Catching Up and FO's

It's been a whirlwind here the last few weeks and it's hard to know where to begin.  I have to admit that I may have had a extra iron or two on in the fire last month but it was all in good fun.  Anne asked me to test knit her new and fantastic pattern - Sticks N Stones.  Not only was this a fun knit, but it's really straight forward and allowed for some good movie and tv time with Andy. 

Keep an eye out on Ravelry and Anne's blog for this great pattern!  The yarn is Woolen Rabbit Sporty in Olive Green.

Kristi, from Shalimar Yarns has added a wonderful new 100% silk lace yarn, Ardent, to the Shalimar line.  When she asked me if I wanted to try it out I jumped at the chance!  This is the Ring of Lace Wrap in Ardent Conch Shell.  You can see it in person at the Shalimar Yarns Booth next weekend at Maryland Sheep & Wool.  We will be in the All About Yarns tent.  Join us on Saturday at 1:00 for a meet and greet!

In preparation for MDSW we have been having a KAL in the Shalimar Yarns Group on Ravelry.  We chose the Calsada Scarf and will be wearing them at the meet and greet.  It's a quick and fun pattern and works up beautifully in Shalimar Breathless.  Pictured here in the Tahoe colorway.

Last weekend Andy and I took a trip up to visit with Kristi and Paul for Anne Hansons Sweater Fitness Workshop.  I can't tell you how much fun it was and how much I learned!  Ive already started my next sweater, a Sprossling in Breathless Hemmingway.  Anne had some great tips on fitting my figure and they are really working well. 

Ive been coveting some of the cute bags on etsy and decided that it would be more cost effective to make my own.  Andy and I have been watching Mad Men on Netflix.  It's our new obsession and we can't wait to finish dinner and sit down, relax and watch a new to us episode.  When I saw this fabric it seemed like the perfect choice for my bag:

You can read more of last weekends adventures on Anne's blog!

 



Happy Easter!

Being behind on deadlines and up to my ears in painting the trim and stairs in our house seemed like a logical reason to say the heck with it all this morning and dye some eggs!  I used food coloring, olive oil and sea salt to get these results. 

And now back to work!

Have a Happy Easter/Passover!

Is that a Gargoyle in your Strawberries, or are you just happy to see me?

This is one of two Garden Gargoyles that we have.  We figured they would keep the Garden Gnomes away.  The strawberries are blooming and a few of them have the beginnings of berries on them.

This morning I got up extra early and went out to work on the garden before the bee's came out.  I have to plan my garden work carefully as I am highly allergic to stinging insects of all kinds.  It can be challenging at times but I try to make the best of things.

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, beans, leeks, swiss chard and carrots all planted this morning.  The soaker hose is new this year.  Im hoping it cuts down on the amount of physical work required to keep things watered.  Im also laying down newspaper and will place straw on top.  I ran out of newspaper which is why this part isn't done yet!

On the home improvement front we have a completed project! 

This is our bedroom.  The paint is Behr Pewter Mug and was the closest color we could find to Shalimar Black Truffle.  My most favorite color of all!

Andy has been working on replacing and reconfiguring the stairs leading to our finished basement.  They have been a bane to my existence.  I actually fell down them the first time I was ever here while carrying plates of pizza.  The carpet on them and in the basement is cream color and I was horrified that I was going to drop the pizza and Andy would never have me over again.  Well, I didn't drop the pizza and we have been married for almost seven years so it worked out pretty well.

Before reconfiguration:

During:

The plan is to paint the treads black and the risers will be wainscoting in white.  Hopefully finished pictures to come soon!

A short break

Is it just me, or does it look like this llama is wearing glasses?

We took a break from home improvement hell this past weekend and went to the VA Classic Llama and Alpaca Show.  Our friends the Hall's who own Posy Thisisit Llamas had a booth there.  It was great fun to visit with them and catch up.  We haven't gotten together in more than a year so there was a lot of yakking going on!  We have plans to get together again at Maryland Sheep & Wool so our next visit wont be too far off. 

Jamee' and I had a bit of fun with some roving and designed new Princess Leia costumes:

This is the last room that we layed flooring in.  It's really supposed to be our office, but Ive sort of taken it over.  That's Andy in the closet using the nail gun to put the final touches on the half round molding.

Yesterday I painted all the closets on the main floor.  While this may seem like a waste of time, really who is ever going to notice, apparently the people who lived here before us thought this and only had put primer on the walls in them.  They look much better and have a nice clean and fresh scent.  Tomorrow I'm painting our bedroom.  More on that to come!

