News From The Nest

Sunday Flowers

I braved the heat and the mosquitoes to venture outside and pick some flowers and herbs to go in my new vase.  Echinacea, Shasta Daisies, Hollywood Lights Daisies, a Calla Lily, Coreopsis, and Spearmint.

The vase is made and signed by Charlotte at Humble Mill Pottery in Seagrove, NC.  I got the vase in Hillsborough, NC on Friday at Churton Street Gallery and I'm sure you see why I couldn't resist it.  There's a robin on it!!

Seagrove is the pottery capital of the world.  Often, you'll find kilns where the art of making pottery has been handed down through many generations.  I don't care what type of pottery you like - from fancy, plain, cute, utilitarian, or just for looks - you'll find it in all Seagrove. 

You can go here to see a map of the pottery "trail".  There are 112 locations marked on the map.  You can get in your car - drive - stop - shop - get back in your car - drive - stop - shop all day long!  Great opportunity for Christmas or other gift giving opportunities.

The birdfeeders are quiet today.  I think it's even too hot for the birds to eat!  They're probably somewhere lying around a birdbath!  Cute visual!

Hope your Sunday is relaxing.

A Visit To Hillsborough, NC

Yesterday, after an early morning appointment, I met Wanda, Ashley (Wanda's daughter), Kelly, and Michelle for a visit to Hillsborough Yarn Shop in Hillsborough, NC.  We had great fun oohing and aahing over all of Anne's pretty yarns.  Hillsborough Yarn is a great little shop.  Anne is super nice and accommodating.  The shop is a perfect accent for the historic town, too. 

Ashley and I each purchased a skein of yarn by Be Sweet called Magic Ball in the Forest Fruits colorway and a pattern, Roberta's Shawlette, to go with it.  The pattern calls for size 36 needles!  I thought I'd just whittle down a couple of broomsticks!  Should do fine!  Seriously.  Size 36?!?  WOW!  The pattern shows the finished piece worn across the shoulders as a shawl or scrunched up and worn around the neck more as a scarf.  The Forest Fruits colorway is gorgeous!!  It contains purple, turquoise, green, yellow, and a deep burgundy in many different textures - mohair, ribbon, boucle, an eyelash type yarn, etc. 

I also bought a couple of booklets - one by Leisure Arts on Quicknit Keepsakes - 6 Baby Aghans and a Reynolds Kids book.  Skeins of sock yarn found their way into my bag -- Online cotton in soft baby colors for baby socks and two skeins of Opal - one in cotton and the other in wool/polymide.  Also to the the mix, I added a skein of Schaefer Yarn's Andrea to add to my shawl-making stash.  It's 1093 yards of 100% silk in the Thistle colorway -- the prettiest shade of lavender -- reminds me of purple lilacs.  Beautiful!  I love Schaefer Yarn's colors.  I think they're some of my most favorite of any yarn company.  I am oh-so sucked in by colors! 

Seeing that I keep losing my cable needle that I'm using to knit the Beachcomber Shawl and was forced by necessity to use an opened up paperclip that I got from a secretary while at one of my doctors' offices this week, I added a package of cable needles to my purchase.  There are three of them in the package so hopefully, I won't lose all of them. 

We enjoyed lunch at Tupelo's Restaurant.  I had a Louisiana Po' Boy with shrimp and coleslaw.  HMMM!  Kelly shared a taste of her fried green tomatoes with me.  They were yummy!  Next time....

We split our yarn shopping with lunch.  After the second round of fiber goodness and checking out with Anne, we needed a zinger to get us back on the road.  We headed off to Cup A Joe for coffee drinks.  Then, the girls headed back to Danville as I poked through a few galleries and shope - Churton Street Gallery, Callaway Jewelry / Spiral Studios, Hillsborough Gallery of Arts - and as I made my way back to my car.

Hillsborough is just a great little town and has a lot to offer.  Its close proximity to Durham and Raleigh have helped it become a great go-to destination.  Full of history and beautiful colonial buildings, it is the county seat of Orange County.  The town boasts an active arts council and events such as children's opera, a music series, parlor concerts in area historic homes, and a parade which shows off inventive masks, elaborate costumes, and giant puppets - products of a series of puppet-making and movement workshops. 

