I've Moved...

Check out my new blog, Knitting the Fabric of Life

I'm still around...

...in case you were wondering. I know it's been over a YEAR since I last posted. What can I say? I have no real "excuse" - just, you know, life.

In that time, I started a new job. :-) That's a really good thing! I love my job - it's one of those where I like going into work in the morning, and am not itching to leave in the afternoon. Life is too short to have a job that you hate, don't you think? The company I work for works with those affected by alcohol and other drug addiction and/or mental illness. It's very rewarding to see people get their life on track.

The QP will be starting 4th grade (already!) the end of August. This past year, she played softball for the first time. She enjoyed it and was pretty good at it. She plans on playing again next year.

I'm sure there's more to tell you but I can't think of it right now. I don't even have any pictures for you today.

MAKE it a great day!

MD Sheep & Wool...a month later!

Yes. You read right. I'm finally going to post about MD Sheep & Wool.

Three of us went. Me, my Mom & a friend, Melissa. Melissa's Mom was planning on going, but was sick that day, so she stayed home.

We left early enough that we could stop for breakfast. :-) Oh! And we went to the Sheep & Wool Festival on Sunday, instead of Saturday. I'll tell you what. Sunday is now my favorite day to attend the Sheep & Wool Festival!

Last year, we went on Saturday and there was so much that I missed! You see, I'm not fond of big crowds. If I have to fight through 40 people to get near enough to a stand to see what they have, I'll just walk on by until I come to a less crowded stand.

We walked into the Sheep & Wool Festival and looked at a few of the stands. Melissa was in the fairgrounds about 10 minutes when she came up with a great idea: we should go together on a spinning wheel. The wool fumes and sensory overload must have already taken over. You see, neither of us know how to spin. And, quite honestly, neither of us had spinning wheel money that day.

Our next stop was the MDS&W merchandise building. Last year I'm sure we waited in that line for over an hour. This year, it was a short line, and we spent maybe a half hour in line. The kind people in line behind us took a picture of us. Notice that Melissa thinks she's funny...

After we got our MDS&W merchandise, we stopped at The Fold's stand. There was still Socks That Rock yarn - as well as other yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It was tough deciding what to get - and I'm sure all three of us could have spent all of our money at just that stand!

The weather was nice this year. It was windy & a little on the cool side, but I'd rather have it cool when I'm going to be walking around. Last year was very warm & I thought I was going to pass out when I got to the center of the large exhibit hall.

Eventually, we took a little break from the fiber & went outside to get some fries and drinks. We sat outside to rest and eat and drink...and we also took pictures of our goodies so far.

Here's my Mom with her Trekking yarn. She decided that she wants to knit some socks.

Here's Melissa with her stash. She has some Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn around her neck, is holding more yarn and...some roving.

Meet her Jacob. She & I both bought 4oz. of Jacob roving from Tannery Spring. Why? Well, because of the pretty colors and it's sooo soft! I know we don't spin! And no, we did not get a spinning wheel.

After we bought our Jacobs, we went into the main building. In there, we saw that Interweave Press had a stand (something I totally missed last year!). I renewed my Knits subscription and was talking to the lady who was waiting on me. It turns out that she was none other than Amy Clarke Moore, editor of Spin Off magazine! When I mentioned to Amy that Melissa & I both purchased this Jacob roving, but don't know how to spin, she promptly pulled out two cd drop spindle kits for us (she's such an enabler). So, now we have the means to spin our Jacob roving!

I have already played with my drop spindle. I've "spun" the fiber that was included in the kit. I'll save those pictures for another day. I'll just tell you that my spun fiber is...interesting.

Here I am with my goodies...see my Jacob?? Oh! And for renewing my subscription at the festival, I could pick a free magazine, so I picked Spin Off.

My Mom decided to have fun with the camera. She went a little crazy, taking pictures of me & Melissa, while we drooled and walked around with our mouths hanging open.

Then Melissa took the camera, and she took some animal pictures...

Now on to the pictures of my goodies...

This is Peace Fleece.

Here are some buttons I bought.

Some yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Don't ask me what yarn this is. I can't seem to find the ball band. I swear I have every ball band from every yarn I've ever used - I just can't find this one! But this yarn is soooo...nice! I'm not sure what I want to make with it, but I had to purchase it. I'm sure you understand.

That's all for now. Yes, I still have some fo's to show you...as well as the result of my spinning.

MAKE it a great day!

More to come...

I'm still here (lol - isn't that how most of my posts have begun lately??). I have alot of pictures to post. I just haven't been able to find the spirit - you know - the spirit. The one that "moves" you.

I have some beautiful garden/flower pictures. I'm such a slacker this year with blogging, that I haven't posted any spring flower pictures yet!

I also have some pictures from Maryland Sheep & Wool. We went a week ago. Yes, we went on Sunday instead of the more popular Saturday. I have to tell you, I prefer Sunday!

