Vacation comes to an end

It's Sunday night - last night of vacation.  I'm trying to squeeze as much out as possible before the craziness begins again tomorrow.  We enjoyed a nice veggie lasagna and homemade garlic bread for dinner followed by a lazy evening all together. 

I got a quite a few rows done on the Garden Plot Dress (rav. link) tonight and also frogged the work on the Ruched Yoke Tee.  After joining the tee in the round, I realized that the yarn was just too warm and poofy for this type of top.  I think cotton or linen is a much better way to go.  I'm not going to buy anything until Gabby's dress is done, so it's on the back burner.

So, now I have 1100 yards of nice dk weight vintage and am searching for a simple project for it.  Suggestions anyone?

Tomorrow I'm back to lesson plan, score prep, and administration work.  Busy Busy... teaching pitch placement in theory, continuing work on our "through the eras" concert in chorus and band and always preparing for concerts! 

I hope I can keep things up!

Inspiration found!

Thank you Spring 2011 Interweave Knitting!

I had a lovely trip to Eva's on Wednesday and, though it took me awhile, I found that spark I needed to get going!  It was in Interweave's newly released spring edition.  Leafing through I fell in love with most of the patterns.  Here are some of note (plus the two I cast on!):

Heliotropic Pullover by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark

"spirals delicate texture along the yoke of a simply shaped tee with a generous, fluid silhouette."

I definitely want to make this.  Perfect spring top! 

Garden Plot Dress  by Victoria Meyers

"contrasts colors and lace blocks to create a swingy dress fit for any garden party"

I INSTANTLY fell in love with this. This pattern got me back to knitting right away. Gabriella MUST have this dress! 

I had plenty of comfy sport from Knit Picks to make it and cast it on right away.  

I normally stay away from intarsia, but I love the way this is done.  In between the color blocks and lace blocks there is one stitch done with both colors.  It makes a faux seam of reverse stockinette.  I love it!

Moving on....

I will definitely look to cast on the Rose Lace Stole by Susanna IC as well as the Pinkerton Shawl by Susan Dittrich.  But right now, I'm taking a break from accessories. 

Ruched Yoke Tee by Annelena Mattison was the next piece that I instantly cast on.  To make this piece even more awesome - there's a kid's size too!  So, when I'm done with mine, I'll cast on for Gabby's!  

I bought some Berroco Vintage DK in color 2184.  It's purple with flecks of blue and red and gold.  BEAUTIFUL!

It was perfect driving knitting for yesterday when we took a trip up to Boston to bring Gabby to the Children's Museum. 

So, I'm busy (and happy) again!  I have the perfect "thinking" project with the dress and a simpler "cruise control" project with the tee.  AND - more in line when those are done!

Yippppeeee! 

Uninspired

I am completely uninspired. This is the first time in almost a year that my needles are completely bare. I spent the day yesterday trying to find some inspiration. Went though my books, magazines, ravel'ed forever and ... Nothing.

I'm going to try a trip to Eva's...  usually good for inspiration (and stash augmentation!)

Btw- bamboo fiber dyed wonderful... Dried like crap. I think the whole rest of the bamboo is going to stuffing toys!

Adventures!

We're on February vacation here in the Fern household.  Keeping Gabby (and me!) occupied has been quite the task!  

Last night we decided to have a "camp-in" in the living room.  Our adventure began with a trip to purchase camping supplies at the grocery store:

veggie dogs & buns

veggie chili

baked beans

and, of course, s'mores supplies!

We decked out the living room with the air mattress, sleeping bags, and draped the ceiling with bed sheets for our "tent". We then ate our camp food, made microwave s'mores and watched movies.  It was a fun night that ended with a very tuckered out Gabby.  :)  

This morning:

After clearing the "site" we have been off to our regular routines! 

I did get some knitting done yesterday.  Gabby got her "Monster Mitts" that she requested after seeing my "Soujourn Mitts"

momma's mitts:

Gabby's!

(I think she likes them!)

This morning I decided to make a second attempt at spinning and dying bamboo.  I'm not hopeful in the dying category.  We'll see....

Spinning is going a little better - still lumpy and bumpy.  I don't enjoy spinning bamboo, but I feel guilty that I have all this fiber, and am not spinning it... 

yuck.

If everybody else is doing it...

I decided that it was time to start a blog. 

(I'm not sure what indicates the time to start a blog.)

I've actually just started reading them after a long time away and thought - if everyone else can write a blog, I guess I can too.  

So, it begins.

Why now?

Recently I've stopped the facebooking habit I began a few years ago.  I've been off the page since November of last year.  After checking and re-checking the site and building my list of 200+ "friends" I realized that I couldn't/didn't want to keep up with it any more. Peeking at my profile after 4 months away, I have too much to catch up on than I'm willing to do. 

I do miss status updates though.  I'm afraid that if I post again, not only will I start the habit all over, but will also get a bunch of "where have you been?"s that I don't want to deal with.  So - I'm starting this instead.

Besides being more anonymous, I think this is a more focused endeavor while still being ego-fulfilling, of course.  

What will I post?

I haven't quite decided.  Probably updates on knitting projects, family goings on, interesting music ed musings, and other random things that peek my interest.  For now, I'll keep it at this.

Here goes nothing.