Monday, September 25, 2006

ROAD TRIP!!

Darling hubby and I set off for a long weekend in Vermont this weekend. I was in charge of the map and the new sweater I am making for hubby. We did the usual sightseeing and antiqueing but the yarn shops drew us in. We met a lot of great people on our trip and had a lot of very interesting conversations with the owners of the lovely little antique stores and the yarn shops we visited. The yarn store ladies that we met were absolutely enamored with my hubby's interested in all things knitting! One store owner asked him if he would like to go in the back and watch the football game to which he replied, "No thanks, I would much rather look at the yarn with my wife". He continued to brag about what a wonderful knitter I am and how fair isle knitting is my passion right now. AAAAHHH..got to love a guy who loves yarn.
The first store that we visited was the Whippletree Yarn Shop in Woodstock Vermont. What a great little shop with lots of samples knit up! They had lots of the standard yarns available in most yarn shops but there were a few local yarns that were interesting too. Pleasant employees and a gorgeous window front had me frothing at the mouth to linger a little while longer. I bought a few patterns - the sweet little lamb hat in the window is one of their own and I had to have it!


Another favorite LYS on our trip was The Naked Sheep in Bennington Vermont. The owner of the shop was great and let me take lots of pictures. She has 2 little kids and there is a play area with lots of toys for all to share. A gorgeous roomy store with great lighting and lots of to-die-for yarn! I bought a few patterns and some Brown Sheep Yarn. The Knitting patterns are on turnstyle racks for easy access and lots of ideas. Thanks for the hospitalit
We also visited some other LYS on our trip to Vermont but these were the 2 worth mentioning. A great vacation with lots of foliage, good food, and some quality time with hubby. Alas, the only problem with Vermont was that the antique and oldies but goodies stores didn't have one vintage knitting tote!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

EEK A STEEK!!!!


Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - It's finished!! Dale of Norway blanket made with Baby Ull yarn in shades of blue and yellow. Won't my (someday) grandbabies look wonderful snuggled up with me in the rocking chair wrapped in this blanket? I love the faces on the stars and moons! Just an FYI - It is Dale of Norway Booklet Nr 110


Lovingly knit in the round on size 2 needles.


The part of fair isle I like the least! Steeking. It still makes my stomach flip everytime I take a pair of scissors to a finished fair isle. I understand the concept but it just breaks my heart to cut through yarn.








I bought this gorgeous light yellow velour to line the back of Twinkle blanket (so no little fingers or toes get caught in the loops.


To the left is the backside - not bad for knitting a little more than a year!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

THE LONG WEEK..................

This week has been a very long, long week with little progresss on the knitting front. I am caught in that place, where all of my projects are 80% done but still nowhere near finished. I do this all the time - I seem to synchronize my knitting so that all projects are at the same stage of doneness.
Therefor - you will recieve a little more of my knitting tote collection! TADA!! Don't change the channel - This is really good if you like vintage or if you are a little on the wacky side like me.
The knitting tote to the left is made by Tupperware in 1959 under the name of TupperKraft. It is huge!! 3 feet tall- It looks more like a hamper or garbage can than a knitting tote. AAAAHHH but the holes in the bottom and along the seam give it away - that is where the yarn comes out! I guess someone must have needed a place for about 100 balls of yarn! This is definitely not something to casually tote around with you like the others. I do love the swirls in the plastic - very retro!





On the other end of the scale is a 1960's Tammy (Barbie's friend) knitting holder. It is so tiny! I am always afraid that I will loose it amongst my other knitting goodies. The original set came with a ball of yarn and knitting needles for Tammy.









Okay - I'll give in - Just a little preview! The next Dale of Norway is called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! Can you guess what it will be?


Thursday, September 07, 2006

I WANT A STASH WEASEL!!!!


I shamelessly stole this picture from the Yarn Harlot's blog - yes I couldn't help myself. I want one! Actually I would like a herd of Stash Weasels and this is how I would use them.
Can you imagine having a bevy of these delightful creatures whose only job in the whole world is to care for your yarn stash. They would primp and preen and smooth your yarn. They would pick up any wandering balls of alpaca and cashmere and carefully snuggle any stray wool ends back into their cozy little niches. If a stray bug or critter dared to enter the yarn domain the Stash Weasels would hunt them down and make short order of them (thus they would be self feeding). The Stash Weasels would also take great pride in winding skeins of yarn into perfect balls without any tangles or knots.
The best would be taking these little guys yarn shopping. I would lovingly place my Stash Weasels in the back of the car and they would giggle and sing all the way to the yarn store - just like me! When I would bring my new wool purchases back to the car, they would begin to preen and purr over the yarn and would become watchdogs so that the yarn would remain safe for the rest of my journey.
Once home, there would be no need to remove the overflowing bags to the house in front of Darling Husband or other prying eyes. In the dark of the night, the Stash Weasels would strap on their head lamps and like Navy Seals begin the daunting task of securing the yarn to it's tactical areas without alerting enemy intelligence. All yarn and knitting paraphenalia would be stealthily moved and deposited without notice and the Stash Weasels would settle in for a nap with noone the wiser.
If I could only teach them to sew together my finished projects - I would be all set!

Friday, September 01, 2006

GOOD MORNING SEPTEMBER!


My favorite time of the year! The Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire is certainly starting to look like fall. This morning it was 43 degrees and there has been snow on the summit of the tallest mountain in the Northeast. Some of the leaves have started to change and the pumkins in the roadside fields are starting to turn orange. Just a few more weeks and the mountains will be ablaze in color!


The morning glories are in full bloom and the apples are a beautiful red - just waiting to be picked! September 1st is also darling hubbies birthday. He got hot coffee and breakfast at 4:00 this morning before he went to work. I have called him every hour to sing him Happy Birthday on the cell phone. His new charcoal grill and all of the tools that go with it are wrapped in lovely paper. Darling Daughter is picking up the "Organic Charcoal",that he has been ooohing over, and there will be a big cookout at the house tomorrow.

A new winter sweater is on the needles for me and the wool is bought and wound for a lovely new fair isle sweater for hubby. Last night, it was so cool, I was glad to have a large warm project to work on instead of socks. If only it could stay like this!