spring has sprung

and here's the yarn to prove it.

The color is called daffodil 292 yards of 17wpi Romney. Enough to make a short pair of socks. Which is what I would do with it were it in my stash. But I've donated it to church for the goods and services auction. I'm hoping they get at least $10 for it.

I also put in a half dozen knitted dishcloths. I can afford to take them from my 'stash' of cloths... I'm always making more. Speaking of I need to start on one for my exchange partner.

This weekend was a bust. I got nothing accomplished that I wanted to. Oh well...I'll work like mad all week...

I cast on the BSJ for Mabel... I have about 8 purl ridges finished... EZs instructions are sparse to say the least.

Mom went with us to church and lunch. I hope she enjoyed her little outing. Not much else exciting....

I start teaching the chilluns at school to knit this afternoon... should be fun. Can't wait and I have GREAT help this year. So I went to Wegmans to get some back up chopsticks. Got a dozen pair from the prepared foods and asked how much they would be. The woman looked at me as if I were crazy. She thought I was asking for more... she told me just to take them, that they were free. The ones in the asian food aisle are square and the tapered the whole length, so they don't make for good knitting needles.
Good for me and the kids. Our charity is project Linus this year. Hope we get a few blankies made for those kids.....

more knitting planned

I got my Knitpicks order yesterday for two baby projects. All of the yarn is Swish Merino in DK. It's superwash which makes it perfect for those surprise baby events....


This yarn is for Mabel's BSJ... Hoping that it's knit a bit bigger than the original since the gauge is a bit fewer stitches to the inch (like a .5 stitch per inch)







This collection is for the wild stripes blanket at knitty.com. This baby isn't due until mid September, so I should be able to work on it a bit at a time (So exciting)



These beautiful flowers were sent to me by on of my colleagues and friends. Such is the promise of spring and new life... each day brings more healing.

....and life goes on

I spent the weekend cherishing my family and doing things that heal.

First: the local church had a community Easter Egg hunt....This was after crafts, drama and singing. The kids had a blast.



We colored eggs here at home. And got food prepared for the usual family dinner at my brother's house. This cake was part of our contribution. DD helped decorate it. She really loves the cooking thing.





I finished the cloth that I started at pop's bedside and gave it to my SIL who hosted the family. There are a few mistakes in it. Guess my concentration wasn't so good. But she loves it anyway.

Pattern: diagonal ripple cloth
Yarn: Lily's Sugar n Creme
Color: Delft Blue
Needle: US7

I started to knit a prayer/healing shawl for the ministry at church. Dad was given the last one by the woman at church who is a nurse at the hospital and happened to be not only on his floor but taking care of patients right next door (and really took care of him as well) She tells us that on his last good night, they spent hours talking about many things and felt honored to have met him. This is a Lion Brand pattern and I'm using the same yarn that the group uses... Lion Brand Homespun, even though I really don't enjoy knitting with it. It is incredibly soft though (and machine washable) I knit during both services on Sunday morning and felt no guilt but prayed that the spirit of the services were knit into the cloth and it would provide as much (or more) healing to whomever receives it as it was giving me to knit it. I hope to finish it this week.

We had the annual egg hunt at my brother's house in the afternoon. The eggs were hidden in crazy places and obvious places. DD cleaned up, but she knows that she has to share the loot with her brothers.






Mom really enjoyed watching the excitement. It was the normalcy of the kids with the holiday that kept everyone going.





The good news is that our family was blessed with a new baby on Sunday morning. And she's beautiful Congratulations Cameron and Rachel. I'll cast on soon with a BSJ... just ordered the yarn (superwash merino) last night from Knit Picks I also bought yarn for the Wild Stripes blanket from Knitty.com to knit for our friends who are expecting their third. NIce to know we're not the only crazy ones out there ;-)

Early this morning (like 2AM) I dyed some yarn that I had spun on my wheel. I used the leftover egg dye for this skein. I didn't know what I was going to call it, but then it struck me.... hyacinth. It really looks like a combination of the colors of hyacinth with the green leaves. What do you think?

Today, I went to mom's to help clean out dad's stuff. I got all his clothing packed up so we can donate the usable to the church rummage sale next month. The unusable, I'll take to recycle. She's doing OK... sometimes better than her daughter.

until later, happy crafting

R.I.P. pop

well he got back to Wood River... and I had the honor of being at his side....

you've travelled to a better place... we love you dad.

12.7.21- 3.20.08

knitting news

The soap sack is finished. It doesn't even deserve a special place here... but just as a record there's a picture... I knit it with cotton chenille I bought last year from ebay (a 2 pound cone) that is lighter weight than dishcloth cotton, but I wanted something really soft for dad's skin. Who knows if he'll be back in the apartment to use it. The poor guy. Now they're talking of doing a bone marrow test on him because of his unexplained anemia (ouch... I've heard they really hurt) and he's very confused a lot of the time. It looks like when he gets out of the hospital, they'll put him in the PCU at the Village... it's not far from the apartment, so mom can scoot down there and visit as much as she'd like, but still.... it's really depressing me.


The weekly KAL for dishcloths at ravelry was the garterlac. I've always wanted to try it. I'm not too happy with how mine turned out. I think I goofed up the picking up of stitches to make the new squares and triangles. Oh well... It's only gonna warsh dishes, right?