As I left, the town was getting ready for their Last Fridays Art Walk.  April through September, downtown Hillsborough hosts artists, craftspeople, musicians, food vendors, and art walk, and a filmmakers series.  The courthouse is in the center of town and its lawn serves as a focal point for the booths.  Also, shops, galleries, and restaurants along the main street are open until 9:00 PM and after.  October through March, the event moves inside with concerts or films. 

On the agenda for this weekend is end-of-the-month work, cleaning out, and I MUST make soap.  I really wanted to head to The Yarn Lounge today to meet Wendy, of Wendy Knits fame.  She was there from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM to sign her new book, Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits.  I'm sure they had a blast and it would have been great fun.  I just couldn't muster up the energy for the four hour round trip drive.  Oh well.  Maybe another time.

Before I go ---- take a look at my friend's exhibit!  Jane is a rug hooker, watercolor artist, and long-time friend of mine and is one of this month's featured artists at the Quiet Waters Park Gallery in Annapolis, MD.  Great pictures and a couple of funny photos of Jane!

Better run!  Hope you have a super Saturday!

Nothing In Particular

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have been busy in the nest box to the east of the driveway.  Here are their four new eggs.  They're just the prettiest shade of blue. 

I dumped the nest from the box to the west side of the driveway.  It had been there for weeks but no eggs.  Just a couple of hours after I dumped the old nest, the bluebirds had built a new one.  Now, I'm waiting and watching to find eggs in that box, too.

The Beachcomber Shawl is up to approximately 24 inches long.  It's an easy knit now that it's just seed stitch, stockinette, and cables.  I think I'll be able to finish this in time. 

I still haven't heard back from my email to the designer re: the errors.  Funny that she asks for people to email her re: any questions or mistakes on the back of the pattern but she hasn't responded.  It's been about a week and a half. 

Here are a couple more pictures from my perennial garden. 

This is an interesting perennial.  Can't remember the name.  I planted this last year because it was different.  Very unique  blooms.

This is a Blue Mouse Ear Hosta.  It's so small.  Purplish-white blooms.  Very sweet.

Yeah!!  Tomorrow is Friday!!

New Hat

Our Monday night knitting group has been meeting at Starbucks in Danville, VA since February 4, 2008.  Very few of us knew each other when we first started meeting and it has been great fun making new friends. 

One of the employees, Jason, recently asked Michelle to knit him a hat.  And, she did.  Jason takes good care of us when he works on Monday nights - giving us samples, putting out chairs for us, turning up the music, turning down the music, turning up the air conditioning, turning down the air conditioning, raising the shades, lowering the shades - just generally looking out for us.  Well, Michelle took him up on his request - knitted him a fine hat and gave it to him last night. 

Here is Jason modeling his fine new hat!  As you can see, he is quite tickled and he told Michelle that her next drink is on him!  Doesn't he look great!?!!!!  Michelle, you did a super job!

Andy leaves early tomorrow morning to fly back to Ohio.  He'll be back late July 3rd.  The grass is mown.  I think I need some livestock to keep the grass down in between his trips home!  Preferably Angora goats, Shetland sheep, or some such!!

I leave you with more pretties from the garden!  White Yarrow and Pink Echinacea (cone flower). 

Home Again!

What a long drive!  Seemed to take longer coming home from Ohio than it did going. 

While Andy drove, I finished reading Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum.  A very good knitting mystery that kept me guessing.  In the back, the author gives a pattern for a sea-silk scarf made from one skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn.  Nell, a character in the book, made the scarf to wear to a big event.  Goldenbaum's new book, Patterns in the Sand, is available now in hardcover.  I highly recommend this entertaining read!

I also made some progress on the Beachcomber Scarf despite the mistakes in the pattern.  This is a pocket scarf and has a seed stitch border.  There is a pocket between the cable columns.  On this picture, there looks like there is a mistake on the right cable near the top -- I just checked it and it's OK -- just the way the piece was laying when I took the picture.  Thank goodness!

