This weekend was an exciting one for us here at the Woolen Rabbit.  Not only did the Pats make the next round into the Superbowl, my daughter Ashley also made it into the final round of a local singing competition called Voice of the Valley.  In fact, she found out that she moved into first place with a rendition of the Beatles, "Across the Universe". 

The final competition is this Saturday night and I know she is struggling to find just the right song for her, so if you could send her some good vibes this week, I know she would really appreciate it.

It was a very full weekend here, but I did manage to squeeze in a few creative moments here and there.

Earlier this summer, I got a beautiful sewing machine that I finally sat down to get acquainted with.

My old sewing machine is one that I picked up when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, almost 30 years ago.  An old Kenmore, that did a nice zig zag stitch and a wonky buttonhole….nothing fancy, but so reliable that it still works fine even today.

I have really really wanted to get back to a little quilting though and wanted a machine that could do a little more than my trusty old Kenmore, so I spent a good part of the summer researching sewing machines, figuring this would probably be the last sewing machine I would ever get.  I went for a few bells and whistles this time around…..now I need to learn how to use those bells and whistles…eek!

On my way home from Texas, I picked up this funky dog fabric to make the dogs some new snoods.  Easy peasy sewing, but they keep the food out of the girls ears, which in turn helps to prevent any ear chewing.  Cavaliers should have nice long ears, but getting those ears, seems to be a challenge here for some reason.  Hopefully these will help.  (don’t they look cute?)

I had enough fabric left over to make a little lined knitting bag.  This was a bit more of a challenge for me as it truly has been years since I have sewn, but just like anything else, it slowly came back to me as I sat behind the machine.

So, that is pretty much my weekend in a nutshell so to speak.  A little singing, a little football, a little sewing and actually, I think I am on track with my knitting goals too.

A good weekend indeed……….

To Texas and back again in what seems the blink of an eye, has little Miss Cleo is lounging in her favorite spot back home as though we never left.

What a treat it was to have a chance to sit in the warm sunshine for close to a week.  With the snowstorm that came in on Monday, I decided to extend my stay a little bit instead of driving 2 hours north from the airport in a heavy snow storm.  I’ll take warm sunshine any day over driving in scary snowy weather!

Cleo had a good day in the ring on Saturday placing second in a very nice class, but on Sunday, she was a naughty little puppy, refusing to look at the judge no matter how the judge tried to capture her attention…haha!  I guess we found that the little Miss has a stubborn streak when she chooses.  You can only laugh when they do things like this…LOL!

I didn’t get as much knitting finished as I had thought I might, but I have been making progress on Oh!Canada.  I love the rhythm in this pattern and I really am enjoying the yarn as well. 

Another beautifully designed pattern by Anne, this pattern has a lot of texture in contrast to the lace, giving the stole a lot of squeezablity.  I know that this is going to be my new favorite.

Even though I should be knitting on a single sock sister, I can justify knitting on this stole as I would like to have a finished sample of the yarn for the NETA SPA weekend that will be happening next month.

I haven’t forgotten about those single sisters however.  I did start another sock and I was moving right along until I found a mistake that requires some RIPPing…. 

It’s amazing how quickly that squashed my enthusiasm, especially with the lovely stole sitting right next to the Bee socks, all ready to be worked on.

My goals for this week…(yes, I know it’s Friday and not Wednesday)…
….Finish the first side of the stole
….Turn the heel on the Bee Sock

Now, let’s see if I can get that done 🙂

We are leaving for warm, sunny Texas, at 2:00am (ouch)…….
                  ………Wish us luck!!!………

Seven geese pierce straight line over frigid bay,
Intervals between them constantly equal,
Pointed wings slash as if joined to an axle;
Today is the ideal moment between yesterday and tomorrow.
Deng Ming~Dao

As I was searching and searching through Ravelry the other day for some sort of lace scarf pattern to test knit my Opulence yarn with, I kept coming back to Anne’s newest pattern, Oh Canada. 

As I was putting my dogs out yesterday afternoon and a flock of geese flew overhead, that clinched it for me.  I wound the yarn and sat down with the pattern, which has a beautiful flow to it.  Lovely lace work, but simple enough to move along quite quickly.  I will be traveling this weekend and wanted something easy to work on to bring along with me.  This will be perfect!

It was very strange to see geese this far north flying at this time of year.  Every autumn, I always mention how sad I feel when the birds leave and how each March, I rejoice when I hear those little chirpy noises again.

This winter has been a strange one for sure in regards to the birds.  The robins were here much much longer than I have ever seen them stay and over the last week, I have heard a lot more bird chatter than I have ever remembered at this time in the winter.  Perhaps I am just more aware of them…..or something is just a bit different this year.  Hmmmmmm……….

Pattern: Knitting Vintage Socks, Child’s Shell pattern
Needles:  2.50mm
Yarn: Woolen Rabbit Lambswool~Lady Sings the Blues

Wow….where did the week go? Each day that I was going to post managed to get away from me.  I really was not all that busy, but I found getting to the computer was a challenge.  Now how’s that for a switch? 

I did manage to spend some quality fiber time though this week, and I even poked around
ravelry a little bit.

