Free Patterns

My mum sent me these 2 sites this week. Really good selection of patterns:

• Faery Crafty


• It's a Wrap

Spring Fever

Can you tell that I'm anxious to knit, garden and post entries? That's Spring fever baby! Work is boring, yet stressful. The class is a never ending amount of work. Who would have thought that a course with only 4 students would take up so much time! I've really enjoyed the students despite the extra work. And, I'd be fully prepared if I was asked to teach the class again. Despite these factors, I am sooo ready for the END OF THE SEMESTER! :)

My summer plans include trekking to fiber festivals, knitting up a ton of summer garments and expanding my garden. I'm also thinking of a retreat to the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. Although the classes look amazing, what really caught my eye was the wonderful menu they offer. Hello cheddar scrambled eggs with home fried potatoes and garlic shrimp served over couscous!

Hopefully the man sweater will be a finished object by May. Here is the current progress. Much to my surprise (and disappointment), the hubby has a very long torso and arms. I'm still in stockinette land.


I'm currently typing outside on a beautiful 60 degree morning, procrastinating about preparing a lecture for this week's class. The Sea Silk is calling me away from stockinette. "Susan, knit me into a beautiful shawl. Don't worry about class this week. Knit, knit, knit!!'

Happy Sunday.

Catching Up

Photos from the latest finished objects and other things!

The GGH eyelet scarf!


New ball winder courtesy of the hubby



Noro Iroha Capelet from Wrap Style


Finally, yarn! Sea Silk, some homespun from Ireland and the wool for the hubby's sweater

4 Years and Counting - How Do You Feel About the War?

Road Trip?

Anyone interested in carpooling on these trips, let me know!
Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival
Maryland Sheep & Wool

I'm there!!

thank you

Thank you to everyone who emailed or posted a sympathy note. Hugs to you all! I appreciate your kind words! It was a tough week, but we're getting through it. Roxy left us some really good karma :)

I have been knitting up a storm which has been very comforting. I'm nearly done with the body of Ben's plain ole sts sweater. Yay! And, I'm starting on another capelet (haven't even shown you all the one I completed out of Noro!) from the Wrap Style book. I also want to make the Dog's Steal Yarn Traveling Vines Scarf out of the gorgeous Handmaiden Sea Silk I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Wow is this a beautiful yarn! I'll post pix when I get home.

Roxanne

Yesterday goes down as one of the most difficult days of my life. My baby kitten of 17 years died around 3:30pm yesterday afternoon. Roxy - my spunky, somewhat grumpy tigress and I were together for 16 years - half my life. Although I know it was humane to put her out of her misery - she had a bad back and arthritis and was not cleaning herself anymore - I still can't get over the fact that she's no longer with us. Every time I come around the corner, I expect Roxy to be there. Every time I go into the kitchen, I hear her meow. Ben & I have a small shrine in the dining room - really an incense holder and some smooth rocks we've collected from our trips to Oregon and California. To honor Roxy, we placed a picture of her there this morning. We're not that religious, but I hope in some spiritual way it honors her and our tribute helps her into the next world. Ben wrote up a nice obit for her yesterday when I was too upset to call or write anyone who knew her:

At about 3:30 this afternoon Roxanne Cat passed away. She was ~17+ years old and is survived by a mother, father and a few odd stains. She was affectionately known as "The Cheet" (short for cheetah) because of her flesh from bone rending left hook. I first meet her on August 26, 2000 when I picked Susan up for our first date. All I saw was a flash of black and white making a beeline to the bedroom. Over the past six and half years I have spent a lot of time getting to know her and will miss her dearly; to say nothing of the loss that Susan will feel.

Ben

Needless to say, she will be sorely missed.

Working, Knitting, Traveling

It's been a crazy Spring. Not only do I have an insane full-time job (which is the job of about 5 people), but I'm teaching a graduate level course this semester too. What was I thinking! I was at a conference last week (Code4Lib - see the Van4Lib and Code4Lib photos) and realized how old and crotchety I'm becoming. Yes folks, 35 has already been a life changing year. I mentioned to one of my fellow Van4Libbers that I feel like I'm getting stupider as I get older too - I suspect that this has something to do with technology and the fact that the more I use it the worse my self-diagnosed ADD becomes. Does anyone else spend hours on the Web looking at stupid rabbit cartoons and open at least 40 Firefox tabs in any 1 session? As much as I love the Web, maybe my colleague is correct in that it's making us dumb (this should spark some comments :). I can't get away from it either! I'm a Web Apps Manager for goodness sake! I did decide at the conference that while I really enjoy working in the academic environment, I'm doggone tired. I think that a long vacation is in order. (But, Susan, didn't you just go to Prague? Yes, I did, but I already need a another vacation!) Maybe a yoga and yarn retreat?

Despite my ADD and inability to concentrate on technology, I have been knitting fairly consistently (Photos to be posted later). I finally (drum roll please) finished the GGH lace scarf I worked on for almost a year and a half. I also just finished a capelet from Wrap Style using Noro Aroha. And, I'm almost down to the body of Ben's sweater (oh my gosh, I've never knit so much sts in my life!).

This weekend Ben and I are off to our favorite state park (no, I won't tell you where it is because you'll fall in love with it too ) to stay in our special 1930s cabin. I can't wait - nothing to do but knitting, hiking and watching Poirot on my lappy. Hopefully, we'll see some wildlife since Spring is right around the corner.

Happy March 9th to everyone!