First Outfit for Granddaughter!

Our first granddaughter is due May 21st and the baby shower was last weekend. Since I was under orders not to knit a bunch of pink stuff (this is not going to be a frilly girl), I made the most of the opportunity and knitted the cutest little outfit in a pastel rose colored cashmere yarn. Just adorable, even if I do say so myself! So for those of you who didn't get to see if before it was gifted, here are a few photos. They were taken before I found ribbon that matched perfectly, but you get the idea.









Here's the beautiful mom-to-be opening gifts...


And this is me with my favorite daughter-in-law, mom, and our daughter.


It was a lovely baby shower and she was innundated with frilly pink things, so I think maybe we're in the clear now to buy whatever we want! Yea!

Texas Bluebonnet Tartan Project

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day for a drive to Navasota to meet with my weaving study group. The bluebonnets and indian paintbrush are just starting to appear along the sides of the road, which reminded me of a project I've been wanting to start. Ever since I learned that Texas has an official tartan pattern, it's been on my weaving to-do list. It was designed by June P McRoberts and recognized by the Texas state legislature in 1989. You can read more background information here. It is a beautiful pattern and captures all the colors in a field of bluebonnets. While I was crawling around amid the flowers, I was reminded how fragrant bluebonnets are! Years ago when we went down to Eagle Lake to visit the fields of Wildseed Farms, you could actually smell the bluebonnets before you could see the fields. If I ever get my little place in the country, I'll have a big section planted with bluebonnets to enjoy each spring.









I guess since it was such a pretty day, only Loretta and I showed up for our meeting so we had a couple of uninterrupted hours for talking weaving. We're new friends and still getting to know each other, and it was a nice surprise to find out that she's been wanting to weave the bluebonnet tartan too. And that's how simply we get started on a new path. Since we're still going to be teaching the new weavers in our regular group, this will be a long-term project for us both. Hopefully by next spring, I'll have some beautiful yardage.

Odd things we remember

I was talking to a doctor friend last night and as conversations often do these days, it wound it's way to the topic of obesity. We observed that when we were kids, we were skinny and all our friends were skinny. And actually, there were only one or two obese children in the entire school. The weird thing is that we both remembered the full name of the only fat kid in our elementary schools. I recently ran across my class pictures from elementary and couldn't remember even all the first names, and these were my friends. It's odd, and in this case sad, what factoids stick in your head over the years. I remember a girl from about 4th grade that had the most horrible bad breath. So bad that you didn't even want to stand anywhere near her. In retrospect she probably had dental problems that her parents weren't able to get taken care of, but I can't remember her name. Just goes to show how society influences us from even a very young age. Was being overweight more gross than having bad teeth? Now that so many children are obese, is it still the stigma that it was when we were kids?

Don't Drink and Drive (or Weave)

Recently I bought a placemat kit from Lotsaknots on etsy.com. I had already put the warp on by my sick weekend, the bobbins were wound, and all I had to do was sit down and weave a bit. They were just plain weave. That should be an easy, mindless activity when you've got a cold. So once I was feeling a little better, I put on some nice music, sat down with some Limoncello that James had surprised me with, and wove all the way through the first placemat before I decided to finally go to bed. I got up the next morning so proud of how productive I had been in spite of being sick. Until I actually looked at what I had done! OMG! I have never in my life seen such ugly selvages! Are they even salvageable? I wouldn't have even thought that you could make that big of a mess of something so simple. But thanks to the miracle of a hot water wash and the dryer, they are presentable and the second sober one actually looks pretty good.


First dishtowel on the loom. It actually looks ok under tension, and I didn't get the edges in the photo.


The finished towel. I can't really say that I like the way they look in such a heavy cotton, but they are definitely thirsty!

Ahh Springtime!

Nothing like a bad springtime cold to make you more productive. I spent the first perfect spring weekend stuck inside with an awful cold, so I started working on my Level III swatches. They turned out to be a perfect project for when you're not feeling up to par. I got the first four completed with references and questions answered. They'll more than likely be reknit since I always do a trial swatch first to decide on an appropriate cast-on, cast-off, and proofing instructions. I do have to say, they aren't too bad, but I really don't like the Central Double Increase. Don't know if it did it wrong or if it's just an ugly type of increase, so it will definitely get a re-knit. If I did it correctly, it's definitely not something I'll ever use!