Gabriel Attends His First Knitting Event

We made it to Borders on Sunday for the weekly knitting event! We showed up late and didn't stay too long. I haven't actually made it to a weekly knitting event since before Gabriel was born, in fact, I haven't knit a stitch since he has been born. (Luckily we have lots of knitting friends and family so Gabriel has been blessed with several hand knits to wear.) I hope to get back to knitting on at least one project in the near future, now that my energy is returning and I am starting to figure out Gabriel's daily pattern. Michael, Gabriel and I found the knitting ladies in the Borders' cafe as usual on Sunday. Gabriel made the rounds and flirted with any woman who would hold him, and even flashed a few smiles. His first knitting event seemed to be a success. I have hope that maybe Gabriel will be able to accompany me to a few Sunday events in the near future. And maybe I can even knit when I go!




Don't forget to check out the gorgeous gray sweater Gabriel is wearing in the photos. It was hand knit by Aunt Tracy! And Aunt Denise finished the lederhosen that goes with the fair isle sweater she already made. Can't wait to do some holiday photos of Gabriel in that outfit. I will post photos of Denise's project separately, so stay tuned.

Another Finished Project...

It only took about a week to knit up these socks for Gabriel. They are pretty stretchy, so hopefully they will fit him before it's too warm for him to want socks on his feet this summer. The yarn is Kona Superwash in the kelp colorway. The colorway matches nicely the teal of the recent cardigan I finished. I found this yarn in a sale bin at the Elegant Ewe back in June. So the skein didn't marinate in the stash all that long. I still have plenty of this yarn to try to make a matching hat also.

Debbie Bliss baby Vest

I bought the new baby knits book by Debbie Bliss called Essential Baby a few weeks ago. I completed my first project from the book this morning. (I'm on vacation this week so I can be around to help Michael out as he recovers from his surgery.) I got 3 skeins of Baby Cashmerino by Debbie Bliss at The Elegant Ewe on Tuesday after work, and I cast on this project that same night. I did the bulk of the knitting while waiting around Concord Hospital on Thursday for Mike's surgery. There was a lot of seam sewing for such a small project. Luke was an obedient boy and helped me model the finished project. He likes the green since it matches his color. The 0-3 month size barely takes more than one skein of the Baby Cashmerino. I have plenty of yarn left to do another size. Technically, the project is not finished. I have to get a small button and then just sew it on the back closure. For those of you who are knitters and members of the ravelry community, I have a lot more photos and notes out in my projects tab.

World Wide Knit in Public Day!

The Sunday knitting group (officially titled the Concord Knitting Meetup) that I belong to decided to join the World Wide Knit in Public Day. Our group hosted an event on Saturday at Merrill Park in East Concord. The weather worked out well, though it was best when the breeze was around. We invited knitters from all around by advertising on Ravelry and our Concord Meetup site, and as well posted the event on the Knit in Public website.

It was wonderful to meet even more knitters from the area. There were some members from the Granite State knitters' group and some people from the ravelry knitting community.

I saw a few new gadgets that I can't live without now. I must have a handmade sterling silver darning needle now that I have seen Suki's! (I apologize now for probably spelling her name wrong.)

We brought our chairs and the food was over abundant. Denise set up her Jet Boil chocolate fondue set and we dipped everything in the gooey chocolate goodness. I still have a huge dish of uneaten brownies though which will probably make their way to Borders today so I don't eat all of the brownies myself.












Poor Ellen is a member of Ravelry, but she didn't have any friends out there. So if you are a Ravelry member, please go out and friend renaissancebabe so she won't have to knit alone in NH anymore. As of this morning, she was up to 4 friends. So the intervention has worked!

I think the consensus was that we have to try knitting at Merrill Park again soon.

Yarn, Fiber and Company

It's time to write another blog entry since my Mom sent me an e-mail wondering if I was busy and/or sick since she hadn't heard from me and there were no new blog entries to read. I got the hint, Mom!

I went to The Yarn & Fiber Company in Windham, NH for a Friday evening out knitting with friends in a yarn store. I picked up Alison in Suncook and Denise in Manchester on the way to Y&F. Obviously, you can't sit and knit in a yarn store without actually getting up, walking around and shopping. Y&F has a very ingenious scheme going on there. I have wanted to go down and join some of the ManchVegas knitters on a Friday night for some time now, but with the wedding planning it just never happened.

Here's a photo of the new loot I picked up. Half of the skeins were on sale, luckily. This is my first skein of the Smooshy sock yarn from Dream In Color and it is very soft. It's the dark blue/purple skein. This is also my first skein of the madelinetosh hand dyed sock yarn in a peony colorway. Yummy! I have a special project in mind for that skein, but can't mention it here because the recipient is a blog reader. But my knitty friends can learn all about it by logging into their ravelry account.

