Visit from my MIL and other updates

No, she didn't pop in unannounced over the weekend. She lives in Maine. It's virtually impossible for her to pop in for a visit to her son's house in Pennsylvania without making some advanced planning. It's a good thing too; I don't think I would have been good company yesterday. I was under the weather and still don't feel 100% today.

Alright, I'm going to get to the point here. .... My MIL has been visiting my blog.

I'm tickled pink that she has been stopping by and sneaking a peak into my knitting WIPs and ramblings. Yet, all of a sudden, I have a desire to run around and clean everything. Except, this is a blog. There are no closets to shove things into. So, instead I have been fretting. I keep thinking that I said something awful about her son lately. I haven't, have I?

OK. I went back and read a few posts and couldn't find anything negative written about Dan. I feel better.

So, let me tell you what I am knitting now that the Ode to Quilting afghan is completed. I have started knitting the 3rd tie in my Christmas Tree Skirt. If you remember, I made myself a schedule to knit one tie each month until all 9 ties were finished and sewn together. Since one project is never enough, I am also knitting on my mystery project. Why is it a mystery? Well, I would like to submit it to a magazine once completed. Rules state that you can't post pictures anywhere prior to the publication.

Other bits of good news, yesterday I received my prize from EtsyGreetings. They were running several contests as a way to celebrate their 1st blog-versary. I won the 7th contest.

I received 8 cards and a stack of business cards of other EtsyGreeting card sellers. My favorite card is the one in front, a Christmas card by BBesigns. The snowman is painted in water colors and then adhered to a stack of homemade papers.

Other contest news: I won't know if I won the Lion Brand Yarn Slideshow Contest until February 27th. Thank you to everyone who stopped by! I truly appreciate it.

Pretty Yarn Pictures

Tracie had wished me lots of yarn for my birthday. Her dedication of then calling my MIL to have her send the wished yarn is really touching. How else do you explain the box I yarn I opened yesterday from my MIL?


Can you tell what yarn it is?

I think a closer pic is in order.

5 skeins of Manos del Uruguay! Woo!

Included with the yarn were 2 books from Jil Eaton. After a year of Hubby insisting that I could NOT under any circumstances dress Jake in clothes, he's starting to cave. He saw the pic of the Cabled Sweater design in Jil's Top Dog Knits and thought it would be a fun way to showcase one of my cable designs. I can't wait to complete the 4 projects that are on the needles now so I can start on Jake's 1st sweater. 1st of many, if I get my way! And about that 4th project, I can't wait to tell you about it.


To recap:
Project #1: Mystery Project
Project #2: Big Dipper Scarf
Project #3: AWHF Shawl


So, what is Project #4? ........................................ A Christmas Tree Skirt!


3 types of yarn will be used in the skirt:

• 100% wool in plain white
• SinFlex by London Yarns in Partita (sparkly green)
• Hand-dyed & Hand-spun natural fibers from Naturally Spun

Here is a pic of the recently dyed yarn. Isn't it lovely?

For more pictures and an explanation of the dyeing procedure, please visit Naturally Spun's Blog.

I'll post more pictures of Naturally Spun's yarn once she starts spinning it.

The August Challenge by EtsyFAST

EtsyFAST challenged all its members this month to create fiber art items with a celestial theme.

I have cast on for my contribution.

Can you tell what it is?



Hubby guessed right, but I told him in advance what it was going to be. So, I don't think that counts.

As you can see from the back-side, it is being knitted with a technique called double knitting. I love this technique because both sides look the same. On the flip side, it takes twice as long to knit an inch than it would if I would just knit it "plain". Well, I suppose that is what I get for trying to be fancy. Hopefully, I'll get it finished before this month is out.

More knitting news: I am steadily working on my Mystery project. Because I am certain to run out of yarn before I finish, I have the Best MIL in the World hunting down more yarn. You see, I purchased the yarn from her favorite store in Maine. And I can't find it down here. I've looked everywhere - even on the web! Ackk! So I called her in a panic (I don't sound panicky, do I?) and she said she wouldn't mind tracking it down. It would give her an excuse to go yarn shopping. I think she's wonderful!

A Gift from My Mother-in-law

I have the best Mother-in-law in the world!

She came down to visit this week and brought me a gift: a whole tote of yarn from her stash.

Here it is all spread out.

Pink wool from Briggs and Little:

Lucky her, she is only one hour away from the Canada border. So, she slips across at least once a year to restock her wool supply.

6 balls of brown wool and one ball of white wool - vendor unknown

5 balls of brown wool:

This was a gift to my MIL from her MIL. It is very soft wool. It is also hand spun.

Several skeins of bright pink wool from Knit Picks. I will have to make this into a sweater ... or a skirt ... for my neice. She just LOVES this color.

Lastly, my MIL's favorite find. She purchased this from a local fiber fair in Maine. The wool is hand dyed and hand spun. It is super soft. She was hesitant to give it up, but didn't want it to sit in her stash unused for another year. I wound it up into balls as soon as I got home. It isn't enough to make a sweater out, but it will be perfect for a shrug or a hat/scarf combo or a lampshade cozy.

Then, after gathering up all this yarn for me, she trolled through my blog and noticed that my balls of yarn were still done in the old fashioned style. In other words, I still wind them by hand. Insisting that she isn't going to buy any more wool for quite some time (I give her 3 months before she caves) and that she has wound her entire stash into yarn cakes, she gave me her ball winder. Boy, oh boy, I can never go back to winding yarn by hand. I am converted! It took me 3 minutes to wind a ball of yarn. 3 minutes! Before it would take me at least 15 minutes even with my trusty umbrella.

My MIL made me swear that I would keep this yarn free from dirt and far away from those pesky _oths. Just to put her mind at ease, I took a picture of the yarn back in the tote, safe and sound in my cedar closet.

Thanks, Mom!