If It's Tuesday, We Must Be Knitting

One of the best things I did last year was to start a weekly knitting group at one of the local cafes.
At first, it was just me, knitting away, but I knew it was just a matter of time before others would join me and they did. Most weeks, we can fit around a table, but other times, the crowd overflows. Most of the faces are familiar, regulars from the monthly meetings of the Wild Woolly Women, but new ones keep popping up.

Marianne, the owner of the cafe, has been extremely supportive of our group. She is not a knitter--and we keep threatening to pin her down to teach her--but she owns a herd ofalpacas and sells her yarn in the shop.

Last month, a young mother with her three homeschooled youngsters started coming. Her children are only eight, six and four years of age, but they sit for an hour and work on their own projects. We love watching the progress they make from week to week, but I sense them watching ours, as well. The oldest, a girl, has fine rosewood needles that she received as a birthday gift and she looks so sweet as she knits along on her scarf. The oldest boy works with a pair of needles that he made himself from dowel rods. The points are nicely carved, not too sharp, and the ends are acorn caps. The youngest hasn't really shown an interest in knitting and he usually draws marvelous, colorful pictures. One our members is a retired school teacher and she loves to help them with their projects.

A Smalltown Christmas

Here are a few holiday scenes from the lovely little town where we live.

October Girl Wears February Lady

My February Lady is finished and here's a photo of Julie modelling it for me. This has been one of the best projects I've ever done and I wouldn't have made it at all if Marnie, from Frivolous Fibers hadn't had the sample in her shop. She used a cotton blend from Blue Heron and, although it was drop-dead gorgeous, I wasn't in the mood for another cotton project. When she showed me the Dream in Color Classy, it was all over. I was totally in love. I'd heard so much about DIC but had never seen it. I've never seen tonal colorways that were so lively. This one is called, Happy Forest, and it's really quite a bright green but the tones of blue in it keep it from looking like a four leaf clover.

The pattern was also a joy to work with.

Alpaca Lace

Recently, the girls from Stash and Burn reviewed "A Fine Fleece" by Lisa Lloyd and spoke very highly of the patterns, so when I was in one of the big bookstores, I decided to check it out. They were right. The patterns are of a traditional nature--lots of squarish sweaters with Aran type stitch details--and there were only one or two that I couldn't see myself making and wearing. I don't usually buy knitting books but I decided that this one was a good candidate for my library. Here's a photo of the lace scarf I just finished (but haven't blocked) from the book. It's made from the cream colored Suri that I purchased from the alpaca farm.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was perfect. Except for one nephew, all of the family members were present for an amazing dinner made by my dear sister-in-law, Amy. Usually, Paul's mom works with Amy on the meal but this year she's recovering from knee replacement, so she sat on the sidelines and visited. It was great to see her doing so well and looking very happy. The big news this year was Emmitt, my niece's new puppy. Everyone was in love with him and it's easy to see why.

On Friday, Julie and I took a field trip to Furnace Mountain Alpaca Farm in Lovettsville, VA. We'd met the owner, Sharon, at Stitches and, when we realized that she was located so close

to Paul's mom's house, she invited us to come and visit. We learned that, although alpacas tend to be shy, hands-on training makes them more amenable

to visits from strangers. Sharon told us about the different kinds of fibers that each animal produced and that the nature of the fleece changes as the animals mature and produce young. Alpacas don't like to be petted on or about their heads like dogs do, so we "kneaded" the animals softly on their backs, noting how different each one felt. And, in case you think that only dogs do agility, Sharon took one of the adults through her paces on the obstacle course, which included stairsteps and a teeter-totter.


Afterwards, we purchased some alpaca yarn. I got a skein of super-soft Suri in creamy white and a coal black Suri blend, both of which will probably be used for lace scarves. Julie bought two skeins of a lovely cocoa color, also for a scarf. That's the kind of shopping we like to do on Black Friday!