A month's worth of projects

I am sorry I have not posted in so long! There is just stuff going on, (life in general). I am participating in a GITS exchange, and I received this one for the Chinese New Year; This is the year of the snake; I love the texture on these.



My temari is stitched, but has not been sent yet. I better get that in the mail tomorrow, and then I will be able to show it to you.

I have finished one mitten, from the same yarn I used to make my paintbox scarf and my tam. It fits really well; and it should... I modified the pattern an awful lot to get it to fit. I just hope I remember what my notes mean so I can make the second one to match. It will be a fraternal twin, not an identical twin, because I am going to start the variegation in a different place.



Here is a finished baby blanket for a shower coming up. I have just about finished the surprise baby sweater in the same colors, and I think it is turning out very nice. I will be able to post pictures of that in a couple of days.



The knitting is done on this scarf, I just have to finish sewing in the ends. I really love these colors. This is the left-over yarn from the wrap I made DD1 last Christmas. Between us we came up with the pattern. It is so nice and soft!



I am really happy with how this turned out too, and I found a pattern to use up the rest of the scraps, win--win.

Day at the zoo

Last week we went to the zoo, and had a wonderful time. We saw meerkats, tigers, lions, bears, wolves, penguins, snakes, frogs, an armadillo, naked mole rats, and some that were not so naked, a polar bear, seals, giraffes, African wild dogs, dolphins, rhinos, and a condor. There was a graphic outside the condor cage to compare your size to the size of the bird. Here is P's comparison,



and here is C's. You can see the condor in the background. (C's arms are little compared to those wings!)



I have a picture of C sitting on this statue several years ago. I wish I could find it! How time flies!



It was a very breezy day, but not cold. There was an exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs but we got too tired to look at that, and we forgot to look at our membership tickets to see if we had tickets, so we saved that for the next time we go.



P enjoyed playing with all the percussion instruments in the gift shop. They had drums, maracas, rain sticks, a metal tambourine type of instrument (that he is holding) and several other things to check out. He is taking percussion in school, and you can tell he does like it.



The day started slowly, but was a definite success by the end of our time at the zoo. We signed up for a year's membership too, so we will be going back, and we saved plenty of things to look at.

Fun day with a friend

Yesterday my friend Moonsilk Stitches and I spent the day together, and we had a wonderful time. We both had gift certificates to redeem at different needlework shops, so that set the itinerary; then we had fun shopping in the same neighborhood as the shops.

I had a gift certificate for Designer's Desk in Geneva; a gift from my guild as a thank you for chairing our show committee. There are 3 stories of needlework goodness, including a bargain basement. It is the type of store where they encourage poking into drawers, looking in corners and under things, and wandering around.  I had very little trouble spending my certificate, and I got some lovely silk for stitching temari.

After that, we wandered through a couple of interesting shops in Geneva, The Paper Merchant first. They had cards, wrapping paper, stationery, invitations, etc. Next we went to The Little Traveler, which was a very interesting store. It was so much fun wandering through the store, moving from shoes to baby stuff, to home furnishings, to the Christmas shop, to toys, to food, and etc. We looked into the tea room several times, but didn't even find the door; we saved some of the things for another time.



We had lunch at Matsuri, a very elegant sushi restaurant. The decor was very elegant, subdued and restful, and the food was delicious and beautiful. I tried the sushi lunch, and had too much to eat, all of it delicious. DH and I had tried sushi once before, and were quite disappointed, but this was in a different category.

Our last stop in Geneva was The Spice House. It smelled so good when we went in! I wasn't quite sure how to buy anything, but I found out you had to pick out what you wanted from bulk jars, get the amount weighed that you wanted, (get it labeled) and then pay for it out of an old fashioned (non-electric) cash register. They also seem to have quite an active on-line store.

Our final stop was the Inspired Needle in Lemont, IL. (I can't get the website to work, sorry!). It is the first time I have been there, and it is a lovely shop! There were lots of high count linens and beautiful patterns. I restrained myself, and limited my shopping to a small swatch of "creme brulee" linen... beautiful color! Now I have to decide on a nice pattern to use it for.

We had a wonderful day, and hope to do it again soon.

While wandering on the byways of the internet today I ran across this article on the yeas and nays of knitting in meetings. I tend to be able to pay attention better if my hands are occupied (if I don't have anything productive to do, my paper tends to be a mess of doodles); but I do not have the courage to bring my knitting to church. I do bring it almost everywhere else I go. I always tell people I am a fidget... I come by that naturally too, from my dad.