Going down to Y&F really got me thinking about my last (and first) trip to that yarn shop. Last April, I joined some of the ManchVegas girls and attended a class taught by Cheryl Potter (of Cherry Tree Hill in Vermont) and learned how to dye my own yarn. It was a crowded class, but it was so fun to get all of the dyes out and try to come up with a unique colorway all my own to bring some blah white sock yarn to something truly my own.

The biggest thing that I learned from the class was that I can't become a hand-dyer because I would spend all of my time staining myself, the house and sock yarn and would never actually get around to knitting. Besides, I know some people who dye on a regular basis and there's always Etsy to find the perfect colorway.

I did pull out the two skeins that I dyed myself so you could see my color genius. I don't have the creative naming down yet since the blue skein I call Blue. And the multicolor skein I originally called Paas, because it looked like I used the dye leftover from coloring Easter eggs. But that's probably a trademark infringement, so I had to change it to Easter Egg before I got a cease and desist order from the Paas company.

Our Last Day in Mexico

Today is our last full day in Mexico. We have had fantastic weather! Upon arrival last Monday afternoon, we heard rumor that the resort had just finished a 3 day period of rain. We had rain once, but it was after we left the pool area for the day. We had changed our clothes for dinner and went outside and realized it had just poured.

We have completely caught up on sleep, however, I am not sure how well we will do with the time change when we get home. Thankfully, Ann from Lake Opechee Inn mentioned to us on Thursday before the wedding that it was the spring ahead clock change weekend. So we sprung ahead an hour on Sunday, and then we went back 2 hours on Monday upon arriving in Cancun. Apparently, Mexico is not observing the early daylight savings time change. It may take a little bit for us to realize what time it is when we get home. I am looking forward to having it stay brighter into the evening though.

I think that we will be ready to go home tomorrow. We are rested. We have spent some quality time together. I am really starting to miss Elleigh May and Lucas. Probably my biggest complaint about our vacation would have to be the stiff bed and the limp pillows, so I will be glad to get into my own bed again.

Despite knitting most days, I Have very little to show for it. I did wind two skeins of sock yarn by hand, so that took some time. Otherwise, I don' have a lot of progress to show on my sock projects. It has been very leisurely knitting.

Stash Diving

Woohoo! One of my goals with my minor holiday at home today was to actually look through my yarn stash and try to find something that would be appropriate to start my Amanda Hat pattern with. I'm going knitting at Paula's house on Wednesday night and I cannot bare the thought of knitting another inch on my reversible cable scarf. I've been working on it since January 2007.

Well, I found a perfect yarn for the Amanda Hat as well as several other yarns I had forgotten about. I rediscovered a bag from the 2007 January Webbs trip with the Concord knitting group that I had been neglecting. In the bag, a green Araucania Nature Wool Chunky that will make a gorgeous Amanda hat. And I saw on ravelry that other people have used this yarn to make the Amanda hat as well, so it should be fine. An even better benefit, this green hat will most likely match the green reversible cable scarf. So realistically, I may have a green winter set for next winter, because I can't imagine finishing both the scarf and the hat before spring comes this year. I'm just a little busy right now.

Other stuff in the bag, blue worsted weight Araucania Nature Wool, light blue angora, a skein of green J. Knits Superwash Me sock yarn, and some navy blue merino wool. I must have been on a blue and green kick during that shopping spree. I didn't spend a cent today but it feels like I had a nice jaunt out to my local yarn store.

Amanda Hat Contest

Gina is running another knitting contest and this time is using her Amanda Hat pattern. I have been adoring this hat since I saw the finished project at Grandview, and on the actual inspiration model. If you are interested in learning more about the Amanda Hat contest, click on the photo of Amanda wearing her namesake hat over in the sidebar to the right. It will link you right to Gina's instruction page for the contest.

For Christmas 2006, I made a similar hat for my friend Kimi in Vermont, and I don't think she knows how hard it was for me to put that hat in the box and mail it off to her. I really wanted to keep it myself. And I am not a big fan of knitting the same pattern twice, so that's why I never made myself my own. So, here's an opportunity to make myself an Amanda hat.

All things are wedding right now (2 months and a few days to go) and I have been finding that not much knitting is getting done unless it is at Sunday knitting group. I really should try to do more knitting since it is relaxing for me. If I could find a project I could knit on and read for my PHR exam at the same time, that would be perfect! Knitting is so much cheaper than therapy.

