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Dress Forms and Sweater Design at The Yarn Spot

Two Sundays ago on the 17th (where did the time go?!?), I had a great time teaching one of my favorite classes at The Yarn Spot.  It was a full class, full of students that came with lots of questions and interesting insights.  We had a great time.

Take a look at the pictures.  I think they speak for themselves.


Created with flickr slideshow.

Stash Sunday – Three Irish Girls O’Donnell

I know, I know.  It’s been several weeks of TIG.  What can I say?  It’s what’s in my stash.  I never thought I’d be one of those people who favored an Indie Dyer so much, but really?  Sharon knows what she’s doing.

O’Donnell was ordered to go with two different other colors I had in my stash.  I was zoning in on the end of a shawl, and I found that I was running out of two of the colors I was using.  I e-mailed Sharon explaining what colors I had, and that I wanted something that complimented them.  She suggested Siorse and O’Donnell, and I got two skeins of both.  O’Donnell went into the shawl, the other did not.  I do not regret it, but I could have easily gotten away with just using one skein of either.  So I have a lot of the brown left over.

That’s okay though… I have some plans for it.

The Deets:

Yarn weight

Sport / 5 ply (12 wpi)
Amount stashed

2 skeins = 640.0 yards (585.2 m)
Dye lot

Colorway

O’Donnell

Stash Sunday – Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merino

The Yarn Spot has a special colorway that is native to the store called Pansy.  Pansy is lovely, but not quite the color I’d want to work a big project in.  I’m not quite sure I’d be happy with the type of pooling it would do.  BUT, Pansy has a friend, Pansy Green, that I really like.  It’s a cheerful color, full of pop and verve.

I got a bunchload of it, the first time we had it in stock.  The next time we re-ordered Pansy, it was MUCH darker, and while I like the new dye lot also, I think this one suits me more.  At the time, I was thinking of working a cardigan, and I still am.  However, when I bought the yarn I was nearly 30 lbs heavier, and well, I don’t think I’ll need as much as I got to get around me now.  Just sayin’.

Anyway, I have some ideas of combining this with two other greens I have for TIG in Kells to create some type of Irish/Shamrock themed sweater.  Details to follow, but I think it is going to have to be steeked, to get my idea the way I want it.

For now, I’ll just admire it every time I pull it out.

The Deets: 

Yarn weight

Sport / 5 ply (12 wpi)
Amount stashed

7 skeins = 2240.0 yards (2048.3 m)
Dye lot

Colorway

Pansy Green

Birthday!

Last week was my birthday and it has now launched me into my
26th year… that is, I’ve completed 25 years of my life.

My sister Rosemary called on the morning of my birthday to
wish me a happy day.  In the course of
our conversation she pointed out to me that I’ve lived a quarter of a
century.  “You know, you’re old,” she
told me from her vantage point of 17 years of age.  “And if you are really unlucky, you’ve now
lived about half of your life.”
“Thanks,” I told her. 
One of the lovely things about being the oldest is my three younger
siblings.  They just love telling me how
old I am.
Later, I went to work at the Yarn Spot, where I got wished
happy birthday again.  There, everyone in
the store was telling me how young I was, “a practical baby.”  It’s amazing the range of reactions turning
25 gets.
I guess I expected 25 to come through with more of a flair,
but I feel like 24 was actually a bigger birthday, in some ways for me.  More was starting or beginning a year ago,
now I’m in a rythmn, and 25 just represents another year turning, a
continuation of the story instead of a new book or new chapter.  This is not a bad thing, as beginning over
and over again can be exhausting.  That
re-forming and re-defining of yourself and your surroundings is tiring.
The weekend following Michael and I had a small birthday
party.  It was supposed to be bigger, but
many people had to step out at the last moment. 
Ellie made me a lovely rainbow confection again, this time a cake
instead of cupcakes.  Any more of this
and it will start becoming a tradition. 
It was delicious, and Michael and I were eating the leftovers several
days afterward.
My friends at the Yarn Spot got me some lovely yarn they
know I have been eyeing.  Bobbi acquired
a really neat puzzle from Interweave that I’m looking forward to putting
together.  My family also showered me
with cards and love.
How do you celebrate birthdays?  Do you make a big deal about it?  What was your 25th birthday like
(if you’ve had it), or what do you imagine it being like if you haven’t?  I’d like to know.
PS: Also, I called my mother on my birthday and thanked her
for birthing me.  I suggest that you do
that for your mother too.  And as my
mother said this year when I thanked her, she laughed and said “Oh, I remember that like it was
yesterday.”  I don’t think she was
talking about the joyfulness of the occasion.

So I’m in a Bit of a Quandary…