I finished the shawl a few days ago. I like the way it turned out, but when I look at myself in mirror I feel like I should have gray hair done up in a bun.


Right now I'm working on a baby blanket that I started during the tax season. It's a patchwork design from FCEK. Rather than making individual blocks I'm making strips that I will sew together when I'm done. This was supposed to be done for a baby shower last month, but instead I gave her a gift certificate since the blanket was far from finished. I haven't decided if I will still give her the blanket or just save it for another baby.



It looks kinda funny here, but I hope once it's sewn together and blocked it will be presentable.

I've posted a couple of crochet booklets on ebay.

I have two pattern repeats left to do on the shawl, hopefully I can get those done tonight. Then I'll just have to work the edging, and I'll be done!

Now, I'm starting to look through my patterns to see what I will do next. I like a vest that's in Cast On Summer 2004. I'm still trying to find a pattern for a cardigan sweater that I can use up 7 skeins of white Patons Paradiso.

I'm making good progress on my shawl from Cast On Spring 2004.


The shawl starts from the top, so I have a ways to go, I'm still on my first skein of Homespun. I've had a few problems with getting to the end of the row and having too many stitches, but I'm watching the pattern a little closer and I think I can prevent some of my goof-ups now. One night I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

Finally, I have pictures of my almost FO, Take a Bow, designed by Linda Cyr in Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2002.


I still have to finish one of the straps in the back. I've made the straps just a bit wider than the original pattern.

Next, on the project list is this shawl from Cast On Spring 2004. I've wanted to make a shawl for quite some time, but the thought of knitting with lace weight yarn has held me back. This pattern calls for Lion Brand's Homespun, and it only takes two skeins and size 11 needles. Hopefully, it will be a quick knit and will come in handy for those cool summer nights.

My shawl will be off-white, but if I like the pattern I plan on making another one in a color appropriate for blue jeans.

I had very good intentions of posting progress pics of my tank, but the batteries were dead in my camera. I was going to list some items on ebay, too. Phooey!

I've been very busy around the house now that the tax season is over. Last spring I bought some paint for the kitchen, but never got to that miserable job. Actually, if it was just the kitchen it wouldn't be bad, but I have to paint the dining room, hallway and laundry area all the same color. I ran out of paint on Friday and picked up two more gallons today. I still have the pantry and the hall closet to paint. Then I'm going to start the family room...

I bought a carpet cleaner and I tried it out on a small area; I think it did as good of a job as the steamers that you rent from the store. I've never hired someone to clean my carpets so I don't know how it compares to the job that they would do. Of course, all this means that as soon as the painting is done, the carpets are next.

It'a a bit windy here today!

Here's my swatch of Clip. This is 100% Egyptian cotton and so far it's been a pleasure to knit. Knitter's have given it good reviews at Wise Needle I've found a tank pattern in a back issue of Vogue Knitting, though I'll be making a few changes to the straps. I don't want skinny straps because I want to be able to wear this to work. The yarn is much too nice to make a tank for everyday wear.


While I was out and about yesterday, I looked at Lions Homespun because I've thought about making a shawl using the pattern in Knitting into the Mystery. I couldn't decide on a color; I think I would prefer something neutral to wear to church or a wedding. I left empty handed, but with my current UFOs, it's probably just as well I didn't buy any yarn.

I just got back from Grandma's, two and a half hour drive one way. By the time I get there I'm ready to come back home. I picked up lunch at Boston Market, Grandma was convinced that I made it myself and it's hopeless to try to convince her otherwise. As her dementia progresses, I wonder how much longer before she no longer recognizes me. She confuses a lot of things, today she spoke of my dad (her son) as being older than herself. Sometimes I see a glimpse of Grandma pre-dementia, but that doesn't happen very often anymore.

On my way home I stopped at Crafty Lady in Macomb and bought some cotton from the Klaus Koch Kollection called Clip. They had it knit up in a cute tank which I really liked and now wish I had purchased the pattern. I'm sure though, with all of my knitting magazines I will find something similar.

