A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

And we have a F.O.!!!

The shetland shawl is done! Washed, blocked and ready to wear!

Just in time for the cooler weather!

Now with that done it will be easier for me to focus on the patterns I’m working on. You know how it is, when your inches away from finishing something that you have been working on for months it makes it hard to focus on other projects, even ones that you really should be working on!

On to the ponchos. I’ll be finishing up the prototype for the Kids Poncho in Half-n-half next. I just have to dye up the yarn I’ve decided to use for the fringe. Once its done I’ll get some pictures taken and add it to the patterns page I’ll keep you posted on when that happens.

I’m also working on pages for 7 more colorways which should be up and available later today . . . with more to come later in the week!

Oh, I had said I would tell you where we took J for his belated birthday outing on Sunday. We went here:

We took him to Hamilton, MA to Myopia for a polo match! He’s wanted to go for years and we finally got to do it! We had a picnic with all sorts of yummy things, including dessert and espresso! PixieDust came with us, and she won a prize! She picked the right polo ball from a pile of them and got the keep the ball and was given a kids sized polo mallet!

Fun was had by all and we even got to “stomp divets” during the half-time break.

Okay, off to dye a whole lot of yarn to fill the orders that have come in so far! Can’t wait to hear about what you do with it!

Thanks everybody for the feedback about the site! I’ve gone in and changed the links over so they should work for everyone now. . .

I’ve also added 3 more colorways! We now have 10 colorways in 8 yarns and I have more colorways coming over the next few days!

This is so exciting! Its great to finally be able to talk about what I’m really up to; I’m generally about as good at keeping secrets as the average 5 year old, at leat when its my secret!

Today we are taking a friend out for a suprise b-day celebration. The destination is a secret and since he might read this I’ll have to tell you about it after we get back! I’ve still got some prep to do so I’d better run! Have a great day!

Inspirations Yarn featuring Handpainted Colorways in a variety of yarns and patterns to go with the yarns. I have 7 colorways up so far and more coming soon. I’m currently putting the finishing touches on 2 poncho patterns and there are several additional patterns in the works.

The whole thing is so exciting! I have so many ideas for things patterns, for colors and all sorts of other things! Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be adding to what is already available, and of course, I’ll be telling you all about it right here on the blog!

Please stop by and take a look at the site, www.inspirationsyarn.com I’d love to hear what you think of the pages, the yarns and everything to come. Feel free to leave me a note here on the tag board or if you prefer, email me at martheme@inspirationsyarn.com

I would like to take a moment to thank my husband, my best friend and partner the opportunity to follow my dreams. Thank you.

Progress!

Okay, so skein # 5 of the shawl is complete! I’m about to wind off skein # 6 and see if I can get a couple of rows done today . . .

I’m also hoping to do a few rounds of the pink sock today. I’m eager to get both the sock and the shawl finished, in part because I’d like to be able to use both (yes, I’m actually knitting 2 things for myself at the same time, imagine that!) and also because I’d like to move on to the other two projects that are next in line.

We had a lot of rain last night, but the tomato plants seem to love it. They are both positively enormous! I’ve got about 2/3 of a gallon jar of dried tomatoes so far and once that jar is full I’m planning to can the rest for sauce. It will be interesting to see just how many jars I wind up with by the end of the season.

Good thing we like to eat lots of tomatoes around here. Sounds like we may need them as a substitute vitamin C source with what has happened in Florida I think we may be cutting back on the Oj around here!

Okay, DH has to work this afternoon so I’m off to fix him some lunch, hmm speaking of tomato sauce . . . .

I got a library card!

Okay, not a big deal, but DH has been trying to get me to use our local library for some time. He doesn’t understand why I buy my books . . . I’ve had a card for the Boston Public Library for years, and I do use it from time to time.

This, however is a card for our local library. I took Pixie Dust to pick up a book for school. (Thank you Bess for the suggestions, she picked McCarthy’s Abigail Adams.) Unfortunately, I have to report that my local library is the saddest, most pathetic library I have ever been inside of! Very, very disappointing. It was dirty, dusty, books lying on the floor, tossed aside in a corner. A librarian who couldn’t find the book we were looking for, on a shelf only about 3ft long.

For perspective, the town I grew up in has a terrific library. When I was a kid my Dad used to take us at least weekly if not more often and I had my own library card at age 4. Here is the library that set the standard in my mind for what a local library should be, the Sawyer Free Library. So how does one go about improving ones library without trying to take it over or anything?

Knitting content:

So I’ve updated my planned list of projects to reflect yesterdays thought on the subject. Of course, that was before my trip to the LYS yesterday . . . . I was fairly restrainted, since I really, really don’t need more yarns. I did by “The Knit Stitch” by Sally Melville. And yes, I’m planning an Einstein Coat, finally. They had one knit up at the store which is what made me ask, I’ve got this yarn, its a handspun romney, a bit course, but something that I’ve wanted to make a jacket out of for a while now. Of Course, I don’t have enough of it spun for the jacket yet, but I certainly have enough of the fiber left to finish up enough for the coat. I’ve been planning to dye the yarn red and that happened to be the color of the sample jacket they had in the store. . . . So now I have to decide where in the order of things the coat will fit.

I’m thinking, since I’ll need to finish the spinning and to dye the yarn, I may try it either after DH’s sweater or after the Liv, depending on how I do with the spinning. Not that I’m in a hurry or anything, but it might be a nice thing to have over the winter . . .

Hint on the picture from the other day: Amie: Good guess, but its not soy silk. It is yarn. Almost 90 lbs of it actually . . . . Big things are coming very, very soon!