She Knits By The Seashore

Charlie's Yarn -- second prize giveaway

On Sunday, our Random Number generator picked #4, Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos. Congratulations! The yarn will be on its way to you in the next day or two.

I notified Chris over the weekend, but I apologize for the delay with this post. Husband Chris has been working very late hours the last week or two, and has the access to the online donor list that we use for the drawings. He was away more than home this weekend. Our final prizes, two more skeins of Charlie's yarn, plus a gift certificate for $21 to a yarn shop of the winner's choice, will be given out on Memorial Day weekend. Chris' crazy work hours will be done by then, so I promise we'll post those winners on time.

I'm still knitting on Caroline, and did a bunch of yard and house chores over the weekend, none of it worthy of photographs. The Noni flower was re-felted and looks like it's shrunk from the 12" to 9" -- still maybe too big, but I'll know better once the bag comes back and I can see the proportions. Thank you again for all your advice!

GYGIG drawing postponed

Just a quick note to tell you that the drawing for the skein of Charlie's Yarn will be postponed until sometime tomorrow! Have a great weekend, whatever your plans.

GYGIG and Caroline updates

Thank you so much for your generosity. As of this week, our current total for the Get Your Guts in Gear fundraiser is $908!

Friday night is our next drawing for a skein of the special Charlie's Yarn hand dyed by Lavender Sheep. If you'd like to be included, please click on the blue and white donation button on the left hand side of the blog page for further details. Or, if you'd like to donate by purchasing some of the Charlie's Yarn directly, you can click here. If you're wondering who Charlie is, or what our fundraiser is about, please click here.

The Cat's Paw scarf that I am making with my Charlie's Yarn has been slow going, because I'm changing around the stitch pattern a little bit. Since I don't have much of that project to share yet, here is an update on the Caroline sweater:

These are the left and right fronts, and I am almost up to the decreases for the arms. Can't wait to finish this and move on to my next project!

Blossoms and Impressions

Invasion of the Noni Spider Chrysanthemum

It looked like a fun accent for the Noni bag, and I had the yarn and pattern, so I knitted it.

And it grew.

And after it was felted, it still looks too big. 12" across to be exact, like a huge pink furry spider. Did I do something wrong? And is there any way to tame this beast back down to flower size, per the pattern photo? It's currently blocking in a bowl, to curl the petals. Maybe when the bag comes back from the person sewing in the lining for me, and I can see them together, it will all work out? I must admit: a fearless knitter I am not.

After battling a cold/sinus fit for the last few days, I finally felt well enough on Sunday to go to the Impressionists by the Sea exhibit that I have been wanting to see for so long.

please click to enlarge

The Wadsworth Atheneum, the oldest public art museum in America, and the Travelers building to the left.

Me, in one of the prettiest gallery rooms. Photos by Chris.

The exhibit ends on May 11, and has only been shown in two other cities, London and Washington DC. If you'd like to see it, Amazon has the book/exhibit catalog with the paintings. I think you'll like this one by Renoir, a portrait of a lady knitting called "At the Seashore." What could be more perfect than that??

Pink Mohair Mittens

About the time I started my blog, Chris started bike racing. Knitting and racing go well together; I knit in the car to and from the races, and while he warms up beforehand. I knit when we watch the pros suffer race in Paris-Roubaix and the upcoming Tour of Georgia on TV. And I'm going to attempt to knit an entire sweater during this year's Tour de France; I hope you'll join the KAL with Meg and me.

Last Saturday, I finished the pink mohair mittens I started before Christmas. I'd run out of yarn near the very end, and Karen saved them by sending me some leftover yarn she had from a sweater. Nothing encourages the warmer weather along like finishing mittens you hope not to wear for months and months!!

Yarn: 2 skeins of Classic Elite La Gran Mohair Color #9914, a prize from Kristen. Two strands of yarn held together throughout.

Needles: Brittany dpns, size 9 (you can adjust up or down as you like)

Pattern: a personal pattern from Kristen's friend, sent with the yarn

Mods: none

These mittens are so thick and warm, they'd be perfect for walking a dog on a frigid winter morning or evening. Or standing at the side of the roadway, wrapped in a blanket to buffet the wind, watching bicycle racers speed by during their early spring training races.

Felted Noni & Anne Perry

On Friday, Sarah and I felted our Noni bags and compared notes over the phone. It was fun to do it together!

