iMagiNe cReAtiVe nAme hERe

Who's a happy camper?

Well, the boy is still not a happy camper today, (You are right, Mariko, he does not look happy in that last photo I posted!) so he and I are home alone while dh and the girls are off to MD for the one year old's birthday party.  Since time was short I ended up going with the board book idea. I bopped on over to Target and got him My Big Truck Bookby Roger Priddy
and a toy truck (very cute and appropriate for a one year old). 

I finished the MIL hat and sent if off with dh for his mother. I forgot to take a photo of the FO

. I didn't like the  acrylic  yarn (I'm assuming that's what it was) at all. I was comparing it to the Plymouth Encore that I like and there is a marked difference. The Encore gets so nice and soft after washing (it's soft before too) and wears so well. I got back to working on Lydia's mittens again which made her very happy. I'd like to have them finished for her when she returns tomorrow night from the b-day party/sleepover shindig.

Finished reading Amy Stewart's From The Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden. I added this one to my "must buy" list. Excellent book! If you are a gardener or a wannabe gardener like me, you must read it! Jennye wrote in the comments yesterday that she rereads it often for inspiration, and I can see myself doing that too once I acquire my own copy. I look forward to reading her recently-released The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms . She blogs about her book tour here. Thanks for the inpiration, Amy!

Cracked open another library book last night...The Pipes Are Calling: Our Jaunts Through Ireland by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. This is the third in their series about living in Ireland. I love these books! His novels are wonderful too. This couple moved from Manhattan to Ireland and lived to tell the tale! I love reading books about life in other countries. Just googled Niall Williams and came across his web site here.

Poor guy...

This teething business is rough! He's looking much worse today and is miserable after a night of little sleep. Notice the attractive snot bubble? Hope things improve for him or he might have to miss his cousin's first b-day party on Saturday.

I am almost done with the MIL hat. Only a few rows left - yippee!

Thanks to the WoolFairy, I've been reading & enjoying Amy Stewart's From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden (seen in the photo above). A perfect read while it's icy and snowy outside! I have been itching to have my own little garden so it's a thrill to do it vicariously through Amy. I love her candid writing and feel like I'm there with her. I decided to go through one of my favorite seed catalogues (Cook's Garden) and pick out everything I'd get if $$ wasn't a concern. We were members of an organic CSA farm for several years before we moved here and have wanted to get back into that again or have our own garden. One day...

Just another snowy day...

Finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday. What a tremendous book! I cried over the last few pages and then immediately passed it on to my hubby. I can't wait to talk with him about it. I look forward to reading more from Audrey Niffenegger. I read in one interview that she is currently working on a book about twins living in London.

Mr. Timothy (my 10 month old son pictured below with his beloved puppy) is teething BIG time today...his 4 top teeth are breaking through the top gum all at once...poor thing! He just wants "mama" to hold him (so I have to make this a fast entry!). Doesn't he look sad?

Since I am going to see my MIL this weekend, I though I better get her hat done. I am making her a spiral rib hat (Ann Norling pattern I've used several times before). I'm using a navy blue yarn of unknown origin from my stash. This is such a relaxing pattern that works up quickly. I worked on it last night while watching the Golden Globes and Sex and the City.

We're going to dh's nephew's first birthday party this Saturday (Just got the invitation this past Friday! & that's where MIL will be too), and I'm trying to decide on a gift for him. Should I make him a hat? Buy him a book? a toy? Decisions, decisions...but it's not like I'm going shopping anytime too soon since the roads are all clogged up with snow and ice. If anyone has a fabulous first birthday gift idea, I'd love to hear it.

Fiberarts Fieldtrip Report...

This morning I ventured out in the ice, snow, and cold on a fiberarts adventure. What a wonderful morning I spent with my friend, Joyce at her farm. She and her husband raise Romney sheep, and Joyce uses their wool for her knitting and weaving. We chatted delightfully about processing wool, spinning, dying, and weaving. I can tell she really loves every bit of it! The morning flew by so I'm definitely going back again for part 2 (and 3 and 4...). She sends much of her wool out to be carded and spun. Green Mountain Spinnery and Taos Valley Wool Mill are the places she uses for these purposes.

Joyce has a Finnish loom: Toika Eeva that she ordered directly from Finland.

Her table loom is an Artcraft Loom.

This beauty is Joyce's Ashford Traveller Spinning Wheel.

I am so intrigued by the whole lovely process from sheep to cloth. How incredible it is! Joyce let me borrow her drop spindle and said if I learn how to use it, I can keep it! She gifted me with some roving from Amos (one of their sheep!) to use with the drop spindle. Now to figure this out!

Other news...I have neglected my Mariko Wannabe Bucket lately but have completed the brim and only have the top to go. I have so few pages left in The Time Traveler's Wife that I'll probably get back to work on the bucket tonight.