Here is a picture of our weather last week. It has been sunny, but cold this week. Everyone is looking forward to spring.




(That is a ruler on our porch railing... you can't see it, but it is registering over 4 inches of snow.)

Finishes!

P participated in a Pinewood Derby in the boy's club he belongs to. He was very pleased with the way his car looked, he worked long and hard on the flames. He was a little disappointed in how it ran... he and grandpa are already plotting how to make one run better next year.



Here is a picture of the finished afghan being modeled by DD1. She likes it! It is nice and big; but not quite as cushy as the West Elm one. It was difficult getting a balance between soft and "not holey." When I did a test swatch (in the store, before I bought the yarn) she thought the larger hook made the fabric too holey. But, she spent her whole time here on Saturday wrapped up in it, and she packed it very carefully to take with her.



I am so glad her apartment does not have a good laundry room, because we get to see her more often!

I also wanted to show the finished Advent day 24, which I finished in the middle of February. I do like how this one turned out; the angels are very cool, and I love all the sheep on the hills.



Now I have to put it together. I have worked out in my head the way I want it to work, but I haven't checked to see if my ideas will work yet. I have decided to make pockets on a large banner, (it is going to turn out huge!) but I am wondering if I need a trim along the top of the pockets. If I do need anything, a trip to the fabric warehouse will be in order, they have a wonderful selection. I was also thinking of a ruched ribbon in the same color as the lettering and the background... decisions, decisions.

I started a baby blanket for the daughter of a friend, soft yellow, white, and navy(!). I won't be able to show that until after the shower at the end of April. It is straight knit (with a little bit of a turn, to make it interesting to look at) so I have to watch TV, or be at knitting group to work on it.

I am so happy spring is coming! It is lighter longer every day, and my friend Moonsilk Stitches, Jake and I have been going on a short walk every morning; I am amazed by what a difference that makes. I think we are over the hump for the winter blues. My dad was asking about how I was handling it; they won't be traveling to Arizona over the winter any more, so he will have to develop some strategies for dealing with winter in Grand Rapids.

Gifts

Gifts for me, and from me.

DD2 made these fingerless mitts for me! They are so warm and cozy,



and they fit under my mittens!



I feel so warm and pampered when I have them on. Thank you sweetie.

Wearing fingerless mitts under my mittens means I can hold my keys, or fish out my wallet, or open the doorknob without my whole hand getting cold. Thank you Yarn Harlot for the idea. I highly recommend her blog, I giggle every time I read it.

I finished this "cowl with a twist" by Purl Soho from yarn my friend was clearing out of her stash, and a little bit of mohair I had from a former project. I think it turned out quite nice... and I will be giving it back to my friend.



I received another gift from a friend this week too, a box of chocolates from Moldova, as a thank you for sending out the temari books. Thank you so much, Meg, you shouldn't have! but I am certainly enjoying the chocolates.

Acres of Crochet

I am working on an afghan, acres of single crochet. DD1 saw an afghan at West Olive, and between the two of us, I think we are coming close to the original, with prettier colors.

It is crocheted with double thread



 so the stitching is going very quickly. If this post does't look too good, it is because I am attempting to post from the tablet I got for Christmas. I am still learning how to use it... and I am getting a little frustrated.

My friend Moonsilk Stitches invited me to join her every morning on the short walk she takes before leaving for work. We have walked 3 times so far, and I can already feel an amazing difference. Thank you!

Tam

I finished my tam a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't worn it yet. It is not as warm as my felted hat that is x number of years old... even though it is a lot cuter.

It started out quite shapeless:



The instructions say to block it on a dinner plate of the correct size:



After it was blocked it turned out really nice.



(DH says it looks frosted in the middle; it is just the way the variegated thread turned out.) DD2 has been encouraging me to line it so it would be warmer. At first all I could think of was to knit another tam, adding it inside out to this one, but that would be a lot of work. Then I thought of felt, but that wouldn't be very soft. Then today, at the grocery store I saw knit hats lined with fleece, and I thought "Eureka!"

I also need to add some elastic to the brim, just to tighten up a little. It turned out so pretty, though, that I think the extra effort in finishing it will really be worth it. It is knit with the same thread I used for my windowpane scarf:



I have enough yarn to make matching mittens too, in the yellow/red range.