Coffee shop knitting, aka Wanderknitting.

Our knitting group coined the term "Wanderknitting" a while ago. It's when we meet to knit someplace other than our regularly scheduled time and place. Today, two of us met a nearby coffee shop and spent a pleasant afternoon together. The drinks were oh so yummy.

I'm working on the Holden Shawlette. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Lace in the colorway Moody Blues. It's a little lighter weight yarn than the pattern calls for, but I like what's being created non the less. I'm not sure if this is going to be for me or if I'll gift it to a beautiful girl who loves blue!

My weekend last weekend.

I'm a little late reporting on how I spent my weekend last weekend, but that's just how it goes with me. The hubby and I spent a short but wonderful time "back home" in Connecticut.


We left Saturday morning which was Saint Patrick's Day. All week I had intended to crochet a little garland or bunting of shamrocks to decorate my china cabinet in the dining room, but I never found the time. So, four hours in the car was plenty of time to work on it. Better late than never, don't you think?

It was a really quick project and as I often say, it made me smile. I had plenty of time to make a second one to give to my sister who I would be visiting. She needs a bit of whimsy in her life to make her smile, too.

These little shamrocks were so much fun to make, I just kept making them. I decided I'd be a shamrock fairy all day and secretly leave the single shamrocks laying around for people to find. My own mini yarn bombing project!

It was fun but, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my secret work. I left one with the tip at the restaurant where we ate dinner. This is the family restaurant my husband and I both went to as children, although we didn't know each other back then.

It was great to eat there again. It brought back so many memories and I felt compelled to ordered what I used to order when I was a kid... Spaghetti and Meatballs. A good meal for Saint Patrick's Day, right? Oh, it was so good.


So, back to the shamrocks... I left one in an elevator, one on a table in the hotel lobby, one at an ATM. The next morning I had three left and I gave two to friends that we met for breakfast and left the last for the waitress with her tip. I hope my little shamrocks brought a bit of luck to those who found them, or at least a smile to their faces!


The main reason for our trip north was to watch a family member perform in the musical Hairspray. He played the part that John Travolta played in the movie. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make the trip at first, but everything work out and we were able to. I am SO happy I did't miss it!

He looks just like his mom... I'm sure she'd be proud!

As I said, we met friends on Sunday morning for breakfast. These are the friends that I've spoken of before, Chuck and Carol. I don't think I've ever mentioned though, that they relocated to Pennsylvania in the fall and now live only about an hour and a half from us. Funny that we have to travel all the way to Connecticut to have breakfast with them! Actually, they were up there for a visit with friends and since they have not yet sold their Connecticut house, they were there taking care of some business. They just got an offer on it, so fingers crossed that all goes well with their sale!


I hope you're all enjoying the spring weather if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. If you read my last post, you know I am. Today is supposed to be cooler and rainy, a good day to meet with friends to knit, so I'm off to hop in the shower and get going!

Spring has arrived!

We've been having such nice weather here lately. This year, the signs of spring are a good four weeks earlier than last year. I know this because I wrote this "poem" during the third week of April last year about the signs of spring that were happening around me. This week I felt the need to dig it up and share it as I see those same signs of spring arrive and I'm feeling much the way I was then. I hope you enjoy it....

Ode to Spring

Spring is here.
They're blooming.
The Ornamental Pear Trees.
They're beautiful.
They line my drive to work.
They make me smile.
So pretty!
They make my eyes itch.
So much!
I long for cucumbers.
Cold ones.
On my eyes.
I've never tried it.
It can't hurt.
All I have is tomatoes!

Breakfast anyone?

The Bacon and Eggs Pillow is complete and has been gifted. I had a little fun with it before it left the house.

The lucky recipient was very pleased with it! It's a good thing too, because these socks were intended for him, but sadly, they aren't going to fit him.

In fact, this is the second try at making these socks. The first sock was almost complete when I discovered it was too tight for his foot. It was frogged and I adjusted stitch count and needle size... and, it's still too small!

