Lot's of fun things going here!  Today Ann McCauley is teaching at our knit group.  This will be my second class with her and Im really excited about it!  Last year I took a seaming and finishing workshop and I can't even describe how much better my seaming is now.  The class is being sponsored by The Friends of the Forest Library (FOFL) and is free to all participants. The FOFL does many wonderful things for the community and this is just one of them!

A little over four years ago I started a knitting group at the Forest Library.   We meet the first and third Wednesday of each month.  It's been a great experience and Ive met a lot of wonderful people.  Ive been trying to find someone to take over being the group leader and liaison between the group and the library, but haven't had any luck.  Between working and everything we have going on in our lives Im just unable to continue running the group.  Im hoping that someone steps up to the task before the end of the year or the group will have to disband.  We have over thirty members of the group and usually have around ten people at our meetings.  I know everyone has commitments and other things going on in their lives but it's really time for someone else to have a turn at this.  One person asked why the group can't just meet without a liaison and why the group needed a leader at all.  The library receives grants and funding based on the number of people who attend events there.  There needs to be designated leader/liaison to report back to the librarian on the number of people in our group and to be a contact person for people who are interested in joining.  We also send an email out to remind the members of our meetings.  If you are interested in helping with the group or being the liaison, please leave a comment on here on my blog.

And now onto some knitting fun:

The Mermaids Tail Cowl is finished and I love it!

Handspun SW Merino Roving from Shalimar Yarns in Zombies Treat

 

Ive been working on the Miriam cardi in Shalimar Zoe Sock, colorway Driftwood.  Not only do I love knitting with this springy yarn, the colorway is really fantastic!  Im such a sucker for gray.  If I thought I could get away with it I think most of my knitting and wardrobe would be in shades of gray paired with white t-shirts. 

 

Ive already attached the sleeves and am on the raglan decreases.  It's a bit dark in the house for pictures this morning so Im using one from earlier this week.

 

Ive been a bit of a busy beaver and finished spinning 4oz of Hat Trick in Popsicle Stick from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts.  It's going to be paired with Breathless in Ore to make a Spectra by Stephen West. 

 

 

I really should have been painting the new shelves that Andy built for the dining room, but slacked off with spinning instead.  Good thing he is an understanding guy.  Oh wait, we did go fishing for most of the day on Sunday....



 



 



 

Cowltastic

I spin quite a bit, in fact this year I think my yardage is around 7,000 yards.  No kidding and no exaggeration.  A friend of ours  has a llama farm and I do the majority of their spinning.  It's a lot of fun and I really enjoy it.  The downside is that after I get the spinning done for them Im usually too tired of spinning to do any for myself.

 Kristi being the temptress that she is, had given me some of her fantastic super wash merino that she dyed in Zombies Treat the day that I kissed the sheep and caught the plague.  It spun up so nice and lovely, being very soft and light, and just a big knitting tease.  I let it sit on the coffee table for a couple of days so it could be admired by everyone one that came by. 

Today I just couldn't stand having that unknit handspun here a moment longer!  Before I even picked out a pattern, I wound it.  It sat there with me while I searched patterns on Ravelry.  I knew it wanted to be a cowl.  Something with some texture that would show off the colors of the yarn.  I finally came across the Mermaids Tail Cowl.  There was a moment of shear panic when I couldn't find the right needles and then realised that I was looking in the wrong slot in the circular organizer.  Before I knew it, I had cast on and the yarn was flying though my fingers.  Only one pattern repeat left and it will be done.  I think there is more than enough yarn to make another cowl, and possibly some matching mitt's.

Not the best picture, but I was so excited about it I just had to post!

 

Is anyone else counting down the days until The Walking Dead returns?  We can't wait!  Bring on the Zombies!

Sheep Plague

You would think that now that the kitchen is so close to being completed that I would have more time to do fun things like post on the blog.  While I have been having a bit more fun, I seem to have caught the sheep plague.  Ok, so that may (or may not) be the correct name for it.  But when you go to a fiber festival, hang out with some sheep, one of which just sticks her cute nose out there and you kiss it and a couple of days later you start sounding like a cross dressing frog, it really should be called the sheep plague.  I actually had to miss knit group this week because of it.  So seriously, no matter how cute they are, don't kiss a sheep!

I have had a bit of extra time to spin this week.  This is super wash merino from Shalimar Yarns in Zombies Treat.  Ive been bugging Kristi to do some zombie and Walking Dead colorways and I love what she dyed! 

This roving was so easy to spin, I swear it practically spun itself!  It came out at 350 yards, 4.10 oz.  I love it! 

Check out all the other pretty colors that Kristi dyed.  I had a really hard time choosing just one.  Im wearing Zombie's Treat to keep warm.  It was freezing in the barn at Shenandoah!

 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

I didn't think to write down the day when we started the kitchen makeover.  I really should have, because seriously it feels like it's been nine hundred and ten years that we have been working on it.  I'm pretty sure it was right after the Derecho that wiped out our power for almost a week.  So that would be early July.  Which really isn't that long ago when looking at the big picture.  When you are living in a kitchen that is a bit of a mess with half your dishes in the spare room and the other half missing in action, it's a bit of a challenge. 

