Yummy Yarn

It’s been a long day and I’m tired, but I am excited and I just have to share this:

My mommy made me a birthday cake in the shape of a yarn ball! How cool is that?

The baker at work:

Eat your heart out, Buddy! Great job, mom! And it was delicious, too!

Seriously, having a birthday on a Wednesday in the middle of a wacky work week is no fun. It was an especially awful day at the office. But, to offset the bad parts I literally had over 100 birthday wishes on Facebook today–overwhelming! I am gobsmacked. Then to come home to a yarn ball cake? Well, is it too corny to say that that was just the icing on the cake?

I feel very loved tonight, even if I feel a little older. So, I guess I’d better sign off and get to bed–the beauty sleep is getting harder to come by at my age.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to drop me a note and think of me today. It was wonderful. I love you all!

Not Yet!

Next week is my birthday. It’s not one which some would call a, “major birthday,” but for some reason I’ve been having a hard time with the very idea of it. I guess, technically, one could be no more squarely in the middle of middle age as I am, officially, right now. I think I fear getting old. I don’t think the prospects of aging gracefully are looking too good for me right now. But, this depressing little digression is not the point of today’s post.

For the longest time I’ve always had trouble saying what I want for my birthday. Sure, I usually come up with something, but it is a question I dread from my loved ones each year. This year was no different, but then last week it hit me. One of my favorite things that I own is my digital camera, which, literally, gets nearly daily use. My camera is a really nice one, but now it is a few years old. And, the technology has improved a lot in the last few years. So, even though it feels frivolous, when my husband asked me this year what I wanted for my birthday, I told him that I’d like to upgrade my camera.

He readily agreed, and three days later, voila! Amazon delivered.

It’s the Canon PowerShot SX20IS Digital Camerawhich is an upgrade of my older camera. It has twice as many megapixels, can use a larger SD card, is even more light sensitive, has a longer zoom, has a hot shoe, and can shoot HD movies. Those are just a few of the new or improved features. I’ve liked this camera because even though it is a digital camera that can be used as a point and shoot, it does so much more, and allows me to make all kinds of adjustments for different photo effects. I especially loved that my camera was really light sensitive, meaning that I can take indoor photographs without having to use the flash very often. This is important for photographing yarn, as regular readers of this blog will know that I do quite regularly. I really don’t like using the flash because I love the effects of natural light and the prettier colors and skin tones that I can achieve.

So the camera arrived yesterday, and even though it wasn’t my birthday for nearly a week, I had to open the box. My husband didn’t really expect that I would wait! He knows me too well. Much of the camera feels familiar, though it is slightly larger and considerably heavier. It has many of the same functions and works a lot the same way as my older camera, given that they are close relatives, and yet, I found myself getting frustrated with the minor changes and having to slow down on the learning curve. But, here it is only a day later, and I’m already getting the hang of it. I think I’m going to love this camera as much as I loved its predecessor. Here’s one of the first pictures I took with it:

I keep thinking of the great Erma Bombeck, who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?. The cover of that book, when I had it as a kid, had cherries in the background.

So then, to add to the birthday joy, my mother-in-law called this afternoon and asked if she and the F-I-L could come by tonight to celebrate my birthday, since they’re getting ready to go out of town. We had just been planning to have pizza and an easy night anyway, so I invited them to join us. She brought cake! It was my favorite cake from the local Amish market. And then they presented me with this:

Yarn! Can you believe it? They went on a European holiday this spring, and while visiting in the Netherlands, they came across a lady selling yarn in a market. My mother-in-law said she saw the woman making a scarf with this very yarn and she thought it was neat and that I’d like it. She took a picture of that scarf in progress to show me. it sort of knits up in solid pink and rainbow multi stripes. I think I will enjoy knitting this!

Of course, Tegan had to check out the yarn for herself:

Finally, here is the first movie from my new camera. It’s nothing special, except that last week when I was at the Amish Farmer’s Market I fell in love with these really large wind chimes. They sound like bells, and are perfectly tuned to each other so that they actually make music when they move. They’re stunning.

That, or I’m easy to please.

Blog Week Day 7: Yarn Love

Wow… today is the last day of Blog Week! I am sad to see it end, but, at the same time, I confess that I am a bit relieved as well. I never have been a daily blogger, and I have no intention of maintaining this week’s hectic pace. In fact, most of the time I don’t have nearly enough to say, so it has been very helpful to have pre-defined topics. If Blog week ever happens again, so long as it’s not next week? I’m definitely in.

I think today’s topic, “A Good Yarn,” which is kinda sorta supposed to be about a favorite yarn, is one of the hardest so far to write. How do I choose a favorite? Isn’t that like trying to choose a favorite child, or a favorite flavor of ice cream?

