The Woolen Rabbit

Knitting stuff...

While I was working on the Seaman hat for Jean, it got me to thinking how this would be a nice hat for my grandson as well.

Aidan is a mischievous little boy, who reminds me SO much of my son, Miles, when he was that age.  There is that little bit of pathetic sweetness that makes them so hard to resist.  It certainly has helped my son along the way for sure!

Whenever Aidan comes to my house he will tell me how much he loves my yarn...how soft it is....and how he would so love a blankey knit with these yarns.  Given that he will be turning 5 on Christmas Day, I though that a hat would probably be more appropriate than a blankey... :).  

One of the things that I got for his birthday is a little red Spyder fleece so I'm thinking that a seaman cap knit with a blend of my handspun angora/merino yarn and some black merino would be a nice accessory to match his little fleece.  The soft angora will go on his little forehead.  I think it will make him smile. :)

I did manage to get a swatch of my seasilk finished before I left for Nashville as well.  As I suspected, it is a tad lightweight for these mitts, so I will go back to my original plan and use my Bambino blend.

I am very pleased with the way this yarn knits up though.  It will have a beautiful drape.  While I was knitting up this swatch, I kept thinking how much I would love a sweater made with this yarn, but a sweater knit on size ones, is waaaay too much of an undertaking for this slow knitter. 
Hmmmm............I still have that knitting machine from my production days in the barn.......

Poinsettia..........

Remember that I told you that I was working on a secret project?  Well............I can finally share. :)

Late this summer, Anne asked if I wanted to work with her on a small project for the winter issue of Knitty.  It was going to be a neck warmer and Anne was looking for a lighter colorway so that the pattern of the neck warmer would be visible.

The yarn that Anne wanted to use was my Opulence, which I have to admit is my favorite yarn here.  The colorway that I sent to her was Rose Quartz, which I love as it reminds me of the quartz that can be readily found here and there in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Wanting to test knit this pretty pattern for myself, I chose the colorway Red Flannel.  My new everyday winter jacket is a deep red, so I thought that this would be a good choice for me.  I'm thinking now that a hat to match would be really nice too. :)

A few weeks ago the folks at Knitty contacted me to see if I wanted to do an advertisement for the Poinsettia pattern page.  I was flattered and challenged all at the same time.  So much of this is new to me and definitely interesting..:)  

This is such a fun pattern to knit!  Typical of Anne's patterns in that it is very easy to follow along and has enough change every few inches to keep it interesting.

It's nice to be home....

It's fun to go off on mini adventures, but it's always nice to come back home again, isn't it?  My flights going to and from Nashville were very uneventful and very beautiful all at the same time.  Heading down to Nashville I was in a smaller plane that flew at a lower altitude, so I was really able to see the landscape pretty well.  The first part of the flight hugged the coastline and I was even able to make out Plum Island, where I lived for a spell before coming to NH.  Beautiful sunsets both coming and going as well, made me realize that I need to get a pocket camera for these kinds of trips!

I was able to get quite a bit of knitting time in during the flights.  I know it doesn't look like much, but knitting a sweater in fingering weight yarn is a very slow process, especially if you are a very slow knitter like me.

I took this project with me as I knew it would be relatively mindless. Nice airport knitting for sure.

I love the way Carol set up the decreases around the arms.  It's a bit fiddly using a cable needle, but I love the way it looks, especially on a plain knit sweater done in a solid colorway.

The yarn............I know, I know, I have mentioned it more than a few times, but seriously....this is scrumptious stuff!  While the knitting can be a bit tedious at times, the resulting sweater is going to be wonderful.  A lightweight sweater is my favorite kind of sweater, especially given that I am of that "hot flash" age. 

As much as I would love to keep moving forward with my sweater, I need to put it aside for a few days so that I can complete this hat for Jean.  It's a great thing that she and Dan are doing!!  I know that she would love a hat from you too, if you have a few spare hours. :)

Chocolate Chambord Roving........

What do you do when you are exhausted?  You post a scrumptious picture!

I just got in from a long and fun road trip and I will admit, I am just too darn tired for words tonight :).  I'll bee back tomorrow! ;)

Darn........

Darn!  I had a picture we took from a friend's phone that I was going to share with you, but unfortunately it took me more than a few minutes to figure out how to access my email from this computer.  My computer at home downloads email every 10 minutes or so automatically, so by the time I remembered my user name and password....poof, it was gone and Ken is probably trying to figure out what the heck the picture is about...LOL.

Tonight we went to a Japanese steak house for dinner.  It was one of those places where they cook dinner in front of you.  Wow......it made me realize how sheltered we are in our little Mt Washington Valley.  I have NEVER seen such a thing......what fun!  We took a picture of the man who prepared out dinner....so you can imagine what Ken is thinking when he gets that picture...LOL.  Oh well, I tried :)

Cleo did better today.  She placed 3rd in a large class of 15, so I was happy with that.  This is a large specialty show with over 100 cavaliers entered, so a class placement is nice and lets you know you are pointed in the right direction with your breeding program.  Of course a win is always better, but given that I am not overly competitive, I am ok with a nice placement like that.  Cleo is a bit small and still looks very much like a puppy, which holds her back a little.......but she sure is cute, isn't she?

Tomorrow we head back home to snowy NH. :)

We are having fun.....

Well, we didn't do anything in the ring today......but there's always tomorrow, right?  That is the thing about dog shows that keeps us going.  Another show and another judge. 