We so close to being finished that I can taste it, or is that dinner that I'm dreaming of?  The only things left to do are minor in comparison to what we have done: painting the trim around the kitchen and dining room windows, changing the lower wall color in the dining and great rooms (the current color clashes with the new cabinet color), painting that trim,  constructing three shelves to go above the sideboard in the dining room and building a new pantry which will need paint as well. 

One thing that has been great is that Andy and I have taken a few weekends off here and there to regroup. This past weekend we went with friends to a wine festival on Saturday and spent most of the day fishing on Sunday.  We have a romantic four day weekend coming up which we are really looking forward to.  Biking by the beach, great food on the water, and hopefully not a lot of tourists.  I'm really looking forward to eating out.  I hear most restaurants don't keep their dishes in the spare room...

 

Andy built the cabinet above the island from scratch to match what we had.  I love how it turned out and it gives us a lot of extra storage space.

 

 

 

We have picked out a new light fixture for the dining room and will hopefully have it up soon.  This is what it currently looks like.  We took the leaves out of our table to make the room seem larger.  The sideboard is a new addition purchased at a discount furniture store.  It's the perfect size for our small room.

 

The pantry on the right is going to move into the spare room to store yarn and fiber.  There will be three shelves above the sideboard.  The new pantry will look very similar to the cabinets with wainscoting and crown molding.  It's going to be about a foot taller and possibly wider.  I'm hoping for some slide out shelves, but we will see what transpires there.

 

 

 

caissa

Earlier this year Anne Hanson asked me to do a test knit for a kimono style sweater.  Sight unseen, with only a hint of what it was going to look like, of course I agreed!  After all, Anne's patterns are fantastic and very well written.  Hints of what it would look like would pop up on her blog from time to time.  Little snippets of knitted fabric, hints about the shaping, and photo's of the yarn kept me on pins and needles!  Last month an email from Anne came and it was time to begin. 

 

It took me just a little over a month to complete my caissa and I really enjoyed every minute of the pattern.  It's straight forward, easy to follow and like all of Anne's sweater patterns, fit's perfectly. 

 

We have had a couple of cool nights here and Ive already had a chance to wear it.

 

 

It's the perfect sweater for wearing with jeans and a light shirt in the fall.  And this winter it will layer nicely over a long sleeve shirt.  Ive checked to see that it's light enough to fit under my coat which will make it perfect for car trips. 

 

The pattern should be coming out soon.  Keep an eye on Anne's blog for the details. 

 

If you would like to meet Anne and have a great learning experience, she will be at the Shalimar Yarns Studio on Friday September 21 for the Knitspot Finishing Series.  More information and the link to sign up is here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Labor Day

Our Labor Day weekend was very relaxing and enjoyable.  We went to Dish for dinner with Shannon and Rob and then walked around downtown. Taking pictures of each other and having a great time.

 

Andy really spoiled me all weekend by taking me out to lunch Sunday and Monday.  I really enjoy cooking, but it's so nice to have a break.

 

It rained for part of the weekend which means prime knitting time!  I made some real progress on my Cassia test knit that Im doing for Anne.  It's a fantastic and straight forward pattern which makes it perfect for tv watching or knitting when company is over.  I did a quick dry fit last night to check the sleeve length and I absolutely love how the sweater fits and looks!  Pictures to come soon! 

 

I did manage to squeeze in a few hexipuffs.  The grand total as of yesterday is 164.  Still a long way to go, but they seem to fly off the needles.  Each one takes about 20 - 30 minutes.  The Fair Isle ones take about 45.

 

Ive also discovered a new favorite wine.  No, not all of them!!  It's Flip Flop Moscato.

It's light, slightly sweet and even Andy who is not a fan of Moscato seems to like it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



More on the Kitchen and a bit of a break

August has been such a busy month and has flown by.  We have been working on the kitchen nearly every day.  There have been times when Ive wanted to give up from shear exhaustion.  Andy manages to keep going, I have no idea where he gets his energy and drive from.  He's really an amazing guy! 

 

It rained on Saturday so instead of being able to work on the upper cabinet doors we took a trip to Home Depot to purchase our new backsplash.  Little did I know that when we got home Andy was going to install it.  It looks like an old tin ceiling and came in sheets that are applied with adhesive.  It took just a few hours to put up and we love it!  It completely changed the look of our kitchen and will be much easier to care for than tile.

 

Shown here with my Shalimar Yarn's KAL project, Anarchary in the UK Handwarmers.  The yarn is Homage in Cranberry, Bluecrop and Tawny and is a dream to knit with!

 

 

The next time you see this kitchen there will be doors!

 

Andy and I did manage to take a three day weekend and head to Yorktown, VA.  We were both so exhausted from our home improvement projects that we really appreciated a quiet getaway.

 

We spent some time on the beach

Met a Pirate

Supported our forefathers

Saw cannon fire!

 

And quite honestly spent a lot of time at the Yorktown Pub