This time last week....

Dear Mom,
This time last week I was on my way to the paradise that is Northern Michigan, in the company of 3of my knitting friends, for a long weekend of bliss.
We were blessed with beautiful sunrises every morning.

Most of the weekend looked like this:

And if I wasn't knitting lake-side, I was knitting right here, on the porch.

We nestled in, enjoyed hearty soups and good wine, laughed hard and often, and knitted.

Finished projects were modeled on the rocks.

We left the cottage just once during our stay.

To go to our favorite yarn shop.

Wool and Honey is located in Cedar, Michigan and the owner, Melissa, is an absolute delight. I've often wished that Wool and Honey weren't 7 hours away, but Wool and Honey is now open 24//7 thanks to the internet.
Melissa does a clever thing at this time every year. It is practically a public service for knitters. I may be wrong, but I think this is her third year of "The Twelve Knits of Christmas". For each of the 12 weeks before Christmas, Melissa has a knitted gift idea - something that can easily be accomplished during that week - and she has the yarn and pattern kitted up and ready for purchase. Brilliant. Plus it's a gentle reminder that Christmas is coming sooner that we'd like to think. FYI- The first two weeks have already passed....12-2= 10 weeks 'til Christmas. I am sure there is a spot on the website to sign up to have the 12 Knits reminders emailed to you.

I arrived back home late Sunday afternoon, and it has taken me this long to find the time to sit down here and blog about the weekend. Re-entry wasn't as smooth as Departure and this has been a busy week.

Ill take a gamble here- I am pretty sure the Young Lady is not a blog follower- and show you the poncho I knit for her while I was Up North. This is getting hidden away for a Christmas gift.
The poncho is not an original idea. I've loosely based it on a poncho I'd seen a few years ago. It is a very simple knitted project- basically it is a long rectangle, folded in half with a short seam on one side, leaving an opening for the head to pop through. Before binding off I dropped a stitch in 3 evenly spaced locations. Tied on some fringe and tah-dah! A poncho fit for a teen.

As you can see, when I started to set up Elle for the poncho photo shoot, I had some "helpers" who were quite interested in the view out the front door.

I have another finished project to show you- one that I finished before I left- but I still need to take some decent pictures and write up the pattern. First I need to attend to some laundry, but I should be able to have something to show you early next week. And if I work real hard, maybe sooner!

Love,

Kim

Catching Up

Dear Mom,

After a week's vacation where we've touched our toes in the Atlantic and our fingers on a moon rock, sipped Butterbeers in Hogsmeade and mojitos on the beach, sent boys off shark fishing and girls 800 feet into the air on a parasail only to return home to house guests and the annual Cul-de-sac 4th of July celebration, I am slowly catching up and happy to home.

Despite having been  home since very late Saturday night- verging on the wee hours of Sunday morning- I didn't feel like I was truly able to relax and really Be Home until I brought Patsy home from the kennel yesterday. Now the family is all under one roof again and All is Well. (Bumper may feel differently. I think he enjoyed being Only Dog for two days.)

We planned our Florida vacation and the trip to Cocoa Beach in the hopes of seeing the last shuttle launch. As these things go, as soon as the condo was reserved and flight plans in the works the mission was delayed. And I heard this morning there is a good chance that rain will cause another delay and Atlantis may not launch on Friday. We may not be able to cross "Watch a Shuttle Launch" off our Bucket List, but we did tour Kennedy Space Center and got a peek at Atlantis on the launch pad.

Our trip was a very good one; the first family vacation we've taken where our kids brought friends with them, and despite being outnumbered by teens, all went very well and everyone had a buddy.
The buddy strategy allowed My Hero and I time to relax and read. And knit.
I finished June's socks.

And I knit this shawl with my very own handspun.

This is the result of that first bag of dirty wool I brought home. The Bag o'Wool that turned me into a spinner.

I've seen many of these To Eyre shawls on ravelry and Dianne made a beautiful one that you can see here. I wish mine were just a bit bigger. I prefer a shawl that I can really wrap up in, but this one will probably be just right for warming the back of my neck and shoulders while staying put and out of the way. The pattern instructions include directions for modifying length and width, and this was a soothing, quick project, so I may have to give it another go.

And before we left I finished this wrap.

I purchased this pattern and yarn on vacation last summer, so I guess it sort of fits to post it with stuff from this year's vacation. The pattern is Braided Glory, the yarn is Louisa Harding- a silk- I don't remember the name of the yarn and right now I am too lazy to get up and go looking for the ball band. The yarn was nice to work with but I think it may be too drape-y for this pattern. Also, I didn't do all the finishing on my wrap as the pattern suggests. I was ready to be Done With It and omitted some small edging details that didn't impress me. IF I ever make this again I will be making several modifications that, in my opinion, would neaten things up. However, with so many other things I want to make, I really don't see myself making another one of these.

I have weaving classes scheduled for the end of the week. The plan is to work on a loom in class and then come home and repeat the lesson on my loom at home to solidify what I've learned. I think we do placemats or table runners in class. So, whichever I do in class, I'll do the other at home. (I may appear calm, but my Insides are doing that happy dance kids do on Christmas Eve!)

