The Day After Christmas

We did it! We survived last week's BIG snow and had a wonderful Christmas, despite the last minute rush to get gifts and the horrible roads in C'ville. Because I was basically snowed in last weekend, I managed to finish this.

The pattern is called Victorine and it's designed by Cindy Guggemos. You can find it HERE on Ravelry. This one is for a co-worker. I have plans to knit another one for me as part of the 10 Shawls in 2010 group, also on Ravelry.

This is the first non-snowy Saturday we've had in three weeks. A little later, I'm going to brave the shopping centers in W'boro for size-related gift exchanges - but for right now I'm content to work on this..

...the oldest WIP in the history of the world....I've blogged about this one at least twice before, so I'm a little embarrassed to even mention it...so I'll stop now. :)

Not everyone needs to go out to have fun. The cats have plenty to do. This has been their second favorite past time this past week - the first being napping, of course!

I think I'll add napping to my list for later on today - hope you can, too!

Snowed In!

It seems that we're a bit snowed in here at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's been snowing HARD since about 3:30 yesterday and the forecast calls for continued heavy snow throughout today.


Snowbound! Yippee! Since I can't finish Christmas shopping and our party for this evening had to canceled, I think I'll turn my attention to other finishing and preparatory details.

First, we'll finish de-cluttering the dining room and kitchen. Then I'll put on a big pot of beef stew to simmer all day. After that I'm planning to indulge in fiber related activities like winding these for the 10 Shawls in 2010 and The Enchanted Woods KAL.


Maybe I'll finish this today - fingers crossed - so I can get back to my Bobbie gloves and Circular Vest.

I'm not going to panic about not having our Christmas shopping complete. It will take care of itself once we can get out again and into town. I hope you will enjoy a safe, warm, and wonderfully fibery day - even if you're not snowed in!

Oh Wollmeise Tree!

We're caught up in the pre-Christmas vortex here. Between the boys' activities, my school activities, and concerts there's been no time to even decorate our tree. Today I thought, why not decorate it with some of my favorite yarn? So while waiting for the shop update, I stuck a few colorful skeins of Wollmeise on it! Doesn't it look happy and bright? Who needs tinsel and ornaments when there's a box of Wollmeise around? Here's wishing you and yours a joyful Christmas season.

Marvelous Mail Monday

I don't usually post during the week, but apparently today was Marvelous Mail Monday. This deserves a post. What a surprise to have recent trades and purchases all converge in my mailbox at the same time. Somehow our mail carrier managed to fit all of this into our smallish box.


First up -Corgi Hill Farm roving in merino, bamboo, and Firestar....and it's named after oneo f my favorite drinks - Gin and Tonic.


Next, a Wollmeise trade. This is Turkis and Skarabus in100%-


And last, the beautiful custom-dyed yarn from Kelly at The Unique Sheep for the Enchanted Woods KAL, beginning January 10th.


Kelly based the colorway on this photo-


Didn't she do a great job of capturing the colors? Excuse me while I go play with it and wait for January to roll around :)

Cozy Saturday

It was suppose to snow today. Actually, it did snow - all around us....up the road.....down the road.....to our east, west, north, and south.....just not here. You may insert imaginary images of snowy lanes and forest paths here. It was very disappointing, but it was still a cozy day for knitting. After the food bank reports were all done, I settled in to knit a bit and play with other fibery items. To brighten the day, I made a bouquet - a spindle bouquet!

I hope it brightens your day too! ....and here's hoping for more productive snow events in the near future!

Thankfully Drama-less Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your T'day was as pleasant as ours. We spent our day in Great Falls with a lot of DH's family. Mom and Dad were there and it looks like they enjoyed their day, too!


This was the most drama we experienced during Thanksgiving. DS#2 won the honor of wearing the Turkey Hat this year! Somehow, this seems very appropriate! :)


Today, on Black Friday, I ventured into Old Town Alexandria to check out Fiber Space, a new-ish yarn shop that WendyKnits blogged about last week. Here's their cool bag, which means I must have reached a certain $$ threshold in purchases! (the Swan spindle & roving are mine, but I'm not saying what else might be the bag.....shhhhh!)



Fiber Space is a great little shop stocked with some good reliable yarns like Cascade and Berrocco, and also some hand-dyed goodies like Neighborhood Fiber Company and Miss Babs and they have lots of Malabrigo...and it's very close to my s-i-l's house. This gives me another very good reason to go visit my s-i-l a little more often!

