Birthday

I celebrated a big birthday recently.  It felt good to celebrate, too--I made it!  Jim and I celebrated with a nice supper and then birthday cake.  On Sunday Ben and Jim had an open house for me.  It was so nice to visit with friends and neighbors--and another delicious birthday cake!  I got a Fitbit from Ben and a 15-inch Cricket Loom with a stand from Jim.  I did a small weaving and will warp the loom today.  Photos to come...

Cricket Loom--just going on another path down the rabbit hole.

Jim had me wear the baseball shirt Ben and I had made for him in April.  The decorations were inside and outside the house. 

It also feels good to finish class samples.  The first is a child sized double knit ear flap hat in Pure Wool Worsted by Rowan and Liberty Wool by Cascade.  The pattern is sized for newborn to adult XL, and proceeds from the pattern go to charity.  The P Chullo hat is a free pattern with alphabet charts for the body and ear flaps.  One can fit a message into the 168-stitches around the body of the hat.  The original pattern calls for ten colors, and I am working the sample in five colors.  I made it through the first row of my message--fingers crossed that I stay on track!  Above the message there is a chart for a gryphon and a fox and the crown has waves and a snake, which I will change to a sheep.

One hat.

Another hat--two in one!

The FO (finished object) for the week is L'Enveloppe by Sally Melville.  I am teaching a class, which started out as a one to one and grew to include two other instructors and another student.  It is a project that is not difficult to knit, quick to knit, and looks wonderful on every body type.  Deciphering the pattern can be a challenge.  I made some notes on my Ravelry project page and Sally has a thread for L'Enveloppe help on her Ravelry group page.  We all agree that there will be more L'Enveloppes in our wardrobe!  The weather has turned cool and this will be a good week to  wear it.

Noro Yutzen yarn was the perfect choice.

A shape folded in half, one short seam is sewed on the long side to make a sleeve.

On the other side of the sleeve, stitches are picked up and then the side is knit with short rows.

Another fun project is Wavelength, a scarf that reminds me of giant rickrack.  I am working this in Anzula Dreamy, 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Silk--a dreamy yarn!  The colors are brown (Sexy) and yellow-green (Temperance).  

Start with one chevron and then keep adding one chevron to each end.  The contrast
colors show off the texture nicely.

24

Ben turned 24 years old yesterday.  I remember the day well, although from about 11:30 pm (German time) the memories are a bit fuzzy.  I am so proud of the man he has become.  I took a cake to his office and then we went to Mort's for lunch.  It was nice to spend time with him ON his birthday.  When he was in college this time period was for finals, so he spent his birthdays in the library studying.  It was good to see him and talk over a nice lunch.

Ben loved my little green chair.  Such a dear little fellow that has grown into a wonderful man.

I was finishing Pigment last night and ran out of the main color!  Arrrgh!  That is frustrating.  The scarf looks great.  I will get another skein, as I am not going to frog the project and re-knit it.  Today before class I want to have the small sample of double-knitting and the illusion circle finished.  Ambitious, but doable! Sample knitting is a constant to prepare for upcoming classes.  My personal projects are waiting...and waiting...

Pigment, color, easy stitching, a bit of shape--what's not to love?

Marching along

The past couple of days we have had temperature ups and downs!  I believe today will be warmer side.

Amelie
From the movie character

Hortense
A favorite painting by
Edgar Degas

Yesterday I was happy to have Kathryn back in class.  She is so sweet and chose a wonderful cabled pattern out of "A Fine Fleece" to knit.  It is on page 114.  Kathy and I put together the Ashford Traditional wheel, which we started before class and finished up after class.  It is a lovely wheel.  In the meantime, a call came in from Louet.  My second wheel is on its way.  Yes, I said second.  The first one was apparently delivered to Kathy's prior address (she has not lived there for well over a year) and mysteriously disappeared.  Crikey!  Anyway, it should arrive early next week.  I am anxious because I would like to get out and spin.

Amelie Hortense

Speaking of spinning, I scored a book I never would have paid full price for--"Intertwined," by Lexi Boeger.  Some of the yarns are strictly art, but it is a good book for inspiration.  At a third of the bookstore price, it will be a nice addition to the fiber-brary.

Aranmor is at a slow point.  There is a lot going on (and that is news?) and I have a bit of stress, which zeroed into my lower back since Tuesday.  I started the other side and will decide which side I want to use for the back and which side I want to use for the front.
09.03.11  Snow day!  Last night I had a fun spindling class.  One student is a weaver, and the other a true fiber-lover.  Her young son is learning how to do wood turning, so she is hoping to have some lovely fiber tools, soon.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Mom had a fun 95th birthday yesterday.  We called my brother in Texas, we went out to lunch, and then had a little party back at her place.  I got a big cake, those of us that made Mardi Gras masks last week wore them, and after our snack we played a rousing game of Mardi Gras Hangman.
10.03.11  As you can see, there is a new addition at my house--Amelie Hortense arrived while I was teaching yesterday afternoon.  She weighs in at a little over 7.5 pounds and is 23-inches tall.  Louie and Wendolene are pleased with their little sister.  She came with her carry-bag/backpack and is just a delightful little spinner.  A half pound of Coopworth roving came with her, also.  I have almost a full bobbin already.

Little Amelie already has a bobbin full of Coopworth

Louie and Wendolene welcome their little sister.
She is very petite.

It's melting!

That is WATER!  You can hear the water dripping,
and the birds are singing!

Play ball!

I had such a fun birthday weekend.  Jim and I went out for pizza on Friday evening, Saturday we hung out, and then yesterday I joined the shop for our trip (via train) to the new Twins stadium (nee Target Stadium) for Stitch & Pitch.  Nothing like watching baseball outdoors on a gorgeous day.  The Twins lost, but still have a great record and our seats were awesome!  It got a bit chilly when the sun went behind the seats, but I had on my little cap.  some gals brought their large projects to sit on their laps.  Knit one, keep warm too!  Jim had ribs ready for supper when I got home and after that we had the wonderful chocolate drizzle cake from Byerly's bakery.  Om-nom-nom!

The Argyle Pillow is finished.  The I-cord is the final touch.  I started over a few times, as I didn't like the way it looked.  I ended up picking working three stitches and skipping the fourth and the cord lays nice and flat.  The pillow is on the class schedule.  You can check it out here along with three other classes!  I mentioned the hat I made...well, I had in mind what I wanted and it turned out so cute.  I was in a bit of a rush to finish, so  I didn't take notes.  I have to re-engineer it and will have a pattern ready this week.
I'm watching a squirrel bury an acorn.  My goodness, it's like watching a human.  It dug the hole, pushed the acorn in, covered it with dirt, and then tamped down the dirt with both hands--really pushing it hard.  So funny to watch!  The little buggers drive me nuts, but they're fun to watch.