by Sarah

New Sweater...

And I didn't knit it.  Jody had an awesome henley sweater from Eddie Bauer on our trip to Rhinebeck.  She said she got it on sale, and after a little sleuthing, I found they had a couple left.  Mine came in the mail on Thursday, and I am considering never taking it off!!

It is 59% cotton, 31% nylon and 10% angora.  SO SOFT.  QUITE WARM.  Extra comfy.
The pattern is waffle henley sweater.  There are still a couple left for only $11.99.  Check out the Eddie Bauer Clearance Page for more details.  (NO, I DO NOT WORK FOR THEM; I JUST REALLY LIKE THE SWEATER.)

I took some time to go down to the Cape this weekend with the Murph as well as a human friend - my boss.  Hopefully one of us will remember to take some pictures of our adventures to share with you.  Stay tuned!

More Scrappy Socks...

Scrappy Socks #1 are coming out cool, and you might have noticed I named them #1. 

I enjoyed digging through my leftover sock yarn basket so much, I thought I'd make some plainer scrappy socks - maybe stripes or blocks - to combine some of my other leftovers.  So far, I have come up with 9 possible combination, just by dumping out the basket!  Which ones would you knit up first?  I'm leaning towards the first combo in a stripey pattern.  The orange came out a little brighter in the picture than it is in person, and I think it will go perfect with the long color repeats of the trekking that include various blues and oranges.  Which combo do you think I should knit up first?  (You know, after I finish the 3 other pairs of socks I have going on right now.)

Do you feel inspired to dig through your own yarn ends?  Let me know what you decide to make!

In other news, I went to yoga again last night...and I am really enjoying the progression of my practice.  In an effort not to bore those of you who come here for crafting p*rn...I have made my yoga ramblings a whole 'nother page.  Check it out here.

Addicted...and a proposition...

First, I am addicted to working on these scrappy colorwork socks.  I started them on Tuesday, and they are just flying along as I race to get to the next color.  The only slow part was the two color ribbing.  I might also observe that the ribbing isn't actually that stretchy.  This is a free pattern on ravelry - the ravelry pattern does not use scraps, just two balls of yarn.

And now, here's my proposition:

My sister sent me a book club CHAIN LETTER.  I have to send one book to the person on the back of the letter (done), and then I will send on 6 letters so my sister gets 6 books.  Now I have done my share of chain letters, back in the day (when I was like 12), but I hate asking people to do them, cause nobody really wants to, or does.  SO, instead of perpetuating the letter, I am offering this:

Do you read?  Do you have a good used book lying around your house that you'd like to pass on?  Leave me a comment telling me you want to participate.  YOU send my sister your used book, and I will send you a little crafty gift.  That way she gets her book, and I don't have to perpetuate the chain letter.  (I will email you more details.)  The letter said 6, but I will leave the comments open for the first 10 (yes I am completely delusional) people who want to play.

I Made Birthday Cake...

I wanted to give a little something to a couple of my crafty friends for their birthdays.  So I decided to make them cakes...

Debbie's is Yarn:

And Sue's is Fiber:

I even got out my stamping stuff and hand made the cards.  I hope they enjoy these low-cal treats as much as I enjoyed making them!

Its Tuesday, and I'm a little sore.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about yoga.

*

Partially because of the way it makes my body feel after I have completed my practice (sore but good all at the same time), but also because it helps to rest my mind when I am thinking about too many things at once.  Since I am an uber-multitasker at home and at work (as if you couldn't tell from my post about what I was going to do last weekend), I love having this tiny bit of quiet time.  Spinning also does this for me, but without the benefit of sore muscles, so probably yoga is a better way to achieve this kind of peace for me, at least part of the time.

I have been practicing yoga with a friend of mine. She offers a small class from her home, and I really enjoy her teaching style.  Her classes were great to begin with, and get better and better every week as she sharpens her teaching style.  I am so glad she is sharing her knowledge with us.

The Thursday class has been prompting me to practice more.  A little on my own, and I have been trying centers closer to my home, but not enjoying their style of teaching very much.  Last night I went to a place I did like. Eyes of the World in Providence.  The center is spacious and has a good energy to it.  They provide cushions for meditation, and last night we used both blocks and straps in our fundamentals class.  It wasn't the most fun class I have ever taken, but I got a good workout, and I liked the message of the class.  It was "this too."  This too is part of my yoga practice, even if I don't like holding the pose for 12 breaths.  This too is part of my yoga practice, even if I am unfamiliar with doing this position with a strap, and it feels awkward. 

