I love my UPS man ...

... look what he brought today:

check out this post ... the top in the center of the cover -- it's mine~!  For more info, check out this link:
More Knitting in the Sun ...
 

Yarn-along: April 13th and Spring has sprung!

After what seemed like YEARS of winter weather (not snow, but ooky-mooky, icy cold days and dreary skies), we are FINALLY getting a bit of spring.  This week we're getting rain that promises to have our garden blooming fit to beat the band -- the dogwoods are blooming out, the hostas are unfurling and the Japanese maples are covered in red-green leaves.  Gorgeous even if the sky is not!

But, you've come to see what I have for this week's yarn-along, haven't you.  Here's the idea:

~ 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.

---

This is our yarn-along!

On the needles:  a baby blanket for a dear friend (and dh's colleague) whose wife just had their 4th child ... a beautiful baby girl ... last week.  The blanket is knit in the round, so you're not getting the full effect here (as it's still on the circs), but the yarn is different shades of Dale of Norway's Falk (a washable wool version of their traditional Heilo).  With a pink center and than 3 shades of purple ... it's very appropriate for a baby born right before Easter!

The yarn skeins on the right are kool-aid dyed yarns we did yesterday in our St. Agnes Fiber Club.  The greens/blues is in fingering weight for a pair of socks for me and fingerless mitts for BamBam while the reds/purples is a worsted weight for me to make String Bean a pair of fingerless mitts, too.   

On the reading table: we finished Another Whole Nother Story and I decided we'd do a fun introductory unit to Shakespeare.   Using the classic Charles and Mary Lamb Tales from Shakespeare as our spine, we'll learn about the master's comedies and dramas.  We've started with Macbeth ... having read the Lamb synopsis, and having memorized the witches' "boil, boil, toil and trouble" speech, we're now in the process of watching a BBC version.  We're just about finished and will then turn to Merchant of Venice for something just a tad "lighter".  This is a GREAT way for the kids to learn about (and learn to love) Shakespeare before having to analyze his works to death later on.

My reading:  I'm building a new website (to be unveiled soon ... please pray for me!) so of course I've been poring over books like WordPress for Dummies (which is excellent, btw).  I'm also continuing my early morning spiritual reading/prayer time with the classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence.  Since I'm such a fiber-fanatic, and to prep for my talk this past weekend (which went wonderfully ... thanks for the prayers), I've been loving reading the pre-publication copy of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook (review coming soon):  this is a treasure trove of clear and concise information about all animal fibers used to make yarn (weaving/knitting).  This book is eye-candy for this fiber fanatic!

Enjoy your day .... visit the other folks who participate in Ginny's yarn-along ... and let me know, too, what's on your needles and on your reading table!

BTW, the wrap I was working on last week ... 

Spring Garden wrap 

... immediate download from my Ravelry store

for $6.00 (MUST be able to read charts!)

 

Yarn Along: March 2nd edition

Well, since my two-week hiatus from the internet, I've missed a couple of yarn-alongs.  My last one was February 9th ... and I mentioned reading Sweater Quest as I'd heard good things about it.  Don't waste your time -- she's got great info about fair-isle knitting, but it's random and rude, the language is a bit much (she swears alot in her writing!) and she jumps on the "dissing Alice Starmore" bandwagon.  Carmen, you were right ... I guess I should listen to you more, huh?  I hate when books let me down.

At least I was able to post the design for Victoria's Tee that I'd been working on for numerous yarn-alongs during the hiatus!

 This week finds me working away at a Snow on the Mountains vest in cashmere (a commission project).  This raspberry cashmere is almost idential in color to the "Victoria's Tee" ... must be the new popular color. 

The kids and I are reading Eion Colfer's Airman ... now this is a great read!  Set in Ireland in the early 1900s, it's a bit of Man in the Iron Mask but with great early aviation tidbits.  All of us are really enjoying it.  I'm in the middle of Linking Your Beads: the Rosary's History, Mystery and Prayers which is really well-done.  I'm learning tons about the rosary -- something that wasn't taught in my years of Catholic-school education (since I was in school during the post-Vatican 2, enlightened period in San Francisco!).  I'm also working my way through St. Louis Marie deMontfort's Total Consecration so that I can do my consecration to Jesus thru Mary on my wedding anniversary: March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation!).

So how is your knitting and reading week going?  Check out Ginny's yarn-along post and add your own link.  Don't forget to check out all the lovely ladies doing the same ... it's great fun and you'll get great ideas for books to read (or read-aloud!).

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 ...
 

Hey all you knitters ... a preview and jump on Easter knitting ...

As many of you know, I write the handcrafts column for the quarterly Catholic homeschool magazine, mater et magistra.  I'm just putting the finishing touches on the column for the Spring 2011 issue, an issue with a large chunk of editorial space devoted to Easter celebrations. 

