Hi there,

I'm so sorry I haven't posted to this blog in SO long.  I have LOTS of excuses:

• My husband has been recovering from a torn achilles tendon, and then LOTS of complications from that.
• I got a work-at-home part-time job, so it's been a challenge trying to squeeze and extra 20 hours out of my week.
• I've been writing reviews for theTOS Homeschool Crew on my other blog, and that has kept me very busy in all that extra time.
• My camera will not allow me to download to my computer anymore.  So when I want to share something with you, I have to take the camera to the drug store and have my pictures put on disc.

So, all that being said, here's what I want to show you today:

This was my hat contest hat for the Knitter's Day Out gathering at the end of September.  My best girlfriend, A.K.A.  bff, and I have been going to this knitter's gathering for the past 3 years.  We shop for yarn and accessories until we drop and take classes to learn new techniques.  This year we learned entrelac and toe-up socks.  Each year, part of the entry fee is donating a hat to the caps for kids charity.  It is optional to enter a hat into the contest.  Last year, I won with my pumpkin hat.  This year I entered the hat above.  Truthfully, I don't like it.  I knitted a basic cap, then crocheted and knitted different flower patterns that I found on the Lion Brand website.  Just go to www.lionbrand.com and type "flower of the week" in the search box.

I used scrap yarn to make the different flowers and a micro-fiber yarn to make the hat.  I love the feel of the microfiber yarn, but working with it is difficult, especially when you crochet, because the yarn splits into tiny threads when being worked. 

Well, my hat didn't win...but my BFF and I won the raffle and we split $100 to spend in the yarn market!!!  I got a kit so that the boys and I can dye some sock yarn with Kool-Aid, and a kit to make felted clogs.  Before that I got a kit called the "lulu shawl."  I bought it just for the name!

If there's a yarn gathering near you, find a bff and go.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  Here's a tip:  I put all my change into a jar or piggy bank all year and that's the money I used to buy yarn in the yarn market.  If I hadn't won the raffle, I still would have had plenty to spend.  I got some lovely, and unnecessary things, but felt really treated at the end of the day.

So, shop around and find a gathering for you to go to and feed your need for yarn!

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Hello from Vacation-land!  We are on the tail-end of our trip to N. MN to visit family, but I just wanted to share this great idea for your yarn stash.  Check it out here.

I'll be back blogging in a week or so...once I've put everything away and recovered!  I can't wait to show you what I did on my summer vacation.

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First, you must know that I've been in a "funk" all week.  I have a number of reasons, most of which are self-inflicted, but I have just not been my normal perky self.  And then Saturday came.  My BFF and I reserved our spaces in a class being taught in a town about an hour from my home.  The name of the class was "Sweaters to Yarn".  It was offered by Cherie Anne Designs which is a lovely little yarn shop in the York Central Market.

My girlfriend and I arrived on time, but it took us a few turns around the market to find Cherie Anne's store.  It is a lovely store, warm and inviting.  When we arrived, Cherie Anne was at her spinning wheel and our instructor, Melissa, also Cherie's sister-in-law, was waiting for us with our other classmate at the large wooden table.  After we viewed and felt all the samples of Melissa's work with recycled yarn, she piled the used sweaters onto the table and told us to pick one.

I selected a lovely red turtleneck with a few cables.  It was a really lovely sweater, but I picked it for the yarn which was 100% Shetland.  Why Shetland you ask?  So I can make something felted!  Momma needs a new felted bag!!!

For the next 2 hours, we laughed, got to know our new friends, and turned a sweater into a PILE of yarn.  When I was finished, shortly after 12:00 Noon, this is all that was left of my sweater:

I came home with this:

But I also came home with a tremendous smile on my face.  My girlfriend and I toured the market yet again and got lunch and a few treats.  We perused Cherie's store, which, if you're near York, PA, you should visit!  She spins beautiful yarn.  The colors are a feast for the eyes.  Her shop also has knitted and crocheted items as well as handmade jewelery.  It was difficult not to buy everything I wanted, but I was there for the class and, unfortunately not to buy!

Afterward, we drove a few blocks to visit Uncommon Threads, another yarn shoppe.  This LYS, too, is warm and inviting.  There were a group of girls at the sitting area toward the back of the room working on projects and chatting.  You could tell they were a friendly bunch.  I just wanted to grab some needles and sit with them!  But alas, we had to return to our homes many miles up the pike.

After dropping my bestest friend at her home, I drove home with a smile on my face.  This was the perfect outting to get me out of my funk.  It involved yarn, a gorgeous day and location, yummy lunch (definitely get the fish sandwich if you go to the York Central Market!), and my very dearest friend.  I was my-perky-self again.  AND I have a new passion for recycled yarn!  Look out thrift stores...here I come!

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I've written to you in the past about my favorite Christmas gift.  Each year our two sons, and my husband stuff my stocking with yarn.  They go to the craft store.  Stand in the yarn aisle.  And each select 2 skeins to give me for Christmas.  I don't even know how this tradition began, but I love it so much.  I really enjoy learning what each skein is supposed to be.