As soon as we arrived home, Andy jumped on the mower.  The grass hasn't been mowed in two weeks.  We could bale it - it was so tall!  I unloaded the car and played with the kitties.  Took awhile for Gracie kitty to show up - worried me to death since the people that fed them while we were gone hadn't see her since last Tuesday.  Earl Gray made it very clear that he didn't want me leaving again anytime soon by parking himself on top of my suitcase.

I checked the bluebird houses.  The one to the east side of the driveway had one egg in it when I left -- now it has four eggs.  If all goes well with these four, the baby bluebird total for the summer so far will be fourteen.  The box on the west side of the driveway still had the nicely built nest but no eggs.  I dumped the nest so they'll build again and hopefully lay eggs this time.  I don't know what happened - why they built the nest but didn't lay any eggs.

The garden is thriving!  The things that I transplanted have taken root and thoroughly perked up.  The perennial garden is blooming up a storm.  Cone flowers, Bee Balm, Hollywood Lights Daisies, Calla Lilies (pink and white - forgot to check the yellow), Daylilies, Asters, Rosebushes, Yarrow, etc. etc.  Here are some pictures. 

Back to work tomorrow.  Even though I checked emails and phone messages while away, it's going to be a busy week! 

Hope you have a good one!!

Last Day

To the left is a picture - kind of dark since I was facing the light - of people knitting on their lunch break today.  Out the windows, you see the Hampton Inn across the street.

Today's class was taught by Debra Lee and was on Basic Sweater Fitting.  Another super teacher and great class!!!  Debra is from the Washington, DC area and teaches at two knitting shops in the northern Virginia area (Falls Church and Vienna).  If you are a knitter living in the area where Debra teaches - run, don't walk and sign up for her classes. 

In class, we paired up with a partner and measured each other - 21 measurements in all!!!  Debra said that 21 measurements were probably more than we would ever need but while we had the opportunity to have a partner measure us, we were going to take advantage of it. 

With the measurements, we made our personal schematic.  Debra was prepared with graph paper and led us step-by-step through the process.  After plotting our schematic, she gave us a transparency sheet.  We laid this on top of our schematic and stapled it in place.  Then, she gave us a sweater pattern.  After studying the pattern, we marked pertinent points of on the transparency sheet.  With this done and comparing it to our personal schematic underneath, we could clearly see places where we needed to alter the sweater pattern to fit our own measurements. 

Debra also showed us an easy formula for figuring out how many increases or decreases to do and the rate at which to do them. 

Yes, the measuring part was painful but very helpful in understanding about our own bodies and how to approach standard sweater patterns.  I think the class should be renamed - Basic Sweater Fitting - The Painful Truth!

I would definitely recommend Knitters Connection to any knitter who is looking for a workshop or classes.  Top-notch teachers, great facility, convenient area re: hotel and facility, and very well organized.  I hope I can attend next year.

After class, I left Columbus, OH and drove to the Dayton International Airport.  Andy had to turn in his rental car and I went to pick him up.  While waiting for him to turn in the key, I spotted these two nestled down atop a nest on the gas pipes.  Don't they look cozy? 

We headed to Centerville and ate supper at a seafood restaurant there then rode around looking at properties again.  After a stop for ice cream, we headed back to Andy's  apartment.  We'll head for home in Virginia tomorrow morning. 

Andy will drive and I'll knit allllll the way home!  I can't wait to see my kitties!

So, good-bye Ohio --- until next time!

A Day With Cat Bordhi

Today's class was GREAT!  New Pathways For Sock Knitters, taught by Cat Bordhi, was terrific.  And, Cat is a  fantastic teacher.  She's a wealth of information and is excellent at getting the message across to her students in creative ways. 

In class, we discussed properties of a good sock - negative ease, dense fabric, elasticity.  She showed us how to do heels and gave us a pattern so we could practice.  By doing her pattern, we made two heels which actually formed a miniature bowl.  Cat discussed how to measure our foot so we'll know where to start / end the different parts of the sock.  She demonstrated the garter stitch toe, Judy's Magic Cast-On, Judy's Toe, and Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off for us and we were able to practice these in knitting our little socks.

