A snoozy weekend

Just spent a wonderfully snoozy weekend with the guys that included not one, but two stops at yarn shops! :)



Stop one, Saturday: Fresh Purls in Providence. Purchased two skeins of the most gorgeous ShibuiKnits sock yarn in Marine, using the gift certificate Don gave me for Christmas. The best part of the trip was taking Matthew into the store with me and having him totally mesmerized by all of the gorgeous yarn.

Stop two, Sunday: Yarnia in Woonsocket. Why Woonsocket? Well, we were delivering our old glider to a co-worker who lives up there and who could resist stopping at the LYS? This store was fantastic... Housed in an old mill building, filled with great yarns, wide open space, great light, and excellent help. I'm not sure if he was the owner or not, but he was fabulous! I wish I could take him yarn shopping with me every time. He found the perfect yarn for the rabbit I'm going to make for my co-worker's baby (due at the end of March). The yarn is Lush, in a wonderful cream color. If you're also on Ravelry, it's the Richard Rabbit that I've made before (check it out, my id is blackpebble). If you're not on Ravelry, you might want to consider signing up. The site is AMAZING! There is a wait list to get on, but the wait is only a week or so (some have been saying it's only 3 or 4 days now!).

The boys also begged to get yarn for a hat and scarf for each. They both wanted the same colors of the same yarn (Brown Sheep, blue boy and limeade), but Matthew wanted bulky weight and Andrew wanted worsted weight. I've started Matthew's hat. Next will be Andrew's scarf. He's requested a Jolly Roger on his scarf. I think I'll use the Stitch 'n Bitch sweater pattern -- only 33 stitches wide, so it should work.

I finished Matthew's socks Friday night, to his (and my) great delight! He wore them to dinner at our friends' house on Saturday. Much to my surprise, the boys also decided they wanted to wear the sweaters I made them.



I also managed to get pictures of their bears that I made them for Christmas.




All in all, a great weekend.

Getting started

I've had it in my head for a while that I wanted a place to write about the knitting and crocheting that I've been doing, as well as the interesting bits of everyday life. Being me, though, I have been procrastinating... As with most things I do, I let it all stew a bit (sometimes for too long). When I'm finally ready, though, off I go.... So, here goes....

I set several goals for 2008, one of which was to learn how to knit socks, and another to learn how to cable. I'm very excited to report that I have done both and it's not even the end of January! Matthew loves wool socks and has been asking for me to knit him a pair since last summer (why he'd ask for wool socks in summer is beyond me!). The look on his face yesterday when he tried on the sock that I finished was enough to make me want to knit him a thousand pairs! Such joy!! Now, I just need to get the second one done.... hopefully by the end of this week.



As for the cables... in hunting around for knitting patterns, I stumbled across a pattern for an Irish Hiking Scarf. Beautiful! Don loved it, too, so on the needles it went! I'm using a gorgeous cranberry merino/cashmere blend.



Unfortunately, it's very slow-going... I had hoped to have it done by Valentine's Day... Looks like maybe in time for his birthday will be more realistic!