Thursday, December 27, 2012

Winter Wonderland

Lovely snowfall
Pretty tree
We are experiencing our first winter storm of the year.  It has been snowing steadily since 10:30 last night.  This is fine with me as I am ready to have a quiet day at home, slowly taking care of all the lovely remains of Christmas. Not for me is the custom of stripping the tree bare and heaving it out the door on the 26th.  Nor have I frozen all the goodies so that I don't eat them all at once.  Instead, I have gathered up all the burnable materials and taken them out to the barn to await my New Year's Eve bonfire.
Drank more coffee.  Ate some gingerbread warm with butter.  And a couple of cookies. Put all the Christmas lights on.  Then sat down here to write a bit.
As an end of the year musing I thought I would let you know "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say.  When I left you last, I was looking forward to giving some spinning lessons to a woman.  I did just that, as best I could, with the result of her becoming enthusiastic enough to go in search of a wheel to practice on.  After the New Year I hope to get together with her again.
In August I had mentioned that I thought the hen we call "Baby" was becoming an egg eater.  Well,  after being very vigilant with collecting eggs and getting her to stay outdoors as much as possible, the egg eating pretty much stopped, so we kept her.  She is still the odd chick out.  There appears to be something wrong with her that the other hens know about (and I do not) as they shun her all the time.  Since early summer she has had a rock hard abdomen which is not the norm.  And as far as I know, she has never laid an egg, although I must admit to not always knowing which egg comes from which hen. At any rate, her unusual condition doesn't stop her from doing all the normal hen things, so I just keep an eye on her and life goes on.
Baby
I sold my slouch hat at one of the craft fairs we did this fall.  The second skip-it and dodge-it scarf was woven,  although I never took any photos of it.   We had pretty good craft fair experiences.  I spun and knit and wove things for Christmas, but didn't take any pictures of those items, either!  So now it is on to finishing things and starting things.  I am determined to finish the sweater I started last year, for one.
Start of sweater Feb. 2012
We will see if I continue this blog in 2013.  I began when it was suggested that having a blog is a good marketing ploy if you are an Etsy seller.  However, only one of my Etsy sales could be linked to this!  So I am not sold on that concept.   The thing is, it gets habit forming.  Well, time will tell.  Meanwhile may you all have a Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Skip-Its and Dodge-Its

Close up of the colors
Hard to capture the beauty of it
When I was a young mother and lived in the village, my next door neighbor (as you may recall from an earlier post) was Mrs. Lulek.  Whenever she was having leftovers for supper, she always said that she was going to feed Mr. Lulek "skip-its and dodge-its".  So when I had a creative fiber rush, that was the phrase that stuck with me, as I had a desire to make something from these lovely leftover yarns from various projects.  Leftovers being the operative term.  And so I got out the warping board, and after carefully measuring all the bits and pieces, proceeded to throw out all my careful planning and just went with the rush. The result is this lovely scarf, woven of all these soft and shimmery bits of past projects.    I got it off the loom, washed and fulled it, only to fall madly in love with it while it was drying.  Dutifully I sewed on my label and the washing instructions, all the while wondering how I was going to actually sell this piece.   It is so soft!  It has all these great colors in it.  It has shimmers!
Guess what?  I don't have to sell it at all.  It belongs to me.  Goes perfectly with my black dress coat, my purple polar fleece, my green long sleeve tee, my light blue winter jacket.....it has to be mine!  Mine mine mine.  All mine.
But I will make another scarf for the shop.  I promise.  It can be a skip-it and dodge-it one of my leftover yellow/brown palette.  And it, too, will be lovely.

I did get the write ups done for the shawl that was finished in August.  Now that is in the shop.
Shawl from the summer
There was also time to knit up and also write about the fingerless gloves and the slouch hat.  So they are in the shop also.
Lace fingerless gloves

Slouch hat
Tomorrow I give a first lesson to a woman on how to spin on a spinning wheel.  She is very excited so I hope that I meet her expectations.  It promises to be a lot of fun.
Now I have to go do some spinning, for you see my feverish little brain is going to be working overtime.   It has something to do with the shorter days and longer nights, coupled with starting the wood furnace.  So many ideas!  Such a great time of year to do them all!



Saturday, October 6, 2012

October!