In my opinion, a mark of a terrific teacher is their attentiveness to their students.  Cat was very attuned to what her students needed.  She was a whiz with visuals and used different teaching approaches.  She used a large piece of I-cord that she had knitted to demonstrate new methods and techniques.  We were able to see the stitch definition easily with the thick I-cord.  She also had a large knitted sock - her teaching sock.  She used it throughout the class to point out various aspects  of sock knitting.  She had lots of examples of socks that she had knitted that she brought around to illustrate different techniques.  She also incorporated a flip chart, markers, and hand-outs.

In the picture to the right, Cat is holding my finished practice sock.  Cat showed us how to start with a garter stitch toe.  Very cool.  She said it would make a cute baby hat, too.  Then, I followed her Upstream pattern and did my increases on the top of the foot, knit her heel, did the turn, knit the leg as long as we wanted, and then bound out using the new stretchy bind-off.  I need to go ahead and make a second one while I can remember what I learnd and so this one will have a mate. 

In Cat's hand-out, she gave us three baby sock patterns based on her larger patterns from her book New Pathways for Sock Knitters - Upstream, Foxglove, and Coriolis.  We used these little sock patterns to practice all the new things we learned.  Toes, heels, increases, bind-offs --- OH MY!   

Tonight, I walked down the street and ate dinner at Lemongrass.  I had their Lemongrass Salad with baby greens, pineapple, tangerines, and lemongrass dressing followed by Pad-Thai with Shrimp.  A glass of chilled Riesling topped off the meal.  Once back at the hotel, I walked to North Market and had my last scoop of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream - lime flavor tonight!!!

Tomorrow's class - Sweater Fitting Basics with Debra Lee.  More later!!

Another Day At Knitters Connection

Today, I took a class from Myrna Stahman entitled Adventures in Circular Lace Knitting.  Myrna's lovely book of Faroese-shaped shawls and seamen's scarves is just full of great patterns.  She's also working on a couple more books so be on the look-out for them.  The Faroese shawl sit just right on the shoulders and is rounded on the bottom - not pointed.  We discussed methods on how to start a circular shawl in the center and also practiced a really neat way to start it using waste yarn and I-cord.  This method enabled the center hole to be closed  tightly.  We also discussed bind-offs and other properties of lace.  Myrna showed lots of beautiful examples of lace doilies.  Just beautiful!  She showed examples of seamen's scarves - same pattern, same yarn, same size  needles - knit by different people that were entirely different sizes  due to varying gauges.  Myrna also showed us a beautiful scarf that she knit.  It was beautiful!!!  In knitting the scarf, she progressed from size 2 needles nearer the neck to 10.5 at the ends.  The result was a fanned out scarf towards the ends.  Myrna described lace as "connecting holes in a pleasing fashion".  She sure does just that!!  (No pictures - Myrna asked that no pictures be posted on the internet.)

I went back to the Knitters Market today during my class break.  You know the question, "Button, button, who has the button??"  Well, I discovered the answer to that question!!!  Michelle has the button - rather buttons - hundreds of them - all colors, all sizes, all shapes.  Dusty's Vintage Button booth took me right back to when I used to play in my grandmother's button collection.  It was great fun raking through the wide assortment of buttons looking for just the right one.  Michelle had the buttons sorted by color.  There were also trays of "stacked" buttons where she had put several buttons together - taking two or more buttons and joined them together giving them a whole new look. 

The funniest sights in the Knitters Market are these speed bumps!  It's like they have to slow us down from shopping too fast!!  They're actually covering electrical cords but I think slowing down the knitters sounds better!

Tonight, there was a reception with yummy food!  The teachers were all settled at tables and available to autograph their books.

Then, it was off to hear Amy Singer present "A Night With Knitty".  Amy talked about the seven years since the "birth" of Knitty.com.  It was very interesting hearing the ins and outs of the online knitting magazine.  Amy was a great presenter and even broke out her ukulele.  We joined her in singing an Ode to the Knitters Connection.  What fun!! 

 Here is Amy (with her glass of water) in her beautful sweater, Liesel, designed by Ysolda Teague.  It's a great pattern!  Did you know that Amy is allergic to wool and all animal fibers???  So, she writes about what she knows in No Sheep For You.  She told us not to feel sorry for her -- she has silk!

Tomorrow, New Pathways for Sock Knitters with Cat Bordhi!!!!!

WOW!!! and I'm Three Today!

