Yarn-Along: April 27th ... Easter break and lots of driving ...

... and therefore, lots of knitting!

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~ 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 at small things

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We were blessed to be able to take a short road-trip down to North Carolina to visit dear friends for Easter and a few days after.  About 20 minutes from their house on Easter Sunday, our van started making a very odd, scary sound (so worrisome, I actually stopped knitting for that final stage of the drive!).  We got to the house and the men took care of the van (we got it back on Monday evening, $300 later!) while the kids played with their NC counterparts and the mom and I knitted.  Poor dear, she's pregnant with their 8th and so can't knit too long ... it makes her dizzy.  


But I got lots done.  Here's what I got done since last week:

 Two scarves in cashmere/silk/merino blend (yes, VERY luscious!) -- the top one is a gorgeous teal that I've called "The Long and Winding Road" while the lower one is a beautiful true royal blue that is called "Lapis Lazuli Lace".  Both patterns should be up by the end of the week ....

A cable sampler jacket is currently on the needles.  Knit with KP's Cadena (a wool/alpaca blend bulky) the jacket is going quickly.  The welt is a cable I "unvented" which grows into a 9-stitch braided plait with seed stitch as the ground.  I have jury-duty today and tomorrow, so I can get lots done on the jacket today!


Read-aloud?  Not so much read since it's Easter break 'round these parts!  On my nightstand, I'm just about done with Motherless ... a fiction book packed with Church teaching (and the explanations of) for all things bioethical -- end of life, abortafacients/abortions, IVF, etc.  What a great book ... I can't wait to review it!  I'm also reading Smashing WordPress to get my new website up and running -- I've got a deadline of May 1st to have it ready; next week, the yarn-along will come from there (God willing!).


How has your knitting and reading been progressing?  Don't forget to check-in over at small things and catch up with all the others as we participate in this week's yarn-along.  [Oh and do leave me comments on your reaction to my knitting ... I love comments and advice and suggestions!]

Yarn-Along: April 20th .... lots of knitting accomplished this week!

~ 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 at small things

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Wow, this has been an amazingly prolific knitting week (must be because we did a 6-hour round-trip road-trip with dh driving and me knitting!).  That said, here is what I got accomplished since last week:

Spring is Blooming baby blanket (30" diameter) - (immediate pdf download $5.00)

 

 Malcolm's Easy-Peasy, One-Piece One-Button Vest (pattern coming soon)

 Hand-dyed Harvest Fingerless Mitts (immediate pdf download $4.00)

Ruby Red Butterfly scarf (pattern coming soon)

Cool, huh?  But with that much knitting, not so much reading got done.  I did finish No He Can't (scariest book I've ever read but a must-read for all voters).  Here are the books we're reading this week:

The family reading:  we're still working on our Shakespeare unit using the Lamb book and BBC dvds (got thru MacBeth and Merchant of Venice; this week, we'll do Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It).  We're also reading Chasing Vermeer, a great first novel with puzzles and mysteries woven throughout the story ... plus all the rabbit trails for art history!

My reading:  I'm still getting up to speed on CSS and HTML and WordPress tech stuff.  I'm such a geek ... I LOVE this stuff!  I also just started Motherless ... an amazing bioethics novel that grabs you from the get-go!  Written with a decidedly active Catholic world-view, this is an interesting story about end-of-life issues.  Very good so far.

On the knitting needles:  since I just finished the Ruby Red Butterfly last night, I haven't cast on yet.  But that little ball of yarn?  A blend of cashmere (50%), silk (25%) and merino (25%) in a lovely deep teal color ... yes, I swooned when I got it!  (The Ruby Red is made with the same fiber blend ... knits lovely and has GREAT color definition).  I've already charted the stitch-pattern for that one ... a cable/lace scarf!

Ginny is a little late posting this week's yarn-along ... but feel free to leave comments below and let me know what's on your needles and on your reading table!  And a blessed and happy Easter to one and all.
 

Yarn-along: April 6th and all is well ...

~ 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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... on the reading front -- the kids' read-aloud has slowed a bit since we had a few days of gorgeous weather and they wanted to be out and about but we are almost done with Another Whole Nother Story ... any suggestions for what should we read next?  

I'm about half thru No He Can't ... wow, this is the scariest book I've ever read!  Hard to imagine a, this guy was elected president, and b, that he thinks he should be given another four years .... McCullough's book is an amazing indictment of the machinations of this particular politico!

... on the knitting front all is well!  Just about finished with "Spring Garden wrap" (will post the pattern soon) done in a lovely sage-y green of cashmere/bamboo blend that knits up like a dream.  The white pieces are some short-row samples for my talk this weekend at Graves Mountain (please pray for me ... and there may be a few spaces left if you'd like to join us out in the mountains).  