I am staying at a place called the Hotel Preston and Oh my......I wish you all could see this place.  It is VERY different.  If I can figure out how to use the camera on my phone to take some pictures I will.  So much of this hotel could be right out of the seventies, right down the the lava lamps that you can rent in your room if you choose...LOL.

That's all I have for today......have a great evening!

We're off to Nashville!

Cleo's been bathed and primped.........I'm packed and ready........

so wish us luck and safe journeys.......

Have a great weekend!

Life's Little Gifts........

 
Another night where I am wondering if I can squeeze my daily post in before the bewitching hour...yikes!  It is 11:47 and I may not finish in time...but at least I started on the right day, so that counts....right?

Do you see that basket of lovely goodness?  Can you almost reach in and feel the softness?  I will talk more about this in a moment.

Ken and I went to our favorite little place up here in the Mountains to hear "Cherish The Ladies".  Oh my............if you want to be entertained, please go see these women perform!

I discovered this group quite by accident a few years ago.  I had stumbled upon Heidi Talbot's solo album one day in Best Buy and it quickly became one of my favorite albums.  (Her first album, Distant Future is on my side bar.)

Heidi was the lead singer for Cherish The Ladies for a number of years, so when I saw that they were performing at the Stone Mountain Arts Center, I bought the tickets.  This is the second time they have done a Christmas special up here.  I hadn't realized that Heidi was no longer with the group.

At first I was a bit disappointed when Heidi was not with them....until I heard Michelle Burke's voice.  She has the voice of an angel......truly beautiful.  The ladies mix up their performance with Irish instrumentals, vocals and some Irish step dancing.  Truly............if you get the chance to see them, you will NOT be disappointed!

Ok..........back to the fleece.  Holy crap....I will tell you I am a fleece snob and this is T.H.E nicest fleece I have ever worked with.  It's been some time since I have been motivated to take a fleece and process it myself.  There was no way however I was going to trust this fleece to anyone other than myself :)

 Given that it is a merino blend fleece, it did take a number of washes to remove all of the grease, but what was left is incredible.  I have been hand picking it while watching tv at night and enjoying it immensely.  Ken and the girls have asked if it was boring doing this and I honestly told them that it was a joy.  In a way it transports me to a simpler time in history and I love it.  (I don't think they believe me.)

Softness and crimp that would make any spinner swoon.  I love it so much that I ended up buying the other half of the fleece yesterday.  Now I have to decide what all of this beautiful softness is going to become!

To tie the fleece and spinning with Cherish The Ladies, last year when I picked up my wheel from Norm Hall, we got chatting about music.  I think that he and I share a similar love of music.  He mentioned to me that one of his favorite groups that he has come to know well personally over the years.......are the Ladies. 
It is a small world at times, isn't it?

I am so fortunate to have such wonderful gifts in one day :)

Starry Starry Night..........

The other night Ken and I were coming home after running a few errands, when I said to him..."Wow, look at the Moon!  It's  SO pretty tonight".  It reminded me of pictures you see on Christmas cards, so of course I ran in and got my camera.

As you can see, I don't have the night time camera thing down too well yet, so you don't see the other bright lights very well.  I never gave it much thought after I took the pictures until I saw Sandy's post the other day.  I had no idea that those bright lights were Jupiter and Venus and it is a special treat that we get to experience until mid January. 

How appropriate that this was tonight's post as I am almost out of time to complete my daily post...whew!  Cleo and I are heading off to Nashville early Friday for a dog show, so I am burning the midnight oil making sure that my real work is caught up.  I have another half an hour's worth of work to do, but then I can go away and not worry about getting behind :).

It's wonderful to work at home, but when I go away, there is no one to pick up the slack.  I really hate coming home to stacks of work, so I try to work a little ahead :).

Go out and check that beautiful sky sometime soon!  Hey....I just took a look at this webpage and it confirms what I thought about the sky and Christmas cards....I guess I'm not the only one who thought it looked a little like Christmas. :)

Finishing and Planning...........

I have to admit, I like sock modeling ala Laurie style.  Hannah was kind enough to model a few pictures this afternoon of my finished socks.

I love the way these socks fit....just like a glove.  Nothing fancy, just very very comfortable all around!

Pattern: Tesserae
Yarn: Harmony~Norwegian Woods
Needle:  Knitpicks Harmony 2.25.

All in all, this is an enjoyable knit.  Perfect pattern for car knitting as you get the rhythm down very quickly.  Six of this and six of that...and so on and so on.
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With the Tesserae's and my secret project finished, I am thinking ahead.  That is the best part of finishing something.......the excitement of starting something new.

 Right now I have a hat on the needles for Jean and of course my long term project, Twisted Vines, but I do like to have a few smaller pieces to fill in.

The purple yarn is a new yarn that I have had for a little while, but have not had the time to really sample it.  It is a seacell/silk fingering weight yarn and I think I am going to try this pattern with it.  The yarn may prove to be too lightweight for this pattern, but I should be able to tell pretty quickly and if so, I will go to the merino/bamboo blend I have, because I LOVE this pattern.  So very Victorian.

The Tranquilo yarn is going to becomes this shawl.  It's been a while since I started a new shawl, but when I saw this one.........it was love at first sight.  Tonight over a cup of hot tea, I will take a good look at both patterns.  The Internet is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?  Having access to such incredible talent with the click of a button.......wonderful indeed!