Road trip, knitting, and gardening

Has a week passed since I last posted? It doesn't seem like it.

Early in the week, I took a roadtrip with friends to Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio in Lansing, Michigan. I love that yarn shop! This is the second time I've been there. The first time was in early March. I road along with a friend who was attending Terri Shea's Selbuvotter mitten class at the shop. (For some reason I never blogged about the trip. Probably because there was a lot happening at the time. I was just recovering from having that bad flu then.) Threadbear is a definite go there if you're ever in the area. As well as having more yarn in one place (except Stitches), they also have awesome sales. I do mean sales and not just clearance bins full of novelty yarn. I found Garnstudio Cotton-Viscose for $2 a ball and Vivaldi for $4 a ball! There were a number of yarns on sale for $2-$4 a ball. And yes, there was a huge bin of fuzzy yarn for a buck a ball.

I tried to restrain myself and still came home with a small bag of yarn and 2 hanks of merino/tencel spinning fiber from Pagewood Farm pictured above. Threadbear had just had a trunk show of Pagewood Farm yarn and fiber. Their stuff is wonderful. My friend bought a bundle of their spinning fiber in a wool and yak blend!

We ate lunch at Benson's Viniagrette in Lansing. Matt at Threadbear highly recommends it. The food was glorious and yummy! I had a sampler with a wildberry salad, black bean soup seasoned with cumin, a slice of fresh Amish honey bread, and a huge strawberry dipped in chocolate (which I had to give to my friends as I am allergic to chocolate). Everything is fresh and prepared daily from scratch. It's a must visit for lunch in Lansing.

It was a wonderful day spent with friends. The high point came as we were leaving. I shared my Mountain Sunrise Lace Scarf with the clerks and Matt, one of the Threadbear owners who had just arrived. (He remembered me and my Celtic Hearts Shawl from my March visit.) He liked the new scarf so much he bought it and some of my patterns for the shop! Woo-hoo! I was walking on air as we exited the shop! Here's the scarf on display at Threadbear. (Don't worry, I bought enough yarn to knit a replacement scarf.)

We have another high school graduation party to attend this weekend. I knit a mobius wrap to give to Kaity several weeks ago at her graduation party. She loved it. I finished another one this week for Suzanne. Kaity's was knit in Joann Sensation Angel Hair (a super bulky weight wool blend yarn with a fuzzy ply). It will make a warm wrap for her as she goes to school in Maine. Suzanne's I doubled stranded using Lion Brand Wool-Ease in dark rose heather and Patons Silverlash in maroon magic. This one is a little lighter weight with a touch of bling that she will like. The pattern is a free one from the Rowan website. I've seen mobius worn as cowl hoods or around the shoulders. This pattern showed it worn as a shrug! Go here and to find the January 2001 Mobius pattern. Click on download for a pdf copy of the pattern. I'll see if I can get Suzanne to model the mobius so I can get a picture to post here.

I finished a multidirectional scarf in Filatura Di Crosa Porto Cervo, a really cool variegated worsted weight cotton yarn. See how it turned out? I was knitting it at Kaity's graduation party. (Yes, everyone knows I knit and doesn't mind. They're more apt to ask where it is if I'm not knitting. Lynne calls me the Knitting Queen. I don't know about that but I do enjoy doing it.) She'll be surprised when I gift her with this scarf. She really liked it and it's her colors. LOL! (Can you tell that I have a hard time keeping the things I make? LOL!)

I mailed 3 scarves off to Scarves for the Heart this week--a Twirly Q, a shadow stitch scarf (April 10th post), and a narrow diagonal garter stitch one. These all used up odd balls of yarn I had on hand. I have a multidirectional scarf in acrylic finished that will go with the next batch. My friend, Chris, got me started knitting this pattern.

I blocked 2 lace scarves and a multidirectional one for her this week. Here's a picture of them on the blocking board. The scarves are on my bed with the ceiling fan running overhead to help them dry faster. I'm not sure how well the blocking will take on some of these scarves as they are cotton or synthetics. If nothing else, it did help even out the stitches.

It's busy, busy, busy around here as we try to whip our vegetable garden into shape. Why do weeds always grow faster than the veggie plants? We're weeding and mulching so we shouldn't have to do much but harvest after this. Can't wait for the first cucumbers and zucchinis to arrive!