Then for fun I bought a skein of Bernat cottontots that I'm going to knit into a bucket hat.

Now that the tax season is over I hope to have more time to post, more importantly I hope I have more time to knit! I have alot of others things to do here at home, including painting the kitchen and the family room. I have started the day with repairing cracks and nail pops in the drywall.

My book order from amazon came today, included was Knitting into the Mystery

I read through the book very quickly last night. Though I would never be one to start a shawl ministry, I think knitting shawls for others is a wonderful way to show people you care and are praying for them. I think I might donate this book to the local library when I am done with it.

Woo Hoo 4 days until the tax season is over! I'm trying to decide what I want to knit next. I still have to finish my cabled turtleneck. I'm 1/2 sleeve away from sewing it together.

I have a pattern for a moebius scarf from Fiber Trends. I started it once with a sport weight acrylic yarn, but made a mistake somewhere in the lace pattern and ended up frogging the whole thing. This time I think I might use a lace weight yarn.

I've seen a few summer tops that I like, but can't decide if I want to make something with cotton. The only cotton yarn I've ever bought is still sitting on my shelf because I don't like knitting with it.

My main project after the tax season is to start painting the interior walls of my house. I've procrastinated for a year on that job because I have some drywall repairs to do first.

There's an important trial going on right now in New York involving the constitutionality of the partial birth abortion ban. Every day the American Center for Law and Justice is giving a report of the trial. Partial birth abortion is a barbaric procedure, the details explained in the trial are gruesome to read. If you're not familiar with what happens I urge you to read it, no civilized society should allow this to happen.

I used to be a supporter of abortion, not that I would have one, because I was pregnant before I got married, so it was an option. Rather, I thought women should be able to make the choice for themselves. I must say though, that I didn't really think about abortion much, as far as what happens to the fetus or how it might affect the woman afterwards. It was only a seven years ago that my heart was changed about abortion.

Reading through the trial highlights brings to mind a situation in my family. My niece graduated a few years ago at the top of her class. She was named one of the best students in the state. She was attending college and dating a young man and became pregnant. Her parents pressured her to have an abortion, afterall she had a bright future ahead of her. Her mother especially was adament that this would be the best decision. My niece, bless her heart, was equally strong in her conviction that she would not have an abortion. Today she has a beautiful little girl, a child that has brought joy to my niece and to the child's grandparents.

I went to a baby shower today, but the baby blanket had to stay behind. I either have to tear out the edging or give it to my dog and I think my dog is going to be the lucky recipient. In the meantime, I've updated St. Francis since we finally have some crocus' in bloom.

The spring issue of knitty is online. Go check it out!

My BIL is going to allow me to try and sell some of my purses at his antique store. Most of the purses I've made so far have been copyrighted so I'll have to give those away, here is a photo of one of my own creations. I made this using Patons Classic Wool, which felts really well and doesn't show any stitches. Granted, an antique store may not be the best place to market a handcrafted purse, but this is mainly for fun and when I get tired of making purses I'm not obligated to continue to produce them.

If you're interested in checking out my auctions they have been posted here

Here's the photo of my newest felted purse.

My poor little blog just hasn't received the attention it deserves. My life is not so filled with interesting endeavors that I don't have time to post. Rather, I just haven't had any interesting knitting projects. I have knit another purse and it is in the washer being felted at this very moment. I'm using a free pattern on the net, called Alex's felted purple trapezoid clutch. I printed the pattern but I don't have the web address, so sorry. Pictures will be posted as soon as they are available. In the meantime, I have to go list some vintage knitting patterns on ebay.

I've made two more purses, I'm still looking for a button for the green one. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. Both of them were made with lamb's pride. The blue was one really shows the mohair.

I started the other baby blanket, but I don't have much enthusiasm for the project. I think that part of the problem is that I don't think the recipient will appreciate the work that will be going into it. She's invited 98 people to the shower and is registered at 3 different stores. She once told her mother that she didn't understand why people bought gifts that weren't listed on the registry.