I've also been playing with knitted hearts.  These two came from this great FREE design Teresa Fox did up.  These are so cool: they're knitted in one-piece, stuffed (or not), felted (or not).  The multi-color one is KP's Bare Superwash wool ... dyed in a crockpot with kool-aid!  The dyeing technique is easy, clean and gives great results (and the house smells like kool-aid for a bit!).  I didn't stuff that one, but instead left it flat.  The green-ish one on the left is Plymouth's "Poems" a silk/wool blend that I stuffed. 

I've also been playing with starting up a website (thanks to a dear friend's web expertise) and have been playing with a new logo:

What do you think of the design?  

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Come join our yarn-along ... always great fun to see what others have on their needles and on their reading tables!  I get such great ideas for both ... 

 

Yarn-along: January 26th 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! ~ from Ginny's blog, small things

Can I just say that I love these "yarn-alongs" that Ginny started.  What a great way of peeking into homeschool-rooms and seeing what's on the needles, the reading table and other interesting tidbits!

On my needles:  last week I started Victoria's Tank but only got about 1/3 of the way done with it during the week as I had a cashmere design (Birds in Flight cowl/headband) to prep for a meeting with my supplier of cashmere (and cashmere goat owner) Miss Jane.  Miss Jane was coming on Monday, so the weekend knitting was devoted to prepping that design.  But I did get a bit done and love the way the top is coming out.  The unwound skeins in the picture are for a design that Jane commissioned ... a Snow on the Mountains vest in this lovely dusty rose ... that will imitate the Snow on the Mountains scarf I've already designed for Spring Gate.  So, I'll be working on BOTH knitting projects this week ... glad the weather is supposed to cooperate by being nasty AND the van is in the shop so I can't go anywhere anyway!  Great knitting times ahead!

Reading table for the kids:  Last week we gave String in the Harp a shot.  After reading more than 20% of the book (our standard if-it-don't-hook-us-it-ain't-gonna), we decided to set that particular book aside and pick up something else:  the kids picked The Bridge to Terabithia (not knowing the ending!) and so we sailed right thru that one, finishing yesterday afternoon (and then watching the latest video version ... which led to some interesting discussions of what was in, what was out, what we liked/didn't like from the movie, etc).  Today, we're starting a creative writing unit to encourage the kids' writing:  Word After Word After Word will be our read-aloud today .... a lovely book by famed author Patricia MacLachlan (Sarah Plain and Tall series, etc).  We're also using this week:  Writers Express, You Can Write a Story: A story-writing recipe for kids, and we'll start doing the exercises in Unjournaling.  I'm looking forward to pulling the creative writer out of each of my littles -- they can tell stories but avoid writing stories!

Reading table for mom:  continuing to read the Agatha Christie's notebooks book ... fascinating (and maybe why I'm on a creative writing kick with the kiddoes!).  I have also started Dr. Ted Sri's latest book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, which is a GREAT book and particularly interesting since he's using the new translation for the Mass that will go into effect this coming Advent!  Very cool to see all the links to scripture that are included in every Mass celebrated every day throughout the world.  Dr. Sri is a homeschooling dad and amazing theologican I was privileged to know during our sojourn in Denver.

So what do you have on your needles and your book table this week?  [BTW, make sure you link your yarn-along post to Ginny's this week; she's giving away a gorgeous skein of yarn!]

 

Yarn Along: January 19th edition

Last week, I was reading Defiant Joy (about GKChesterton ... excellent book!) and readng Lost in Peter's Tomb to the kiddoes.  I was also finishing up a cashmere design which I've titled Blue Ridge Sunset (it's available for download from my Ravelry store).

So, what's on my reading table and knitting needles for this week?

Reading:  reading to the kids a Newbery Honor book (from back in the day when that meant good literature), A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond.  It's a great story about a family who moves to Wales after the death of the mother ... and their adventures in the midst of dealing with their grief.  So far, the reading is wonderful -- the images Bond conjures with her words are amazing!  The book I'm reading is one I found at the library last week and was so thrilled with, I ordered a copy for my shelf: 
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks!  This book is fascinating -- seems Christie scholar John Curran deciphered Christie's hand-written notebooks to create this book.  It's a creative-writing lesson in book form!  For this wannabe-writer and Christie fan, this book is perfect.  What a fascinating glimpse into the overall writing process!  Loving it!

On my needles is a new design that I'm calling "Victoria's Tank".  The body of the top is a classic Victorian knitted-lace pattern that will have a bodice put atop.  I'm using KP's Comfy Fingering (a washable cotton-blend) and it is kniting up beautifully!

