One stitch at a time

We are stitching up the Hokie Healing blocks.

First Kim steam-blocked all the squares.

We laid out the blocks.


Then we stitched. The lady in red is Penny Sandford, the owner of the Yarn Barn. On the floor is one of the forces behind the blanket project, Phyllis.

Lee Ann stitched.

And then showed off our work!

We're getting there! Stay tuned for more pix of the blanket and the garden (the veggie gardens are in and planted! Yeah!! Tale of the zucchini later).

Happy knitting.

Is this beautiful or what

The landscape is taking shape and it is absolutely beautiful.

First I got the Sweet Williams.

The dwarf Japanese maple went in out front and we will move the peonies once the blooms are finished.

The walls are done and the shady plants went in.

Here is the other side of the yard. This will be my English cottage garden with some cut flowers. Once the plants are established and fill out the space it will be gorgeous.

Then we attacked the back yard where the vegetable garden will be. Here is the "before" picture:

Weeds galore.

How many men and women does it take to cut a piece of two by four?

Omar forgot his saw so we were cutting the lumber with my hand saw. It worked, albeit slowly.

Presto!

This weekend the tomato plants and the zucchini go in. I can't wait!

In the meantime I think I'll get more Sweet Williams.

Off to work and then to the Barn.

Happy gardening!

Blanket update

I was supposed to post this yesterday but was running around too much.

We tried out all the blocks on the floor of the Yarn Barn and moved them around to check out the best combination.

Phyllis was thinking really, really hard.

We finally decided on the placement of the blocks.

The four corners will be an angel, a star and two VT squares. Phyllis took the squares home to block and steam while I will crochet the edge onto the angel block to make her an eight-inch squares. We will get together this Friday to assemble the blocks. Leftover squares will be sent directly to Gina.

Then I tried to sew up a sweater, with some help from the green-eyed rascal named Runty. Why would you want to sew up my new blankie, he asked.

Here, Kitty, go play with my tape measure...

Naah... I'd rather snooze on silk...

Well, you guys have a happy knitting while I try to forcibly remove the beast!

No Knitting Today

What?!? No knitting?!?

I have been spinning for only a year and only have one wheel. A knitting friend has been spinning for eight years and has eight wheels. I don't plan to accumulate spinning wheels though. I like my Majacraft Rose and will stick with it. I took a three-day comprehensive spinning class with Judith Mackenzie-Mc Cuin at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last week which got my interest and enthusiasm in spinning up again. As a result I bought more roving and fleece than yarn at the festival, and have been spending time carding, combing, dying and spinning.

Here is a Corriedale roving I bought at the festival and dyed at home.

Various shades of cranberry red. This is an experiment/practice yarn.

Spun and plied.

Washed, set and skeined.

It is overspun. I should have streched it out while it was still wet to balance it out. I forgot about that part! Anyway, this is a practice skein and it didn't turn out too badly. I still have more of the same roving and hope to do better next time. I will save this for Runty's felted cat bed.

Speaking of Runty, the little (well, maybe not so little) guy was snoozing the whole time.

While Runty likes to bat the needles when I knit, he is not so keen on the spinning wheel. He stuck his paw in the wheel once and didn't like it so didn't try again. Good.

Outside the yard is taking on new shapes.

The old tired shrubs and the much-hated Roses of Sharon are gone. Yippee! I really like the meandering line. Lee Ann (my knitting buddy and landscape designer) is having low retaining walls built on the sloping side of the house to help hold the soil together. They are shaping out beautifully.

Now that the Yew is gone, the Rhododendron is getting more light. Maybe next year it will flower.
We put a temporary trellis for the Clematis since the old tree trunk on which it was climbing is now gone. We will figure out what to do with it later.
And here are the plants waiting patiently: Astilbe, Columbine and Bleeding Hearts for the shady spots; Yarrow, Coreopsis, and Delphinium for the sunny side...

And Sweet Williams everywhere. Sweet Williams for Bill. Gotta go get Sweet Williams.

Okay. Back to work now. I am going to the Barn after work today. We will try to put together our first Hokie Healing Blanket. I have my camera so stay tuned for update tomorrow.

Happy spinning and gardening.

And of course happy knitting.

Update

Not a very exciting title, but this is truly about updates!

I finished two Prism projects:


A vest/tank top in Wild Stuff Ginger colorway. The trim is Rowan Bamboo tape. A quick and simple knit. It turned out nicer than I thought. At first I was afraid it was going to be to fru-fru for my taste, but it turned out nicely.
And the sleeves on the denim vest:

This is Cool Stuff in Mojave. The vest is a Michael Kors that I got on EBay for $9.99! It was brand new with a tag of $89.99 still attached!

That was only the finished projects during the past two weeks.

I got back to spinning some more and took the comprehensive spinning class at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last week. The three-day class was full of information and useful tips. Definitely worth the two-hour-each-way commute.

This is the infamous Capital Beltway from my dashboard:

The Sheep and Wool was fun and full of dazzling merchandise as usual.

I bought more fleece and roving than yarn this time. I bought some supersoft Cormo roving (Merino-Corriedale cross) on Saturday and after test-spinning it Saturday night went back Sunday and bought a fleece! Will show you the pictures later.

