Lin's Babies

I work with a woman who is right now in Ukraine in the midst of a lengthy adoption. She is adopting two 5-year old boys with Down's Syndrome and it is the most amazing thing to hear her talk about it. She learned of the boys through an online Down's support group and has said that as soon as she was aware of them, she just knew they were meant to be her sons. She has created a blog while they navigate the legal and adoption process and it is very interesting. I'd bought some flannel for blankies for them and made them last night while I was home on call. I will have to get some books to go with them--The Mitten comes to mind--or THIS version. It is a Ukrainian story, after all! :)

Thank You Easter Bunny! Bock! Bock!

Melissa so pleasantly surprised me this week! She gave me this darling little box filled with Easter goodies! She was recently in St. Louis and picked up BUNNY egg cups! Thank You! This box is going to be the new home for all my Melissa Haberdashery! I am always picking up odd beads or buttons or ribbon or yarn or SOMETHING because it will remind me of someone and I'll just know I'll make something with it for that person some day... I know. I'm sick. But in Melissa's case, I have a lot of butterflies! ;)

My family got together for Easter at my parents' home. Apparently there was an incident with my sister's dog involving chocolate coins and required an American Red Cross BLS "finger sweep"! Usually at any family gathering, someone just throws up, but this was much more original! Happy Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I went home this weekend to visit my parents and to bake lefse and kringla orders. I was so busy that I didn't even BRING any knitting home! I've had this picture for some time and couldn't wait to post it today!

I spent most of my time developing new varicose veins by STANDING in the kitchen this weekend! In the end I baked and sold 32 dozen kringlas and 15 dozen pieces of lefse! I don't want to go near that oven for some time, and it will be even longer before I can look at a potato! Once again, my dad was good enough to deliver all my baking around town--and there was a LOT of it! I also baked and frosted a triple batch of frosted sugar cookies for St. Patrick's since I never got around to baking Obscene Conversation Heart frosted sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. I have a cheapie shamrock cookie cutter that has lots of compartments and angles that I'd been dreading frosting, but the stems kept breaking off when I tried cutting them out and they looked more like butterflies! I quickly scrapped that and just made large green hearts that would instead be "Kiss Me I'm Irish" cookies, but I also forgot to pack my festive St. Pat's Sprinkles, so now they're just goofy looking green frosted hearts! Oh well. They will taste just as good.

I also cooked a fake Irish Breakfast for my dad...for lunch. I didn't order any real Galtee back bacon or sausages or Shannon white/black breakfast puddings this year, but I did get some REAL (!!!) KerryGold Irish Butter and KerryGold Dubliner cheese at Hyvee via happy accident! :) That is extra thick bacon that you see, stewed tomatos, cold beans, fried eggs, fried mushrooms, and hashbrowns. I still don't have any Lyon's tea but PG Tips worked just as well. We enjoyed our breakfast/lunch. Note the festive Christmas table cloth on my mom's kitchen table! ;)

The other big highlight of my weekend was going out to a local farm to see their Jacob Sheep! My dad told me months ago that some local 4-H kids had some Jacob Sheep. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to sheep breeds, but what I DO know I have gleaned from the pages of Spin-Off magazine and even I know that Jacob Sheep are known for their fiber. At that time I was thinking about calling and offering to buy a fleece when it came time to shear. Well then my mom had run into a family friend who was knitting a project knit from YARN that she'd gotten from this family! So Mother and I trekked out there to visit the sheep and I bought 4 skeins of 2 different shades of heathered grey from them! They raise the sheep and a man shears them every June and they send the fleeces to a mill to be picked, carded, and spun. I was SO INTERESTED to hear all this and they are going to call me when they have a new batch of yarn! They were also going to check with the mill if they can get some picked and carded batts for me to spin myself!

I had a fun but busy weekend and now I start another busy work week! A few girlfriends and I were going to go out for some green beer tonight, but any more our Urban Family is more like Ladies Aide because come 2100, we were all too tired to go anywhere or do anything! I hope everyone had a fun day though! Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Slainte! :)

Hat On!

I have been dragging my feet lately when it comes to getting done with DeeDee's dizzying patterned mittens and my Toni Jacket. My living room yarn trunk runneth over and is in my direct line of sight from my chair. I sit there and look at that yarn while I'm knitting and think about what all to do with that glorious fiber.

I used up my designer Colinette skeins of Point 5 and Graffitti to make this "Maltese Fisherman Hat". The pattern comes from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac. She is a knitting icon but I have to say her patterns are a bit pithy! I had no trouble following this simple one, but in reading through some others that I'm interested in...I just don't know. She is so clever and witty and it is an utter delight to "read how she thinks", but I can see how her patterns could be intimidating. And let's not forget to mention that this yarn is absolutely HIDEOUS! I bought it because it was COLINETTE and on sale for 70% off, and that was really its only redeeming quality! It is a very cleverly shaped/fitted cap and it's delightfully soft and warm, but I think I will only wear it when in a different state/country where no one knows me or in a Nuclear Winter! If I had paid full price for the 2 skeins, this hat would have cost $44!

Not wanting to waste any of that precious Colinette, I took the runt of the Graffiti ball over to Brenda's last night for Knit Night/Early St. Patrick's Day and Melissa started and finished a baby hat for her new baby niece! I think she used US size 10.5 dpn's and cast on a total of 42 stitches. She was so pleased with it that she was going to send it to her sister in the mail! I'm trying to take mental inventory of The Stash for any more nice bulky-ish yarn.

And finally, I just love this yarn and I love this pattern! I surprise myself from time to time because I absolutely HATE the color pink, but I am just enamored of this yarn! I knit another baby bonnet from Last Minute Knitted Gifts with the remainder of that pink purse kit yarn. I had just enough! I was so pleased with that yarn that I ran out to Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday and nabbed the absolute LAST kit. I will sit on that yarn for a bit but I know I can whip up a little girl's sweater and bonnet with it!

When I was a young Cone...

...on the planet Remulak... I got out my cone of cotton yarn and thought of that and had a good chuckle! I finished 2 more Farmer's Market bags this week while doing some mindless knitting. When I get a few more completed, I'll take a picture of them. This is a typical shot of me on a day off...woolly socks, cowboy pajama pants, ratty sweater, and normally some tea and/or yarn nearby...