Two years ago today

Young love is sacrifice, young love is tough
Young love is innocent, young love is us
-Gavin Degraw

Congratulations!

Just a quick post because I need to get back to New Moon but I did want to say congratulations to the happy graduate. I am so proud of him!





Regular posting about knitting, our trip back to our old stomping grounds, and my new favorite books when I’m done with the third one!

Distractions

I have finally gone back to spinning this,

with hopes that I may yet knit a pair of knee highs that will fit my rather peasant like legs perfectly. Also I may be a bit tired of seeing red at the moment. Project spectrum has flown out of the window these past two months because of deadline knitting. Much of what I have knitted is meant for a new baby that will arrive later this year. Elijah 2.0 now has a body and I have begun to knit one (or three) of these.



Grrr is such a quick knit that is easily memorized that I don’t believe that I could knit just one.

However I have discovered something that has impeded all other activities for a while. I am currently, as my husband has told me, obsessed with this series. The first book has be on my ‘to read’ list for quite a while however I could never seem to get my hands on this book. Finally this Tuesday Twilight came in and I finished it last night; I immediately had to go out and buy the second book to know what happens. So please excuse me while I stop knitting, spinning and leave this blog even more neglected than normal so I can finish what is already publish and then wait with bated breath for the fourth and final book in the series. However I must wait a few more days to really read New Moon because I am off to proudly watch my little brother graduate from college this weekend. I am looking forward to the familiar drive as we pass our alma mater and head a little further north through alpaca country. I hope that we can stop so I can pick up some alpaca to spin.

Gray Morning

For some reason I haven't been blogging about my WIPS, so I'm going to change that. After a particularly bad week at work I decided to cast on for two new projects:

Another cousin of mine and his wife are expecting their first child, a baby boy, and the shower is in a few weeks so Elijah to the rescue! This time I'm knitting him in a worsted weight to make a large size elephant. I think that he would look really cute with some blue on his feet.

I also ordered some Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn after seeing Craftaholic's version of the Retro Redux Shrug.



I am lengthening the arms and praying that this will be flattering. I'm a bit worried that this shrug may not be flattering with my large chest, but maybe I can tweek it so it won't look horrible. I'm seeming as I go so I can try it on and make judgement calls as I knit. I love this pattern, it is so simple to memorize and knit on the go. I cannot say enough about the yarn, I love how soft this is to knit with like fuzz on my kitty's bellies.

Labor of love

When I was young, about five or six, I asked my mom to show me how to knit. My first project was a scarf for my dad to wear to keep him warm while walking through NYC. Once I finished that long garter stitch scarf I did not pick up the needles until I was in the backseat being driven up for my first year away at college. This time the projects were a scarf for Scott and another scarf for me to keep us warm walking to class during the cold Binghamton winters. It wasn’t until the Harry Potter movie came out when I began lusting after the Gryffindor House scarf that I really thought about knitting as a hobby. The Gryffindor scarf then lead to a Ravenclaw Prisoner of Azkaban style scarf which then lead to socks. Honestly I think it was the socks that slowly made knitting such a large part of my life. The socks then lead to knitting blogs which alerted my attention to the New York Sheep and Wool festival which in turn lead to spinning. This hobby or obsession as some may call it has opened a wonderful new world to me that I have enjoyed immensely. Although I have surpassed anything my mom has and as she says could ever knit, this passion is because she one afternoon sat down and taught me two stitches. To honor her gift to me I have begun to create what I feel is the only way to repay her, a beautiful shawl knit by my hands, the same ones she guided as we made the knit stitch and purl stitch so many years ago. However I felt that this wasn’t enough to honor this gift, I needed to make it more special by spinning the yarn myself. So the long process of this gift begins slowly.



I have spun about 3oz and have plied about 2 of this beautiful merino hand dyed by Spunky Eclectic. I envision this becoming the Garden Party Shawl, hopefully done by Christmas.

The little blue elephant in the room

My father often reminds me that his mother knit and crocheted all the time; in fact I do remember when visiting them in their cramped home in Whitestone that Nanny always had some kind of project out on the couch. In all those years she must have shown me a stitch or two although I did not have the desire to pick it up at those times. She passed away several years ago before any great grandchildren were born. Recently my cousin, one of her grandchildren recently had a baby boy with his wife. It was over heard at the baby shower that when he saw something that my mom had crocheted for the new bundle of joy that he wished that Nanny was still alive because his new son would be covered in handmade items. This past weekend was this child’s baptism and I felt that I needed to mark this special occasion with something that he would cherish for a long time. I was searching for that perfect pattern to knit; in the end I decided that instead of something for him to wear I would create a little plaything that he would carry around and cuddle to help him sleep at night. I wanted to create that special friend that he could whisper all his secrets, a friend that would share in his adventures.

I presented the new parents this little guy:

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Solids & Marls Colorway 02002 (Pale Blue)
Started: April 17
Finished: May 1

I loved making this guy so much although I believe that I was knitting him a bit to tight because there would be times that I felt as if someone punched me in the arm and my hands would cramp terribly. He was a quick little knit, something that I left in my car and knitted while on breaks. In fact I have decided to make him again for a shower that I will be attending in June. This time I will make him gray with little blue feet.

Springtime Beauty

Every time I visit Washington D.C. I always wish to come back during the springtime. I imagined walking along the tidal basin under the delicate blooms of the cherry trees admiring their beauty. This springtime my husband and I decided to go down and spend a weekend away from the stresses that we have been under and lose ourselves briefly. As the weekend approached the forecast became more gloomy and likely that we would encounter wet weather. We decided that even if it did rain, we were long over due for a weekend away and went anyway. The trip down was a bit wet, but nothing too bad, however it was when we pulled back the blinds in the hotel room that we were pleasantly surprised at how nice the day turned out. While a little cool for the time of year, and slightly overcast, the weather quickly turned around and became a glorious day.







There are more photos on my flickr page; most of these are much better viewed large.