This morning I packed my bags and headed out.  I also realized that my blog is three years old today!!!  What better way to celebrate than with a full day of fiber!

First, I drove to nearby Centerville and stopped in at Fox Cottage Rug Hooking Shop.  I was warmly greeted by Sue Ellen, the owner, and all the ladies busily working on their latest rugs.  They were all doing beautiful work and I really enjoyed visiting with them.  And, what a cute and cozy studio!!!  Very warm and inviting.  Sue Ellen is selling the building --- how I would love to restart my rug hooking business in such a vibrant fiber area. 

I swear it's kismet.  One of them had my last name.  I was so surprised because I have never met anyone with my last name that's not related.  Then, she told me that she also a sister-in-law with my first name.  She said that she had read my name in Rug Hooking Magazine over the years and had always told her sister-in-law that there was a rug hooker by the same name.  Well, that's me!  Another rug hooker is from Martinsville, VA which is about an hour and a half from where I live and is within my work area.  In fact, I lived there while I was in nursing school. 

Next, I headed upstairs from the rug shop and visited Yarn & Needle.  Do you see the triangular frames in the picture to the right??  They're very well made by a local man.  He's hard at work on a new frame that is adjustable and will enable the weaver to make a triangular shawl of three different sizes on one frame.  He'll be demonstrating on these frames at Yarn & Needle this Friday evening. 

I enjoyed lunch at Panera's (again) and had their Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (my third one this week!).  It's my absolute favorite!!!!  The nearest Panera's at home is at least an hour and a half away so I'm going to enjoy that salad while I can!! 

Then, I headed off to Columbus, Ohio for Knitters Connection.  I checked into the Hampton Inn right across from the Convention Center where the event is being held.  I parked my car and don't expect to move it before I leave here on Saturday. 

After unpacking, I crossed the street and picked up my nametag, event tickets, and my goodie bag! (bag and contents pictured to the left), then went to wait for the Knitters Market to open at 5:00 PM.  All of a sudden, I heard someone call my name.  I looked up and it was Carrie from the River City Knitters guild in Richmond, VA!!!!!  What a surprise!!  (This trip is just full of little happenings.  This one was perhaps to show me that even though I'm in Ohio, Virginia is still within reach.) 

This is the first time I've been to a knitting event this far away from my home or normal area.  A cool thing about this is that there are a lot of new things to see.  Participating in the market were The Alpaca Source, Back to Back Fiber Products, A Beaded Road, Bonnie's  Kozy Knit, Briar Rose Fibers (gorgeous stuff!), Cabin Fever, Castle Fibers, Coloratura Yarns, Creations by Joyce, Dahara Dreaming, Dusty's Vintage Buttons, Fine Points, Fantail Fibres, Arlene Graham's Fiberworks, Frontier Fiber Mill, Gita Maria, Glory-ous Knits, Ivy Brambles, Jennie the Potter, Knitter's Mercantile, Nantucket Bagg Co. (I was able to tell the Bagg man that he needed to put lime green handles on his purple Nantucket bag!),  Newton's Yarn Country, River's Edge Weaving Studio, Shelridge Farms, Stich Sisterz, and The Yarn Barn (Pat from Virginia!).  Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Also for our viewing pleasure --- Rowan's 30th Anniversary Exhibition.  This featured examples of vintage designer garments representing three decades of Rowan knitting.  Beautiful knitted samples!!!

I scooted to North Market quickly for a bite to eat before returning to the convention center for Sandi Wiseheart's (of Knitting Daily fame) presentation - "Fit to Flatter".  She was great!!  She talked about proper ways to measure yourself and to do a schematic for your knitted sweaters.  She also taught a class today re: making sweaters fit and said that they came up with a great quote -- "Wool has memory, Cotton has imagination."  How true!  After her talk, we could go up and fondle all the sweaters featured in Knitting Daily's Gallery.

As I looked around the room, there was Sally Melville, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Clara Parkes (and here), Cat Bordhi, Myrna Stahman, Amy Singer (and here), and more.  WOW!  That's a lot of knitting talent in one room. 

So much stuff within walking distance here.  I walked down the street to Cup O' Joe to go.  On the way back to the hotel, I took this picture of one of the huge vases in front of the convention center.  Very pretty!

