Maryland Sheep & Wool

Last Friday Andy, Shannon and I headed up to Maryland for the weekend.  We all got to stay with Kristi and Paul from Shalimar and I have to say we had a blast!  It was non stop fun from the moment we got there until we headed home on Sunday.  When we arrived on Friday we all pitched in for the Shalimar Yarns Annual MDSW party.  Before we knew it, people started arriving and the fun started.  I got to meet Julia Trice in person.  Have you ever worried about going to a party and having the same outfit on?  Well, this time it worked out really well! Julia and I both had our Adiri sweaters on.  She is so much fun and I had a great time getting to know her better over the weekend.

I only briefly got to talk to Kyrie who I haven't seen since last year.  She's an avid horse woman and couldn't stay long at the party.  A friends horse had foaled and poor little guy needed to be bottle fed due to a foaling complication.  From what Ive seen on Facebook the foal seems to be doing much better.  I bet Kyrie's helping hands had a lot to do with that!  Here she is with Andy.  They look like they were having a great time, it makes you wonder what they were talking about.

Here are Laurie and I working in the kitchen.  Laurie and I are kindred spirits and we kind of took over the kitchen when we got there.  She's a fantastic knitter and if you would like to see what she has made her Ravelry name is Ellejay119.  I have to say that I wish I lived closer to Laurie because I think we could have a lot of fun and possibly get into a lot of trouble together!

Saturday at MDSW was crazy busy.  It was fun walking around, doing a little shopping and getting to spend time with friends that live in other parts of the country.  I had finished my Audrey in Unst in Breathless DK Copper Pennies and it was actually cold enough to wear it on Saturday morning.  The only problem was that I hadn't counted my buttons before knitting the button band.  A quick email to Melissa Jean and problem solved!  She had a button waiting for me when we got to her booth on Saturday and I sewed it on as soon as we left the booth.  Now that is some awesome customer service!

That cute guy in my lap is Enzo.  He is so much fun and really larger than life.  A bouncing ball of energy and fun.  He was waiting at our bedroom door each morning to come and jump onto the bed to cuddle.  Speaking of fun loving, Michelle Miller/FickleKnitter is one of the most fun people to hang out with!  We had a meet and greet with her at the Shalimar tent on Saturday.  It had warmed up and we had a chance to sit and knit and chat joke around and tease Shannon. She's a really lovely person and a wonderful designer.

Connie and I both wore our Frost in Bloom's in Shalimar Breathless and Homage on Saturday and Shannon was kind enough to take a quick picture.  Shannon had on her Ribbon Street Cowl and I was so lax with the camera this weekend that I forgot to take ANY pictures.  I wish I had because she really looked adorable in it, especially when she had it paired up with her straw cowboy hat.  Maybe I can coerce her into a photo shoot.

I finished up the new infinity scarf. If you have a name idea, please leave it in the comments of my last post.  The winner will receive a free copy of the pattern when it's published.  It's currently being test knitted and should be released around June 1st.

I'll have a bit more on MDSW in my next post with a few of the goodies that I picked up while we were there.  I picked up the cutest needle felting kit's from a new vendor!  More on that later :)

Fun Times!

December has flown by faster than I ever could have thought possible.  Every day this month has been hectic and it seems I get further and further behind.  Normally, Im done with the Christmas cards and shopping around Thanksgiving.  To be honest, I still have a few cards to send out, nothing is wrapped and I totally forgot to get the dog and bunny kids anything.  A trip to Petsmart tomorrow will fix that, but Im wondering who the heck is going to clean the house before the in laws come on Sunday?  Volunteers?  Yeah, I didn't think so.  That's ok because Im  hoping to distract everyone with cookies and presents.  If the Christmas tree lights are on it should totally distract from the dog hair on the furniture.  At least that's the game plan for now.

In any case we have really had a fun month.  Last weekend we met Kristi and Paul in Yorktown for a fun photo shoot and a trip to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens.  We had such a great time looking at the lights of Christmas Town, going on the bumper cars and drinking hot cocoa.  It really was lovely.

It was freezing on Sunday when we did the shoot for the Adiri sweaters.  The guys kept their coats and slofocks on and got busy with the cameras.  It's amazing how quickly a shoot can get done when the promise of the Yorktown Pub is the reward for finishing!

Here we are in our Adiri's

 

And the guys in their slofocks

 

 

If you have a chance, check out the new Indulge Me! Club that we are offering at Shalimar.  It's got four great designers and lot's of yummy yarns! Im so excited to be part of the club!



Andy and I really enjoy decorating for Christmas each year.  We try to change things up a bit from year to year to keep it completely crazy interesting.  A couple of years ago we decided that putting up a huge tree each year was too much work so we opted for what is supposed to be an entryway tree and using it on our coffee table.  It's a really cute fir tree and came in a nice little pot.  After rearranging the furniture after the new floor was done, putting the tree on the coffee table would completely block the tv.  Not that I would mind a little break from the tv, but I really do like to watch certain movies this time of year:  Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, Christmas with the Kranks, Home Alone, Surviving Christmas, Love Actually and my all time favorite, The Holiday. 

So this year we decided to put our tree on the bar counter by the new cabinet.  Not only did it add some height to the tree, but it's a great focal point.  The two tree's on the right are new additions this year.

 

Because I love anything sparkley (Can we say Magpie?) we added these most awesome and very silver tree's to the stairwell.

 



 

The little Christmas village on the mantle complete with blue lights

 

 

 

We even decorated the Ghastlies.  The little girl with the hammer is my favorite.

 

 

 

I try to make at least one new decoration each year.  This button tree was a really quick and fun project.  The base is a styrofoam cone purchased at a craft shop. I then put the buttons on with straight pins and small bead.  The bead will stop the pin from going completely through the button hole. 

 



 

I also made these cute little tree's from vintage spools, ribbon and tree's found at the craft store and dollar store.  The blue ornament with the white deer was my Dad's.  It's one of the only things I have that was his and I treasure it.  It has a special place on the tree each year.

 

 

 

If you look hard, there is a pink tree in the back right of the photo.  It has pink lights and it's my favorite.  I kind of snuck it into the living room this year.  It's usually hidden in our bedroom. 

 

 

Well, my Adiri sweater is soaking and it's time to block it.  I'll have finished pictures in my next post, here is one of the body.  It's in Shalimar Haven in the Mandarin colorway.  I absolutely love and can't wait to wear it!  I have this crazy notion about getting some leggings to wear with it.  I know Im well over the age where this is acceptable, but I just don't care!  They are cute and Kristen Stewart looked adorable in them in the latest Twilight movie.

 

 

One last Holiday thing.  This is from Lion Brand Studio's shop in NYC.  It's the most beautiful Holiday window display Ive ever seen.  Everything it knitted, even the swans.  You can read more about it and how they created it on their blog.