The truth is, I never met a yarn I didn’t like. I love them all, for different reasons. I have knit with everything from the cheapest dishcloth cotton to the yummiest of cashmere. I admit that I have not tried quiviut yarn yet, because at roughly $90 an ounce, I can’t afford to fall in love with it! I even must confess that–don’t tell anyone, please–I don’t hate acrylic yarn. In fact, before I became a knitter, I don’t think it occurred to me that I would ever want to knit with anything other than acrylic, mostly because of the ease of care.

But, I have changed my ways. I have so many types of yarn in my stash now, that acrylic is probably the least among them. So, when I looked around to determine a favorite yarn, if I could possibly have such a thing, it was a good, basic wool.

One such example is Cascade 220. I call it my Workhorse Yarn, because there’s almost nothing that can’t be made with it. I love it for hats, because the wool is so warm. And I love it that it comes in so many wonderful colors. It’s like having the whole Crayola Big Box. Didn’t you feel special when you knew that you had all the colors? That’s kinda how I feel about Cascade. I have collected the colors over time and I love having so many to choose from, no matter what whim hits me when I want to knit something. I especially love hitting the once-a-year Webs sale, when this yarn becomes especially affordable. (Pssst… in case you didn’t know, that sale is on… NOW!)

There are other yarns that also are good, sturdy wools I love. Most notably, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which is a fabulous wool at a fabulous price, and Brown Sheep Lambs Pride, which contains a little bit of mohair. This is my favorite yarn for making my felted hats, as the mohair gives a slight fuzzy halo to the hats. I think the mohair adds to the elegance of the felted items.

This weekend was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, which is my favorite event of the year. The weather was about as hot as I ever remember for this early in May, but I was really thankful that it wasn’t raining. I saw lots of friends, enjoyed great food, heard some fabulous traditional music, and oh, yes, some yarn followed me home. I’m still working on my photos from the event but I hope you’ll be hearing more about that in the next day or so. Until then, I bid you goodnight.

A Box Full O’ Pretty

Yesterday, I was excited to receive a box full of new yarns from Knit Picks!

When Stroll Tonals became available last week, I had to order some! Now, I know y’all have heard me say that I am NOT a sock knitter. But, how could I not love this yarn? For me, it’s all about the colors. In fact, I loved the colors so much that I had a bit of trouble narrowing down my color selections. So, I got eight hanks. That sounds like a lot, but I have plans for them.

Left to right are Royalty, Blue Violet, Blue Yonder, and Deep Waters.

Left to right are Summer Blooms, Queen Anne, Golden Glow, and Springtime.

So, what’s a not-sock-knitter supposed to do with such lovely sock yarns? Well. for starters I’m thinking of a couple of really adorable baby sets, with sweaters, hats,and yes, matching socks. I still have to do some sketching and planning, but I’m seeing a couple of things in my head right now that I think would make really cute baby sets.

Then, you know what else I’m thinking? Socks. Yep… socks. Soft and squishy socks with lovely contrasting heels and toes. Maybe even socks for me. How about that?

If I didn’t have a sweater to finish first, I’d start now. I love this yarn. It’s so… pretty.

Thanks, Knit Picks. You got me. Again.

A Comfy Pillow…

The sight of this photo is going to make cat lovers say, “awww!” But I know all you Yarnies out there are cringing.This is Tegan, my 16-year-old tabby, curled up on my desk. In a pile of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. My DH quipped that Tegan probably thought my mohair needed “mo’ hair” in it. But alas, this is a definite testament to the yarn’s softness, that she would choose it for a pillow. She’s still sleeping on it now, and I fear that her individually uniquely stripey hairs are now permanently entwined into it.

Perhaps, in a weird way, this isn’t an entirely bad thing. Tegan is my little shadow and when I am home, she is rarely away from my side. It has always been this way, much to the chagrin of our other cat, but she is my constant companion. Many mothers I know complain that they can’t get peace, even in the bathroom, for their kids following them in there. For me, it’s the cat. She’s always on my desk pawing at me for attention, and constantly walking across my keyboard if I don’t respond fast enough (“fast enough” being a half a second shorter than, “now!”). Of course walking across the keyboard over and over again can cause havoc, especially when I’m trying to code HTML or something, and often I find myself saying something cross in exasperation.

Tegan is getting older now, and she is thin and not in the greatest health. We do our best to provide for her needs as an elderly member of our family, but we know that the day is coming that I won’t have the constant meowing in my ear or the special coding generated by kitty paws taking yet another stroll across my keyboard. I know that I shall miss her terribly, but at least now I know that someday soon I will have a Kid Mohair wrap to snuggle up with and always remember her. And I am sure I’ll be forever finding tan and black individually striped hairs… and I shall smile when I do.

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