More Stash...

Got a lovely little yarn package in the mail from my mom: Crystal Palace Chenille!!! Woohoo!!!

2 skeins of Dark Lilac - 1404 & 3 skeins of Lacquer Red - 9784. (My girls thought that Bitty Bear would add a bit of splash to the stash photo. Yes, that's Jennifer Aniston in the February issue of Premiere magazine behind the yarn.) Of course I had to dig right into it and swatch it for another Reverse-bloom washcloth and ended up right on gauge with #6 US/4 mm. I worked a bit on the washcloth and then had to get back to reading the book (less than 80 pages to go).

Still reading...

Oh my, I just can't put this book down! Here's a link to the prologue. Back to knitting & blogging soon...

Time Traveling...

A HUGE thanks to Betsy for bringing The Time Traveler's Wife to my attention.

What a entrancing story! I picked it up yesterday at the library and have been reading it every chance. I just wish I could knit and read at the same time though!

Stash enhancement...on the delightful recommendation of Kay, I picked up some Peaches and Cream yarn yesterday. As a big fan of Fiestaware dishes, her knitted dishcloth in 'Fiesta Ombre' & 'Faded Denim' caught my eye (see Jan. 4, 2004 entry).
I bought several skeins of 'Fiesta Ombre', 'Faded Denim', & 'Pink Lilacs'. I thought I might make some placemats with the Fiesta Ombre & possibly a (heart-shaped?) dishcloth for each of the girls' teachers for Valentine's Day with the pink lilacs.

Back to reading...

Soup weather...

Since we are not budging out of the house today into the frozen tundra, I decided to make soup for lunch. I made Chicken & Barley Stew from this month's Cooking Light magazine. What a yummy lunch! The kiddos and I all liked it and even had seconds! Now I need to get them down for naps so I can KNIT!!!

Brrrrrrrrrrr...

It is incredibly cold here as it is over much of the northern east coast of the U.S. Brr! Snow is anticipated to start around 5 this afternoon. Definitely knitting weather!

Did a bit of organizing of my knitting paraphernalia yesterday. Also swatched some yarn for a hat for my MIL. The yarn is navy blue, and I'm unsure of the content because it was in a box of yarn from my grandmother. It's probably acrylic. Does anyone know how you can tell (besides washing it)? My MIL saw the girls' ribbed hats (made from Ann Norling's spiral rib pattern) when she was up for Christmas and declared that she wanted one too.

Finished reading Coastliners by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat). This is the third of her novels that I've read. I still think Chocolat is the best of her work (so far!) but that may be because I saw the movie too and think Johnny Depp is a brilliant actor. In Coastliners Harris drew me in with her descriptions of the island the story is set on and life there. I love the sea, and this book made me want to get in the car and drive to the shore. The story came together nicely at the end with several twists. You can read some background of the book at her site here. Looks like this one will end up on the silver screen too.

I think I will be waiting a bit to go further into A Tale of Two Cities since a book I've been waiting for has come into the library. More on that later...

Bucket 'O Progress...

What a productive knitting weekend!
    Almost through the brim of the Mariko Wannabe Bucket 'O Chic. I ended up using a crochet hook to pick up the stitches which was much easier. The brim knitting has been slow with the yarn doubled, and I have about half a round before the bind-off. I'm hoping for a non-curling brim since I'm following Mariko's successful changes.

Made it to the yarn sale at A Garden of Yarn on Saturday. The sale started last Thursday, but I wasn't able to get there until Sat. Sadly the Lamb's Pride in the colors I wanted was all gone. BUT I did get three skeins of Noro Kureyon in color 75 (Orange/Green/Red multi) so I can finally make a Booga Bag.

I also visiting The Wool Gathering in Kennett Square to see what goodies were there. Oh, all the lovely lovely yarn! So many new yarns that I haven't tried: Green Mountain Spinnery, Peace Fleece, and the list could go on and on! I decided that this was a good opportunity to ready myself to take the sock plunge in 2004 so I purchased the owner's basic sock pattern, 3 skeins of Frog Tree Alpca (color 009), & size 3 Brittany dpns. Frog Tree is sport-weight Alpaca yarn which is distributed by T and C Imports and is produced by a nonprofit cooperative of women in Bolivia. This yarn is so soft! I look forward to knitting with it and to wearing my first pair of socks!

Mr. Timothy and I ventured out to the library this morning while the girls were at school. I had a sock knitting book (Socks, Socks, Socks edited by Elaine Rowley) on hold there for me. I also borrowed a book that Jennye wrote about on her blog over the weekend. The book is From the Ground Up by Amy Stewart. It looks wonderful! Thanks for the recommendation, Jennye!

Off to blog hop around the knitting blog ring!