A trip north!

Mr. Foster certainly needed his wooly "scrubs" for Montana, Idaho and Wyoming camping. So for 770 miles I knitted a new set of clothes.  And the last stitch was bound off moments from departure.    Here's Juju is her new dress, and Mr. F in his new clothes in a motel room!  Yes, after 2 weeks on the road, blowing tents, rain, snakes, stinky toilets, and ... dirt, a few days of R&R (C's Blog) before the next camping adventure.

Mr. Foster has had a face-lift since I first displayed him.  His scary white teeth have been replaced by pink lips.  Juju's normally pale Scandinavian skin is replaced with sun-burned cheeks, and a gorgeous tan.  Her hair is still white!

Weather for tenting!

Here's the weather forecast for Yellowstone!  Surprising that it can get that cold at night... Weather

Windy!  And a tent for a 6'5" man...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Keeping busy:
After my shocking discovery of so many items that I WISH were finished, I decided to get to it.
Here's something that is a cooperative project started over a year ago.

Celina found the material, Grandma Aud (June 2009) cut out the pieces, and Grandma Julia (me, July 2010) finally sewed it together.  It should be perfect for a one-year old on vacation on the West Coast.
And I realize I only have a few days to get some clothes made for Mr. Foster:

Sock yarn, size 2 needles... quite an improvement from the last blog entry. Easy knitting while catching up on "Days".  Being away for 2 months, I missed... nothing!  I've been watching 2 episodes a day, having missed totally May 22 to July 12. And lucky me, nothing happened.  Starting with July 13 I watched every third episode online.  An hour program turns into 39 minutes of knitting time!
 Hopefully I'll get pants made too, and take a picture of Mr. Foster modeling next week.  I'll be without internet most of next week.  (I'm just saying!)
I promised a report from Knit Nite, but I forgot to take my camera.  K displayed her beautiful hubby sweater.  It's gorgeous, fits him, and I bet he'll wear it come November!  Mary got her socks back on track for the ?th time.  P is knitting a blanket/rug with plastic bits in it... and I borrowed another cable needle to work on my Toddler Top.  
I must have a thing about cables... seems like every project (except the above) has a cable needle needed.  I like cables... :-)  Count 'em in the previous blog!

Startitis

In random order, with no specific order:


Mr. Foster needs a new set of clothes.

This is probably the most urgent.  Mr. F (stuffed monkey) has NO clothes.  This is the "scrubs" top and pants to follow. What you see are the sleeves (cuffs) at R top, and body in the middle.  All to be knitted together at the armpit. It would be nice if he had some clothes for his camping trip in Yellowstone.


Sock to finish.

The socks that have been on the yarn crawl, to Maine and back.  There's another one somewhere...

Pullover in fair isle (for toddler)

How impressive is this!?  I just wanted to feel the wool... and use my yarn jar... Really, it won't be needed for a year and a half.


New long-legged overalls (for toddler)

I stopped working on this because of the same reason as the fair isle pullover... I might some back to this for the feel... Heavenly!  


Dang, that mitten.

Started ages ago (look for it on Ravelry for date) and I love the pattern, and it wouldn't take any time at all to finish that thumb and 2nd mitten, but... other duties call!


Fancy cotton dress (for toddler)

This is the most challenging part of the dress.  Haven't decided if it will have sleeves, or short sleeves or as in pattern.  How 'bout those pretzel containers!  Perfect, except I can't remove the label.  Adds to the ambience around here.


Cotton top (for toddler)

The dreaded start-over winner.  I'm sticking to it (from time to time).


And last but... maybe least:
Tote Bag

What?  You can't see anything?  Maybe, MAYBE, if you click on the picture you'll see a bit of cable/crossover with two very dark colors.  Totes/bags hold the least amount of interest.  Not when I'm starting them, or purchasing kits, or patterns... I just don't stick to it.  I don't see the rush.  But it will be lovely, someday.


Knit NIght tonight!!  More pics tomorrow!

Back to the Future!

I'm back and running with my fingers lagging behind.  Nails are clipped, and will stay that way for awhile.  Choir rehearsals, church services, and my flutist is champing at the bit to get some playing time in.  

Life has a way of interfering with our practice time.  And if it doesn't get done, well, nobody's happy!

ME brought her music to practice last night and the first thing she pulls out is a Poulenc Sonata; it's easy, she says, very slow.  It's the second movement.