 How did it get to be October already?  We are in the midst of a rainy bit right now.  That affects the color of the trees in that they seem to be a little dull.  However, when the sun shines, that changes everything.
A golden carpet

I am still hoping for a little red and orange to be added to the color scheme, but that usually doesn't happen until we get a frost.  Which isn't going to come any time soon.  The rain has also brought out a lot of mushrooms.
These look like they belong in a fairy tale

This one is very cool



































We've also had some lovely end of the season blooms.
My favorite

All of this nature excitement hasn't deterred me from fiber.  I made a sweet little slouch hat in a lace pattern out of a very soft gray alpaca blend.  Then, being in the lace mode, designed and knit a pair of fingerless gloves using a pattern from an old treasury of stitches. As we are gearing up for Town Wide Yard Sale next weekend,  I felt that a few extra things on hand would not be a bad idea.  Gloria has been under the weather lately and not able to do a lot of physical activity, which, while not a good thing, has given her lots of time to spin and knit, so we should have a good showing.  Thankfully she is on the mend and feeling better.  Her crias, born this summer, are all getting big.  
Some lovely future fiber producers
Soon: frosts, cold nights, woodstoves, planting bulbs and moving plants.  And much spinning, weaving, and knitting.  I love the fall!  

Saturday, September 15, 2012

September Joy

The happy couple
Today is a very happy day in our Roberts' family.  Our niece Kathleen is getting married this afternoon.  It promises to be a very lovely wedding, with the reception taking place at a beautiful country inn.  The happiest part for me and my gang is that our son Jesse is here for the festivities with his long time girlfriend who we are all meeting for the first time.  They reside out in Wisconsin which doesn't allow for many visits home.  He has been gleefully dragging Lisha all over the countryside to show her his hometown, his state, and most importantly, his sisters.  We plan on all being up at Becca and Kevin's tomorrow for a family day.
Two years ago, Becca and Kevin

And I did finish the throw.  It ended up being about 60" long with 5" of fringe on either end that I knotted.  It is about 29" wide.  The take in on the edges was greater than I expected, but I think the overall proportions are fine.  I was very pleased with the final product.


The throw

My weekend at Merck Forrest was very nice.  I had a lot of questions to answer, which was the whole reason why I was there.  The set up was such that folks got to watch the dogs round up the sheep, then they could see the sheep get sheared, the fleece get skirted, and then come along to see the spinning. I brought the drum carder to let the kids get a chance to have a 'hands on' part of it.  That went really well.  The center is extreemely well thought out.  I was very impressed with it.  No sales, but that didn't surprise me as there were no other vendors except for food, so it wasn't as if people were there to buy stuff.  More importantly, it gave me exposure, resulting in a woman who wishes me to teach her spinning.  That will be very exciting as she wants the whole thing--from washing the fleece to the end.  We will start lessons in October, which gives me time to figure out a lesson plan.
Yes, a very joyful time, this September.   Cool weather,  changing leaves--sweater time!
My wheel and stuff in the Sugar House


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Slipping Out of Summer

The summer is certainly slipping by at an alarming rate.  The children in our town are all going back to school next week.  In the old days, that was always a hard time for me as I loved having them home all day.  It was such fun to shed the rigid schedule that school imposed on us.  And I loved the break, from, of all things, packing lunches everyday!  However, the reality was that by this time we were all ready for the routine again that we were so eager to escape.  Annie was the only one who never wanted to go ---not even to see her friends.  I don't think she ever liked school at all until she reached college.
Annie, where she'd rather be than school


Mama Hen did not produce any chicks.  Shortly after the last post I had to put her back into the cage as another hen was trying to lay her eggs in Mama's nest.  Once in the cage she abandonded the remaining egg and after two days of sitting on nothing at the back of the enclosure she was ready to rejoin the flock.  My next dilemma in the chicken world is that I have discovered that "Baby", who always is hanging around the nest boxes, yet never apparently laying, has actually been eating the eggs she finds. So!  As this Will Not Do, the only recourse is The Pot.  She never appears to lay, avoids the rooster like crazy and is the lowest in the peck order, consequently, The Pot seems my only option.  Or clipping her beak, which I do not intend to try.


