A really nice day

Seasonally speaking, I am much more of an autumn person. I love everything about fall. The cooler temperatures, the leaves changing, pumpkins, apples, that crisp smell in the air... But I gotta say, over the years, spring is growing on me. It's just so darn pretty out. If they could just do something about the pollen, I'd be a much bigger fan of spring.

Today was a good spring day. I had breakfast with my pal C and her twin girls. Then we headed off to the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden, which is one of my favorite places.



It was not quite at peak, but it's pretty darn close. It was already a riot of color.





Love it there!

After the garden, I stumbled on a church yard sale. It was mostly junk, but I did manage to score three books for a whopping 75¢. I got a cookbook, Pride and Prejudice (I'm on Jane Austen kick lately), and an Anne Tyler book. Not too bad for 75¢!

When I got home, I found my monthly package of happiness in my mailbox! I got my April Skein of the Month from Webs. It's a little on the dull side this month, but what the heck - it's free yarn!


Sorry for the dim picture. It's a skein of Tahki Cotton Classic in white. The package also included two free patterns. One is for a triangle scarf, that frankly looks a little boring and the other is for a Sunrise Camisole which is kind of cute. I sent it to my Ravelry cue. Maybe some day... but definitely not in white!

I was most excited by that little orange item on the far right. It's a Yarn Harlot button. I got one when I went to see Stephanie a few weeks ago, and I promptly lost it. So I was really happy to get a new one - and it's the same color as the one I lost! yay!

I hope you all have a lovely spring weekend.

Only ONE MORE WEEK TILL SHEEP & WOOL!!!

I can hardly stand the wait!

Baby Andrew



I was very excited to finally meet Baby Andrew today. SOO cute. And unbelievably tiny! I couldn't get over how little he is. He is still under 5 lbs, but he is doing well.



See the sheep behind my head? I made that for Andrew's big sister when she was this same size! It is a much loved sheep!

I gave Andrew his present today.



Someday.... someday it will fit!

Wednesday

I realize that the rest of the world does not operate on my wacky theatre schedule. I realize that there are many many many people in the world who have to get up really early in the morning and go to work. I know that many people would not consider 8 a.m. to be even remotely "early in the morning". These people could argue that 8 a.m. is actually "the middle of the day."

I know that my schedule is not normal. I do, on a fairly regular basis, have to get up at 8 a.m. and go to work. But the main part of my work day is in the evening. I get home at night. So, I generally look forward to Wednesdays because I don't have to go to work until noon- which means I can sleep in a bit. Yay!

Not today.

They started at 8 a.m.


See the chainsaw in the foreground? CHAINSAWS. AT 8 freakin' a.m. in the morning! In my backyard! Directly under my bedroom window.

Oh, but it gets better...

This is what they parked in my front yard...



A wood chipper. At 8 a.m.

It is now 11 a.m. No, no... they aren't done yet.

3 hours of chainsaws and woodchippers.

I know they are just doing their jobs. But seriously.. couldn't they do their jobs at a NORMAL FREAKIN TIME?

Am I being unreasonable?? I can't be the only person who thinks that 8 a.m. is too damn early for chainsaws and woodchippers. For 3 hours.

Needless to say, I am CRANKY.

You should have seen me the time they decided to mow lawns at 7 a.m. on a Sunday....

FO's in the House!!

Holy cow, I actually have some finished objects to show. Those of you who haunt my flickr pages have already seen these, since I posted the pics several days ago. But I'm just getting around to blogging about it.

First off we have the extremely cute Verdell C. Squirrel





I LOVE HIM. I think he is definitely one of my favorite toys that I have made. I bought the kit to make him from Fiber Trends. He's supposed to have an embroidered nose, but I kind of like him without the nose. What do you think?

My other FO is a sweater for Baby Andrew, who came into this world about three weeks ago. Andrew is the son of a good friend of mine. Andrew made his appearance a wee bit early, so sadly he spent the first two weeks of his life in the NICU. But I am very happy to report that he is now home with his family and is doing well. I haven't gotten to meet him yet, but when I do, I have this item to give him...



This is going to be huge on him right now, but hopefully, by the time he is big enough to wear it, it will be cold enough for sweaters again! And hopefully his mother wont hate me too much for the dinosaur buttons. They are extremely cute, but not terribly easy to manage.

The pattern was free from this site. Very simple top down raglan. Fun knit. The yarn is leftover Cascade 220 superwash that I had in my stash and a little extra that I begged off of Amie. Thank you Amie!

Since I managed to get those two little projects off the needles, my attention is focused back on my Faux Russian Stole. It is coming along very slowly.

I am very close to finishing the second pattern repeat. I thought I only had to do two more repeats, but I just checked and actually, it's three and a half more repeats. Ugh! I'm really hoping I can finish this by MDS&W in two weeks, because I would like to enter it into the Skein and Garment competition. Deadline knitting... such fun. The problem is finding time to knit it.

So, speaking of which... I'm off to knit on it right now. Here's some spring pictures for you!

A really good day!

Yesterday, Jolene, Jody, Erin, Baby Joe(oddly, he doesn't have a blog yet!), half the eastern seaboard and I descended on Annapolis, MD to see the one and only Yarn Harlot.

(I know she looks like she is reciting the Girl Scout Pledge, but she's actually talking about her three children!)

Jody and I arrived at 3:30, and happily scored seats in the second row. I'd like to mention that the people in the front row had arrived at 9 a.m. Seriously devoted people! This is the second time I've had the pleasure of seeing Stephanie in person. Now of course, the highlight is Stephanie herself. She's very entertaining and so funny she makes your sides hurt from laughing. But I have to say, I so enjoy the entire atmosphere that goes along with it. It's like a big party. Everyone is happy, everyone is knitting, and everyone is just delighted to be there. So, thank you Stephanie, Borders, all my knit pals and all you hundreds of knitters that were there last night for such a great evening!


Me and Stephanie. Oh, and her sock!



Erin and Stephanie. And the sock...


Jolene, Stephanie and Baby Joe
Joe was hiding from the camera in this picture, but there is an awesome picture of Jolene and Joe on Stephanie's site. Check it out! And if you feel like playing "where's waldo?" you might be able to find me in the group picture right above Jolene and Joe!


Jody and Erin. FRIENDS!

Oooooh, I almost forgot! I hope you all will go check out this new blog! It's a countdown to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. They will be having prizes and fun from now till the big weekend!
Cloverhill Yarn Shop Countdown to Sheep and Wool

There is also a fabu new Ravelry group for you to join too.

Cloverhill at MD Sheep and Wool

The Cloverhill booth is going to have TONS of fabulous yarn from TONS of fabulous indie fiber artists. The full list of fiber artists is on the blog. You will not want to miss it! I will be working the booth on both Saturday and Sunday. Please stop by and say hello!