Mother Nature has changed her mood. The snow has finally melted, but along with heavy rains there is a lot of flooding. This is our creek overflowing it's banks.

Thank heavens it's March! Spring is round the corner and Mother Nature is flirting with us right now. Work slows down abit this month and I can enjoy my life again.

I have almost finished the baby blanket. Now I have another baby shower coming up in April. I bought some yarn but I haven't decided on a pattern yet.

I forgot to mention this was made with Lamb's Pride in the color raspberry, The photo color is just a little brighter than the actual color.

The pattern is from Knitter's Winter 2003. I really like the purse and might actually make one for myself, except I haven't had a purse this small in ages. I normally carry my wallet, 2 checkbooks, a bottle of aspirin, a calculator, a couple of pens, two sets of keys and who knows what else and if there's any room left I use it to carry my lunch to work.

The felted purse is finished, except I haven't sewn the button on yet. I wasn't sure about using this button, for my other purse I knitted a bobble and felted it for the button.



Now I have to get back to the baby blanket, the shower is next weekend and I still want to make a hat and some booties or socks.

We had a beautiful hazy, frosty sunrise this morning.


We live four miles west of Lake Huron and I think that influences the colorful sunrises.

The little felted purse is almost knitted, probably no pics until the weekend after it comes out of the washer.

My poor abandoned cabled turtleneck.


This is the second sleeve and once it is done I just have to sew all the pieces together and then knit the turtleneck. But alas, it may be a couple of weeks before I get back to it.

Now I'm abandoning my baby blanket to work on a felted purse. My son is coming home from college this weekend and I said I'd make a purse for his girlfriend. I need to get it done so he can take it back with him.

It's been awhile since I've had 3 projects going at once.

Where'd the weekend go?

I started a mindless project.


This is a baby blanket from the Knit Baby Blankets pattern book. It's simple but I think it will be cute when it's done. The pattern is all stockinette stitch, alternating colors every two row. Hopefully, I will have enough yarn leftover to make a hat and booties to go with it.

Happily, the tax season is starting to slow down to a normal pace. I read the article referenced on Nanette's blog regarding introverts. Now, I know why I'm exhausted at the end of the day--too many people wear me out!

I wish I had some knitting to report but I've been too busy at work. By the time I get home at night I'm too tired to work on cables. I think I need a mindless project. I did start the second sleeve on Sunday, but it doesn't look like I'll make my Valentine's Day deadline.

I spent Sunday afternoon listing a bunch of books and exercise videos on Amazon. I'll probably regret selling some of them. I've already sold two and have to take them to the post office this morning. You know a lot of people make money selling used books, not me, I buy books new and sell them when I'm done. Another reason not to own a yarn store.

Chip says don't be shy!

I finished the front of the cabled turtleneck which amazingly looks exactly like the back. Tonight, I might cast on for the second sleeve. I just might get this done on schedule.

I've been thinking about designing a vest that would incorporate the swatches of my multicolored roving yarn. Right now, I'm splitting the roving into strips and putting a little bit of a twist into it using my spinning wheel. Hopefully, that won't cause it to be skewed when knitted.

I see I have to fix my archives, that is a problem for another day.

Here's my entry for the ugliest yarn contest. This is from the multi-colored roving I dyed yesterday.

Take my word for it, it is much uglier in person.

As a single ply, the yarn was quite pretty, but plied, it looks horrid. I plied only a small portion because I didn't think I would like it.

Here I've taken the roving and split it into thin strips and knit it. I like this a lot better.


I might separate the plies and either ply it with a solid color, or ply it with the dark blue/green I dyed yesterday.
If I knit the roving into a scarf, I might use the ugly yarn for fringe, so for now I'm going to leave it as is.

I've put my knitting aside so I could try handpainting. If I'm going to get more sheep, I need to spin up the roving I have stuck away in the closet. After looking at the beautiful handpainted yarns, I thought I should see what I could do with a little dye. I had some dye on hand, just enought to dye about 1 pound of wool. I used the handpaint method described on Gleason's Fine Woolies website. Truthfully, I don't follow directions very well, I tend to do things my own way. Since I didn't have a turkey baster or syringe I had to pour the dyes on the roving. When I was done with that step, I really didn't think I 'd like the final product, but I'm delighted with the way it turned out.