Had a quiet day at East Poultney Day.  The rain held off until the afternoon, but it was so hot and sultry that not many people were out and about.  The good part of the day was that I was contacted by a young woman about doing a spinning demonstation at a two day sheep dog trial.  This will be September 8 and 9 at Merck Forrest.  It's exciting to me as I love to talk about the craft, its importance in the past and its place in the future.  I have never done a solo thing before this.  It is an exciting challenge.  Fortuately I am almost done spinning my warp for the wedding present and will be able to concentrate on getting ready for Merck.

Jeff's garden 
Now comes the lull before the storm of tomatoes and garden produce.  It has been dry enough that things were slow coming.  Just enough to keep eating fresh.  Soon, very soon, all that will change and I will be busy canning and freezing.  Which is another whole creative process I enjoy.  Eat  your veggies!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Once More, With Feeling

I don't know what it is, but my poor Mama Hen has it badly.  She is broody yet again.  I guess she just wants babies!  The first indication I had was Friday afternoon when I went to check that the coop was set for the night.  There she was, in the nest box.  I removed her, took the egg, and since all the other girls were outside, put her out and shut the door.  When I opened it again to let everyone in for the night, she went on the roost, but in the morning was in the box again.  Well, Saturday we were hosting a big Bash for my niece and her fiance, so I knew I couldn't be fussing with her.  I left her to her own devices, taking the egg that Goldie laid that morning into the house, keeping it at room temperature until I could decide what to do with Mama.
What she must be longing for
Sunday, after the festivities were over, I had Jeff help me put the big cage that I use for chicks into the barn, outfitting it with a nest box and then I put the Goldie egg in it.  After putting Mama on the nest I was glad to see her settle right down on it.  However, I left the door open and, next thing I know, there she is, back in the coop on "her" nest.  I put her back in the cage, shut the door, check on her later and she is at the back of the cage with the poor egg sitting forlornly all by itself.  Good Grief!!!  That was when I gave up entirely.  She is now happily enthroned in her nest, with the egg and one more she has added since Sunday.  I sure the heck hope she gets a baby out of one of them.
The Big Bash
Now, as to the Bash.  This was a party that was a Bridal Shower at heart, but more like an engagement party as couples and children were invited.  It was a nice cook out with lots of good food brought by the bride and groom's folks and other helpful relations.  In the end there were about 30 people here.  It was great.
The gift I was working on for this occasion I can now show you. It was on the loom for a very short time.  I can't remember  ever having to weave so quickly in my life!   The great part about it for me was the realization that everything came back to me that was needed to weave with so many fine threads.  When it was at the stage of looking like a tangled mass on the loom, I knew that it wasn't and that shortly order would be restored.  It was.  Here are the finished dish towels before they got their final pressing.
Cotton tea towels
I thought they came out pretty well, and I only noticed two treadling mistakes.  As it was just a 2/2 twill straight treadling, it isn't a very noticeable mistake.
And here is the shawl off the needles.  Just in time as Saturday is East Poultney Day.  Gloria and I will be there with our wares and our wheels.  It usually is such an interesting day even if nothing sells for me as many, many people stop to chat and watch us spin.  However, they are predicting rain for it.  We need rain so badly I can hardly feel justified in complaining.  The best hope is for only a little, or maybe some late in the day.  At least our tent has sides.  And there will be people who come regardless of the weather.  We shall see!  Maybe I will even have some sales.  
Finished shawl



Thursday, July 26, 2012

Summer doings

Well, hasn't it been summer, though!  We have had a spell of hot and humid, and before that it was very dry, which has made it a very summery summer.  Thankfully today is cooler with a bit of badly needed rain.
It sure is a busy time around here.  The garden is beginning to produce with a vengeance.  I have already frozen many beans, blueberries and raspberries.  Made raspberry jam.  Every night at supper we have something fresh from the garden.  It is such a great feeling to just walk down, pick something, than come back to the house and cook it!
And I am cooking it on my new stove.  The old oven just upped and quit a few weeks ago.  As it was about 13 years old, and had been repaired twice, we decided to get a new one.  I love, love, love the new one!!!  It is a Frigidare with convection oven and a 5th burner in the middle that is for a griddle (that comes with it).  I can't wait until canning time as I think that it is going to be so much easier on this stove top--the other one had pot issues, as the canner didn't fit on the grates very well.
The excitement for last evening was the first of the honey extractions.  Jeff uncapped and spun out 9 frames.  It went quite well.  I even got a chance to spin it.
Uncapping the comb

