Busy as a Bee!

I have not written in my blog for some time, I have not been unfaithful, just really busy. Lots of stuff going on, lots of good stuff, and some stuff, not so good. We will gloss over the bad and just concentrate on the good stuff. I have embraced a new to me view of life, in my new view, I choose each day, to be happy, regardless of what outside forces try to make your day. Join me if you like, it feels pretty good.

Spring was fantastic and busy! Mom and I attended the Machine Knitting Guilds retreat at the Sonoma Orchid Inn. We relaxed, visited, knit, ate and generally had a great time. Mom had a lovely time visiting and getting to know some of our guild members. I actually began and finished a sweater over the weekend. I brought along some yarn that I found on Ebay a few years ago. It’s now a lovely sweater that mom and I both wear!

I finished a UFO! Woo hoo! The apricot cable sweater is finished! I had purchased the yarn from a yarn shop in San Carlos in the early 90’s. The yarn is/was Kitten by Reynolds. In 2001, I started the sweater from a Pingoin pattern magazine I had. I love those Pingoin patterns from France, they seem to be somewhat timeless in design. Anyway, I started it and stopped, the reason for the stop after finishing the back and nearly both of the fronts is that I was looking for the yarn needed to finish it, I was sure I had misplaced the remainder of the yarn, I just couldn’t think where. Skip ahead to 2008, I find the sweater and think, well, how many balls of yarn am I looking for? I count the balls used so far and realize that there are no more balls of yarn and after all that work, it looks like I’m stuck with part of a sweater.

I had just joined Ravelry and found a place you could put a call out for some yarn. I’m thinking what do I have to lose, so I put my call out and in comes several replies for the same yarn in the same color… enough to finish the sweater if I blend what I have left and what I found. That brings us to present day, the sweater is finished and I have actually worn it. It is warm and will not be wearing it again till next fall but at least it’s done.

More spring activity to tell you about. Mom and I were also lucky enough to attend a Wool dyeing workshop. We had three fabulous days with fun people, wool, knitting and lots of color. We couldn’t have had a better time, surrounded by all things we love. The wool I dyed turned out wonderful and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to set up my own dye space in the back yard where mom and I can hand paint yarn till our hearts content.

This is the swatch I knit for February Lady, from the yarn I hand painted at the wool dying work shop this spring. I'm actually done with the sweater, and will share it with you in a later post.

I'm telling you, we had a very busy spring, we also attended a bowling event in Reno Nevada, I will tell you that story another time, but to give you a hint, a good time was had by all, even Taggart. Mom had a wonderful visit with Glenn and Kate, giving Lee and I some time to get our DIY projects at least started around the house.

In closing, the bad stuff is still brewing, and I'm still choosing to be happy wish me luck.