Isn’t it fun to receive a happy surprise in your mailbox? My DIL’s mother created this fancy flowerpot card on her Cricut machine. Thanks, Marlene. You slide up the flowers and there’s a message written on the base. She actually made an accompanying easel to hold the card but I took the photo prior to discovering it in the envelope. It was sweet of her to remember me on Mother’s Day. We share four grandchildren.
And the Best Mom figurine? A treasured gift from years ago. ❤️
The items set up just above my kitchen sink.
Such delicate and colorful flowers in the flowerpot
Saturday afternoon the November sweater knitters gathered in Millvale Pennsylvania. McWalker Yarns was the place to celebrate participation in the National Knit a Sweater in a Month Challenge. 50,000 Stitches, cast on just after midnight on November first. The sweater was to be completed (ends woven in and blocked) by midnight November 30th.
If you follow me on IG you know my sweater was 24 hours and 15 minutes over the cut off.
Here is Clarissa, the Grand Prize Winner of NaKniSweMo 2019 holding her prizes- a generous gift card to McWalker Yarns to buy yarn for the NEXT sweater and a very cool magnet/bottle opener.
Troveby designer Emma Durcher. Yarn is BC Garn Semilla Melange Sport Weight
Detail below of Trove. PomPom Magazine Autumn 2019
Robin designed her sweater. The design name is Hauplande Yarn Loch Lomond by BC Garn worsted weight. I think she has 150,000 stitches in her design. WOW!
Hauplande designed by Robin
Sleeve Detail with Button
Jes photographed me wearing The Purl Code Sweater Designer Isabell Kraemer. Yarn- Baa Ram Ewe Winterburn DK weight in Rhubarb colorway, Using the Morse Code Alphabet provided in the pattern there are phrases, words, place names, favorite movies and books, song lyrics and people I love, knit right into the sweater.
Christine is holding a gift bag with the sweater she crocheted as a surprise gift.
Her sweater (which she translated into Crochet from Knitting) will be added after the holiday season. Christine brought cheese ball and crackers and spinach dip to round out the party fare. McWalker Yarns Shop owner Amy McCall baked a delicious and moist chocolate cake with sweater decoration.
Below see Shop Owner, Hostess, Sponsor and Chief of Inspiration for the NaKniSweMo 2019 Challenge, Amy McCall. Making the Local Yarn Store a welcoming community for all.
Laura and I walked down to Union Square to the Holiday Market. It would have been hard to maneuver the popular market on a Saturday afternoon even without the stroller. What a crowd! The weather felt like a warm Spring day.
At the entrance point, we saw this flock of pigeons on the steps and I placed a bill in the open suitcase and asked to photograph the creator of the felt birds. Then I asked if I might blog her photo and she agreed. She directed me to the bright green fact sheet under the donations.
Hand Dyer of gorgeous yarn and yarn shop owner in the Schoenberg Neighborhood –Die Wollnerin .Very close to Winterfeld Platz.
Handcrafted little zipper bags for notions, stitched by another woman (whose name I will add when I get it)
My first trip I bought a single skein of this lucious Alpaca Silk Cashmere and then made a second trip to buy another skein. My last day in Berlin I bought the hand dyed sock yarn of the loveliest merino and a bit of nylon for endurance. On my final day, I took Sabine’s photo as I said I would for the People at Work Series. Thank you Sabine. Your shop is wonderfully inspiring to me.
Five years ago I received unexpected mailfrom quilter Colleen. Today I found it in my cloth napkin basket and pulled it out to set my hot lemonade and honey mug on top. Feeling festive! Added a couple of Nurnberger Lebkuchen. A hot drink helps when the temperature drops to single digits.
Remember Joanne sent the beach glass yarn the other day? She contributed the Nova Scotia posts this past week, the Loonies and Toonies Store in Lunenburg.
She wrote and mailed some photos below after I asked her about the glass she finds on the beach in Florida.
Joanne says –
1. I walk the beach almost every day, and I’m always on the lookout for sea glass – this was a lucky day because often there is none to be found. Most common colors are clear, green, and brown. Least common colors are cobalt blue, red and purple.
