Stash Enhancement

How cool is this?! It's been a long time since I've added to my stash, so this was a real treat. Double treat - no kids (my sister took them for the day), and this was a birthday treat from dh( the big 4-0 this sunday - Ack!).

It was an adventure. I planned to go up to Chatham to the Warm Ewe, not realizing they aren't open on Tues. No biggie - I'll go check out Countrywool in Hudson, which i've been wanting to do for a while. Found that tucked back on a dirt road, only to find that she, too, is closed on Tues. Oops! So, I headed down to Rock City, near Red Hook, to Sheep's Clothing (Morehouse Merinos), knowing they were open.

Ah, I love this shop. The yarn is heavenly soft and the colours are so delicious. MMmmm! Wish I had a digital cam, I'd post some pics. Will do that asap, my sis has one. I picked out five skeins of variegated 3ply in different shades - maybe for a blanket knit in diagonal garter that I saw there, or maybe for a sweater I've got rolling around in my brain. Also four skeins in Plum, Olive, Cranberry, and an orange-gold colour for a scarf knit the long way in garter I saw a woman wearing in the grocery store - was it last winter? Hmmm. And last, a skein of fingering weight, variegated yarn in shades of coral, pink, light green, gold with a pattern for a lacy shawl.

Needless to say, I'm a happy camper. :)

Kid-free, almost

Mom took the kids for an overnight last night. Their first overnight to her house ever, and Shane's first overnight ever. So we just had the baby here. Wow! Hubby and I were marvelling that it hadn't been a one kid night since...4 1/2 years ago when Shane was born. Whew!

And what did I do?! Fell asleep putting Morgan to sleep! We were all set to watch "The Notebook" together, but it was about 10:30 when I woke up from my little snooze and being it was too late to start the movie, I just snuggled back into bed. Zzzzzzzzz.

But before that I got to put in a few rows on the Opal socks I resurrected from two years ago. Got the "second sock syndrome" with those - knit the first and a few inches of rib on the second and then lost steam. Now I've finished the cuff, turned the heel and finished the gusset the other night, so it's straight on till toes now.

It's 7:30am and about 18 degrees outside. I really want to get out for a walk since i haven't been in a few days, but...

Sit and knit? Or go for a walk? Hmmm...

Pick up and knit

I was wondering where to start, being new to this blogger thing. Figured the best place is to start where I am and fill in the details from there. My name is Tempe and I am blessed to live in this really beautiful blip on the map called Ancramdale, NY, in the place where New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut meet. Not far from places like Tanglewood, and the Berkshires. Any bluegrass and folk fans might recognize the Grey Fox, Winterhawk, and Falcon Ridge music festivals that happen here, three in a row in the summer.

I live here with my hubby, Billy, and three great kids - Winter(dd6), Shane (ds4) and Morgan(ds15mos). We've been homeschooling since the fall (04) so you're sure to hear about that here too.

My mom, who is an amazing knitter (yes, i'm biased!) first taught me to knit when I was about 8yrs old. I knit a little garter stitch blanket for my barbie doll. It had a strip of bright orange on either side and a rainbow multicolor strip in the middle ( yup, a bit ugly, but hey! ) Then I don't think I knit again until college. Got a Lopi sweater kit from Mom for my b-day and away I went, needles flying. I loved it! One thing though, I started out making a Women's size large, and somewhere along the way ended up following the Men's large directions! Agh! Needless to say I ended up with a HUGE but beautiful sweater. Enter Mom to save the day. She cut that thing across the middle and cut off the sleeves midway down, ripped it out until it was the right length and sewed it back together again. I was impressed!

I've knit on and off over the years, and with the kids coming along, it got harder to find the time (and free) hands to knit. But just recently over the holidays I've found myself recharged and back in the knit again.

I get an online newsletter from Claudia at Countrywool, a LYS near me in Hudson, NY (countrywool.com) and read how she was racing to finish up her WIPs before New Year's, and anything left after the New Year she rips out. That inspired me. I've been digging around, finding all my old WIPs and playing Finish or Rip That WIP! I like this! Who needs the guilt of unfinished projects laying around? Rip the ones I don't like, knit on with the ones I do.

Well, enough for now. Baby's up! :)