What fun!

Crochet a coral reef??? Sounded intriguing when the idea was shared at a Thursday knit night a few months ago. The idea to be a part of creating a Hyberbolic Crochet Coral Reef caught on in a flash and all the intrepid knitters of LYS dug out scrap yarns of all colors and crochet hooks and off we went, creating wonderful and quite realistic-looking "coral". A field trip to the Smithsonian in D.C. is in the works for warmer weather. The coral reef will be on display in the Sant Ocean Hall through April 24th.

A terrific yarn.......

In the olden days, a yarn referred to an interesting tale/story. Well, I have a dear friend named Kathy. Years ago, Kathy invested in tons of yarn and a knitting machine. Then she became involved in community activities, and I'm proud to say she ran for and got elected Lancaster Township supervisor and, just last week, she took on the role of Lancaster County Planning Commission member. She is amazing. Along the way, the knitting took a back seat. Last week, I talked to Kathy about spinning fiber, told her I was going to a fiber retreat with the hopes of getting serious about getting the hang of it. She decided to gift me with 10 skeins of alpaca roving since she wasn't going to use it. Squeals of joy. Chapter 2: I tell Rachel-Marie from LYS about this awesome gift. She suggests I combine the tan alpaca with some of her hand-spun teal yarn which she is gifting me at the LYS party tonight.

I'm not sure what these gifts of yarn will become, but the warmth of those two friends will make me smile each time I see the yarn. What a tale. A terrific yarn.

Tonight is our very first Christmas party at LYS. Did I mention lately how much I love knitting? It strengthens my soul in trying times. It has opened new doors to places and friends I never would have known about. Marry Christmas to all you cool friends out there. Thanks for the spirit-lifting posts and comments. It is all just amazing. :)

Art on the Farm today.

Legend has it around these parts that there is an awesome event held yearly at a farm off of Rte. 283. I must drive past the place every day. Who knew? Art on the Farm is supposed to be wonderful, with lots of music, food, and art in many forms.

Thursday night knitting at LYS presented another opportunity for me to hear about the awesomeness of said event. WIll there be yarn? Not sure.

So...today's the day. I will arrive hungry, in order to appreciate the awesome food that will be there.

It seems like a good time to squeeze in all the good things life has to offer.

The Tammy Sweater

I have a secret project. It's driving me crazy. The Vine Yoke Cardigan seems as if it should be a fairly easy knit. Everyone on Ravelry says so......it's driving me crazy. Oops. I said that already.

My sweater has a name. Tammy the sweater is named in honor of Tammy Mill, my knitting buddy from LYS. If I ever complete this sweater, it will be due to Tammy (the person) and her monumental patience as she deciphers the pattern, thus enabling me to knit the darn thing. I spent trick-or-treat night at Tammy's last night. Highlight of the evening, besides the little girl in the Tinkerbell costume, was starting the first sleeve and not jumping off a bridge while knitting it.

I already love this sweater. It will be special. There's a ton of friendship already knitted into it.

Stay tuned.

Color me blue??

Change of plans: the Swallowtail Shawl will be blue, since the pretty pastel from Tess' Yarns doesn't have enough yardage.

That's ok. I bought some beautiful Jojoland Melody yarn at the Thursday night knit in at LYS. Wendy, at the Lancaster Yarn Shop, made the whole shawl project so much easier when I stopped in yesterday

Thanks to the Ravelry group for the great hints and charts also. I am really loving this Evelyn Clark design.

The end of a very special day.

Thursday night knitting at LYS. It's the best place to be. Tonight, there were only four of us, maybe because the tornado watch didn't expire till 6:20? What's a little weather among friends?

I don't think I actually knitted one stitch tonight, what with the 15 or so visitors from Italy that stopped in the shop. What fun.....I got to use some of my Italian. All ten words.

Besides, Lauren brought pizza.

Ciao :)

Socks and Showers

Behold the ballband dishcloth taken from its lowly state, knitted in Tahki's Cotton Classic and on its way to becoming a centerpiece at Lauren's wedding brunch. Our Thursday night gang at LYS is busily knitting a bunch of these beauties so that Lauren will be able to use them on each table at her wedding brunch. They'll be topped with vases handmade by her future husband Phil, the potter, and finished off with flowers from Central Market.

Lauren is shown in the other picture with fellow knitter, Kathy. The reason for the big smiles is that Kathy is showing off her scarf and purse adorned with Lauren's handmade buttons. Yep. Phil taught Lauren how to make buttons, the prettiest ceramic buttons ever, and Kathy was her first "customer"....such excitement!

OK......and here's a picture of my very first attempt at "real" socks. I'm using Paca Peds superwash alpaca sock yarn which has 20% alpaca, 65% superwash wool and 15% nylon. So, I'm thinking it should be called Wool-Paca Peds. But I digress. Back to Lauren's table-topper which I must finish before any other project is worked on.