Love,
Kim

Where the time went

Dear Mom,
Wooo. I feel like I sort of lost a couple of weeks. They were a busy 2 weeks, though. Family vacay, a side trip to Amish country, 2 noisy days of dental hygiene for the pedodontist and 2 birthdays will do that to a girl.

I am now living under the same roof with two teens. And My Hero begins his 6th decade.

Enough said. We will quickly move on. No good will come from dwelling on either of those facts.

We spent a week in South Haven, MI for the family vacation this year. We were joined by My Hero's brother, Eggbert, and his family. The house we shared was cosy, but just right. The guys played golf or tennis every day, we spent hours on the beach, and ate way too much food. I knit only a fraction of what I packed, but I did spend some good hours spinning.

I didn't, but should have lost weight. To get to the beach we had to negotiate these steps. There were 150 of them. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY STEPS. Not a problem on the way DOWN to the beach. But getting back? Let's just say we didn't want to forget anything, and on day 2, we decided to leave our beach chairs piled up in the sea grass until we packed to come home.

We found sea glass, skipped stones, built sand castles and buried the Young Man (at his request, and after he dug the hole).

Things were very relaxed.

 Don't be alarmed!!! These are candy cigarettes.

I visited 2 yarn shops and a fiber farm, and came home with more knitting projects than I had packed. A lot more. I wish I could buy time.

At Needle in a Haystack, in South Haven, I purchased the yarn and pattern for this shawl. I visited Lizzie Ann's Wool co. in Holland and found too many things.(I'll blame it on all the great shop samples they had.) That's the thing about visiting yarn shops. There is so much yarn and so many ideas, that no one shop can have it all. Visiting new shops gives a knitter the chance to see new things. Or new to her anyway. For example, The Grabbit is not a new pattern, but I had never seen it. Lizzie Ann's had a shop sample and the Young Lady and I were drawn to it immediately. It is one of those "why didn't I think of it?" things. So, I bought the pattern and yarn for it. I also brought home the yarn and pattern for this A-line tunic and this Rowan pattern book. I stopped myself before I bought any yarn to make the sweaters I want in this one. Like this one:

 and this one:

I also like this model's hair style.

My Hero drove me out to Marr Haven fiber farm, near Allegan, MI. and I brought home a couple of cones of her gorgeous wool and a bat for spinning.

Because, really, how could I not? I wish you could reach into your monitor and feel how soft this wool is.

We also sailed on the Friends Good Will, a replica of an 1810 schooner that fought in the War of 1812, was captured by the British, recaptured by the Americans and later burned by the British. It is the sloop that Admiral Perry refers to in his famous quote, "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."

We were treated to some beautiful sunsets, warm water and sunny days.

There is no place like home, and despite everything good about our trip, I was ready to get back home. I am still catching up and need to get in gear before the in-laws arrive on Tuesday (TOMORROW!!!- trying not to panic now) for a short visit, and it is time to start thinking back to school- they start way too early, on August 10th, and I never thought I would say this, but I am NOT ready for them to go back.

Love,

Kim

Vacation Plans

Dear Mom,
If there is room to pack 2 sets of these

and a bunch of these

then there should be no problem with this

and this

and this

and this

or especially this

.

Love,
Kim

Shipshewana

Dear Mom,

After a week of birthdays and a couple of days working outside the home, our 2 day trip to Shipshewana was a pleasant break and a fun getaway.

The fun started when we met up with a Quilting Group from the Ft Wayne area, deep in a Fiber Frenzy, searching through a boat load of fat quarters priced at $1. (Literally, the shop has a boat in the middle of it, filled to overflowing.) These women were having fun, and I don't believe they left until every fat quarter had been evaluated. There were shouts of delight when the elusive pattern had been discovered and fabrics were passed around and shared. Baskets were filled, dumped, spread out...

....and sorted. This lady found a spot away from the action to sort her finds. I think she is mentally piecing a quilt together.

And the quilt group was not alone. The Young Lady was elbow deep in those fabrics.

We found an inspiring shop with yarn, beads, tea, and gardening ideas. So inspiring that once inside, my mind began whirring and I didn't take any photos. I did take photos of my purchases once I got home and I will share those tomorrow.

After dinner Thursday night we took a quiet ride past Amish farms in the cool evening at dusk.

We could really appreciate the countryside with its well tended gardens and beautiful flowers while travelling in an open buggy at 9mph. And with a gentle hand on the reins, the driver could actually take his eyes off the road enjoy it with us. There is just no way to rush when travelling like that, and that is something I could get used to. Though when I do the math on how many miles it is to the schools, or the grocery store, or the library I KNOW it would be a hardship and I would be over it. But still. Probably I could knit and drive a buggy at the same time. Especially when the horse pulling the buggy can read the stop signs.

Our stay at the Big House in the Little Woods Bed and Breakfast let us sleep with the windows open, listening to the clip clop of Amish buggies, and waking up to the sound of a cow mooing (really! A Cow. Mooing. Way better than an alarm clock.) and the most delicious breakfast. The proprietors couldn't be more gracious or kind.

And while we ingested too much good food and loads of calories (I shouldn't eat anything for a week), and brought home some wonderful locally made cheeses and bread, I came home energized with more creative ideas than calories; my head filled with beautiful images and happy memories of time well spent.

Love,

Kim