Mom's Birthday Ishbel

Ever since my m-i-l saw me knitting the Imbloc shawl two years ago, she's been "jokingly" asking when she might expect a shawl of her own. I decided that 2009 was to be the year! I finished this project about a month ago, but have been waiting to blog about it until after the gifting portion was completed. Here's my Ishbel from start to Mom - knitted in Wollmeise Pffefferminz Prinz.











Ta-da! She loves it and I loved making it for her and giving it to her! Happy Birthday Mom (and dad too!)!

Birthday Candles x2.....Make That 1

A Gathering of Knitters

On Saturday, Janice & I headed out of our mountains and a little north of here to Graves Mountain Lodge to meet up with some plurk/Ravelry/ Facebook knitting friends from other parts of Virginia and North Carolina. Here's what we saw as soon as we got out of the car.



We met up with knitting friends, Lara, Summer, and Julie- even though we didn't know them, we recognized them by their hand-knits! We knitted for a bit, then were found by Frances and L-B, and then by Wendy, Aimee, and Dani. There was a little more knitting and then lunch-where even more knitters showed up!



Right after lunch, we hit the road for a trip out to Kid Hollow Farm -



where Pat and Steve graciously opened their studio doors so we could fondle a little yarn



and more yarn



and more yarn



and more yarn....who's that?



-and then they introduced us to their herd, a.k.a. "yarn on the hoof". :)





It was good day and good to put names to faces and get to know folks a little better, but our knitting time together was all too short...here's hoping for another chance for more gatherings of knitters in the near future!

Finally Fall!

Well finally! This is more like it! Here are the fall colors that make our neck of the woods so lovely this time of year.



Looking at that photo, it's easy to see where the inspiration for this stash additive came from-



That's Zen String Loopy Legends in Debbie's Autumn Joy and it makes me say....mine-mine-mine! It's so lovely!

As is clear from the above photo, it's a bit cloudy & rainy here today, however it's warm and there's a nice breeze, so Ishbel is finally blocking on the screened porch. She must be ready for birthday giving and it's coming up fast! It's knitted from Wollmeise 100% in Pfefferminz Prinz. There will be additional photos when the sun decides to shine.



- must now rush back to the much cherished Saturday knit time. I hope you have a little time, too!

Central Virginia Girls' Excursion

Even after several cool rainy nights, we're still waiting on the full crash of fall colors here in the Blue Ridge.



Today was still cool & a little cloudy - a perfect knitting day. Several Central Virginia Girls met up near Lovingston to visit Marilyn's house and see her knitting shop. It was very nice to meet her!



Afterwards, we gathered at Rapzunel's to enjoy some coffee, cookies, and well - knitting!

Here's Judy's blanket square:



...and Cynthia's potholder-



...and Janice's scarf -



...and my sock - which is too big, so I have to fiddle with it or RIPPIT.....grrr.



The only thing that might have made the day more enjoyable would have been the pleasure of your company with us! Hope you can join us next time!

Knitting Forecast - Cloudy with a 30% chance of knitting

Today's weather forecast - cloudy & windy with s-l-o-w-l-y changing leaves.

Today's knitting forecast: scary because with just ten (10) more rows to go on Ishbel

I have only this much yarn left....eek! Please cross your eyes, fingers, toes, and legs - and hope that I make it through the bind-off!

There's only about a 20% chance of any further progress on my Lacy Rib sock-

because DS#1 is coming home for the weekend (a surprise!) and we have NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE!

Cleaning, shopping, & hugging first - there'll be time for knitting a little later!

FFF 2009

Over heard on Friday at school: "I'm not going to FFF this year...nope....I have too much yarn and I haven't knitted down last year's purchases.....need to go on a yarn diet.....so I'm staying home."

So, what happened? I ended up driving over to the FFF today - alone.....just for a teensy little bit. I did it in the service of a friend as Janice is up in Massachusetts with her mom. Someone needed to go get her a little lace yarn and I felt it should be me!



I think I accomplished a lot in the two hours I was there. In addition to getting Janice's yarn, I ran into friends Gren & Jeri. Jeri was watching a spinner Navajo ply and then got to give it a try. I tried it too & hope I can remember how to do it on my own wheel.



I saw these lovely creations - Trindles - drop spindles with a very nontraditional top whorl. One of them might have followed me home. (link to etsy shop)



...and of course, the dog trials were amazing!




Hey, doggie! No gripping, OK?

Maybe by next year, I'll have developed the will-power to stay away, but that wouldn't be as much fun, would it?