I liked the message, and I am carrying it out of the class and into the rest of my life.  This too is part of my day (laundry) this too is part of my work (cleaning up my office)...it will be an interesting experiment, embracing all the crap I don't really like to do.  I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime...

I'm wearing my Rhinebeck socks today:

They're fabulous!

*You will have to be content with a picture of my down-dog instead of my downward-facing-dog, as he only does that stretch once a day, when he first gets up, and the camera is never ready for him. :)

this weekend...

I did read that novel...Friday night.  It was quite trashy, and I enjoyed it.

But I did get some other stuff done this weekend too:

I finished my Rhinebeck souvenir socks.  Doing an afterthought heel left a nice uninterrupted strip on the front.

I put away the outside furniture for the winter.  And discovered a mouse in the empty shed.  It was scary for both of us.

I planted a small bed of garlic (about 20 plants).  It still needs to be mulched over, but I am waiting until I mow the lawn/leaves and will dump a couple of bags on top of the bed.

I planted this summer's strawberry plants that lived in pots at my mom and grandmas into a bed.  Hopefully some of them will make it through the winter.  If you look carefully, you will see I am also trying to winter my rosemary plant in the lower right hand corner of the bed.  Likely it will die if I leave it outside, but even MORE likely, it will die if I bring it inside.  I think the only reason it has survived is sheer neglect on my part.

I excavated some of the rotten stump left by a tree that fell in my yard a few weeks ago so the fence can be installed straighter.  Imagine my surprise when I realized the tree grew up around an old iron fence pole!

I also went to visit my parents on the Cape on Saturday evening, took murph for a hike, and helped my aunt with the finishing work on her sweater.  Alas, no pictures.  The hike was really pretty too.  Maybe I'll remember my camera next time!

Hope you all had a relaxing and/or productive weekend.  Whichever you wanted.  :)

Dinner Treat...

Really, a good anytime treat:

I bought a hand thrown ceramic apple-baker at Rhinebeck - mostly because I love the glaze. 
Deciding I had better put it to good use, I devised this recipe on Thursday evening for an after-yoga dinner treat.

Core 1 large apple
Put in apple baker (or oven safe bowl of your choice)
Drizzle with real maple syrup (I used about a teaspoon), a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of uncooked oatmeal.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.
Serve topped with fresh yogurt.

Yum!

weekend plans...

You know, I was making my plans for this weekend, and I decided:

I want to spin.
In fact I have 8 oz gorgeous dyed merino roving I picked up at rhinebeck, AND 1.5 lbs of merino wool I carded up.  I want to spin them BOTH.  right away.
and sew up some christmas presents I have in the back of my mind.
and quilt on my black and white quilt.
and warp up my macomber loom so I can weave.
and finish up some of my knitting wips.
and work on my new sweater I cast on right before I went away last week.
and finish knitting  my second rhinebeck sock.

I also want to clean my house.
and mow the lawn.
and plant the garlic and strawberries I dug the beds out for a couple of weeks ago.
and put the rest of the gardens to bed for the winter.

Probably I will just read a trashy novel instead.

Anyone else?  What are YOUR weekend plans?  What will you not be doing?

Fun Rhinebeck Weekend...

I had an amazing trip visiting with Jody and Jolene.  We went to Webs, we went to Rhinebeck, we went to New Paltz.  For really great pictures, visit Jody's flickr.

No pictures from Webs, but I took a couple of pictures of the featured breed at Rhinebeck, the Leicester Longwool:

On Monday, before we drove back to RI, we visited Historic Huguenot Street in New Paultz. The buildings were cool, but the old graveyard with all its autumn leaves that took the best picture for me:

We all bought a skein of Socks that Rock Mill Ends. Here is my first completed sock. Its stockinette with an afterthought heel so I could keep the striping pattern on the top of the sock.

Off on a little trip...

Morgan packed herself right in the top of my Rhinebeck project bag tonight.

She won't actually be coming along, but I'll see you there!