Pattern: Garterlac Dishcloth
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter cotton
Color: Beach Ball Blue
Needle: US 7


Saturday evening, I visited my folks. Dad is still in the hospital, but I took the vest back down to try it on him. the man has unusually deep arms... from armpit to shoulder. I have to rip back both shoulders and make the armhole deeper. My mom says that that part of his body matches his ears.. she could have a point! Mom is enjoying her shawl and the attention that it draws. The ladies at the village really like it, so she's very happy and so am I!

I brought back the chicken and the cut glass bowl from my grandma's house (they were her mothers) as well as some loaf pans and tiered cake pans... never know when they could come in handy. Soon the auction house will go through the stuff to see what they feel they can sell.

I must go to bed.. I'm very very tired these days. Thanks for all your prayers.

Happy crafting and tell your family and friends you love them!

more knitted goodness

finally finished the last details on the baby kimono:

For: Baby Nicholas
Pattern: Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Bernat Organic Natural Cotton
Color: Mineral Spring Trim: Oasis
Needle: US7
Button: from stash

Thanks D for the i cord suggestion and trim on sleeves. I took it one step further and did trim along all the edges. Ties it together more. I was going to put 2 buttons, then decided it limited the sizing possibilities, so then thought of ribbon, but when D saw the hat she said... trim the sleeves in varigated and put varigated i-cord tie... great idea! Hope the mama likes it and it's comfy on the babe.


Also finished the Monthly Dishcloth March KAL and gifted it to my friend Sam

Pattern: The Empty Tomb by Lindy
Yarn: Elmore Pisgah Peaches and Creme
Color: Camel (reminds me of coffee ice cream!)
Needle: US6


This cloth is timely for me. Dad was taken to the hospital again Tuesday evening. Among other things, he has a bladder infection... not good. The prognosis is glum and he really would rather be on the other side. I ask for your prayers for my mom and my brothers in dealing with this. Me, I know what waits him is better than what he has now. I just hope that he can pass with some dignity and not too much pain. Guess I better hurry up and finish that vest........

I leave you with the complete baby gift..I think it looks pretty all together.

babies born, older folks die

well within the past 10 days 2 'kids' that I know have given birth. They really aren't kids but in comparison to myself they are. So the baby knitting began. First the baby kimono pattern in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. It's finished but needs blocking and 2 buttons. Perhaps tonight... And I also made for the same baby a coordinating

Umbilical cord hat from the Stitch n Bitch book
Yarn: Bernat Organic Natural Cotton
Color: Oasis
Needle: US7 dpns

better pictures to follow paired with the sweater.

I still have to make another sweater and hat for the 2nd baby but that will be in green.

The head custodian for my school district was killed in an automobile accident Friday morning. Doesn't seem real. His memorial service was this evening and it was SRO... a true testament to the kind of guy he was. RIP Jay.

I finished the back of dad's vest. Kind of took the armhole and shoulder shaping to my own liking. I hope I took enough notes to replicate it on the front. At least the shoulder shaping. And yes! there will be enough yarn :-)

off to bed... this daylight savings time change is killing me!

another ballband

to complement last weeks. Same colors, negative image. Actually after this was bound off and the pictures had been snapped, I found 3 spots where on the purl side I hadn't pulled the brick color to the back... .guess I won't rip back, after all it is just a warshrag... supposed that means I'm keeping the set. remember these are the colors I used in the Monthly dishcloth mid February KAL... made these two cloths as well and there's still plenty of yarn left for another 2 color cloth and maybe a 2 color scrubby as well! I think the peaches and cream skeins are larger than sugar and cream or something. For sure the yarn feels softer to me.

Progress on dad's vest. I started reading the directions for the armholes in the back and got stumped until I had some helpfrom the knitlist crew. So I'll continnue to plod along. I had wanted to get there yesterday and see how this fit him so far, but there were other pots to be boiled, so to speak, so I never made it. I hope it's OK... cuz I'm not that much of a process knitter to be happy about ripping back 20 inches of 5x3 ribbing that is about 18 inches wide...........

I should get some work done I guess... what a luxurious day spent clicking the needles together :-)

so quick and easy

Pattern: Circular Scrubby
Yarn: Lily's Sugar and Cream
Color: Key Lime Pie
Needle: US7

super easy to make and a great user of leftover bits of yarn. I've read that it's great to make with acrylic. Along the lines of Japanese Tawashi. I'll be making many more of these, I'm sure. This one is for school. We need something that can scrub the dishes. I threw it together in less than 30 mminutes while DS2 was at gymnastics class this morning.


I've gotten several notes from folks who can't locate the pattern at knitability (and as a matter of fact, neither can I) I got the pattern as a .pdf file from ravelry but there is a pattern exactly like it here, so I hope this helps some of you!
I was at ACMoore to get some storage stuff for DS2's trains and they had the Bernat naturals yarn on sale. With so many babies just arriving, I though what better than some organic cotton for those mamas that don't want to handwash? So I bought some to try. It was on sale for 2.99 a skein. Can't wait to cast on. I have the urge to knit, just no time.