So won't you join the Ginny's yarn-along posts .... and any comments on my designs or suggestions for great read-alouds for the kids would be most appreciated!

 

Exciting News and New, Exciting Designs

Almost two months ago, at the Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier, I met a woman who owns the largest herd of cashmere goats in the eastern United States.  Jane McKinney, owner of Spring Gate Farm, has just started producing chashmere yarn from her championship goats and she needed a hand-knits designer to help create patterns to show the true quality of the fiber. 

Enter ME ... moi ... I! (If I had a video, I'd show me doing the happy dance for the past 6 weeks!)

Yep, I now am the hand-knits designer for Spring Gate Farms and have started designing using this amazing fiber ... so soft it feels like butter but is strong enough to hold up to "frogging" when small errors occur (at 9 or 10 sts to the inch ... yes, I make mistakes!)  This stuff is so amazingly warm -- EIGHT(!) times warmer than wool and yet 1/3 lighter .... and the fiber's feel must be knit to be believed.  Yes, it is truly worth the cost to knit this stuff.

I'll be posting about my designs as they go "live" ... so please check back often on my By Hand, With Heart site as the Spring Gate/By Hand With Heart partnership evolves ... we'd love to have you along for the ride.

 

October ... what a whirlwind!

Today is the first day this month that we're home by 11:30 a.m. and NOT GOING OUT ANYWHERE!  What a wonderful feeling to be home all together (well, dh won't be home till dinner), working together and separately, eating together, being together. 

Things really started heating up with busy-ness back on October 16th when the boys and dh went to a UVA home game ... it was a slaughter, but fun for the guys to do the "real life" college football (especially since the tickets we got from our neighbor included great seating and a parking pass!).  BTW, the tough-love look on BamBam is due to mom taking a picture ... he just wanted to leave!

The next day, tech week (aka, hell week) started with a vengeance:  25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a wonderful musical but tech week is always tough ... especially for this stage manager!  Lego Maniac has a bit part and the stage-managing isn't really hard, just takes time away from family.  But, you'll be happy to know I have been able to fit in knitting while ensuring props are where they are supposed to be ... mics are on ... and helping actors don various costuming effects.  A great cast and wonderful director make my job fairly easy and rewarding.

Later last week, Thursday was a prime example of the down-side of tech week:  dh teaches ccd, String Bean had embroidery club and Lego Maniac and I had to be at the theater -- all at the same time!  Thanks to God's providence, we do have a second car so (altho we ate dinner rushed, we did eat together) and the two younger stayed with dh while LM and I headed to practice.  Not ideal, but does work!

Friday, Oct 22nd will live in infamy as the day I started a new venture with my knitting: three hours of talking with the owner of Spring Gate Farm, a cashmere goat rancher down in Barboursville!  Seems she was looking for a designer to create unique designs for her cashmere yarns ... and I'm it!  She left me with about 15 skeins of the gorgeous, luxurious yarn and a head-ful of ideas of eactly what to design.  You'll be hearing more about this on my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart! 

Saturday, brought the Mary's Shelter Craft Bazaar that we've been working on since August.  String Bean and I headed over at 7:30 to help set-up ... I left around 11 to pickup Lego Maniac (who was serving a Confirmation Mass) and then do the grocery shopping ... back to get String Bean when she finished (about 3) ... heat up some game-day food to watch LSU play Auburn ... than off to do the musical ....

Sunday brought 7:30 a.m. Mass (Lego Maniac served) where we heard that we gathered over $3400 in monies from our craft fund-raiser!  Not bad for 4 hours of selling handmade baked goods, hand-crafted items (including many made by our kids) and other items.  After a family brunch at Panera (our favorite bagel and treats place) LM and I went to the matinee of Spelling Bee and home for dinner and playing with Max (who really misses us when we're at the play!) till an early (we're talking 8:30 p.m.) bedtime for this cowboy!

On October 25th, we were graced with a visit from dh's sister and bil on their way home from a Clemson alumni event (he's a dean down there).  A four hour visit was just not enough ... but at least we had some good quality time with our favorite relatives.  They hadn't been to "the farm" since we moved in June 2009, so it was fun to show them how much we've done (and how much we still have to do).  That evening, BamBam had his first fencing scrimmage -- he placed  a very respectable third ... fencing against kids who have been fencing much longer than his five months!  Lego Maniac fences tomorrow in HIS first scrimmage ... but I won't be there since pick-up rehearsal starts up and then we kick off performances for this weekend (ending just before Halloween activities Sunday evening!).

Always fun to be busy ... but I'm loving the pace of today ... slow and steady ... surrounded by my family ... with dinner prepping and an evening of relaxation and family movie viewing (Sound of Music ... thanks to Netflix)!