What Does a Gal Need?

What does a gal need when she's had a tough week with the darndest *&*#*### head cold in the world? Especially when she's missed out on her Tuesday night knit in at Sue's and a workshop with Candace Eisner Strick on Thursday. Well...of course, she needs yarn and more!! Kristen of Audioknits fame so sweetly mailed me my gift for winning her blog contest to commemorate a rather special birthday. You know the one that scares the living daylights out of all of us, but also frees us to do what we all damn well please..... Happy" do what you please" Bday to Kristen!!!!

Thanks, Kristen for the Opal yarn and new knit accessories bag as well. They're lovely!!!



Tomorrow....I'll post about the Foster Fair, knit and spin projects and my Casablanca Lily.

Picovoli and Nalbinding

The hot weather has been keeping me away from wool so I've managed to get some of Grumperina's Picovoli done. I must say I love working with Debbie Bliss's Cathy. it is very soft and I'm loving the color. I'm sure the monitor colors don't quite get the color right, but trust me it's a lovely gray-blue. I am not too happy with my increases so I wrote to the Techknit list for advice. They are always willing and eager to help and the email traffic is very low. One of the listees suggested I knit into the back then the front of the stitch instead of the other way round to get a better looking increase. I will try that technique soon.....

It's a joy to work on this shell pattern because there will be no sewing up to do since it's knit in the round.



Today I spent a good part of the morning organizing my stash. Believe it or not I removed most of my new yarns from the dining room corner to some plastic boxes in the basement. Now....you all know this is dangerous! If that dining room corner is empty, you can guess what I'll do......fill it with more yarn!!!! When will it end? At least DD is a knitter now and can benefit from my acquistions :).

While surfin' the web I found some interesting articles on Nalbinding....knit and crochet's cousin.
Enjoy the Links!

It Was a Ten!!!

Yesterday was so beautiful! DH and mom and I took a trip to the beach. What is it about the shore that intrigues us and draws us there? The water's calming effect, the birdlife, the boats or the salt air? It's all of them for me. We like to park at Galilee renamed Salty Brine Beach a few years ago. We left home at 8 am stopped for "coffee and" and arrived at 9:15 to park near the rocks to take in the view you see in the pics below. Naturally I took my knitting along. I've finally begun Grumperina's Picovoli at long last. I bought some Debbie Bliss Cathy in a lovely gray blue and began in earnest. Sadly, I didn't read the directions carefully enough and wound up ripping it out last night. I restarted immediately and I'm on track and loving the softness of this yarn made of cotton, silk and microfibre.












Here's another garden pic! Any ideas about what I could name it? Interlocking Echinacea?

Baby Hoodie is Finished!

My daughter, Marisa, finished knitting a sweet baby sweater for her friend's baby shower. The sweater will be much appreciated I'm sure. It's so soft and a great color for a boy or a girl. Best of all she tells me she will be free to knit whatever she wants now. Deadline knitting can be trying as we all know. She used a free pattern from Bernat.

All in a Day!

What a wonderful day in pictures! Below you see DH's prized plecostomus. To be precise a Leopard Pleco ~ Sailfin Plecostomus (Adult) Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps.


Of course, I'm happy to have finished my Opal tiger socks. Hmmmmmm....time to begin another pair of socks. Perhaps I'll consider the new Knitty when I choose a new pattern. It's called the extremities issue!!

My purchase at Tranquil Lake Nursery paid off. Below you see Numinous Moments. She bloomed in all her glory yesterday morning. I have another that is to die for. I will be posting that pic soon.

Here you can witness my Echinacea plant in two stages.........