Orchid Orchard

The shawl was blocking as I was posting earlier. It is unpinned now and I LOVE it!!! Due to a lack of natural sunlight at this hour - and this lattitude, the color is far more accurate in the first photo. It reads solid, but is slightly mottled in reality. I'll try for a better photo in good light.

I need to go find the perfect yarn and beads for the Spring Things Shawl now...

oh- and Ryan wishes he had a sister...

Catching up...

1. Ryan is getting REALLY good at hockey - fast. this week he did a drill where he had to dive under the coach's stick, get up and shoot a goal. He scored twice. He came home and said "Dad, I scored two girls!" oy!

this was taken toward the end of his second practice - as you can see he was getting pretty tired.

2. the shawl is off the needles and blocking.


3. Todd's socks are past the toes and maybe 1/3 the way up the instep. no new photos..

4. The epic quilt is assembled. I do have pics in it's current state, but FIL took them with his camera and I didn't get digital copies - yet. I had a stroke of creative genius. I added tabs to teh top of the quilt to hang it from. the hanger is a fishing pole... how smart am I???

I'm also crocheting "seaweed" to embelish the quilt.

Once the quilting is done I can add the hemotite beads for the fish eyes. shell beads to the sea bed. the crochet seaweed and I also have some rough peridot beads to add in somewhere in there.

5. Todd got his Blue Belt.

Yarn Over

In yesterday's comments, Cynthia asked:
"How do you like the yarn? I was looking at some the other day and lusting over it. Is it as yummy to knit with as it looks?"

First off, the yarn in question is 100% baby merino lace weight in Orchid, by Malabrigo. It is SO soft and lucious. It isn't spun very tightly, so it has a lot of bounce and a little "fuzz" to it, which made frogging a little challenging. Certainly nothing like a mohair, but adds an element of softness to the knitting- and the fabric! So far I am LOVING working with this wool. I am anxious to see how it blocks out as well.

It is a far cry from baby merino to LB WoolEase... but I am liking the finished fabric of these mittens. I am also liking that they will keep my kid's hands warm and dry and Mr. Mom can throw them in the wash (yes, Todd really does all our laundry. Yes, that includes diapers.). They are knit in WW weight on US2s.. yeah... I'm thinking I might go up to the bulky and maybe US5s. It'll still be a nice firm fabric, but a thicker - and a faster knit!

Progress Pics comming soon... if I remember...

HO! HO! HO!

One of the on-line groups I belong to did a "secret santa" type gift exchange. I was lucky enough to have Cynthia for a "HO".





some yummy dark chocolate and blooming tea ( also yummy!)





laceweight baby merino in orchid and a copy of the Forrest Canopy Shoulder Shawl (by Susan)


Then this was hidden under the pattern:


LUCKY ME!!! I - of course- had to wind the wool immediately!


I'm not sure if Cynthia knows this about me - or if she is just a REALLY good gift-giver, but I am not a knitter that can handle having a "stash". really. I know most of you Knitters are quite perplexed, but I just cant have things like baby merino or 6 skeins of handspun baby alpaca in 3 colorways (thanks mom!!!) sitting around the house. They taunt me to me knitted (or crocheted). even the scraps of "good yarn" beg to be used up. The only exception is craft/novelty yarns. I am not opposed to using them. I buy them as projects require and toss the extras in my stash bin (20 gal tote only 1/3 full) to never be seen again.

so, even though I have a pair of mittens, a miter square shawl and a hat OTN, a pair of longies in need of finishing (yes Julia - those are for Cassidy) and another pair of mittens and a pair of Todd socks queued, I am swatching the shawl on my new knitpicks options (also from Mom!).