Y2Knit Colors in Bloom!

I love purple and green--one reason they are the Y2Knit colors. I have Y2Knit colors in the garden now.

Nature is a great inspiration to me. I often see colors in nature that help me select yarn or what to wear or how to decorate. I find it interesting that with spring many of the houseplants are blooming too. I am knitting pink.

This weekend I did some needle felting with the new Artfelt. What a great opportunity to play with color...and create flowers! I love doing swirly designs. Pictures are on the Artfelt page. The kits come with 90" of the magic paper--enough to keep anyone busy for quite a while! I'm still working on the roving and paper from the first kit. The yarn is soft and colors are wonderful. I can hardly wait until Jill is here on Thursday to show it to her. I think I know which kit color she will choose--but sometimes I'm wrong. Always fun to see if I can guess it right.

We're off to the Poconos for the Knitting Getaway Weekend at Kirkridge. More fun with color and slip stitches!

Stitch n Pitch

The Hagerstown Suns baseball team generously raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness of Cumberland Valley one weekend a season. When Joel, the marketing manager, asked Y2Knit if we would like to participate in a weekend of baseball/fundraising in the manner of the Stitch n Pitch, we were thrilled. We'd tried to pull it off last year, but didn't get there. I enjoy a baseball game and think knitting and watching baseball is a great way to spend an evening.

The initial idea was that Y2Knit might donate a bag to raffle, but the Social Knitters had more ambitious ideas. Knitters have generously volunteered to knit two throws for a raffle at the May 11 Hagerstown Suns games. One will be in the Suns orange, black and white and another in pinks to honor Breast Cancer Awareness, the beneficiary of the raffle proceeds.

The squares are being turned in over the next couple of weeks and I hope to get Frankie to help put them together. She may have to crochet around the edges of some as they are a tad bit smaller.

Kraemer Yarns has generously donated the yarn for this project--their new worsted weight Tatamy Tweed.

Knitting in China

Anna Wong emailed me today and indicated she is going to China in a few months. I liked that she said knitting is a universal language. It's so true - my best communications with Chinese were over knitting, as with this woman who showed us her project (one of the slippers previously pictured).

Many people ask about the airlines and knitting needles. While I'm not an expert and can only speak to my experience, I had knitting with me on all flights (Air China), both to/from the US and within China.

About the food. I don't remember what this woman was selling, but the food always looked good! Lots of veggies.

My daughter, Rose, who went to China with me, was up today with pics on disk. I have downloaded many, but particularly was looking for one of a woman we saw knitting in a little park. We were in Xi'an with a bit of time on our hands before going to the airport. I suggested that we visit the Silk Road statues that were on a little touring map I had (actually, as I remember, it was the placemat at our lunch restaurant). The driver and guide agreed, so we all went to see the statues, which were remarkable more for the legends and stories they represented. I am fascinated by the Silk Road, that so much traveling and trading was going on between Asia and Europe such a long time ago. I hope to travel the Silk Road someday.

Lastly, I wanted to post the picture of the yarn shop we visited in Shanghai. The yarn is all neatly packaged in project size boxes, though it was possible to buy just one skein. The yarn was wool mostly, some cashmere. All lovely!

Put up is mostly 100 gm balls, though some was smaller. Several boxes are sitting on the display case and more is in the case. The yarn pictured here is most of what was in the shop - this back wall covered, then a space for the clerk with a display case marking the yarn section of the store. The rest of the store was ready made knitwear, most likely machine made. It didn't look handmade.

Next to the yarn display, at the center of the back wall was the cashier (if she was in this picture, she'd be to the left. The clerk wrote up a receipt, I went to the cashier and paid, then back to the clerk for my goods with my paid receipt.

Yarn Candy

Better than candy, these "puffs" of roving from Kraemer Yarns in yummy colors are perfect for needle felting projects. Monda plans to make the fruits and vegetables on the front of Craft magazine so we'll post pictures when they are done. Until then, we'll enjoy the calorie-free puffs! Call or email if you want some. We don't have them on the web for sale yet.

Next week I'm going to a crafter's fair in Greencastle, PA and will have these for sale.

Watch for pics of the Artfelt from Skacel, which I learned today should be here in a week. Jill and I have been waiting since January for this fabulous product!

Catching Up

I got another package! No yarn, but Susan sent me a name card made in Bejing. I don't know if she was thinking about it when she got it, but I have a bulletin board in my office (currently waiting to be rehung) that is a collage of name things for my husband and me. He has a lot more name cards than I do because he's been doing speeches and presentations longer than I have, but I'm working on it. This will be a nice addition to my side of the board and give me a little more presence. I have a couple of headlines that use his name. While some of you may have unpleasant memories of Hurricane Mitch, he is quite proud of it and especially the huge typeface used in the headlines! Jill doesn't get used that often.

I'm still unpacking my office (oh yeah, and the reast of the house), and awaiting a new desk and cabinet, but I'm getting there. Nothing is as exciting as starting a new project so I am working on a new tank top for an online workshop this summer. This is the 2007 version of the scented yarn from Skacel called Namaste; the scent is sandlewood which I love and is very subtle. I love the swatch color (641), but the sample color (642) is very fresh feeling.

I have a special place in our newly remodeled living room for my knitting. Turns out my spouse really doesn't love having knitting projects piled in the living room so he bought me this fancy leather box that slides under the coffee table. Now I have to train myself to use it as I am much more inclined to just drop my knitting on the floor and walk away. We are going to try to live like grownups. We still haven't resolved what to do with magazines, but that should be less of a problem as the remodeling ends I am letting every single home decor magazine I've been getting for the past three years lapse! Maybe I'll have time to look at knitting magazines again.

When I was in my early 40s a woman who was in her 50s said that you can really only effectively have three priorities in your life. I've been trying to prove her wrong, but as I sit here in my 50s (with my fancy new knitting box!) I'm inclined to think she is right. Now how do you choose?