In my very limited down time I did manage to finish a pair of socks:

The Weasley Homstead by Erica Lueder.  It's a free pattern on Ravelry and can be found here. BMFA STR in Mossy Manly.  Ive also nearly finished seaming my second Blumchen It should be finished by Thursday just in time for even warmer weather! 

 Speaking of warmer weather, it was a crazy 80 degrees here today.  It's only March and I'm really concerned about what summer is going to have in store for us.  Andy and I worked in the garden for a couple of hours - pruning, thinning, removing some weeds and generally getting the soil ready for planting.  We are tying up loose ends with things around the house before fishing season begins.  Our next project is reconstruction of the stairs leading to our basement.  Someday, someday soon, I will have more knitting time again.  I just know it!

Flooring

After a long day twelve hours on Saturday we managed to get the great room and hallway flooring finished.  Sunday we did the trim work, polished/waxed the floor and replaced the heating vents.  The project took quite a bit longer than what we planned.  Some of the old flooring had been glued down and was rather difficult to remove.  Plus the fifty gazillion staples that needed to be pulled up didn't help matters.  What does help and is awesome, is Tylenol and lots of it! 

That's Roper in the big chair on the left.  He supervised us this weekend and made sure everything was square and layed down correctly.

We did a bit of redecorating with the furniture.  The room seems more spacious and we both really like facing the tv rather than having it in between the windows.  The little black fuzzy guy under the window on the right is Kiwi our house bunny.  He is litter box trained and really cool.   

The plan is to put the new floor in our bedroom this weekend.  It's a smaller area with less cutting (we hope) and should go a bit faster.  It's a lot of work, but we are saving a ton of money by doing it ourselves.  Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself.  Saving money on labor means more yarn money.  Yeah that's the ticket!

Spinning

My goal this January was to card and spin the Jacob fleece that I purchased two years ago at Maryland Sheep & Wool.  It was a small fleece, just two pounds before scouring.  It was really fine with a short staple of about 1 1/2 - 2" and had little grease/lanolin.  One of the volunteers working the fleece sale helped me and told me that she thought this was most likely a lamb's fleece.  While it's not quite as soft as merino, it's pretty darn close. 

Andy helped me do a bit of the carding when my arm got tired from cranking the drum carder.  It was a fun challenge during January and helped to keep the winter dull drums at bay.  I wound up with a total of 1,005 yards of a nice worsted weight.  Enough I hope for a short sleeved sweater.

In the middle of spinning the Jacob fleece I got a note from my friend Jamee' asking me to do some spinning for her.  She and her mom Joyce have llamas, goats and sheep.  Joyce's farm is Posy Thisisit Llamas.  I always love it when they ask me to spin!  So far Ive spun up a total of 2,204 yards of worsted weight yarn for them.  Just in February!  It's really helping to keep my legs in shape too which is a nice added benefit.

Bobbins of plied yarn waiting to be skeined.  This fiber came from Ivy Lace, Jamee's llama.  It's a beautiful oatmeal color.

Skeins of the same yarn waiting to be washed. 

Im taking this weekend off from work so Andy and I can install a new floor in our great room, hallway and bedrooms.  That doesn't really sound like time off...

Here is a before picture:

The carpet doesn't look bad from a distance.  Up close is another story. 

To be continued.

Snow!

It seemed like winter never really arrived in Virginia this year.  Daffodills had started to bloom and I noticed that a few redbud tree's had started to get little buds on them.  When we heard the forecast for snow yesterday Andy and I chuckled a bit.  Well it turns out the joke was on us.  We had a little over eight inches of snow yesterday.  It's the kind that sparkles like glitter in the sun which is my favorite. 

When I lived in Maine I couldn't wait for winter to be over.  Some winters there is so much snow that it is overwhelming.  We had 99 - ninety nine - inches of snow the last year I lived there.  All the shoveling, plowing, and snow blowing became very tiresome to say the least.  Living in Virginia has been a refreshing experience.  Businesses and schools shut down at the near mention what would be considered flurries in Maine.  Grocery stores get wiped out of bread, milk and eggs before a storm so a little planning is helpful if you know that snow is coming.  A few people who are native to the area have said to me that the snow here is much worse than what comes down in Maine.  They have the impression that snow in Maine is light and fluffy and pretty much what you would see in a holiday movie.  That ice storms just don't happen that far north.  I can tell you from first hand experience that  there are ice storms and the snow in Maine is just as heavy as snow in Virginia.  The snow in Maine doesn't melt in a day or two like it does here though.  The ground there freezes to the density of granite which helps keep the snow around for the entire winter. 

Im going to enjoy the snow here while it lasts and be thankful that it will be gone in a day or two.