It took longer than I expected to get the felt fabric nice and tight, but now that it's done, the process is much less mysterious. Since I don't sew, I called a woman I met at one of the local yarn shops who finishes bags, and made an appointment with her this week to pick up the materials I purchased for the handles and lining. Chris helped me wind yarn while we were watching Chocolat, so I can knit and felt the chrysanthemum decoration.

Last Wednesday night, I went to hear Anne Perry read from her new mystery, Buckingham Palace Gardens. She signed my book...

...and graciously agreed to a photo with me.

I had hoped to post the photos sooner, but since that night, I have been out more than home. Friday night I went to a meeting of the state butterfly association with my father, who has shared with me his love of nature since I was a little girl. The talk, on genetics of wing patterns, was very technical, but it was a real delight afterwards to see a sampling of the research collection at the Peabody Museum at Yale. The group has field trips planned to see butterflies in their local habitats, and I'm looking forward to spending time with my dad trooping through meadows on summer mornings to visit with these graceful creatures.

Saturday morning we were at the races. Chris is third from the left, red bike, and came in seventh. After the races, we were supposed to go to the art museum to see an exhibit called Impressionists by the Sea. By noon, the clouds burned off and it turned out to be the sunniest, warmest day yet, so rather than spend it inside a windowless museum, we went home to start to rehabilitate the garden, raking the lawn and clearing out debris. I'm wanting to have a garden again, but need to do some research -- our new backyard ends at the woods, which means deer are going to be a real problem. Ravelry has a group called Crafty Gardeners with a thread on plants that are deer resistant, and it will be a huge help.

I'm hoping to get to the museum next Saturday. In the meantime, there is more reading, raking, knitting (and work and house chores) to do, and an FO to post. How was your weekend?

A Celebration of Orange

Thursday is ASPCA day, and they are celebrating Tim's favorite campaign: Go Orange! So please put on a little tangerine and hug your furry loved ones extra tight.

"Aren't we orange cats the best?!"

The Noni bag is finished! Well, at least the knitting part. Now to do my first felting. I have a top-load washing machine, which makes it easier, and the directions say to sew the top of the bag together a little so that it doesn't flare out, and the stripes will still line up. If you have any other tips, please let me know. I can't decide yet if I still want to make the spider chrysanthemum that goes on the bag. It might be a good learning experience since I've never knit a flower before.

Sorry the pink and green clashes with the orange text. Ick!

The only other project I have started is Caroline. Must. finish. before. summer. And I'm going to start my Cat's Paw scarf with the Charlie's Yarn, now that I have it wound.

  "Do you have to take my picture NOW? I've got my eye on a bird here. And I'm not even orange." -- Rosie

Tonight is the night Anne Perry comes to our local bookstore. There is something about meeting an author that awes me. Maybe it's because, unlike other celebrities whose lives are all over the tabloids, most authors have quiet, mysterious lives. It's intriguing when they come to do book talks, and you meet the person behind the characters. Have you ever met an author? Did that person turn out to be anything like you expected?

"I have a little orange. Does that count?" -- Rainy, the girl who with one look can break my heart every time.

A Little Bit of Spring

I never realize how bad I've been feeling because of the winter...tired, restless...until spring begins to make her appearance. Subtle signs have been apparent in the last week or two.

So sweet! The pansies are going to go into the planters on our front doorstep. Our last frost date for most annual plants is May 15-31, so it will be a little while yet before I can plant other flowers.

Ranunculus. It's too cold to grow them outdoors here, but it always thrills me to be able to buy a bouquet of them to enjoy inside. I love their blossoms, which look like tissue paper cabbage roses. Please pardon the photo -- I was holding off Timmy, "the plant eater," while trying to take it. He loves to chew on anything green so I have to be super careful!

My new spring coat. Yes, it's black, which I try not to wear between Memorial Day and Labor Day, since we wear so much of it the rest of the year. Why wear black in the summer, when you can surround yourself with all those pretty bright colors? But this coat is a light cotton, and when I heard another customer in the store walk by it and say to her daughter, "it's very Audrey Hepburn," I had to have it. Now I want to get the bright pink gauzy scarf to go with it. We've been having dreary rainy days, and there is nothing like a bright scarf or umbrella to cheer the gray weather.

Spring happens so slowly in New England, if we're lucky to get it at all. Some years, it's freezing cold and damp until one night in May, when you wake up the next morning and it's summer. Just the same, with the extra hours of daylight, I'm getting inspired again to spring clean the house and tidy up the garden and have a whole new wardrobe...does that happen to you? Spring fever, indeed.