The colors are a lot richer looking in person.

The next attempt didn't turn out quite as well. Yuck!



So, I decided to overdye it with navy blue. I was hoping to keep some of the yellow, but I used way too much blue. I like it anyway. I hope it dries fast so I can spin it.

See my driveway.


It doesn't look quite so daunting in the daylight, but when you have to walk 1/4 mile, through the snow drifts, in the dark, into a 15 mph bitter cold wind, (up hill both ways) it's a challenge. One of the pleasures of rural living.

My son's girlfriend from Chile sent us a bottle of wine and a desk calendar with photos of the Chilean landscape, very thoughtful.

Work is really cutting into my knitting time, I don't know how those of you who work full time, year round, finish anything. Maybe that's why so many people have numerous unfinished items; I can see how you would get bored with knitting the same thing for months. I am somewhat bored with the cabled turtleneck, but I want to wear it, so I keep knitting, even though it might be just a couple of rows each day. I think I'll be bringing some work home this weekend, but my goal is to finish the front and start the second sleeve.

Can I complain about the weather for a moment? Maybe I just need to spend the winter in a warmer, snowless climate. Or maybe I need a job where I can work from home. It seems that ever since the tax season started I've been driving on snowy, icy roads. I'm a big wimp in that department. Today, we have freezing drizzle and will have 5-8 inches of snow before the day is over. My husband has volunteered to be my chauffeur.

One advantage of being driven to work is that I can knit. In fact, I have to knit so as not to look at the road icy roads. If all of my clients cancel their appointments today I can just sit at my desk and knit. Hey, things are looking up.

Yay an FO!


It looks pretty boring doesn't it? Every project is a learning experience, since this was the second time I made this hat, I did a better job of grafting the garter stitch seam. I washed it and have it blocking next to the woodstove.

I received an e-mail from the shepherd and she said they expect to start lambing in a couple of weeks and will have lambs available. She might have some ewes too, but I think I would rather have lambs. Usually when a farm is selling their adult sheep, (unless they are just reducing their flock) they have had some kind of problem, poor mother, lambs singles, difficult pregnancy, age etc.

Of course starting a flock with lambs means we probably wouldn't be able to have them bred until Fall 2005. But just think of the beautiful lamb's wool I'll have.

Today I sent an e-mail to inquire about purchasing some ewes or ewe lambs from a shepherd in Mid-Michigan. I'm still waiting to hear back from her. In the meantime, I've been knitting my son's hat, which should be done tomorrow. I usually don't knit the same pattern more than once, but for him I made the exception; that's probably why it's going so fast. I started it Monday night and have been knitting a little bit every night after work.

One of the reasons I knit is because I like the challenge of trying something new. I don't like repetition in anything. My husband is famous for repeating the same story, so when he starts telling me something I've heard before, I just say, repeat and that's the signal for him to stop talking.

I've been on a spending spree. In addition to the yarn for my son's hat, I bought some 100% alpaca Peruvian Collection from elann It is so soft, I've never knit anything with alpaca before. Then I bought Nursery Rhyme Knits from overstock I still have to get my cabled turtleneck done, but it's awfully tempting to start a nursery rhyme hat.

Only a few years ago I had a beautiful flock of Romney sheep; in many respects they were like pets. Because of my work schedule I decided to sell them, and have regretted it many times over. So, my DH and I were discussing starting another flock this spring.

One of life's simplest pleasures is watching the lambs spring about the pasture.

I think I've recovered from the weekend's knitting error. I am almost knitted to the cap again. Progress is slow during the week.

I received new KnitPicks and Herrshnerrs catalogs in the mail. I've never ordered from either of them. I've been looking through past issues of Knitter's and found a vest that I want to make but I haven't been able to find the yarn colors I want. It's hard to choose colors from the catalogs because the colors aren't true. (another reason I should open my own yarn shop)

I picked up the new issue of Vogue Knitting yesterday--a lot of scarf patterns. I have to admit that I am interested in a couple of them, BUT do I really want to spend $30.00 on yarn for a scarf??