My intention is not to be the winner of making the most Amanda Hats, but just to start one hat project. I have a few yarn store gift certificates from my birthday and the holiday that I can cash in and get myself some lovely yarn. Maybe something that would be very luxurious to the touch. The deadline for the contest is Amanda's birthday on February 21st. If nothing else, this would be a portable project to take with me on a plane to the honeymoon destination. That location is yet to be determined.

Happy Birthday

I opened my birthday presents from my parents this morning. My folks always send my birthday presents home with me at Christmas time when I visit so I can open the packages later. I like to spread out my birthday from Christmas. Both kids helped me open my presents this morning.

There was a knitting theme to the birthday presents from Mom and Dad. How wonderful is that!? I got a new sheep from Mr. Twitter's purple shop in Rutland, Vermont. Lucas and Elleigh absolutely love the sheep too, so it must live up on a high shelf. I am officially a sheep collector now since it takes at least two to make a collection and now this is my second sheep on the book shelf.

I also got a Knit Picks gift certificate to order more yarn. I got the new Harmony cable needles from Knit Picks. The wood is so pretty and I can't wait to use them on my reversible cable scarf project. And I got the Knit Picks chart keeper to help keep me on track with my next Fair Isle knitting project. And a bottle of Vermont pear wine from the North River Winery to keep me relaxed during the tougher knitting projects. (Also good for wedding planning.)

I'm going to have a very happily knitted birthday! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Last Minute Knitted Gifting

I've felt bad this year because I have not been able to make all the handmade gifts that I would have liked to for the holidays. But my fellow knitting blogger Caroline has posted a lovely entry called Spreading the Cheeze. The blog entry includes a web link to a site so now I can do a ton of last minute handknit gifting before Christmas day arrives. If you still need to get in last minute knitted gifts, you better check out this website to finish off your list as well. Thanks for sharing, Caroline!

Oh my God, it's almost Christmas knitting marathon!!!

Alison had the whole knitting gang over to her new condo on Saturday the 8th for a knitting marathon. (I'm a bit late in getting the photos downloaded from the camera and then uploaded to the blog.) This is knitting Alison, not Allison the bridesmaid, or Alison the non-knitter who just had a birthday.

The idea was to set aside a whole day for us to knit on all of the Christmas gift projects that might not be quite done yet. There's nothing worse than knitting on a deadline.

Our honorary knitting manservant, Fred, attended to keep us adequately hydrated and fed. He was pretty jolly in his Santa hat and apron. He even took out the trash! He's such a great cook and spoils us something rotten... holiday pound cake, baked and stuffed cheese in puff pastry, chex mix, spinach stuffed phyllo dough triangles, homemade liver pate, wine, champagne, and I'm sure he whipped something else up that I am forgetting.

Meanwhile, as if there wasn't already enough food, everyone brought at least one food or drink item to share. And since we are compulsive knitting people, most actually brought more than one food item. So in addition to Fred's feast, we had Jacque's bakery desserts and decorated cookies, stuffed mushrooms, fried ravioli, cream puffs, eclairs, chocolate nut fudge, white chicken chili, red chili, macaroons, veggie platter, fruit platter, soda, apple brandied egg nog, chips and salsa, cheese from Butters, pistachios, peanuts, cashews, Swedish Fish and Christmas candy, and I know I am forgetting something. We ate, and ate, and ate until we started complaining because our stomachs hurt.

I brought each of the girls (and Anthony) a little magnet from Cafepress that proclaimed them all Yarnoholics. Here's Nancy showing off her new magnet. I'm sure Nancy is just pleased I have blogged her photo.

I didn't do any Christmas knitting myself. I am committed to finish Brandi's white cabled wedding afghan. Brandi was married last spring and knows she is getting this afghan, but she'd probably like to have it this winter to use to keep herself and her puppies warm in the evening when they snuggle.

We all brought Alison ornaments. This is her first tree in her own place, and we were afraid she wouldn't have enough ornaments, or even a tree for that matter. But one of Alison's neighbors gave her this cute little tree, so she ended up being all set with ornaments and Christmas cheer.

Red River Theatres

I drove by a new theater on Main Street in Concord tonight on my way to the Elegant Ewe for knitting guild. It is the Red River Theatres and they appeared to have had a big event going on tonight. When I got home, I found the website for this theater: http://www.redrivertheatres.org/. Apparently tonight was the grand opening of this new theater specializing in independent films, or indie flicks as it states on the website. I will have to take a break some evening from wedding planning and find a friend to go with me to view something independent.

My First Blog

All of the interesting girls from the knitting group have their own blogs. So as not to be out done, I am going to start my own blog. (They are not your Grandma's knitters!) Hopefully, I will have enough of my own interesting tidbits and comments to keep a loyal following.