Time to go -- gotta rest up for my class tomorrow with Myrna Stahman!    More later!!!

More Lookin' Around

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!!!!!   The cabled baby blanket is finished!!  Still have to weave in the ends and block it.  But, it's finished!!!!!  The edges are a little wavy - I hope they settle down once blocked.  I love this pattern.  Fairly easy but kept my attention.  I may have mentioned that one of the Danville knitters, Gaye, knit it larger - with more pattern repeats - in a beautiful soft shade of pink and edged it in yellow.  I used Encore and I liked the way the yarn handled.  The yarn is a bit fuzzy - I'm going to do a light wash of the blanket and hopefully, some of the fuzz will disappear.  If not, that's okay, too.

I started my next project or tried to anyway.  I'm going to do the Beachcomber Shawl using Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash.  I started it off by casting on the 70 stitches and working 6 rows of seed stitch.  Then, it seemed that the wrong side / right side weren't correct on the pattern.  It made the stitches come out wrong.  It may just be me but I have read and reread and tinked back and reknit.  I can't figure out any other way to read the pattern.  I've emailed the designer and hope she responds ASAP.  I'm anxious to get moving with this pattern as there's a deadline involved. 

Andy got off work early today and we headed out loaded with maps and pictures / addresses of properties.  We cruised through Madison, Middletown, Morrow, Hamilton, Lebanon, Springboro, Turtlecreek Township, Union Township, Clearcreek Township, Salem Township, Washington Township, etc., etc.  Ohio makes using a GPS very difficult.  For example, I put in Andy's address in  MapQuest and my GPS before leaving home.  He is in Centerville -- MapQuest took it but my GPS said "No Matches Found".  I had to use Dayton for the GPS.  Finding these townships on the GPS -- it's your best guess what town to put in because the GPS doesn't take townships.  We printed off county maps from the computer which showed the counties and teh townships within them.  They also showed the neighboring town so that helped a lot. 

While out and about, we visited two yarn shops.  First one we stopped at was Lambikin's Hideaway Yarn & Stitchery in Hamilton.  Located in the historic district, the shop was housed in an old building and was full of a wide selection of yarn, patterns, books, and accessories.  I'm always on the look-out for cute buttons and found some ducks, sheep, and snowmen.  I also found a card of leaf and rosebud buttons which will look terrific on a deep rose yarn.  A Nashua book of baby patterns found its way into my bag, too.  Now, how did that happen???

  We rode back by the property that was next to the alpaca farm to look at it again.  It is really pretty.  Great view - of the alpaca farm and just nothing at all directly in back of the house.  There's acreage and the whole lot is in bad need of mowing.  There was a tree/bush in the front of the house that reminded us of a magnolia but much smaller.  The fragrance wasn't quite the same but it was similar.  Does anyone know the name of this tree??  (The house is vacant so we did look around and peeped in the windows!) 

See the alpaca in the picture to the right?  There is a fence just beyond the tree in the picture.  That is the property line between the property for sale that we looked at and the alpaca farm. 

As we were driving through Springboro, OH on our way back towards Dayton, we noticed that Wooly Bully Yarn Co. was still open!  Turns out it was Knit Night from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.  YEAH!  I had peeked in the windows of this shop back in November when we came to visit the area.  It was Sunday morning then and the shop wasn't open so I was tickled to get a chance to go inside.  Another shop with a terrific variety of yarn and accessories.  I found a really super quick and cute baby sweater pattern by Ann Norling and cable needles.  Now, I have several cable needles so when I drop the one I'm working with between the seats of the car, I can pull another one out of my bag and Andy doesn't have to pull over on the side of the road while I stand on my head fishing it out from under the car seat!

Tomorrow, I will pack my car and head to Centerville.  I'm going to eat lunch at Panera's and then check out the knitting and rug hooking shops right down the street.  After that, I'm off to Columbus, Ohio and Knitters Connection!!!  I'll check in tomorrow, hit the Knitters Market and then attend Sandi Wiseheart's presentation / lecture on "Fit To Flatter".  I can hardly wait!!! 

Stay tuned because I'll be keeping you posted!!