The extractor holds 4 frames

Spinning the honey out

Now the extractor is sitting in the bathroom waiting for a sunny day.  The warm day will make the metal heat up, which in turn will make the last of the honey on the walls run down to the base.  Then we can bottle it up.  He got some nice jars and pretty labels to go on them.  Yum Yum!!
There were two baby events that needed knitting for.  I adapted a pattern for the first one, using the Garden Trellis Dress pattern from the Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders book.
For Sophia's sister

I then decided that I liked the shape of this little dress and used the basic premise of the pattern to make a second dress for a little four month old who had surgery recently.
Adaptation
The shawl is finished, is being blocked, and when dry I will take a photo so you can see it completed.  I am very happy with it.  Now I am on fire to do a little gift weaving.  The first project is going to be made of cotton and is not handspun at all, which is exciting me, as it will have 20 epi, a doubling of warp compared to my latest weavings.   I hope to get the cones tomorrow.  It is for a wedding shower.  The second bit will be the wedding present.  That will be a throw with my handspun as warp and a beautiful royal blue chenille as the weft.  Meanwhile, we will be hosting the shower here, so I have had to really work on the flower beds to spiff them up.  Like I said, it's a busy time!




Thursday, June 21, 2012

Happenings and Non Happenings

The happening that happened was that Jeff finally got recognition for his role in capturing the Bank Robbers.  This is the short story--last fall our little town and the town next to it were hit by a pair of thieves making bold demands for cash, and then getting away quickly.  My husband, aka Jeff the Barber, happened to see the woman and the car she got into, noted the make and plate number, which led to the capturing of said robbers.  And subsequent arrests.  Tuesday he was awarded by the State Troopers for his part in all this.
A close up of the award
It was a very nice ceremony, starting out with all the trooper promotions, then going on to the awards. There were the ones for rescuing people from burning buildings and children from culverts and lots of them for the work done during and after Hurricane Irene, which Jeff said were much more deserving of recognition.  Jeff's brother Rob was able to come.  
Rob on left, Jeff on right
I was very proud, although Jeff had to be coerced into going as he always maintains that he was just being nosey!  
The non-happening was that Mama Hen did not get any chicks to mother.  After the 22nd day I got her off the nest.  She had been sitting on a broken egg that was beginning to smell, and I was not surprised to find that the rest of the eggs were intact with no sound of peeping.  I put her in the cage that she would have occupied with  her chicks, and kept her there while I gave the nest boxes and coop a thorough cleaning.  But when I let her out she ran right back to her box and jumped in.  Poor Mama!  I wished I knew someone with chicks to give her one.  I took her off the nest, put her back in the cage where she had to spend the next two days, as she would run back to her nest at every opportunity.  But finally last night she stayed on the roost, and this morning came out by herself, so I think that the broodiness has dissipated.  We eventually broke all the eggs and found that none of them had developed.  So they were all duds.  It will be nice to have the flock back to normal as the other hens didn't seem to lay as much with her in the nest box all that time.
Normalcy
Now the next thing that needs to happen is to finish my shawl and get the loom warped with the next project.  Besides gardening.  And cleaning.  And spending time with the Grandgirls.....

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Too Busy to Blog



Baptisia australis
Well, really, I have been awfully busy and blogging just hasn't been happening.  I have been working on many fiber projects as it has been a bit rainy here.  But before the rains came I ran around and snapped a few photos of things in bloom.

Roses and clematis

The shawl I have been weaving from an old sweater that I unraveled has finally made it to the shop.

Old sweater, reborn


Mama Hen also has been busy.  She started to go broody May 24 and I was Not Happy as the timing is all wrong.  So I took her egg out from under her, took her off the nest, and figured we were done.  Oh no.  After I spent all day Friday and Saturday removing her multiple times without her showing any sign of staying off, I capitulated.  On Sunday I put an egg from one of the other ladies underneath her,  counting the 21 days to hatching as being the Sunday I get home from a visit to my brother in Pennsylvania ( the same trip I tried to take in March with sad results).  Now here is the funny part.  My husband thought that she should have more than one egg to set on, so he went up to our neighbor's farm to see if he had any eggs laid that day to buy for Mama.  It turned out that three of his hens were broody.  He sells his eggs, and since a broody hen doesn't lay, that is the last thing he wants.  So Jeff returned with seven eggs, still warm from the hens.  We slipped them under Mama, and she has been happily setting on them ever since.  Whether any of them are fertile remains to be seen, as the neighbor's rooster to hen ratio is very high.  But our egg is fertile, so we should get one chick at least.


