Enough With The Pictures Already!

I know I am extremely cute. I know I do everything in my power to mess up your knitting by head-butting your hands when they are in motion. I know I meow ENDLESSLY to get your attention ..... HOWEVER .......I've heard of the term 'paparazzi'. I NEED MY BEAUTY SLEEP .... how am I to continue to be such a wonderful subject of photos without sleep?

Chloe Is The Cutest Cat Ever

I truly love Chloe. Chloe is definitely a "mama's girl". She didn't like being left with 'daddy' while I was in LA but she survived. She is now velcro-ed to me again. I don't mind because I think she is the best. She wants to be a part of whatever I am doing as is obvious. I read somewhere that cats are less likely to get into what you are doing if you give them a project of there own. This works very well for Chloe. I can work on my project as long as she has hers to work on as well:)

Spring Fling Swap Package

As many of you know, I will be going to The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling Retreat from April 23-26, 2009, in St. Louis, MO. I love the concept of a knitting retreat -- nothing but knitting as much as you want for an entire period of time with wonderful people that you meet for the first time. There is something about the knitting community that is warm, friendly and full of laughs. If you aren't one of us, you may have a hard time believing this but it's true. Upon my return from LA, my swap package was here from Amy (a veteran of the Loopy Ewe retreat). What a wonderful gift! One of Amy's favorite yarns is 'Dream in Color'. I had never heard of this yarn but decided to add it to my Loopy wishlist. It is now part of my stash thanks to Amy. It's wonderful! I never thought I would ever see Wollmeise yarn due to it's popularity. Amy is the best! Somehow she provided a sample skein of Wollmeise in my favorite colors of blue and green. It will be the perfect yarn for making a mini sock for the Keychain Sock Blocker that has been waiting for the 'perfect' yarn. I'm really looking forward to meeting Amy in 18 days to thank her in person for such a thoughful package!

The Baby Turns 20!

I just returned from LA for a visit with Steve for his 20th birthday. We had a really wonderful visit. I made a trip to Sprinkles for birthday cupcakes. Steve's favorite is Red Velvet so I got two of those for him. I tried the Black and White and the Coconut. I will say that the Black and White has my vote for favorite flavor. Steve gave me a bite of the Red Velvet but the Black and White is #1 for me. Happy Birthday Steve!

The Secret to Felting in a Front Loader

I have a Maytag front loader washing machine. When I was doing felting, the machine wouldn't felt no matter how hard I tried -- extra clothes in the load, tennis balls, the hottest water, the extra dirty cyle, extra spin, faster spin, etc.

Today I discovered the secret to felting in my front loader machine. You set the load to hand wash, cold water, no extra spin, no faster spin and wait for the cycle to finish. Ta-da your sweater knit in Classic Elite Miracle that was a 40" bust will now be a 35" bust, the overall length will go from 25" to 22" and the arm length will go from 19" to 17". Fortunately, the sleeves were really too big so what was meant to be was meant to be. After it dries completely, I will see who will be gifted this sweater. My husband was glad he didn't do it. The secret is the Miracle yarn. My conclusion is alpaca felts better than wool in a front loader washing machine. Considering that Miracle is 50% alpaca and 50% tencel, I would have to say I will not be making the same sweater with the other Miracle yarn in my stash and whatever I make will hand wash in the sink.

I guess you know your life has come full circle when this type of thing humors you more than it ticks you off. I must have been knitting this for someone else all along but now I know it.

A wonderful lady I met at the Black Duck Emporium on Monhegan Island said when you get to the point of seeing un-knitting as a learning experience your knitting is zen. Today is another zen level in my knitting. Pictures to follow.

The Gang's All Here

I have my sister-in-laws hat on and my brother has joined the group in my husbands hat (way too large) but we're all in the spirit.

Christmas 2008

Six hat, scarf and mitten sets were completed just in time for Christmas gifting. Only five are shown because my sister-in-law couldn't make it since her family had a later celebration this year. Since she is a fellow knitter, I missed seeing her and talking the lingo. Many thanks to my sisters for staying out of my 'woman cave' so that I could finishing attaching buttons while they were congregating in my kitchen. Also, a special thanks to my baby sister for tissue wrapping the loot and to my LYS for the cute Christmas bags they gave to use as gift bags. A number of wonderful people that touch my life made this Christmas special for me. You know who you are and how much I count on you!