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another pair of socks, with a smidgen of green. but i'm afraid that's it for may.
a few days ago when i noticed that may was almost over, i ran around and took some snapshots of the green around me and "archives."
but i'm afraid that's it.
i did make some progress on my dyed t-shirt project though.
mmmm t-shirt fettucine ...
turned into a giant yarn ball weighing in at 5.2 lbs
saturday i packed up the mini and drove out to cummington for the Mass Sheep and Wool Festival. it was warm and sunny, and with my large iced coffee from DD i was all set. i waited a bit for elisa to call to coordinate so that i didn't show up at the festival alone, but that call never came. ahem.
i arrived at the fairgrounds not 5 minutes before running into carole. shortly aftewards, i met abi who also looked oddly familiar to me although we had never met. at these fibery events i always feel like dorothy must have felt when she wakes up from her "dream" in oz...laurie was there, and martha, and claudia, and maggie and juno and ..... so take that elisa and kellee.
while the others went a little nuts over the fiber (i'm the only non-spinner in the bunch and considering my less than positive spinning experience i may stay that way for awhile) i went and talked to the animals. ahh there's nothing like the smell of sheep in the morning.
meet bah marley, the rasta sheep.
the "laine" ranger -- high ho silver away!!
other friendly furry faces...
nice eyebrows dude.
here's waldo
and the cummington scuba diving team
and this guy with the 4 horns.
and baby sheep sweetness in a tight white t-shirt.
after all that sun, and fiber, and friends and sheep, i followed martha, laurie, and claudia back to cate's for the blegger. because that's what a person needs before a 2 hour drive home. beer. and plenty of pizza to soak it up. it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. everything that cate said in her blog post and more.
by the way, small child succeeding where i failed. maybe if i had the hat....
my yard wouldn't be such a nightmare if someone hadn't decided that dandelions were weeds and not wild flowers.
carole wasn't the only one who did some dyeing this weekend.
i took some rit dye and a huge stack of old mostly free t-shirts that i could never bring myself to throw out.
with my trusty assistant, and a brand new, just for dyeing pot, i got to work.
stay tuned to find out what happens next.
this friday and saturday was graceful stitches' spring sale. all yarns were 25% off. during a lull in the store, i filled my basket like a woman possessed. i generously donated to the cause.
Noro, Cash Iroha. 5 skeins. i have no idea what i'll make with this. hat? gloves? scarf? big crocheted dildo?
Colinette, Point 5, 2 skeins. Dark Umber. i've admired and stroked lovingly these skeins, in this colorway. so pretty. no idea what i'll do with this.
Montana yarn in Hawaiin Punch, 1 giant skein, 550yards. an impulse buy. also lovingly stroked and admired. maybe i'll make another clap. or shawl.
Cotton Classic, 27 skeins. how the buying frenzy started. i blame it on this.... i'll need more though and at least a few more colors.
does this count as a tax deduction? does it?
a lot of the items that i create, i do so to make others happy. i'm all about the process. i could knit squares all day and be perfectly content. but if i make something specific, it's usually with a recipient in mind.
case in point ...
oh.um. ah...that's not what it looks like. um. hold on. let me fix that. um. [blush]
phew. that's better.
here's my crocheted bone. i knew that there was a pretty good chance that i'd run into laurie at NHSW so i thought it would be fun to crochet a bone for mr. etherknitter. plus, i figured it would also be good for a giggle. for me anyway.
(and it passed the time during my niece's dance recital. two and half hours of vanilla ice (ice ice baby) and tutus, just to get a momentary glimpse of her. the sacrifices i make for my nieces. if i don't win "best aunt on the planet 2006" then i don't know what else it will take.)
Just wanted to let you all know about the big sale at Graceful Stitches .
Spring Clearance Sale:
On Friday, May 19th & Saturday, May 20th all in-stock yarn will be 25% off.
100% of all profits from the store are donated to help those suffering from cancer.