Trust yourself!

After spending a little time each day on my sleeve, I was almost to the cap when I found a big mistake in the center cable. I think it was part of today's knitting progress(?), where it seemed I was ripping back almost as much as I was knitting.

I think the photo is too dark but at just over the half way point, I apparently missed a row because my cables were supposed to cross, but they aren't. I thought something was amiss when I noticed my small cables crossing on the first row rather than the third. Rather than really scrutinize my knitting I continued working. Good thing my personal deadline for this sweater is Valentine's Day.

Now I can actually start whining about not having any knitting time. I think it's time to get the book by Barbara Winter, Making a Living Without a Job, Winning Ways for Creating Work that you Love. I'm seeing a new job in my future.

Have you seen the front cover of Vogue Knitting? On the bookstand January 17th



I haven't gotten into the scarf craze. I don't wear fluffy scarves and I don't know anyone else who does, but I do like the scarf on the cover.

Yay! my yarn order came from Bemidji. Unfortunately, they didn't have the yarn I needed to make my son's hat. So, I'm putting together another order this time from Patternworks. Feeling a little guilty about this, not that I have a yarn stash to really speak of, but I think my yarn fund is almost dry, which means I'll be taking some cash out of the general fund. Good thing I take care of the finances in this househould; I've already given my approval for the expenditure.

I also should mention that I've started the Knitting Guild of America's master knitting program--level 1. I'm not going to post a picture of every swatch, but I will keep track of my progress here. I'm part of the TKGA knit along hosted by Sarah

I hadn't joined the guild until I decided I wanted to be a part of the knit along. Being a self-taught knitter, this experience should really help be improve my knitting and give me more confidence about my knitting skills.

I'm making terrific progress on my Vogue sweater.


This is the back and as you can see it's a raglan sweater. I found one error on the cable chart and luckily I only had to rip back four rows on that section of the chart. For future reference it would be wise to look up errata before starting a project. I'm sure all of the knitting magazines have them listed on their websites. The first sleeve has been started. If I didn't have to work all week I would really be able to zip along--maybe even finish it in one week. Of course I'm dreaming, because I do have to work all week and knitting time will be greatly reduced for the next four months.

Since my yarn order hasn't come yet, I thought yesterday would be a good day to make a run to Elaine's yarn shop in Davison

She has a nicely landscaped lot, too.


I didn't buy too much, just 7 skeins of Plymouth Encore to make a sweater from Vogue Winter 01/02. Do you find yourself buying the same colors? I suppose it's because a person knows which colors she looks good in. I navigate to purples and greens, but yesterday I bought a deep red. I don't think I've ever bought any clothing in this color.

The sweater I'm making is a figure fitting cabled turtleneck. I thought I would make a figure flattering sweater rather than a looser fitting one for a change, especially after seeing this Vittadini sweater modeled by Kerstin

I love that sweater! Maybe I'll stick to my healthy eating while I'm working on my sweater.

I don't know how many projects I completed this year. Most of the time I knit vests because they are quicker, plus as I've gotten older, I tend to be warmer and wool sweater usually end up draped over the back of a chair. I don't usually abandon a project unless I am unhappy with it. This is one of my favorite vests, knit with Plymouth Encore.

I adapted a man's pullover sweater from an old issue of FCEK into a woman's button up vest.

I will be so glad when the holiday eating season is over, so I can get back to healthy eating. As a teenager I was about 30 pounds overweight, but I lost most of the weight before I got married. After my first son was born I lost a few more pounds and have kept within the same weight for 20 years. Then I started gaining just 1-2 pounds every year, which translated into 15 pounds over a 10 year period. This past summer, I started taking the weight off, a combination of diet and exercise resulted in a 14 pound weight loss. The tough part is yet to come when I am sitting in front of a computer during the tax season. I'm determined to keep it off, especially since the weight doesn't come off as easily as it did when I was younger. So starting tomorrow, I'm going to begin counting calories again, just to help keep me accountable through the tax season.