What else have I been doing? Oh, the yard is getting a makeover. It looked so old and tired despite some blooming shrubs:

I decided to have to whole yard redone. Stay tuned for more on the work in progress reports. The work is being done by a knitting friend at the Yarn Barn who happens to be a landscape designer. Let me tell you, that Yarn Barn if shock full of resources! Knitting advice, nutrition and diet advice, gardening tips, home remedies, counseling....you name it, the Yarn Barn's got it!

Last but not least, here are some Hokie squares we have done! We are moving right along and hope to have at least one Hokie Healing blanket from the Yarn Barn knitters.

Happy knitting!

Hokie Healing blankets

Knitters of the world, unite to help heal the Hokies!



The Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg, Virginia, is asking all knitters and crocheters to knit or crochet 8 x 8 sqaures to put into blankets for the victims of the VA Tech killings. For detailed information please visit the Mosaic web page or Got Gauge . In the nutshell:

Knit or crochet 8 x 8 squares (after blocking).
Any yarn. The softer the better. The blankets will hug bodies and souls.
Use Hokie colors: Burnt orange, maroon, black, white.
Send your square by the end of May to

Mosaic Yarn Shop880
University City Blvd.
Blacksburg, Va24060

We'll need about 2,000 squares, so dig into your stash, spread the words to your LYS and knitting groups. We can do it one square at a time.

Sleeves update

It has been a sad week for us here in Virginia.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of those students and teachers killed at VA Tech. Also please say a prayer for the family of the gunman. I can't imagine how one would feel to find out that your child is a mass murderer...
Virginia is notorious for lax gun control measures. Let's hope this will change some of that.

Knitting always provides me peace. I finished a blouse for my sister.

Rowan bamboo tape. Pardon the stitchmarker. I have to get the ribbon for the tie. This bamboo yarn is such a joy to knit and it drapes beautifully. I don't know how much it will stretch, though.

I also finished a vest for myself. Adventure in lace!

"Two-way lace" vest from the Best of Knitter's Jackets book. This was my first lace project. I have somewhat overcome the "yarn-over" mental block. I am going to tackle a lace shawl project this summer. The Charlotte's Web Shawl.

In the mean time I am finishing up the sleeves (and only sleeves!) from the Prism stuff:

They will go on a purchased denim vest. I did one last year but sent it to my sister. The colorway for this one is Mojave. Very pretty painted desert colors.

Last but not least, an update on the Yarn Barn Jacket.

It's getting there. Hopefully I will finish the sleeves this weekend. See, who says I don't do sleeves? Then on to the the collar and the button band. Yeah!!

Happy Knitting.

PRISM

The Prism trunk show is going on at the Yarn Barn.

Be prepared to take out a second mortgage.
Wild stuff, Cool Stuff, Neat Stuff, oh my!



All the Stuff you'll ever want. Also other famous Prism staples such as Bon Bon, Angora, Kid Slique, Azelea... You name it. Penny's got it in the shop until April 22.

Also the newest models. Come take a look!

I am going to knit this jacket

Here is my loot:

Penny is also an accomplished artist. You can see some of her paintings at the shop. Here is an example of one she was commissioned to paint.

Stop by if you are in the area.

April snow

Whatever happened to April showers?

In Thailand, where I hailed from, it never snows. April is the hottest month of the year where temperature can easily top 100 F. April 7th is my birthday. The last time it snowed on my birthday we were in Moscow.

Definitely not in Northern Virginia.

But on Saturday I woke up to this:

And the daffodils greeted me with a bow:

It was cold. It is still cold. But at least the snow didn't last and we were a lot luckier than those folks in the MidWest or up in New England.

Good knitting weather. I finished the body of the Yarn Barn jacket.

That doesn't look much like a jacket, does it? Here is the front:
and back:

Now I will have to add the sleeves and collar and button band, but will need to wait until Wednesday to ask Penny.

I cast on and started knitting the Juliet sweater using Classic Elite Classic Silk but I was off gauge and it was huge. Rib it I will and redo the math to match my gauge since I want to knit in in Classic Silk. I don't want a summer sweater in wool and I can't seem to find cotton that knits to 22 sts/4 inch that I like. Any suggestion?

Off to work. Weather permitting, I will attack my back yard today. We are redoing the landscape and I want new vegetable beds made. The ground is probably still hard as rock but we will see.

Happy knitting.

Must knit immediately

I cam across this pattern in Debbie Bliss's latest book "Rialto" and did a back flip.

I have to have this sweater. Never mind five other projects on the needles. It is called Juliet and is knitted with Debbie Bliss's new yarn Rialto, an extra fine merino. I don't want a wool sweater, even though there are several other patterns in the book that I will knit with wool. But not this one. I want to knit it now and wear it now. And summer is coming. This one will be done with Classic Elite Classic Silk. I cast on. It doesn't look much like anything yet since it is knitted in one piece to the underarm in garter stitch. Knit, knit and knit.

I have not abandoned the Penny jacket. I got the two front panels done.

I went ahead and knitted up the back just to realize I needed to pick up more stitches. Ribbed it. It will rest for a couple of days while to tackle Juliet. Maybe next week.

Happy Easter and happy knitting

Mystery square revealed

Here we go, a couple of days late, but still in time for Easter.

The bunny was made from the 8-inch square. You fold and sew up the four corners as four legs, make the ears, stuff it with fiberfill and voila! Here is the link to how to make it.

More bunnies and a knitted Peep.

Happy Easter!