I've also been knitting. I even have some finished items!

But. I'm still waiting for that spirit to come & move me to blog.... :-)

MAKE it a great day!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers out there - Happy Mother's Day!!! :-)

The field trip

Well, we had our "field trip" to The Mannings today. If you ever go, you too will say The Mannings. We were there for three hours! My Mom & I had been there before. The two women we went with had never been there.

I took my camera along, to document this wonderful event. Didn't take a single picture! I was too busy looking, touching and ooohing and ahhhing. There's Koigu and Regia silk, cotton and wool. There's Trekking - even the Trekking the Yarn Harlot showed on her blog recently. There's Lopi, Mission Falls and Brown Sheep and Wool in the Woods and Debbie Bliss and Claudia's Hand Painted and Gems Opal and Lily Chin and Manos del Uruguay...and so much more! There are 4 rooms filled with yarn and books and notions and spinning wheels and looms and patterns...and oh my! It's so amazing! And get this! When you get to the register, if you give them your contact information, they keep track of what you buy. So if you run out of a yarn, you can call them, they'll be able to tell what yarn, color & dye lot you bought!

So...sorry - no yarn shop pictures. But if you're ever in my area & want to go, let me know! For you, I would force myself to go there again. :-)

But here's what we (me & Mom) came home with (I didn't get pictures of what the other two women bought).

The Yarn:


*Lopi (in two colors)
* Regia Cotton
* Gems Merino Opal (this is going to be my Mom's 1st pair of socks)
* Manos Cotton Stria - Manos del Uruguay
* Bamboo Splash from Wisdom Yarns (this is for the QP, who has decided that she needs some bamboo yarn)
** and a program for the 2007 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival - anyone else going?

The Patterns:

*Fiber trends - Felt Flock (felted knit sheep!)
* Fiber Trends - Bathroom Blossoms (washcloths & soap sacks)
* Fiber Trends - Felt Alpacas & Llamas
* Fiber Trends - Options Jacket
* A Dozen Dishcloths To Knit
* Not A Celebrity Scarf

Oh! And I finished one of the Ball Band Dishcloths from Mason Dixon Knitting. I finished it a week or so ago, but didn't take any pictures of it until today. I used Sugar & Cream cotton yarn. I'm really into cotton right now. Well, cotton, linen, bamboo & soy.

*I tried to finish this post last night. In fact, I had it all but finished - then my computer decided to act up & the browser shut down. So now it's Sunday & I'm finishing the post...again.

MAKE it a great day!

Where did the time go?

It's been over a month since I posted anything! Can you believe it?? To my one reader that's left, I'm still alive! :-)

I've been knitting. I've even taken some blog pictures. But then I don't get them loaded and too much time goes by, and before you know it, it's been over a month!

Here's a brief rundown of the last month:

*The QP turned 8!

* I had a throat infection, and then had an allergic reaction to the anitbiotic. The rash still is not gone.

*The QP started playing TeeBall. Her 1st practice was last week. She likes it, and says her coach is awesome. I volunteered to be a Team Parent. The TeeBall glove the QP got is "signed" by Derek Jeter. She thinks he's going to come see one of her TeeBall games. :-)

* Right now, I'm busy knitting things for the auction at the QP's school the first weekend in May.

Tomorrow, me, my Mom & two of the women from my church knitting group (the Nutty Knitters) are having a field trip. We're going to this store. If you're ever within a two hour drive of this store, you have to go! It's incredible!

A few weeks ago, my Mom decided to knit a hoodie for the baby of one of her co-workers. She found a pattern she liked, which called for Lion Brand MicroSpun yarn (the yarn she wanted to use for the hoodie).

This was her first sweater. It was also her first time knitting in the round with two circular needles. She did that rather than knit the sleeves flat & then seam them.

She finished it and last night, we went to one of our local yarn shops (which does not have a website) to get the buttons. Aren't they cute? And the blue is almost the exact same shade of blue as the yarn.

She gave the hoodie to her co-worker today. I can't wait to see how it looks on the baby!

That's all for now. I need my rest for the big field trip in about 12 hours. :-)

MAKE it a great day!

My "Poor Me" Story

Yes. More snow. What you can't see in the last picture (I took these pictures from inside the house - I'm refusing to go outside & acknowledge this stuff!), is that it is still snowing. It's been snowing all day. Schools were cancelled today. The QP has been home all day. Here's where the Poor Me part comes in - today is my birthday. And it's snowing. And school was cancelled. And I'm home...all day. Yippee.

In case you don't remember from last year, March is a busy birthday month here in Blogland:

Maribel ~ March 9th

Iraida ~ March 10th

the QP ~ March 12th :-)

Margene ~ March 14th

Yay for the March Pisces babies! :-)

MAKE it a great day!