Finished Object - My Saroyan

While I was knitting the baby sweater for the next grandson, I started a scarf/shawlette for myself. You can find the free pattern by the designer, Liz Abinante here.   It's a marino and bamboo hand-dyed yarn from Brooks Farm that I bought at the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck last fall.  It's difficult to see detail but there are leaves knitted on the border.  It might have been better worked in a plain yarn but I only had one skein of "Willow" so it was destined to be a scarf.
I'm taking a break from baby knitting to make a sweater of my own.  I hesitate to show my progress in the event that it gets a "time out" for the summer.  I don't know if I can handle a lap-full of pure wool if it gets much warmer here.  I'm going to start a cowl for an April "knit-along" in a couple of weeks.  There are also plans for some Christmas knitting for the babies that I'll have to get started during the summer to be sure it's finished by December.  The MS hasn't affected my hands but definitely limited the available brain bandwidth. 

Baby Bear

Green with Envy

At the CT Garden & and Flower show yesterday I found this beauty.  Her name is Helleborus x ballardiae, commonly called Helleborus Gold Collection "Cinnamon Snow" and isn't she delicious?  She's a perennial and will be the earliest bloomer in my spring shade garden.  I could plant her outside today if it wasn't so windy. She wasn't cheap but she's an elegant charmer in every botanical way. As I was carrying her along on my way out of a lecture, a man walking toward me, also on his way to a garden lecture stopped in his tracks.  "Where did you get that gorgeous Hellebore?", he inquired, "and what variety is it?   - so green, so beautiful!  I told him I had purchased the plant at the Natureworks ww.naturework.com garden center booth.  "Oh, yes, of course, Nancy's booth...", he was familiar with Nancy DuBrule-Clemente's garden center.  The man went on his way and my husband and I continued along.  My husband ducked into the men's room and the gentleman showed up along side me AGAIN! Still going on and on about my little Hellebore.  Since I concurred, of course, I felt even better about spending $15 on a single plant.  My husband returned to my side and we went on our way.  "I thought the guy was trying to pick you up," he commented, looking over his shoulder suspiciously.  I spent the ride home fruitlessly trying to explain plant envy. "Honey, I'm almost 60 years old.  Trust me, it was the plant." 

Mr. Rogers Sweater & The Button Box

The "Gramps" sweater seems to be very stylish this season for tiny baby boys so here's the latest version, knitted by me.  We're about 5 weeks away, give or take, from becoming grandparents again.  My daughter is giving their 2 year old a baby brother and his name is Daniel.  As soon as my husband makes him laugh, he can be in Pop-pop's "club" that will be comprised of the trio of little grandsons who will be romping around our back yard in a year or so.

I found the little vintage leather buttons in my mother's button box.  I'm the only person I know who actually has a button box.  When I was a kid, one of my favorite past times was dumping out my grandmother's button box and sifting through the hundreds of little treasures spread out on her dining room table.  The button box had a very practical purpose in those days.  Buttons were made in this country and were therefore, rather expensive to buy.  One never threw away a worn out garment without cutting the buttons off.  Many were mother-of-pearl, bone, crystal, leather, precious metals like silver or gold.  Precious memories for me. 

Happy Valentine's Week

My husband surprised me yesterday with an armful of flowers from my favorite florist, Autumn Rose.  He had to get some medical testing done today and he wanted to make sure he didn't get left-over flowers.  We exchanged cards today and we're going out to dinner tomorrow night.
We can be forgiven for being so gushy about Valentine's Day.  We didn't find each other until 9 years ago (we were both over 50 and were on our second time around.)

Last week I applied a decal to our family room wall - author unknown. (I searched the web.)

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."

Amen

Knitting for Me

January has been called "Knitting for Me" month.  Well, it's February and I'm still baby knitting.   Knitters have started to hang a name on the time period after the holiday knitting rush is over.  I don't participate in holiday knitting.  That kind of pressure could really take the joy out of Christmas for me.  I'm all about the joy!

After completing a sweater and blanket for the grandbaby born in November, I'm now smack-dab in the middle of knitting a project for the next baby coming next month.  So much so that I almost forgot to take a picture of the scarf I made last fall.  It's knitted from a blend of wool and silk, a fiber combination that's a bit glossy and nice and warm.  I love, love, love Solo Silk from Brooks Farm in Texas.  After the baby knitting is finished I'll be making a shawlette out of their Willow (wool and bamboo).  By the time that's off the needles, maybe it will be time to play in the dirt.

More Puppy Love

Babies aside, I can't think of anything more lovable than our little four-legged children.  Our little girl was born the month my husband and I got married and she came into our lives 4 months later after we lost our older cocker spaniel who had come to the end of her long life.  We missed her so much we had to fill our broken hearts and this girl did.