Well, this week I pulled out a skein of purple that was part of this past Christmas' stocking.  It is an acrylic made by Caron called "Simply Soft."  I must admit, I've never considered myself to be a yarn snob, but I do recognize how coarse acryllic yarns can feel.  If you pick up a skein of Caron Simply Soft, you would never believe it is an acryllic.  It is very drapey with a silky-rayony shein to it.  I just loved working with this yarn.

I made the shell scarf on the skein sleeve.  I started it on Monday night and finished it Tuesday before going to bed.  Even the fringe is rich and drapey.

I have to admit.  I'm in love.  I just can't believe I'm in love with an acryllic!

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Hello all!!!

I had the most amazing Christmas ever!  It truly was amazing.  AND there was knitting and crochet involved, too!  I've always enjoyed crocheting and, within the past two years, have begun to really enjoy knitting as well.  But it entered into my conscious mind in the past few days how much these two skills feed my soul.  I am calmer.  I get the same endorphins that another girl might get by going on a shopping spree.

One of my first blog entries was about how each year my boys buy me random skeins of yarn and fill my stocking.  I received this gift, my very favorite each year, again this year.  I spent a lovely Christmas afternoon with my gang hanging out in the living room.  But I was flipping through the pages of my one-skein book listing all the great projects I'm going to make with my stocking-full of 8 different skeins of yarn.

THEN I got another swap package.  It was divine.  There were lots of books and several skeins of beautiful yarn.  I was truly pampered by this box.

BEFORE all this, I received a wonderful gift from my BFF of some wonderful wool spun in Price Edward Island.  We had aslo just purchased together some gorgeous sock wool to make the Clapotis pattern. (which I've started)  On a pre-Christmas outting to our LYS I picked up some lace-weight wool that I've been covetting for months.  AND she came over and wound all my new yarn plus the mohair blend I bought in the Fall while on a shopping trip in Lancaster County, PA.

So, my project queue includes a mobius from the mohair; a three-button shawl from the PEI wool; several one-skein scarves and maybe a button bag from the same book; the "Invisibility Shawl" from the Harry Potter knits book (with the lace-weight wool); some crocheted jewelry using the new book and some of the metallic thread from my swap box; AND I need to finish my clapotis!  Of course, there is a half-finished dog bed that sits in a box in my living room that should be finished too.

That's my yarn-thread-knit-crochet to do list.  Just typing it gets me excited!  How many starts do you think I can make in the first month of the New Year?  I'll keep you posted...

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Today I received my October swap package.  I'm so excited!  It makes me want to drop everything I'm working on right now and start a new project using this beautiful yellow Sugar 'n' Cream:

Sorry about the quality of the picture.  We broke our digital camera and so we have to take pictures without actually being able to see them.  The camera takes pictures but we can't see what it takes.  So it is a surprise  to see what we get when we off-load them from the camera to the PC!

Anyway, I got three gorgeous skeins of Lily Sugar 'n' Cream, a bag of Lindor Truffles, dark chocolate-my favorite, a pattern book from Lily (I want to make everything in this book, it has such great ideas!), and a cute Halloween decoration.  All of this came in an orange handle bag which was packed in the shipping box.

I love swapping.  It's like Christmas in the middle of any given month.  Sadly, our swapping hostess is taking a year off of swapping after Christmas.  I will miss these monthly swaps very much.

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I'm in a funk.  I've been trying to make a scarf out of some left over cashmere/silk that I got for Christmas.  I made one scarf for myself but have enough for another.  I want to make it for a friend who has been wearing a heavy and hot chenille scarf I made for him this summer!  He needs something lighter for summer.  But every pattern I try just isn't "it".  I spent part of yesterday working two different patterns, one knit and one crochet, and ripped them both out.  I even lost some yarn in the ripping.  This yarn is very delicate.

I have another sock to make, but I don't really feel like working on that.  I finished the backpack purse I was making and lined it on Monday.  I don't feel inspired to work on anything right now.  And hence, the funk.

What I want to do is go shopping!  Not good for me or my pocketbook.  Of course, living rurally, the only shopping I can really do is Goodwill thrift shopping, but it's still getting more stuff I don't need and spending money that would be better spent on other things.

So...where does that leave me?  I've decided to spend my afternoon with my yarn.  I keep my stash in the bedroom, and I also have two shoe boxes of patterns.  Most have been printed from the internet, but I also have some magazines and pattern books stashed in those boxes as well.  So, I'm going to watch 7th Heaven re-runs on the Hallmark Channel and sort through my stash.  I'll put certain yarns in bags with the pattern I intend to use.  I'll take other yarns and sort them by type to keep them organized.  I'll lay everything on the bed and enjoy what I have.  Then, if I'm feeling really ambitious.  I'll sort through my patterns and start organizing them by type.

Just thinking about this little project lifts my funk.  I can't wait to feed the boys their lunch so that I can get started!  I'm glad we're just having BLTs for supper so I won't have to quit early to get cooking!

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