2. Here’s my collection of shells and sea glass. The tiny colorful glass in the lower right hand shell on the table comes from a beach in Spain (collected by my sister). And the tiny glass in the upper right hand shell on the table comes from a beach in Nova Scotia. All the rest from the beach here on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida.
3. My friend Celia separates her sea glass treasures by color and displays them on her kitchen counter.
4. Since Hurricane Matthew, Celia and I find lots of large shards of glass, bottles, and lightbulbs among the debris on the beach. Celia collects this for a future art project she calls “Hurricane Glass”.
Link below to Jessica Blaney’s ETSY Shop below if you need handcrafted sea glass jewelry
Thursday afternoon, my friend Barbara showed me a pretty pillow she had made at Alterations Express. She used fabric from her mother. her grandmother’s handmade lace and her special pillow.
When I saw the fabric I said,”Oh, my friend Joanne gave me a knitting bag made of something similar and it’s French and has pastoral scenes.” but I couldn’t remember the term and had to look it up-
Barbara went and got a box with beautiful pieces of lace, created by her grandmother, Josephine Cinquegranni DiGalbo (b. 1890) Notice the blue edge on the lace.
I looked at the lace with admiration. Such expert craftsmanship and beauty. I asked Barbara is she had a photograph of her grandmother.
Barbara’s Grandparents, Angelo and Josephine, on their wedding day.
Her grandmother’s town of origin was Castlebuono, Sicily. The photograph was taken on Butler Street in Lawrenceville, a Pittsburgh neighborhood.
And here is a photo of their daughter, Mary Ann, Barbara’s mother. I had the pleasure of knowing her and remember her for her kindness to my children.
And here are some of the lace specimens, her grandmother’s pattern books and crochet hook were in the box, too.
I’m in the doghouse tonight for missing National Dog Day and my DIL sent a photo of Henry (the Airedale) and the new Airedale puppy, Josie coming home to their house next week. Her plan was I could make up for my omission of the family dogs on the blog today. Laura sent me a photo of Penny (the goldendoodle) on the couch looking glum cause I didn’t feature them on the blog for National Dog Day. Who knew? On to what I was planning to blog…..even thought it’s still August for a few more days.
People, including Fallon Tonight, have tweeted and posted their opinions on the early reappearance of Pumpkin spice flavored drinks at that great big coffee chain.
I bemoaned the early August Halloween decorations in stores and just yesterday I saw bins of Candy Corn for sale. Ugh. Seems Summer barely had a chance. But now I’m jumping in with knitting pumpkin hats.
Last year I knit five baby pumpkin hats. You can only knit so fast. This year I looked at the list of babies I know (including new grands) and thought I’d better get knitting. Asked for head circumference measurements. Turns out I can make one hat in a day (probably about 5 hours). I did 3 loads of laundry and changed the bed, checked email periodically and watched a few of The Chef’s Table documentaries while I knit. And this time I’m making notes to remember what I did which unfortunately I did not do last year.
Could have saved a lot of time checking gauge if I had done so.
Cast on 70 stitches on bamboo needles and
cast on 80 stitches on the metal needles. I still can’t decide which material I prefer.
Each has good points.(no pun intended)
I’m a relaxed knitter so had to go down a needle size from the recommendation on the pattern which was found on Ravelry. Weighed the hat on the food scale and I should be able to make two more hats from one skein. (I bought two skeins but that will be a lot of hats) one skein of green is plenty and there will be leftover. The stem is I-cord stitch. I’m skipping the leaf for now.
MOTHERPIGEON AT UNION SQUARE
My first trip I bought a single skein of this lucious Alpaca Silk Cashmere and then made a second trip to buy another skein. My last day in Berlin I bought the hand dyed sock yarn of the loveliest merino and a bit of nylon for endurance. On my final day, I took Sabine’s photo as I said I would for the People at Work Series. Thank you Sabine. Your shop is wonderfully inspiring to me.
Barbara’s Grandparents, Angelo and Josephine, on their wedding day.
