Color Affection Shawl, and Family

Started the Color Affection Shawl at our knitting retreat in Buena Vista.  Good friend and fellow knitter, Christie Ott, showed me the design and I thought it would be a good one to knit as it was pretty mindless but yet fun enough to keep my interest.  Used three different colorways of Madeline Tosh fingering yarn.  Loved the results and will probably cast on a second one. 
Also finished another Coventry sweater at the retreat.  It is a pattern called Chloe by Alana Dakos.  The original pattern was knitted in three different yarns and striped but I decided to go more neutral and added the crocheted flowers that I purchased at Colorful Yarns.  It is a shrug that she can wear for the summer.  Hope to get some photos of her wearing it when we attend my son-in-law, John's, graduation from Creighton.  He is getting his masters degree in business.  Yea! 

The family photos were taken at White Fence Farm at Easter.  The older young man in the photo sitting next to me is my grandson Andrew.  Andrew is a junior this year at CSU, majoring in engineering and computer programming.   The little guy with his face painted as Spider Man is my great grandson, Jackson.  Jackson is majoring in preschool......and is four years old last month.  Love them both.  Boy, how time flies.

Collage

Here are a few photos of what has been going on in my life the last few months. Included are photos from my daughter, son in law and grandchildren, Coventry and Cameron. Also included are a few photos from my Mom's 90th birthday party in California last December. And one little snowman hat I knitted and a onesie I found to match to give to my neighbor who had a baby this Fall.

Pagoda Sweater

It has been awhile since my last post. Life gets busy and between funerals, 90th birthday party for my Mom and holidays, I have not had a chance to post anything. I have been knitting though. Sweaters for Coventry, socks for my Sis, preemie baby clothes for the wee ones at Good Samaritan nursery, and a sweater for me.

I purchased the pattern and yarn at Shuttles last Fall when they had a trunk show for Black Water Abbey. I tried on their model and decided I needed to knit this one. The sweater pattern can be purchased at Black Water Abbey as well as the yarn. The color is called Iris, I believe. I am pleased with the finished sweater although I could of probably knit the very smallest size. It took quite a bit of knitting time as the sleeves are quite full.

Alpaca Fun

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted. I have knit a ton of course but just haven't had a chance to take photos and show you what I have been knitting. I joined a group called "Warm Hearts, Warm Babies". The group meets one Thursday a month at a church in Arvada and takes knitted, crocheted or sewn baby items and delivers them to hospitals, unwed mother's homes, or clinics to distribute to needy Moms. So I have been knitting quite a bit of baby items of late. Have always loved knitting for the "wee ones" and now that my grandkids are getting bigger it gives me a chance to do just that.

This weekend we went to an Alpaca ranch. Who knew that they are located almost in my backyard, right off of Indiana St. The owner, Cheryl, was kind enough to greet us and tell us all about her ranch. They also had beautifully soft alpaca yarn for sale. I bought some bulky weight yarn that came from a cream colored alpaca named Sophie Mae. It was the softest yarn ever. I bought 200 yards, thinking I would knit a hat, but found that I so enjoyed the feel of it that I wanted it even closer to my skin, so it is going to be mittens. Long mittens that will be sure to keep me warm this winter. The pattern I found was a free one on Ravelry, named Lofty Cable Mittens. After reading the comments from other knitters about the pattern running big and knowing that I have itty bitty hands, I changed the needle size from a size 9 to a size 8 for the ribbing and 7 for the remaining pattern. Perfect fit. One down and one to go. The brownish sport weight will be a hat to match a lace scarf I am knitting.

If you ever have a chance to see these beautiful alpaca's, please do so. They have an open house every fall and have invited me to come to there shearing event around Mother's Day in May. Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch, 7870 Indiana St., Arvada, owner Cheryl Keydel.

TNNA

Off to Columbus for my first experience with a needlework tradeshow called TNNA. Yes, yarn and knitting are included. My dear friend, Gail, had asked me to tag along and help her at the booth this year. I had been unable to go the last 2 times she asked due to health issues, mine and my mother in law's, but this time nothing came in the way, and off we went. I met Gail several years ago. She was a neighbor of mine that lived close by and saw me painting screens for an upcoming Lone Tree show that I did every year. We became close friends and she used my painting abilities to come up with stands to display her needlepoint designs. It worked well. Her husband, Ken, hit it off well with my husband, Paul. They have both been engineers at the same company and had similar interests. Since then we have enjoyed each other's company and gone on many trips together, including our last trip to Ireland. Our third, their first.

I enjoyed perusing the aisle after aisle of merchandise. The knitters were mostly on one side of the convention hall and needlework on the other. I made my way to the "other side" when things weren't that busy for Gail and enjoyed seeing what's coming up for the Fall season in knitting yarns and patterns. I also ran into Allegra and Marly Bird, they were checking things out as well for their upcoming designs.

On Friday night we went to "Sample It". It is a one hour free for all held in an enormous room. The distributors select an item that they sell at a great price to all who attend. It was my one chance to buy, as the show itself is only for retailers. I managed to find some great deals and bought a wonderful set of interchangeable circulars and yarn to make a shawl. I had some how lost my knitting that I brought on the plane to Columbus and I was itching to knit "something"........I also purchased a lovely Atenti bag. The photos are of Gail in her Artists Collection booth and the some of the wooden stands I paint. Also there is a photo of the goods I brought back. All together, it was a great time. Tired, but happy.....

Coventry and Shamus

Here is my grandaughter, Coventry, modeling the cardigan I knit her from Interweave magazine. It fit her just great and she seemed to be pleased wearing it.

The cat in my knitting stand is Shamus. I had just emptied the stand of much of it's contents and he made himself at home right away. Who needs that old yarn in there anyway........

Ireland Revisited

It was our third trip back to the emerald isle. It had been sixteen years since we had been there last and much had changed. Ireland had gone from a poor economy to prosperity and back to the poor economy again. As we visited Dublin, I could see many of the properties with "For Let" signs on them. Much like our stagnant real estate market in the U.S. But I could also see many new homes that had been built during their prosperous years in many of the towns we visited. It had become much like our suburbia. Lost was some of the charm I saw years ago. What wasn't lost was the warmth of the people in Ireland. It will always reamain one of the friendliest places I know. I reunited with a pub singer in Dunmore, Ritchie Roberts. He came out to our hotel on our second trip to Ireland to entertain us when we couldn't make it to Farley's Tavern in Passage East. He still has a wonderful tenor voice and it was magical to hear him sing once again. I only managed to find one dedicated yarn shop in Killarney, wouldn't you know it, it was closed when we were there. Oh well, there may be a 4th visit someday.