Fierce Mama Hen
The other fiber thing that I have been working on is a shawl that I am knitting.   The yarn is a lovely soft alpaca blended with some merino/silk roving that I had.  I am designing it in a triangular shape with all over open work.  That and the bats for the library fill my evenings and car rides.  But now I have another idea percolating that concerns some black alpaca and the loom, so stay tuned!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Surprises


It's that time of year, often called Springtime, where exciting and new things are happening all the time.  It also is a very busy time of year as once the air outside warms up, that is where all the focus lies.  So I have been a slacker in the fiber department, but as busy as Jeff's bees outdoors.

However, the first nice surprise came from inside the house.  I have an old cactus that is the grandchild or maybe great grandchild of a slip that a neighbor gave me more than 25 years ago.  At that time we were a very young family living in the village.   Our next door neighbor was an older couple, very kind and helpful to a young couple with little ones.  Mrs. Lulek was a colorful woman who smoked cigarettes and was full of old time parenting advice.  Mr. Lulek worked at the local dump where his hobby was to bring home things other people had thrown away, fix them up and then sell them.  He also raced a stock car at a nearby dirt race track, at that time being old enough to be most of the other driver's grandfather.  Mrs. L would come over for coffee almost everyday, dispensing her wisdom, recipes and clouds of smoke equally.  I was very grateful to her as my own mother at that time was living far from us and my mother in law was so good at "not interfering" that many times I needed Helen's good advice.  I still have her recipes and the cactus.  She was a dear woman.  The cactus only blooms occasionally and this year is one of those times.
The flowering cactus
The other surprise came from the chickens.  They are let out of the coop every morning now at daybreak. I go inside to make sure all is well.  Lately the Golden Comet I call Goldie has been laying an egg on the floor before I even get there.  Some times the eggs are very soft shelled and she or one of the others will then eat it.  Very Bad habit!  So I clean it up as soon as I see it.  Then she laid a perfectly nice egg, on the floor.  The next day she finally made it into a nest box and laid a perfect egg.  Today I found this on the floor and surmise it is another one of hers.  I have no idea what is going on with her.  She acts quite healthy and well. Another chicken mystery.
Normal egg and tiny egg
Here is a chicken picture.  How many of you knew that chickens love to sun bathe?  They will find a warm spot on the lawn, or slate or anywhere, and spread out their wings and take in a few rays.  I think it is very amusing.   Chickens always make me smile.  They have been keeping me company as I work in the gardens.  It is a great time of year.  Enjoy!

Rooster coming to see what's up
Rooster succumbs and joins the ladies


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Olio

Waiting to be washed and blocked
I finished little Willow's sweater.  I think it is a great pattern and will have to remember it for the next baby that comes my way.  Now that I am familiar with the construction of the pattern I can fiddle with the design bits when I knit it again.  The buttons for the sweater came from a ninety nine year old woman.  She had watched me knit it with great interest and when it came time for the buttons volunteered her button box as a source for them.   I was very pleased as one never knows what can be found in old button boxes!  There were a lot of lovely things that had to be rejected as not fit for a baby.  However, knowing I wanted them to be all different,  I was able to find these which I think are just perfect.
Green growing things
The plants for the garden are coming.  It is so hard not to put them out into the greenhouse yet as the days have been feeling warm enough with some sun from time to time.  It is the reality check of 29 and 30 degree mornings that help to keep them in the warm cellar.  Just need to be patient!  It has been proven to me time and again that patience is the key to hearty plants.








All purpose cage--guinea pigs, chicks or plants!
This is the setup I have.  The problem is that I run out of room when one group starts to out pace the others in the growing department.  Eventually the things that will tolerate the dip in temperature at night will go out to the greenhouse first, giving more room for the warmer veggies, like the peppers and tomatoes. They are last out, always.  There are chains that I can hang the lights on as the plants get taller.  The closer the light source the less leggy the plants get so it would be really great if the light could get right inside the cage.  This works tolerably well.  It is just a regular shop light and the little one is the kind that go under the cabinets in the kitchen.  I try to use what we have, as you might have noticed.  Reuse and re purpose!
The awakening woods