You know how they say sometimes yarn just doesn't want to be what you think it should be? Well, this yarn wants to be these socks, just not for a man size foot. 

I guess I'll have to keep them for myself!

Knitted Finished Objects

At last some finished objects of the knitted kind!


First, my Traveling Woman is a finished object from a couple of years ago. Since it was freshly block recently, I thought I'd share it with you. It's knit in Isager lace weight alpaca which was a dream to work with.

I originally made it to give to a coworker as a Christmas gift, but since I used lace weight yarn instead of fingering weight, it came out much, much smaller than I had hoped it would, so I kept it. It makes a nice soft accent scarf and I get a lot of compliments on it.

I made my friend another larger shawl with the leftover alpaca. I'll dig up the photos I took of the second shawl I made for her and share them another time.


Next up is the Winter Berries Shawl. 

Again, I made this for a friend and coworker. No special occasion, I just made it for her because she is always thinking of others. She always seems to sense when you're having a bad day and the next thing you know, you've got a card and an inspirational book on your desk. She's the one who is always remembering everyone's birthdays and baking our cakes. She's the type of woman, mother, friend, coworker, who puts herself aside for everyone else. She needed to know she's appreciated.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and it worked up pretty quickly done in a worsted weight wool. The body of the shawl is worked sideways from point to point and then the ribbed edging is picked up and knit. I'll definitely knit this pattern again.


My last bit of sharing for today is my Greyhaven Cowl that I made for myself in February.

Back in December I won some awesome cashmere and silk Classic Elite Posh and knew I wanted to make myself something special with it. It's been a mild winter, so I haven't really had a chance to test its warmth, but it looks really nice with my black coat.

I had a hard time capturing the exact color in the photos. Some photos I took made it look too bright and others too grey. The color is Hydrangea, a muted violet. The second photo captures it pretty well. So beautiful and super soft!

Dr. Who and some whimsy crochet.

I believe the last time I posted about the Dr. Who Scarf that I'm making, it was about a foot long. That was back in January. I haven't really given much attention to the scarf for a while (much to one young man's dismay) and yet as I look at it now, I have made some progress on it. It is now a little bit longer than 3 feet.

The large basket of yarn was temporarily put into hiding- out of the way of the living space. Since things have quieted down around here, it's been brought out again and is residing in the dining room where I will see it everyday and be inspired to knit up a few rows here and there. Let's see if the scarf grows a little faster now.

I must say, I don't really mind having it hang out here... the colors coordinate nicely with my living room/dining room decor! (See the placemats in the next photo.)

Although I've got several projects on the knitting needles right now, I've been distracted lately by a serious crocheting jag. I suddenly had the need to crochet some quick items that would give me some instant gratification and add a bit of whimsy to my life, as well as a smile to my face.

I shared with you the start of the bacon and eggs pillow. It's almost finished:

I just need to attach the eggs and purchase a pillow form or stuffing and stitch up the side. I'm not sure which one of my bacon loving family members I'm going to give it to, but I'm sure that when the others see it there will be some equity issues and I'll have to make a couple more!

Here's a project I've been wanting to do for a long time. They are the mugs that you can get a craft stores with the inserts for kids to color. I made crocheted inserts. I made them to hang from hooks near the water cooler in our house.

This set is crocheted in the colors of our everyday dishes, but I plan to knit or crochet more inserts to coordinate with the various holidays and seasons.

I can't wait to knit some cabled ones in deep red, green, gold, and blue for Christmas time. Now I just need to get the perfect thing to hang them from, I envision a small shelf with hooks beneath it.

As I was slowly packing away the winter decorations over the past few weeks (snowmen get left out long after the Christmas decorations are put away), I was struck with the need to make something in red for the Valentine's Day season. Just a little something to add some red to the table.

I had it on the kitchen table for a few weeks (making me smile) and now it's moved to the coffee table where it has overstayed it's welcome, but I don't have anything in shamrock green to replace it with yet!

That's all the sharing for today. See you soon with some finished knitted projects.