Store Location:
505 Main Street (Rt 109)
Medfield, MA
508-359-1505
Store Hours (During school year):
Monday - Friday 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
I'll be working Saturday morning, so if you're in the area, stop by, say hello, and buy yarn.
coleen finally received the postcard i sent her APRIL FRIGGIN' 29TH!!!! IT TOOK OVER TWO WEEKS!!!!!!
the coast is clear.
there's some paper, and glue, and a little stitching.
taa-daa! i finished them all just in the nick of time.
the pattern is the mason dixon washrag from mason dixon knitting. the yarn is peaches and cream and sugar 'n cream). the soap was snagged at the NHSW Festival.
by now you must have heard that it's raining like the bejesus in new england and that those of us who drove through the pounding rain to hopkinton, NH for the NHSW are insane.
but what's a little rain? this was my first ever fiber festival and i wasn't going to miss it. the girls would be there. j was coming. and i had on my slicker.
incredibly, i didn't spend too much. i bought soap and some pretty fiber for practicing on my spindle.
but overall damage was minimal (if you don't count the fried dough and beer i bought j in exchange for his agreeing to be our sherpa).
j and i spent some time visiting the animals. the alpacas were hard to photograph. every time i was about to take a shot of their expressive faces they would show me their asses. the goats moved too quickly which made it hard to get a clear shot in the low light. but i did manage to catch this little blue eyed angora.
but this little girl (i guess, i really don't know, but s/he seemed like a girl) wanted me to pay attention to her. she baaaa'd her little heart out so that we'd stop and look and admire her.
before heading home, j and i met up with wendy and rob, elisa and mike, carole and dale, kellee, debbie and kat for some margaritas and dinner. i'm not saying more. what happens in concord, stays in concord.
hey bandwagon...slow down for me!
mother's day is just a few days away and i think i'm ready. on mother's day i like to give my mother-in-law, and sister-in-laws little presents to commemorate the day (i let j go out and get the flowers, cards, whatever).
this year, i made mason-dixon washcloths from mason-dixon knitting. (i love this book by the way. love it!)
i'm going to thread a ribbon through the eyelets and wrap a bar of sweet smelling soap in each, like they show in the book. (hmm, i may make one more. now that i see it in a picture, i'm not all that crazy about the bright tie-dyed looking one.)
i'm doing a little catch up here again. first of all, in honor of project spectrum, more green with cats.
cats guarding the fledgling herb garden.
and some FOs (finished objects, not "fuck offs")
another pair of socks. there's some green in there. so maybe that counts? no? yes?
and here's my finished orange scarf from april.
i began by creating a provisional chain which i later removed once the fishnet pattern was established. this allowed for both ends of the scarf to have this scallop edge. i finished off the scarf by edging it with 1 row of single crochet. unfortunately i still have some of this yarn left. had i known i would have made the scarf wider.
it's clearly rocky's favorite scarf.
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and in honor of spring, i lightened the look of the blog. what do you think?
kellee's asked us to show our support for mr. etherknit and his lazy leg bone that won't grow. she's flashed her finished rogue (olympic project?). beth's shown us her drawer of shame. i made a button. (somehow, my just recently completed sock just isn't enough. and i promise to go back to my olympic project that i've sorely neglected.)
mr. etherknitter -- please get well!
basil that i'm growing in my kitchen.
another sign of spring.
isn't it cute?
one last siren song for the colors of april. although not as ubiquitous in my life as red, i noticed that i had a lot of orange and yellow in my world. the common areas in my house are painted a pale yellow. my bathroom is a brighter yellow. i carry an orange wallet and wear a bright yellow slickah when it rains. i collect copper pitchers and pots and have a copper sun hanging in my office. my yard is covered in yellow dandelions (not on purpose though). i still have an orange mohair scarf on the hook. i purchased a beautiful skein of yellow/orange sock yarn from sundara at purly whites. and you can see a hint of what my postcard to coleen looks like in the collage above (full disclosure once she's received it. yes i was behind schedule this month. SUE ME!)
finally, look what caro sent me.
a cozy sleeping bag for my sunglasses. i offered to take it off her hands because she didn't care for it. i know... such a sacrifice on my part. and she threw in a stitch marker.
check out her etsy shop for other wonderful things she makes. thank you caro!