Hmmm.  Not THIS Sunday. How about 3 weeks. (I'm going to be camping for one of those weeks.)

YIKES!  It will be fine in 3 weeks.

Yarn Crawl Finale

Yes, all good things come to an end.  It's time to knit, isn't it!!!

Day Six:

Covering 3 states today, we made an early dash to Green Mountain Spinnery.  A few days ago KE showed me this pattern book and I knew I had to find it: 

We tracked it down in the shop in Putney, Vermont arriving in the morning. Amazingly there is a cache across the street from the spinnery, and it was difficult for me to decide which to go to first.

With GPS in hand I decided to have a look for the cache first.  It was wasted time... I couldn't locate it.  I was sure I found the hiding place, but there was nothing there.  I even went back after shopping in case someone in the parking area had it but it still hadn't appeared.  So, back to the yarn crawl.

We were surprised that the spinnery is huge, and the shop is...well, tiny! 

 And the most tempting of yarn is their New Mexico Organic Wool.  

New Mexico Organic:  100% Fine Wool grown in New Mexico & Certified Organic by the NM Organic Commodity Commission Processing Certified Organic by Vermont Organic Farmers 2-ply DK Weight 2 oz. skein Approximately 180 yards

Somehow, it just seems wrong to purchase New Mexico grown wool in Vermont, when I'll be back in NM later in the week.  But, P didn't see anything wrong with it and she made plans to knit and purchased the wool for a pullover (East Putney Aran, page 6 in the above book).  Yummy NM wool dripping with lanolin.  Definitely rain-proof!

Then we headed south, crossing into Massachusetts, seeking out the Mecca of all yarn shops:  WEBS

How does a yarn shop get the www address yarn.com?  I forgot to ask, and I don't care.  I just know that I love their website, and their huge stock, and now I know why.

Home of Valley Yarns and my... Lions, Tigers and Bears! What a dangerous place!!!!!

One of the many endless aisles in the warehouse... Yes, you can shop in the warehouse, silly!

Where the aisles are numbered 100, 200, 300, etc.

Beaded socks...

Beaded cuffs...

Who can resist? Not I!

I purchased pattern and yarn for this great cardigan:  Sojouner Cardigan

I didn't take pictures of the weaving room... It was so inspiring that I am sure I can use up beaucoup time and yarn at home, relearning how to set up my loom.

We were lucky we got out alive! 

Next stop: NYS and finding a home for our lovely wares.

Still More Yarn in Maine!

After a good night's rest, with temperatures rising (heat wave in... Maine!! Who knew?) we primed ourselves for visiting 3 yarn shops in Portland.  Sonia, the car navigator, had us driving here and there, and sent us around in circles. Even when we could see the place we would hear: "Turn left in 200 feet."  ???  But nothing could deter us.  I admired P's handiwork (she wove these baskets for an exact fit under a window seat) and off we went in the yarn-mobile.

Day Four:Our first stop was Central Yarn in Central Portland.  An amazing button collection that covered a huge chunk of wall, and I sat on my camera! No, I didn't destroy it, just got carried away with looking with my eyes and feeling with my fingers.

Then, Sonia, sent us around and around the block until we tired of that.  On our own, we found Tess' but alas, no one was home. And no one answered the phone number on the door, so we continued on to KnitWit Yarn Shop.  We felt right at home, being Knit Wits ourselves.  This is where I found the lovely yarn jars!

And their own spun merino (without tags) which I found too yummy to resist.

I found that two yarn shops a day is my limit!  Especially since we would be traveling another (I say, ANOTHER) 2 days.

Day Five:

On the road again, heading west and home.  I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... I've been away from my bed at home for 47 nights, so I was ready to move along.

We took some beautiful, undivided highways straight west into New Hampshire, carving a path to PatternWorks.  Beautiful New England setting, on a lake, with other craft stores in the same complex, white painted clap-board... sunny (hot) day and their "side-walk" sale made it a bit difficult to even enter the store!  Great bargains outside, and beautiful yarns, models and kits inside.  

I came away with the kit for Cable Tote in Purple.  Three interesting yarns are in the mix.

We asked for a recommendation of a place to eat and were sent around the corner to a lakeside restaurant called Canoe.  Still not too far from the coast, I treated myself to (another) Lobster Roll and Sweet Potato Fries. Yum!

P's tuna wasn't too shabby either!  Those are two long broccolini spears tempura'ed.  Rural New Hampshire!  I'll go back!!!