I have to admit that each time I look at my project page and see all of those WIP staring at me, it bums me, so I made a commitment to getting some of this stuff finished.  I think this part of ravelry is going to be good for me.

My nemesis seems to be knitting the second sock.  I always love the challenge of the first sock….but the second one….not so much.

Now, knitting my Honey Bee stole is a different story.  Each and every stitch is a pleasure….so much so that I never tire of her…. with that in mind, I thought that I would use her for motivation.

Every week, I am going to try and complete a mate to one of the socks that are currently swinging singles and as a reward, I will get to work solely on Bee for one whole day……Sunday, my football day :-).  How’s that for creating my own motivation?  Haha…!

As an added incentive to keep Moriah Anne busy as well, I also decided to join Margene and Carole’s Naspinmomo.  Basically in a nutshell what that is, if you do not already know is committing to spinning every day for a month.  It can be a little or a lot, depending on what works best for you.  That is my kind of join~along.  No pressure, just pure enjoyment.

The roving that I am spinning is called Twisted Fiber Art in the Firefly colorway.  It is a blend of 70%merino and 30%kid mohair.  It was a wee bit felted, but if I separate the roving into thin strips and predraft it spins quite nicely.  I love the way the vibrant greens blend in and out of the smokey grays.

So, even though I missed blogging, I did enjoy my week of fiber!

Willow Tree Angel of Happiness
FREE to sing, laugh, dance… create!"

Ashley gave me this little angel for Christmas and it made me smile for his little angel embodies everything that I hope this New Year will be for me….to be free in spirit.

This is the year that I will turn 50 and it is my goal to free myself of some of the things that drag me down.  UFO’s, clutter,  and in general overloading my schedule and my mind.

I am looking forward to this New year and this new decade in my life… and knowing that you all are there to help me when I fall and cheer me on when I succeed makes it even more special.

Happy New Year my friends!

Most of you know how much I hate having my picture taken, but I have to tell you that I just LOVE, LOVE, love this hat! I love it enough that I wanted to show you what a great pattern it is!  For any of you contemplating knitting this hat…..get those needles out!

I was a bit concerned that I was not going to have enough yarn, so I skipped a few of the knit in pattern rows, but once finished, I probably could have knit them, as I had about 20 yards of yarn left over.

This is the first time that I have ever spun and knit with BFL and I am a new convert….it is THE BEST!  Soft, not scratchy and very cushy!

Pattern: Gretel
Yarn:  Handspun BFL from Gales’s Art in the Darkside Iris Colorway
Needles:  US 4 and 7

Heaven embraces the horizon.
No matter how jagged the profile,
The sky faithfully conforms.
Deng Ming~Dao

Our winter Saturday Sky………..

One of the things that I really do love about winter is the amount of time I seem to have for knitting.  With it getting dark so early at night, it is easy to justify the extra hours of knitting. 

I finished plying the beautiful BFL that I started spinning last week.  What a treat this wool is!  I worked hard to get a worcester weight yarn….now I am praying that I will have enough to do the regular version of Gretel.  I have the correct amount of yardage, but the cabling does seem to eat up large chunks of yarn.  I think I may do something size~wise in between the regular and fitted version, just to be safe.

This was the first time I have ever done a tubular cast on.  Ysolda has a fabulous video tutorial, which made it very easy to follow along!

It has been a very active winter so far up here, making for some beautiful pictures.  Knitting at night and appreciating the beauty of the NH woodlands and mountains has made this December and enjoyable one. 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our last snowstorm on my ride to Jackson to drop one of the girls off at a friend’s house. (so far we have had 36 inches of snow this month!)

Wildcat River in Jackson

Carter Notch Rd in Jackson,NH

local farmland

my backyard this morning after yesterday’s snow

Whew…..what a whirlwind the last few days have been!  Cookies and baking done and then eaten, older children coming and then leaving and of course the busyness that a school vacation in ski country brings.

I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of knitting though :-).

Courtney’s mittens were finished and ready for playing in this week’s snow and judging from her expressions…I think she approves!

I had enough yarn left over to knit up a hat.  The hat was going to
be for my 7 year old granddaughter, McKayla…..but as you can see, that didn’t
happen.

The hat ended up being too big for the little one, but just right for Courtney…and she smiled. (good thing I didn’t tell McKayla it was going to be for her)

I used Tiennie’s pattern (minus the snowflakes) and even dropping down a needle size, the child’s sized hat still came out too large for a young child.  It’s not the pattern, I am sure….I think I must knit much, much looser than the average knitter.  Could it be that I am a thrower instead of a picker?  Hmmm…

When my older kids get together, you would never know that they are all in their 20’s.  The silliness usually just gets sillier and sillier as the night goes on.  It makes a mother’s heart feel good to see that her kids enjoy each other’s company even as adults….although when they are together…Hmmm…..adults?

Ashley, my middle daughter and her brother Miles were the best of friends growing up and truly shared the same unique sense of humor.

Here is a video of Ashley doing an imitation of Molly Shannon’s Saturday Night Live character, Sally O’Mally.  If you listen closely………the child almost knocks herself out…LOL!