A Perfect Sunday

Last Sunday looked to be a good day - the temperatures dropped and we all were happy hanging near the wood stove.


They kind of look like yin/yang cats, don't they?

When to my great excitement, I learned my friend Teresa and her husband Ken were going to be in the neighborhood! We met at Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee VT, which isn't too far from me. Aren't they a gorgeous couple?


I felt a little, um, short if not well loved!


I hate to tell you I have heels on...

The company was fabulous and lunch was spectacular - Simon Pearce has such great food. Very light and fresh. Go there if you're in the neighborhood!

Simon Pearce is known for its glassware. They had glassblowers on site that day. Amazing to watch him make a simple water goblet - it looked so easy when the artisan did it! There also was a bag piper playing which made the whole afternoon even more festive.



Thanks, Teresa and Ken for a wonderful day!

FOs

That's "finished objects" to you muggles. Also a few new projects I just started.

This is what I've finished this weekend:

Here are the Falling Leaves socks by Debbie O'Neill. It's a sock of the month club kit from The Knitter - isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Alpaca Sox - soft, soft, soft and it feels great. This is a sock for ME.



I finished two pairs of felted clogs for the menfolk in the family. Here are Hugh's:


And these are Sam's:


I also finished Sam's Red Sox "good juju" socks (which got the Sox only so far this year *sigh*). The yarn is Lorna's Laces Loopy colorway. It's a self-striping yarn - very tiny stripes which I kind of like and Sam loves!

This is a Christmas present for "someone". The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A The yarn is Panda Wool Circus - isn't it gorgeous? Sometimes it's really hard to give away socks I make!



A couple of new projects OTN:

This is the pattern Menehune Cobblestones by my favorite designer, Adrienne Fong The yarn is Malabrigo sock, which I purchased from The Loopy Ewe in St. Louis. Gorgeous, soft yarn. Not sure who the sock will be for - maybe my older son?


This pattern is called Take Flight by Monica Jines - I purchased this pattern and yarn also from The Loopy Ewe (they have such a fun, interesting selection and their customer service can't be beat). The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill - possum. Yes, you read that right - there's actually possum fur spun into the yarn. It's supposed to be really warm, which should be wonderful for our cold winters in New Hampshire.


Tom's are OTN (on the needle):


(sorry about the bad pictures - I clearly need photography lessons!)

Frogged....

For you muggles (non-knitters), think "rip it rip it". I ripped out the scarf I had partially knit and started it again with a different pattern and larger needles. I changed to size 6 U.S. needles using the Branching Out scarf pattern by Susan Lawrence. The yarn is Noro silk garden sock - it's just gorgeous. It's such an addicting pattern and yarn "just one more row".



I'm making this for Miss Linda, teacher of the deaf extraordinaire. I hope she likes it!

Happy Halloween!

I give you HazMat man and a Goth? Or perhaps emo? Heck, I don't know! Oh - they're "Joe the HazMat Man" and "Joe the Emo" - that's it! :-)


Logan and Tom ready to head out for a Halloween party. I still have black stuff in my tub!

I have a few works in process - nothing finished but I'm expecting that to change anytime now.

I'm on a felted clogs kick right now. I'm making them for the "man cave" - what could be better than a comfy man cave with warm clogs?

This is a generic "for the basket" pair made of Patons Merino wool. The pair is finished but for taking a dip in the washing machine to be felted:


Here's a better picture of the clogs as they're being made - the colors are better in this picture:


These are Sam's - one is finished and I've started on the second. Sam is really into orange and navy right now.


I'm making this scarf for the fabulous Miss Linda - the boys' teacher of the deaf. It's pretty hard to say thank you enough for all she's done for all of us.

Check out this yarn!

It's called PolarKnit, which I purchased at The Loopy Ewe. Such a fun place to shop - they have an incredible, unusual selection of all things yarny.


It's such a cool yarn - very thick and knits up super fast. Here's the start of Sam's hat:


I started it this morning using size 10 needles (I cast-on with size 11s) and knitted for maybe 1/2 hour to get to this point.


The colorway is Mermaid; each ball is about 55 yards or so and it's made of 100% polyester fleece. I'm guessing I'll use three balls for this project. It's so much fun to work with and best of all, will be wonderfully warm this winter for Sam.

I'm adding onto this post this evening to say the hat is FINISHED! Talk about a fast knit. Here's Sam modeling his new hat:


Cute, isn't he *cough cough*.

Family Conference

We were lucky enough to get to attend a conference this week at Clarke School for the Deaf. They do a yearly mainstreaming conference - this year was the first year that the whole family got to attend. The boys went off to "Making Connections" which is a track designed for teens with hearing loss in the mainstream. They had a blast meeting new friends and seeing old ones (which includes the conference organizers). The height of their day and ours was getting to see comedienne Kathy Buckley. Wow - what an amazing woman. And did I say how funny she is? Kathy is hard of hearing but wasn't diagnosed with her hearing loss until she was 8 years old. I listened to her alternating between laughing so hard I cried and crying because parts of her story just about break your heart. It's safe to say she ruined my make-up that day. You should check her out. She's so inspirational.

Here's a picture of the boys with Kathy - I won't tell you what she told them all to say when smiling for the camera! Aren't all three of them just gorgeous?


John Anderson is one of our favorite people. He grew up hard of hearing then lost the rest of his hearing as an adult and was one of the first to receive a cochlear implant. John is Clarke's adjustment counselor - such a great guy!


Hugh and I got to volunteer with the conference which was a lot of fun - I haven't done that before. It was fun catching up with old friends at Clarke as well as moms of other teens who now are buddies. It was wonderful being there for all of us - as usual!

The Pioneer Valley, where Clarke is located, is one of our favorite areas. It's located in western Mass and is home of Webs which I didn't get to visit. *sniff* I really need more yarn too. We went to the Holyoke Mall on the way home - I swear our whole town could fit in that mall! It's a little overwhelming.

I did knit all along the way - no new projects but making progress on several which is good. The holidays are approaching!

Go Sox!

This is what the morning looks like after a late Sox game...