The Pieces of My Life

How’s that for a dramatic title?  Actually my life is pretty simple.  I do the wife and mom thing, and then I knit and quilt.  Not much drama areound here.

My life did include a ton of pieces this week.  Little. Tiny. Pieces.

I pieced this Feathered Star Block as a test project for Marsha McCloskey.  She’s got a new book coming out.  I’m sure if I’d paid more attention to the emails, I could tell you when, but I’m just not sure.  I’ll let you know when it’s out though.

Marsha is the queen of Feathered Star blocks.  I’ve done several of these crazy blocks.  Here’s a Double Feathered Star I did back in my complete quilting moron days!  I just realize that I have a book of hers that has a Triple Feathered Star in it.  I think it’s calling my name.  (The subtitle of the book says, “Really Hard Blocks That Take a Long Time To Make.”  Yep!  She’s not kidding.

See those blue and white half square triangles?  They’re 1 inch squares.  I’d forgotten how much fun it is to play with little pieces like this.

I’d better get my testing info to her.  It’s due today.  Nothing like waiting til the last minute.

Yes, there’s always knitting going on.  And I’m going to wind some yarn and do a couple test swatches this afternoon!  The guys are golfing, and the girls are hanging out.  So I’m going to grab a cup of coffee and chill out!

Ohmygoodness! Ohmygoodness! Ohmygoodness!

I found out a few days ago that I won a contest at The Loopy Ewe.  It’s their third anniversary, and they’re giving away a bunch of prizes.  And who doesn’t love free yarn?

Well, my package came today and it isn’t just free yarn.  It’s awesometastic, gorgeous, amazing free yarn.

I opened the package and this is what I saw.

I promptly  called my mom to tell her about my free yarn.  As I was talking to her, I realized that I hadn’t fully opened the tissue paper.

Three gorgeous skeins of yarn!!!!  Free yarn!!!!  Awesometastic yarn!!!

The bellamoden decided it wanted to go for a swim.

Don’t worry!  I didn’t drop it.

Then the Chewy Spaghetti wanted a photo shoot in the flowers.

And then there was Wollmeise.  Yes!  Free Wollmeise. It just wanted to bask in the sun.

And. in usual Loopy Ewe style, there were extra goodies.  There was some yummy smelling soap, a Loopy Ewe pin, and a Loopy Ewe book with Post-it paper in various sizes.  I’m going to have to hide that from my kids!!!

Can you tell how tickled I am about my package???  It just made my day.  Well, that and the fact that all my darling children are in school.  (I get them back in a few hours, you know.)

I have ordered numerous times from The Loopy Ewe, and each time has been a treat.  Shipping is unbelievably fast, the goodies are fun, and I’m always pleased with my yarn purchases.  So, if you haven’t ordered from Sheri, maybe today is the day!  And  check out her blog.  There’s still one contest left.  Maybe you’ll win some of this awesometastic yarn!!!

Here’s one more shot of that gorgeous Wollmeise.  It already told me it wants to be something lace!

Did you notice that I linked The Loopy Ewe six times in this post?  Go check it out!  Right now!

Thanks, Sheri!!!!!

How Many Shawls is Too Many?

I love making shawls.  You may have noticed that.  I was unpacking from our Vail trip the other night, and putting my shawls in the shawl drawer.  (Yes, I have a drawer full of them!)  So how many shawls is too many?  And yes, I do wear them.

So, here’s another one!

This is Ishbel.  If you’re familiar with this pattern at all, you’ll see that I made mine way larger than the pattern.  I did the garter stitch section in the larger size, and I have no idea how many lace repeats I did.  I also did a few extra rows of the bottom chart.

The yarn is from The Plucky Knitter.  The colorway is Bev’s Lava Lamp!  I’m in a sock club and when the yarn came, I immediately wound it and started a scarf.  Then I found out that Jackie wanted to trade a skein (I think that’s how it worked. I don’t remember for sure.)  So I ended up with two skeins.  Then Sarah, the genius behind The Plucky Knitter, knit an Ishbel, and I was sold.

I love this stuff!  It’s so soft.  I’m really happy with this.  Oh, and just in case you’re a blocking addict like I am, I’ll show you what it looked like last night.  My mother-in-law was here and had never seen lace blocked.  Other than watching me crawl around on the floor with my rear end sticking out, she thought the process was pretty intriguing!

I’m so considerate of my blog readers that I now block on black towels instead of the bright beach towels I usually use.  You’re welcome!

Here’s another project I’ve been working on, but there’s some assembly required, as well as blocking.

It’s a little purse.  I’m done knitting it, but I need to block it and sew some seams.  Aren’t the handles fun? I purchased the yarn and handles at The Yarn Studio in Minturn, Colorado.  (Sorry, no web site!)

Oh, and yesterday was the kids’ first day of school.  They were done at noon.  Here they are right after they walked in the door.

The dog didn’t go to school.  She just met them at the door.  Doesn’t Frankie (on the left)  look thrilled?  There was a reason.  A couple hours after I took the photo, he had a fever and was throwing up.  Today was supposed to be my first day at home by myself.  That’s been postponed til tomorrow.

I think I need to go find another shawl to knit.  Actually, there’s an idea in the works!

The Vail Knitting Tour

Mom, this one’s for you!

This is the Four Corner Hat.  It’s knit with Dale of Norway Tiur.

Isn’t this Handsome Prince in training cute?

Only in Vail would you find a metal fire sculpture.  I think it’s a working fire, hooked up to a gas line.

Albert Einstein was stylin’ too!

And the flowers…there are gorgeous flowers everywhere.

This guy is guarding our hotel.  I feel so much safer knowing that.

This one made me laugh.  I guess the Porta-Potties were in the wrong place at this construction site.  A huge crane was relocating them.

And the proud recipient, My Hero.  I don’t know if I like it on him or not, but he’ll probably lose it the first time he wears it anyway!

Tomorrow, we’re home, and on Monday the kids start school.  And Ishbel is done.  Blocking on Monday!