I wish I could say it's 100% done, but I still need one button.


I finished the culdesac vest over the weekend. Of course the only buttons I liked, there were only 4 available. I'm going to order another card of buttons from Couture Buttons
I'm not real happy with the side seams, sewing together reverse stockinette is not very pretty. I couldn't find anything useful in my knitting books about the best way to go about it. Of course after I had it finished I found an article in one of my knitting magazines, IK I think it was, illustrating the technique.

This vest was a challenge because of the way the instructions are written. In order to keep track of my increases, decreases and cables, I charted some of the rows on a piece of paper. If I hadn't had to rip it back so often I could have been done weeks ago.

If the sun ever comes out again, I'll take a better photo.

Two days of work this week, then next week is the beginning of a new tax season. I need a project started before then, knitting is the only thing that keeps me sane until April 15. I still haven't made a decision on my next sweater, but a Kathy Zimmerman design is at the top of my list. I ordered 8 skeins of lamb's pride olive from Bemidji Woolen Mills. They aren't really a yarn store but they carry lamb's pride at a terrific price.

In the meantime I think I will start the French Market Bag from Knitty's winter issue. I have quite a few skeins of Briggs and Little bulky wool yarn that I purchased to do some rug hooking, since I'm not using it for rugs, I might as well use it for felting.

Since I haven't taken any knitting pictures I'll leave you with a photo of Chip the terrier.

I have not been a very productive knitter lately. I frogged the furlana hat, but I did use the yarn for another felted purse; this one from Knitter's Winter 03, sorry no pics.
I think the clock vest from Folk Vests will have to wait, I made a couple attempts at starting it, but I didn't like the looks of the knit in back stitch.
Now, I've restarted Brigitte from The Best of Lopi. I'm using Lamb's Pride yarn instead of Lopi. I had this sweater over half way completed last winter but I thought it was puckered too much at the bottom so I made an executive decision and ripped it out. I might have been able to block it into perfection, but I didn't want to take the chance.


I've been thumbing through knitting mags and catalogues trying to decide what I want to knit next, but haven't made a decision yet. My youngest son wants a hat like the one I knit for my husband last month. So as soon as he chooses a color I'll get that yarn ordered.

Every year DH gets a Christmas tree from the family farm and every year he says it's the best tree we ever had. This year I think he'd be pushing it to say it's the best one.


A few lights and pretty ornaments and it will be perfect.

I started knitting the furlana hat from IK Fall 2003, using Lamb's Pride. I don't usually wear hats, but I wanted to knit something easy while I was riding in the car. Hopefully, it won't be a wasted effort.

I've been doing a little house cleaning, looking for items to donate to the local Goodwill. I have a large box of fiberfill that I bought for a project I will never finish. I don't like sewing anymore so who knows why I would buy the supplies for a sewing project.

I don't have a lot to donate, with e-bay a person can sell just about anything. Sometimes though ebay is too much of a hassle and then by the time the fees are paid it isn't worth the trouble.

Believe it or not the culdesac vest is nearing completion. All of the pieces have been completed. Last night I was looking at the shoulder bindoffs trying to decide if I should rip it back and add another cable before the bind off. Luckily, I didn't do that because when I looked at it this morning I decided it would be better left alone. I looked at the photo in Knitter's and my shoulder looks like theirs.

One little project I started and almost completed is another felted bag. This one is for a coworker who is always asking when I'm going to make her a bag. I thought it would be nice if I gave it to her for Christmas in appreciation for her letting me use her office on various occasions. I hope she likes it well enough to use it. I developed the pattern from various sources. The flower is from a knitty pattern and the bag is from two of Beverly Galeskas felted purse patterns.

My little town had a damaging fire a couple of nights ago. Here they are tearing down the unstable walls so the fire marshall can safely go inside.


Fortunately, no one was hurt.

PRESENTS!



