Golfing Is Easy!

Glenn's begun golfing with a vengeance. He really gets such joy from golfing. He's always asking me to go with him. He wants me to take up golfing or just come along when he practices. It's good to know that, after almost twenty six years of marriage, he stills enjoys my company so much that he just likes having me around. And I like being around.

So today I decided to go with him. He was going to Marine Park Golf Course in Brooklyn and I do love me some Brooklyn! So here it is. Me golfing.

Yeah that's as close as I got. It was a gorgeous day, I was doing what I loved with whom I love. Doesn't get much better than that does it?

Brothers

Brothers are great. I should know, I'm raising a pair of them.

Megan called me and said a friend of hers was expecting her second child and would I make her a pair of socks in time for her hospital stay when she has her baby. Megan had been away with this friend over the winter. Her friend had cold feet one evening so Megan lent her a pair of socks I'd made her. It was love at first feel. Megan thought it would be great for her to have a pair of handmade socks for her hospital stay so I'm working on those now.

I decided I'd also make hats for her children and here they are:





On the left is Luuk by Annis Jones. On the right is Top Knot Newborn Cap by Lori Utley. Both easy knits and I love that the Luuk looks like my Wurm hat.

Making It Easier

I've been working on the Herringbone socks for a while now, the ones in the previous post. I love the yarn and the pattern is truly beautiful but I was having a really hard time with them. I kept saying "This pattern isn't hard, it's just labor intensive" to myself. I was making mistakes. Lots of mistakes. So many mistakes, in fact, that I took down the second sock after doing the gusset. You see, with this pattern the mistakes are quite noticeable and I'm ok with a couple of mistakes but these socks aren't for me but for my friend, Nicole and I'd like them to be as close to perfect as possible.

So I took down the socks and decided I was going to have a different mindset starting this sock. It's not "labor intensive." It's a frigging sock. I love knitting. I love knitting socks. So I decided to just remember that I also love Nicole and I want her to have a lovely pair of socks and, remarkably, the knitting became easier. Before I had to keep looking at the pattern, now I have it in my head. I made a conscious choice to just enjoy doing what I love to do. Make sense? Well it does to me. I'm about a third of the way done with the sock and I haven't made one mistake. Yet. Oh I'm sure I will make a mistake or two but it won't be a great deal of mistakes like the other sock. Funny how you can decide to make things easier if you just change the way you think about them. I hope to have these done soon because I have lots of knitting requests waiting.

Herringbones

I've been working on the Herringbone Rib Socks for a while now. They're not difficult but they're a bit labor intensive. I'm almost done with the second sock so I figured I could share the first one with you now.








These are from the Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn book. I really like this book because it is full of gorgeous patterns that show off the uniqueness of each yarn. If you're a sock knitter who has a stash full of handpainted yarns this book really should be a staple in your library.

The yarn is Magenta Leafhopper by Cephalopod Yarns in Skinny Bugga. It's so soft, it's got 10% cashmere, and it's a dream to work with.

I've actually started a knitting list because friends and family have been asking for things. I love that they like my knitting so much that the actually ask for hand knitted goods especially socks. I've converted a handful of friends and family members to hand knitted sock lovers! Now I just have to convert some of them to knitters.

Another Diagonal Rib

Just finished these today!

Patrick asked me to make a pair of socks for one of his teachers. Apparently he dresses beautifully but doesn't wear hats or gloves so socks it is. I made a pair of Ann Budd's gorgeous Diagonal Rib Socks which I love. I made a pair for myself recently and they're currently my favorite pair. Here's the one I just completed:





I had the yarn in a cake but it had no band. I think it's Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga but I'm not sure. This yarn is gorgeous and so soft and squishy. I think it's Skinny Bugga which is mostly merino with a pinch of cashmere.

Now I'm back to working on the herringbone socks which are taking me a long time. I have vowed to not start another project until these are finished and I'm going to keep to that. Hopefully I'll have a completed pair to show you soon!

Sweet Sixteen

No not me although it really doesn't seem that long ago and I do have moments where I find it hard to believe that I'm the mother of a child this age. And one older than that actually!

Patrick will be sixteen next week. I always get weepy around his birthday. His birth was long awaited but almost tragic. Long story short - my uterus ruptured during birth, he was rushed to ICU and we both could have died. Needless to say we're both ok and have been since he tried to pull the respirator out and had the nurses saying he was the strongest baby they've ever seen.

Over the years he's brought me great joy. He's an intelligent, hilariously funny, generous old soul living in a tall, skinny, handsome exterior. He's a cool kid with a geeky side who skateboards, has held a job since he was fourteen, watches Charlie Chaplin movies with me and likes to bake his great Auntie Julia's Scottish shortbread recipe.

I remember when I was pregnant with him wondering how could I love another child the way I love Glenn. How could I feel this way about another human being? How could my heart hold so much more love? My answer came the moment he was born - my heart grew. And continues to grow because I love him more each passing day.

Happy Birthday Lil Man. I love you to the moon & back a million gazillion times. So happy you're mine.

Maryland Sheep And Wool Festival 2013

We got home yesterday at about 7pm and I'm still pooped!

What a great great day! Glenn, Brigit and I left at 5:30 am yesterday and got to the gate at almost exactly 9am as they were opening the festival for the day. Brige and I walked around and did some shopping before meeting up with Rich. Brigit had never been to a fiber festival before so it was fun to experience it with a first timer. She's primarily a sock knitter so we were looking for the same stuff which was a lot of fun because I think she opened my eyes to things I may not have purchased if I'd been on my own. We laughed and walked. Listened to some music, watched spinners and squeezed yarn. There was so much to see and it's almost overwhelming but not quite. We met up with Rich and did more shopping. Then we met up with Alexis who I know from Twitter. She came all the way from Oklahoma for the weekend just for the festival! She was an absolute delight. I wish she lived closer so we could get our knit on together. We were there for about five hours and it still wasn't enough but we had a long drive back so we had to get on the road. All in all a great day. Beautiful weather, great people and oodles of yarn. Who could ask for more?

Ok the loot:





I did good, huh? There's some old stand bys for me like Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock, some Miss Babs, Neighborhood Fiber Co and some knoobies like Persimmon Tree Farm. Actually Persimmon was the only new purchase for me. At Rhinebeck I'm going to make more of an effort to purchase yarns I've never worked with before. I like to spread the love but find some yarns irresistible especially BMFA. For me, it's difficult to pass by something I really love and give something new a shot but I really have to try to do that especially at festivals where I can speak to the dyer and play with the yarn a bit.

Oh and if you ever see this:





Do yourself a favor and get it with the works which consists of cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, chives and jalapenos. I could only have a small portion but it was so friggin worth it.


And as always a big thank you to the best husband ever, Glenn. The one who drives 3 hours to take me to a yarn festival even though he has no interest in yarn. Who gives me money to shop for said yarn. Who doesn't get mad when I say "Just a minute! I'm counting!" And who shares my ribbon chips with me so I don't eat to much. He really is the shiz.