Yarn-along: March 23rd and the swatches are almost done ...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny, Small Things

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Unfortunately, last week was a tough week for any kind of knitting as my laptop was dying a slow death and I was in the "denial" stage most of the week, trying to get the blasted thing to limp through its work.  Well, it made it till Thursday a.m. and I quickly hopped on dh's and ordered a new Toshiba (and a wireless printer while I was at it) -- thank goodness for overnight from Amazon and for design sales!

Well, this week is starting out much better! I've been knitting and reading and generally doing the good.

On the needles:  swatches for my talk at the Dog House Yarns Retreat (will we see you out at Graves Mountain on April 9th?).  The morning session will discuss how to substitute yarns for designs so I collected up different yarns, all in worsted weight, and am doing 50st by 72row squares(on size 8s) to show the differences in gauge, feel (or "hand"), drape and other characteristics.  I'm finishing up on the midnight blue wool/silk blend and then I have one or two to go and then I'll be ready to move on to real knitting again.

FYI, the yarns shown (clockwise, starting at the lower left) are:

• Plymouth Yarn's Boku (95% wool, 5% silk) in color 8 (very autumnal stripes)
• Universal Yarn's Poems Silk (75% wool, 25% silk) in color 803 "Baffinis" (greys and blues)
• Plymouth Yarn's Jelly Beenz (75% acrylic, 25% wool) in color 9623 (rosy pink with dashes of brights -- perfect for a little girl's sweater)
• Cascade Yarns' Venezia Worsted (70% merino, 30% silk) in color Forest (a gorgeous dark green)
• Plymouth Yarn's Royal Llama Silk (60% fine lama, 40% silk) in color 1842 (midnight blue)
• Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherd's Wool (100% wool) in Antique Rose (a pale, but warm, pink)

On the reading table:
Our current read-aloud is the sequel to the wonderfully fun-to-read-aloud, A Whole Nother Story.  We just started Another Whole Nother Story yesterday, and it promises to be just as much fun as the first.

I just finished reading the fascinating, based-on-fact, novel, The Daughter's Walk by Jane Kirkpatrick.  I have now turned my reading toward that pile of books you see in the upper right corner of the picture:  lots of books on decorating on a shoestring!  Spring always gets my interior design creative juices flowing and these books have gorgeous ideas:  Flea Market Style, Simple to Sew Slipcovers and Cover-ups (especially for the leather furniture -- we stick to it in the summer!), Country Living's Cottage Style, Better Homes and Garden's New Cottage Style, HGTV's Design on a Dime, and Country Living's Shoestring Chic.  If those don't keep me busy this week, I've also got a few Windows 7 books to help me deal with all the changes to un-broke Windows programs that Microsoft decides we all need!

Go check out Ginny's post for today and add your own knitting/reading activities for this week!

 

Yarn-along: March 9th edition ...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny, Small Things

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Here's my offering this week:  we're finishing up our read-aloud, Airman, which I highly recommend (especially for boys, but my now-11yod loves it, too) and then we'll move on to A Whole Nother Story, a book that sounds very much like the type of crazy story Howard Whitehouse writes (we read his triology this past fall).  For my reading, since we're starting our Lenten Journey today, I've got the classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence, Houselander's Way of the Cross and Fr. Barron's Conversion on tap.

My knitting for the past few days has been lots of swatches -- squares for the upcoming Olde Liberty Fiber Faire, swatching a new design I've got in my head:

... and I picked up a sampling of worsted weight yarns yesterday from Dog House Yarns in Culpeper.  I'm the morning speaker at Dog House Yarns' upcoming knitting retreat (out at Graves Mountain Lodge on April 9). I'll be speaking about substituting yarns, what different fibers do, and generally discussing "the ins and outs of using this for that"; the swatches I'll knit from the yarns shown below will help illustrate just what different fibers do!  I'll also be signing copies of my Great Yarns books and doing two break-out sessions in the afternoon ("short rows" and "tips and tricks").

Come join Ginny's yarn-along ... and go check out the links to all the lovely ladies who post about what they're reading and working on ... the fiber pictures will have you drooling!
 

I'm back ....

... after my two-week, self-imposed hiatus from the internet.  Just to refresh your mind:  on February 14th, I began a two-week period of fasting (only tea/water/coffee to drink and no sweets), prayer (daily Mass and rosary, morning prayers before the kids wake up, de Montfort's consecration prep) and abstinence (no FB, blogs, etc).  I did these mortifications as an offering to God for a miracle: there is a house I just love that would be perfect for us and solve so very many problems.  Well, that two weeks finished up yesterday ... I don't know whether God's answer is "yes", "no" or "not now" but I do know that the past two weeks were such a grace-filled gift, with lots of re-prioritizing and plans and reading and changes to come.

For all of you who prayed for me and mine during this time -- thank you so very much!  It means so much to me when dear friends I've known online for years ... many of whom I've never met ... pour out prayers and good wishes whenever I ask!  You are all in my daily prayers and know that if there is anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to holler.

So watch for some awesome book reviews ... some changes to this blog and my online presence ... and a great emphasis on my knitting work.  For those that knit:  I'll be speaking in the morning (and doing a couple of afternoon sessions) at Dog House Yarn's spring knitting retreat out at Graves Mountain and I've got some new knitting designs available for download:

• Victoria's Tee -- a fingering-weight cotton-acrylic yarn done in a Victorian lace edging pattern.  This top looks great with an undertop or (if it ever warms up ...) all by itself. 
• Malcolum's Cluthar, cap and toy cube -- knit in an organic, worsted weight cotton, this set was designed for a dear friend's first baby, Malcolm.  The blanket is knit in one piece with textured designs (anchor, heart, crown, boat) and cables for interest; the cap repeats the cables and the 7-inch soft-cube has bells buried deep inside to jingle to the baby's delight.

And, today is String Bean's 11th birthday .... more on that later ...