But not a knitting book in the bunch. For Son1, an avid reader and lover of sports LT: Over the Edge by Lawrence Taylor. For Son2, a poet and budding writer, The Spoken Word Revolution. For myself, since I saved money by shopping at amazon, The Road of Hope by Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan. Last but not least, for DH I bought Voice of the Poets Robert Frost and Langston Hughes, poetry recited by the poets on CD.

DH is a poet himself and self-published a book of poetry this past year, A Man Upon a Pilgrimage.

I've been thinking about how I want to improve my knitting in 2004. This past year, I wanted to do 2-color knitting, so I started this vest.


The tension is pretty good, but I think I should have started with mittens or a hat. Maybe I should finish this before I start anything new.

This year, I've joined the Master Knitters Level 1 Knit-along that Sarah is hosting. I think I will gain alot by doing this, since I've never taken knitting classes or had any other type of instruction. There's a yahoo group of knitters who are at various levels of the Master Knitter program. Reading through the archives, I've found info that will be helpful as I progress.

I got one thing accomplished yesterday. My husband's mittens were felted.


They look like they are covered with lint, but that's just the sun shining on the mohair.

I tried to get another small project started, but I couldn't get it to work out. Then I went back to MIL scarf to see if I could figure out what I was doing wrong; I finally ended up throwing the instructions away.

I haven't done anything on culdesac even though I hoped to have it finished last week. I'm sure I'll have the right front done this week, so I better start thinking about some buttons.

Yesterday I went to the December Weekend at Mt. Bruce Station in Almont, Michigan.


The owner has a flock of corriedales and jacobs. You can buy handspun, or mill spun yarn made from the wool of her sheep. She also sells alot of other sheep related products. She's not afraid to charge for the handmade sweaters, vests, mittens etc. either. Her location is nearly perfect, about a 20 minute drive from the wealthiest county in the state. We bought our first sheep from her about 8 years ago.

This poor guy was struck by lightening in 2000--so that's what the sign says.


The young shepherds were putting on a Christmas play in the barn. George the ram wasn't cooperating.


The Sheep and Wool festival in the fall, is more heavily attended. It's worth the trip if you live in southeastern Michigan.

My Knitter's Magazine finally arrived today. I love the vest on the front cover. A few other designs caught my eye, but I can't start anything until I get that culdesac vest finished. After that, I was hoping to make the clock vest in Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle. I have some plum Nature Spun I'm hoping will work for that vest. If it isn't too dark for the cables to show up, I will start it next week.

Today I'm working on a pair of felted mittens, using the pattern in Felted Knits. These will be for my husband who was coveting the pair I made for myself last month.

Yesterday was my trip into the city to visit Grandma and take her to the store. Since it's a 2 1/2 hour drive down there, I take a break by stopping at the yarn store to stretch my legs. First stop was Skeins on Main in Rochester, Michigan. Even though their address is Main Street, you won't find it on Main Street, but in the alley. This is a nice little store. The employees are very friendly and were quick to help me find what I was looking for. I really wasn't in a yarn shopping mood, though. My only purchase was a package of blocking pins.

On the way home from Grandma's I stopped at the Crafty Lady in Macomb. I didn't buy any yarn here either, just a set of 4" dpns for the gloves I want to knit.


I went through Port Huron on the way home. Here's the Blue Water Bridge that crosses over to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Actually, there are two bridges here, one for going to Canada and the other for coming back. My husband was on the construction crew that built the second bridge in 1998 and 1999.


One freighter was coming up the St. Clair River. I bet it was cold on the deck yesterday.

Yesterday, I finished the left front on my culdesac vest. No pictures of it though. I'm going to block what I have finished and then take a picture. Instead of starting the right front I started this.

I'm making a scarf for my mother-in-law. I don't usually knit gifts for people unless requested and she didn't request this, but when I saw this free pattern called Alison's scarf, I thought it would be perfect for her. I had a little trouble with the pattern at first. I think the instructions need a little tweaking. When I finish it I will email Annie and tell her what problems I had with it.