On Tuesday I played hooky from all my obligations and spent the day with a friend.  We took a long, long walk in the woods looking for wildflowers and birds.  It was the perfect time to find blooming things.  The weather was very cold and windy, the terrain steep and treacherous.  The road was a logging road so it was full of ruts and puddles.   The best part of the walk--so cold there were no bugs!
Trillium (Wake Robin) and bellwort
Longspur violets
When we returned to her house we warmed ourselves with hot chocolate and spent the rest of the day identifying the plants.  Also we worked on our summer programs as she is the other half of "Taradiddle".  We offer stories and songs in a program geared to the Vermont Department of Libraries' summer reading theme.  It is so much fun.  Having done programs together as librarians for many, many years we found that once we were not doing it for our own library we missed it terribly.  So for the last two years we have been taking ourselves on the road.  It is so much fun.  Hopefully we will get a website up this summer.
It was a lovely day.


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Spring Day


Mixed clump of daffodils
Today is sunny and warm, but thankfully not as hot as it was yesterday.  The flowers are really starting to come.  They are so welcome!  The only thing that bothers me is that they are a bit early.  I hate to have them come and go before I can get my potted plants out.  It's nice to have an overlap of the flowering things.
Bloodroot 
We had a lovely Easter.  Lots of good food and happy people.  And cute dogs.  My sister has two small ones that are very sweet.

Little Susie

I've been working on the baby sweater.  I ripped out the Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern and decided to make a different one.  Two reasons for this--first I was sure I was going to run out of yarn, and secondly, I felt that it looked too much like an old fashioned sweater.  This is a young mama who, I felt, needed a more modern looking outfit for her baby.  So I am almost finished with it and am very glad I switched.  I ended up using a pattern from the 101 Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders book.  It is supposed to be knit with organic cotton, but I am using the alpaca/silk and it is coming out just fine.  Photos when I am finished.
Now I am off to check on the seedlings and gather eggs.  Hope to get a fleece picked before the day is out.  Busy, busy, busy!  Hope you are, too.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Easter!

Dinner rolls
Baking day here.  I have made rolls for tomorrow, both sweet for morning and dinner for, well, dinner!  There is also a lemon sponge and salad to bring to the folks for the meal.  Strange feeling for me this holiday as it is the first time we will have no one at home.  We will get to see Annie at dinner tomorrow, so that makes me feel better.  My husband was able to get my corsage for Church.  This is a tradition my Dad started when we were very young that my husband has taken up.  It is so special. This year it is a red rose.


Hive all dissembled, mouse nest on base
Putting the top super on bottom

Speaking of the husband, he took a look at his hive last Monday and decided to swap the supers around. The super is the thing that holds the frames and looks like a drawer.   This is done when the bees fill up the top frames, but don't work downwards, and so don't know that the frames below them are empty.  If they fill up all the top frames and have no where to go (in their minds) then they will swarm and look for another hive.  So my smart husband found that it is beneficial to rearrange things.  It was a very exciting maneuver as he had to carefully take the whole hive apart in order to put the top on the bottom.  The most interesting part was when we found the mouse nest on the base, complete with live mouse!!!  There was a dead one in the nest itself, but the live one was clinging to the lower frames!  Not good.  It seems that the bees in hibernation won't bother the mice that are looking for a winter living space, and once the bees are active the mice stay in the lower frames, eating the honey and wax.  Hopefully now the bees will fix the combs, adding back the honey.
Almost back together








The skirt
I did finish and start projects.  The Lanesplitter skirt is done.    I actually wore it out in public.  It is very comfy.  The only comment I got was from a younger man who said he liked my skirt!  That was nice.  I am wearing it with the seam on the side and the darker stripe in back.
  It really was fun to make. 








 I also got the loom warped.  I have only begun the pattern which I think I am going to like very much.  Of course my usual fear is that I won't have enough yarn to finish.  We will see.

The start
And I had to start a baby sweater as our son's friends had their baby 5 weeks early.  I wasn't sure what I was going to knit for them, but when I found this lovely alpaca/silk yarn in my stash to use as the waistband for my skirt I knew that it was going to be the baby sweater.  The pattern is an old Elizabeth Zimmermann one from her "Knitter's Almanac" called simply 'Baby sweater on two needles, practically seamless'.   It makes up quickly and is "cute as a bunny" when done.
That's all for now.  Happy and Blessed Easter to you all.