Whenever I write the column, I try and include a bit of knitting content and this column is no exception.  In fact, I created a design just for Easter:  a set of nested fabric baskets knit using a re-purposed sheet cut into strips.  To get a free copy of the pattern, subscribe to this wonderful magazine ... if you just can't wait till then, I have the pattern available for immediate download from my Raverly store ($4.00 for the design with all info necessary to recreate this one-of-a-kind Easter decoration). 

 

Of course these baskets would be wonderful for a new baby's room, or powder room, or wherever you want a splash of color and distinction.  [I'm thinking of making seasonal sets as well as a set that will coordinate with the dining room decor!]

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!

 

Coming in April/May ...

and available for pre-order ....

More Knitting in the Sun: 24 Patterns to Knit for Kids, edited by Kristi Porter.  The designs are all knit in summer-type yarns (cottons, linen, etc) for kids to wear in the summer-time.  So the knitting is summer-able and so is the wearing.

Don't you love this cover .... don't you love the sweater in the middle?  That would be mine!  Cool, huh?  I knew the book would be coming out this spring from Wiley but that's all I'd heard.  Browsing Amazon's knitting books (ALWAYS looking for more to add to my library) ... I came across this.  Was I thrilled!

I'll be posting more details as the book nears publication, but so far this is all I can share!
 

So much ______________________, so little time!

Fill that particular blank with either:
a.  knitting
b.  reading
c.  sleeping
and you'd have a summary of my week!  There just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done and yet I so want to! 

Knitting:  I've got a deadline of Tuesday morning to finish a design for upcoming Cast On! magazine (the knitting is just about there and then I have to write it up and get it packed to mail).  I've finished another design for Spring Gate (which I'll give her when she comes next Friday to brush up her knitting skills) -- that gives me a few days to write-up THAT pattern.  So, on the knitting front, it's not like I'm doing nothing (and have even booked a Friday two weeks from now to teach two dear friends to knit ... they also homeschool their kids so we'll make it into a family affair!)  I do have a backlog of three designs for Knit Picks I've got to finish and get out ... so I'm definitely swamped (but THAT is a good thing).



(see http://www.book-games.com/featured-book-games/agatha-christie-peril-at-end-house.html for this cool game)



Reading:   I'm doing pretty well on this front, too.  I finished a couple of books for review (see this review of Fr. Groeschel's book and a Christian chick-lit) and the Chesterton book mentioned in this yarn-along post has been finished and the review just needs typing up.  Whew!  The problem is I went to the library the other day .... and serendipitously found a fabulous book, one that I didn't had been published (in 2009, no less -- I must live under a rock), and that I'm SOOOOO excited to read .. but NO TIME!  I just want to curl up and read Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, by Christie scholar John Curran.  This a book that discusses Christie's 72 notebooks filled with her writing notes ... plot changes ... development of her stories!  How cool is that????? I've loved Christie books since I was little ... have read all 66 crime novels and 150 short stories (and read them all more than once).  I am a writer-wannabe (have long had an idea for a mystery tied to, what else, knitting!) and this is a treasure trove of info for all writers.  I'm so excited ... and I saw on Amazon that this hard-cover is a "bargain" book so it's my very own copy is winging it's way to my doorstep as we speak (gotta love Amazon!).  So it's ok ... I have to keep telling myself this ... that I don't have time to read it this weekend, as I'll soon have my very own copy (and then I can make notes in the margins ... dog-ear the pages ... and study this book to my heart's content!).

Sleep:  Max is getting better about sleeping thru the night.  But the kids, in their innocence (bless their hearts), taught Mr. Max to leap the baby gate keeping him in the boys' room till I'm ready to take him out.  So yesterday and today, Mr. Max got me up early to go potty -- a good thing in its way but does cut into the sleep factor!  This too shall pass ... this too shall pass ... [my new mantra!]

So, what word(s) would you be using to fill in the title blank?

Yarn Along .... two of my favorite things ... knitting and reading!

~ 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

This is only my second time posting for Ginny's yarn-along ... shame on me!  It's not that I haven't been knitting ... it's not that I haven't been reading ... it's just that I've been so busy knitting and reading, I haven't had time to post.

So, I apologize.

on my needles:  finishing another cashmere design for Spring Gate Farm ... a cap (which is done) and a coordinating scarf which only has about seven more inches (than I must start the tam for Cast On!).  I'll have this design posted on my site by the end of the week.  If you'd like to see my other original hand-knit designs, check out my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart!

on my reading table:  re-reading Sweater Design in Plain English ... love, love, love this book! A "second edition" is coming out in April that of which I'm hoping to get a review copy so I can see if it's worth it to buy ... I'll keep you posted!  I'm also reading Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life and Impact of GK Chesterton that I'll be reviewing later this month.  Our read-aloud, which we started on Friday, is Lost in Peter's Tomb ... a book we've had knocking around for a while so decided to read-aloud.  It's really an interesting read that fits in with our "explorer" unit we'd put on hold during Advent/Christmas.  The story is a mystery set in Rome with siblings and their aunt helping the Pope discover who is getting into the Vatican and why!

Thanks, Ginny, for starting this yarn-along ... it's always fun to see what others are doing!
 

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)!