Now I knit my ABCs - A is for Alpaca

Araucania Atacama Alpaca, to be exact. This is color 501 - pinks and roses.

The yarn is hand dyed - resulting in awesome color variations. There are no dye lots - so it is recommended that you buy enough yarn to complete your project and do the "skein switch" (switch out different skeins every 4 - 6 rows) to avoid drastic color variations. The fiber content is 100% Chilean alpaca and comes in 50 g/110 yard skeins. The weight is worsted (light worsted I'd say) with a gauge of 18 sts/4" using needle #7US. For care hand wash and dry flat.

I got 2 skeins and I'm defiantly ignoring the skein switch recommendations (mostly because I hate weaving in more than I hate the idea of color inconsistencies).

I'm knitting a scarf - I started with a variation on the seed stitch - which probably has a "name" - I just don't know it. I've added a pretty intense cable series (over 24 stitches) - it's knitting up quickly, although it's becoming more and more obvious to me that all knitting needles need to be made of wood - the aluminum is just too slippery for this yarn.

Because it sounds like FUN!

I'm adapting a concept I saw over at kidsdish. Kelly is making her way through the alphabet and featuring a "letter related" recipe/food each week. This week, C is for Cheese. YUM!

So I thought that it would be fun to also go through the alphabet, but to search out (and knit!) some new yarns. ANY excuse to get more yarn is a good one - I'm still "thinkin" about my method - I don't want to end up with a bunch of short scarves - or do I? hmmm,

Interestingly, when I told Kelly that I was pilfering her idea her response was "that's okay, I didn't invent the alphabet." Thanks for clearing that up - and thanks for the cool idea!

I've been a bit distracted

with getting ready for the PSU Spring Scrimmage. We do a big tailgate with lots of yummy food - so that's been taking some time.

I've been working on a new project (no pictures yet) - but I didn't have the correct size dpns - so I put it down for a while. It would seem that this project is jinxed - I've ordered 2 sets of the needles (size 10) online - and neither set has arrived yet (ordered 1 and 2 weeks ago) AND a friend stopped by a Michaels the other day to get them for me... and they only had size 6 dpns. What's up with that???

It's an interesting pattern and I'm looking forward to completing it - I just need some help from the universe...

Not knitting - but lovely all the same...

The coffee/fellowship (or, as I often say, happy) hour at Church for Easter was pseudo "potluck" - in that everyone (who wanted to) was asked to bring something for folks to nosh on after the service(s). (Never ones to pass up an opportunity to express ourselves culinarily) Suzanne made egg shaped cupcakes and frosted them with lovely pastel shades of icing and I helped by stylishly decorating them with an

assortment of easter candies and festive sprinkles. The resulting confections were stunning (and pretty darn yummy too!).

You gotta be a football basket...

...To get along with a cute little girl.

So Amy said, upon seeing a picture of Suzanne's Easter basket, "I wanna buy that one, tomorrow." The felted football basket. I'm quite proud of this creation - it's my first attempt (prototype, if you will) and not perfect - but it sure does look like a football - and that was my goal.

I used the basic "concept" of the easter basket, but, instead of a square base I made an oblong one. I picked up the stitches around the base and knit around until the length from the base was about 5 inches. I then began decreases (using psso) - to make the "points"; I did overstitching to make the "college stripes" and laces.

I was so nervous putting this one into the washer. First of all, it was the first basket to be felted after the washing machine was fixed - and I had no idea what was going to come out of the machine once the fibers had been fused.

But it turned out great - I did have a little trouble finding something to "shape" it with (as I could not - no really - I could not find a football in the house, anywhere) - and I might have, in retrospect, made the white stripes a little thinner - other than that - I was very pleased (almost giddy) with the final product.

Bunnies Bunnies here and there

Bunnies Bunnies - everywhere! Just a few more pics of the fabulous pompom (when did they stop being pompons, btw?) bunnies. Suz' house was invaded by an army of uber cute fuzzy wrabbits...

Hail Thee Festival Baskets!

Easter was a wonderful day - In spite of the cold weather, the egg hunt was a great success. Suzanne and I were a little nervous about the number of children who would show up - but it turned out perfectly. We got some confused looks, ooohs and ahhhs and hugs from the "grown ups" from the Church - and great big eyes, thank yous and hugs from the children.

We had about 300 eggs to hide (yes, in the grave yard) - the kids from the

youth group and some adults helped scatter the eggs. There weren't a lot of "clever" hiding places but quantity of eggs definitely made up for the lack of quality hiding spots. As the children arrived they went down into the Sunday School area for a "Lesson" - and then they went outside - they had the "little ones" go out first - "little one" was supposed to mean "under 4" - but Katie (who is almost 5), as you can see by the photo, decided that she should be included in the group - it didn't really matter, there were plenty of eggs.

The kids were instructed that, in addition to eggs, little bunnies (masterfully assembled by Suzanne) were hidden around the yard - and that each child could find one bunny - and once a bunny was found (or anytime thereafter, and yes, I think I did use the term "thereafter") they could come inside and get a prize. So the kids came in at different times, which made it easier to manage at the "prize table." We did have some pre-designated recipients of specific baskets - and yes,

the distribution of the baskets was totally subjective - but that's okay, really, it is.

It all worked out quite well - and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We (the adults) were just as excited as the children.

just a couple more...

They'll all be gone soon. I'll miss them.

Hippity Hoppity - when's nap time?

So - all 21 baskets for the church are filled and "wrapped." Each basket is stuffed full with treats and prizes. Some have a theme - Garden, Art, Spiderman, Strawberry Shortcake, bunny, princess, sports... and some are just of a general genre - any age boy, older child girl, etc. And each basket is wrapped in a cellophane bag with a ribbon(s). They look great - and I've had so much fun putting them all together.

Suzanne is brilliantly making the Pom Pom bunnies from Martha Stewart Living. They are so cute -

There were 13 kids in church yesterday - and I know of at least 6 that were "absent" - so we're going to bring along some extra "prizes" just in case.

It's a tough job channeling the Easter Bunny - I think I must be losing it - I caught a glimpse of the neighbor's porch light - and, on seeing a blue oblong item in the dome - quickly concluded that they had begun their egg hiding early! (of course!) - closer inspection revealed that it was a blue light bulb.

Image of Hop To It bunnies from Marthastewart.com