'm exhausted from all the fun Miss Cathy and I had.

We started the day bright and early in Fells Point at 'A Good Yarn' for the usual Saturday morning fun. From there we hit up 'Liquid Earth' for healthy beverages and a french bakery for bread.

Next stop was Mt. Vernon. The 'Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt' exhibit started at The Walters Art Museum yesterday, and eight of the the quilters were in attendance talking about their work. This exhibit is a must see! The women of this isolated community (population 750) have created what the New York Times has called, "Some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced." This was an amazing learning experience.

After grabbing some burgers at 'Five Guys' (because we could) we headed on down to 'Bedazzled' bead shop on North Charles. (This was great because today was a Gay Pride Parade we got to see at it's starting point.) I picked up some beads to make a set of "Save The Ta-Ta's" stitch markers for the month of October. Fun.

The final stop on our tour of Mt. Vernon was a quick peek into the Baltimore Basilica (or officially the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) which is America's first Cathedral and a symbol of religious freedom and an historic treasure for Americans of all faiths. It's amazing, yet truly Catholic in the way that the large door is so loud and squeaky it immediately rats you out for being late to service and thus sets in the ever important- Catholic Guilt! Typical.

After all of this fun I'm going to make a girlie drink and work on my sock while watching a Saturday night movie. Here's hoping I can remember back to this day without children a month from now and know that someday I will have a day to myself again.

Happy Knitting and Spinning.

This is going to be a VERY long summer. The kids are already bouncing hard on that one last nerve, and thanks to a horrible scheduling error I will be sitting at my son's sport camp every Thursday night instead of sit 'n knit.

Pray for me

While at The Mannings on Saturday, we were looking through a book "Knit One, Haiku Too" by Maria Fire. Since then, everything seems to be a haiku in my home. Because of this, today became Haiku Day. I'll spare you the ones that truly tickled our fancy, but share some knitting/ fiber related poems.

the fiber twists down

from the turning drop spindle

to make lovely yarn

my stash is alive

a skein of yarn jumped into

my washing machine

(True story. I found a skein of Bartlet yarn in my washing machine as I was moving the clothes to the dryer yesterday. Still don't know how that happened)

sock yarn is the best

it doesn''t take up much space

a skein makes a pair

Now it's your turn!!!! Leave a haiku here in the comments, or post one (or some) on your own blog. WARNING- these can be addictive.

Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Oh yeah, I forgot to report that it took less than an hour for the 'Statue Sock' to be taken off of the statue's foot on Sunday. That's why I didn't knit a pair!

The remainder of Knit In Public Day yesterday was spent at the LakeFest in Columbia. We knit in public while waiting for the fireworks display to go off. The fireworks went off pretty late (10:30pm), but were worth staying out for. It had to have been the longest and BRIGHTEST fireworks display I've ever seen! It was so bright at the finale that we still had to squint even after digging out out our sunglasses. Now that's bright.

Today was a special Arts Festival sit 'n knit. The weather was not so great, but we still managed to recruit two new knitters to hang out with us and talk fiber for a bit.

Before we left the festival we caught an amazing performance by 'Strange Fruit'. The Australian performing arts act traveled to the states for the first time and we were delighted to see this original (and terrifying) show. Four people, each a top a 13 foot metal pole, swinging around so that you thought that either the pole would break or they would fall, all while performing a mime type of show (but not freaky mime). It was great.

I do have to report in that I have plied my first official worsted weight yarn. I think it's not bad for only my third try at spinning and the fact that it was a very short staple of fiber. I'm happiest that it was consistently even. I really have to work on plying with the drop spindle. I've already started spinning 'The Eye of the Tiger' roving that I made yesterday. This fiber has a lot longer staple, so it's already going quickly. Here's hoping!

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

What a day!

The Mannings held their 39th Annual Spinning Seminar today in East Berlin, PA and as usual we got there at the beginning and left after it ended. And the best part, my daughter loved every minute of it!

We all loved drum carding the fleece that Sally Jenkins had for us to mix and match. I'm getting ready to start spinning my yarn that I named "Eye of the Tiger". My daughter made three different color ways. What a natural!

We loved watching the different processes that Flax goes through before it can be spun. What a great way to deal with any anger management issues you might be having that day! Lots of crushing and beating before it even gets to the combing.

Yummy food was provided by the church ladies (they even had homemade root beer that was almost as good as the Shoe Fly Pie).

And of course, there was shopping.

The end of the day found us under the shade of a tree spinning and knitting while figuring out how to spend the rest of our days in the peaceful-fiber-cat filled world that is The Mannings. Of course, we would require the church ladies to cater our retirement.

For those of you planning on going to The Mannings in August for the Knit In, remember to go with an empty tank of gas (it's dirt cheep up there!) and pack your own food (the church ladies only come for the Spinning Seminar).

Happy Spinning and Knitting.

Some people have their 'Tree Sweaters', I have my 'Statue Sock'.

If you are headed out to the LakeFest in Columbia this weekend, check out the statue 'The Hug' located outside the Lakeside Cafe. It is a wonderful statue depicting a little girl getting a great big hug from an adult male. This little girl's feet need socks, and the Arts Festival is the perfect time to adorn her with a hand knit present.

It seemed a lot more practical than a 'Tree Sweater'.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

At last a day to sleep in! But wait what is that noise I hear? Of course! We must always cut the grass at 8am. Apparently cutting grass is like going fishing. Something to be done only in the wee hours.

I should be thankful for this rude awakening, however. I have 95 pages left to read in 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' before it's due back at the library before 9pm this evening. I probably shouldn't have made plans for lunch and an afternoon sit 'n knit. Alas. I think the fine is 20 cents if I return it on my way to work tomorrow morning instead.

A busy next couple of days is in store for knitting and spinning:
*Sit 'n Knit today at Vantage House
*Sit 'n Knit tomorrow at the Lakeside Cafe
*The Columbia Festival of the Arts kicks off Friday at the Lakefront
*The 39th Annual Spinning Seminar at The Mannings on Saturday
*Sit 'n Knit Sunday at the Lakeside Cafe in honor of National Knit In Public Day (that is actually the day before) and also the Lakefront Arts Festival.

Whew! Hope to see everyone at some point. Happy Spinning and Knitting!

This picture was so me last night, only I wasn't in bed- I was in a parking lot. The kids had a late night Birthday party from 7:45-9:45 bouncing around 'Pump It Up'. I had every intention of finding a quiet little coffee shop and getting lots of knitting done, but this town had no such place for me. After driving around for 45 minutes, I started to get nervous. I needed to knit! I needed my fix! So back I went to the parking lot where the kids were jumping around inside, and I started to knit in the car. The daylight started to give way to twilight, the twilight gave way to darkness. I was not to be stopped. Out I jumped and sat on a curb knitting under a street light. This is when parents exiting the building with their precious children started to REALLY look at me weird. I must have looked like a loon, but I needed to get some knitting in or one of my kids wasn't making it through the night! By the time the party ended, Mommy was all better. Bug bites and all.

Happy Knitting!