Knitting!

Why, yes, I HAVE been knitting! I've been super-busy with the rest of my life, but have managed to work on a couple of projects. Neither is finished just yet, but progress has been made!

First up is a sock for N. She picked out the yarn - Opal's Flamingo colorway. I started knitting her a sock over a year ago and by the time it was finished, her foot had gotten too big for it! SO...I started over! (Her foot is now only 1/4 inch smaller than mine! yikes! She's 10!)



Next up is Branching Out - a free pattern from Knitty (www.knitty.com). It's a super-easy beginning lace pattern (some would argue it is only pseudo-lace as every other row is purled). I was able to figure it out by myself and will be teaching it in a class this summer at Yarn Haven (see sidebar for photos of Yarn Haven)! I'm knitting it in this:



Yup, Hand Maiden's Sea Silk in the Forest colorway. I picked it up at the Fiber Fest in BG last month and I haven't regretted it at all! (Which is saying something for a $30 skein of yarn! But it has over 400 yards, so ... yeah.) It's 70% Silk and 30% SeaCell which is 95% Tencel with 5% Sea Weed. It's soft and shiny and PHENOMENAL to knit with. Hunt some down if you can. Do a quick web search to see other's opionions and results!

Here is a better picture to show the shine - it's not quite this shiny in real life, but this is a little truer to life.


Lace always looks so darned scrunchy and aweful while you're knitting it:


It's about 3-4 feet long (pre-blocking). I still have a ton of the skein of Sea Silk left, so I will be knitting for a while longer. I tried to pull it out a bit to show the pattern, but remember - this is still pre-blocking. I promise to post some pics post-blocking eventually!

Williamsburg had SHEEP!

Yea Sheep! There were just a few and they were off to the side grazing in a field.


One was very sociable (for a sheep) and really enjoyed getting scratched behind his ears. Here's a close-up view:


Here's another view:


Apparently, sheep were mostly for eating(!) rather than knitting during Colonial times. They did spin and weave with hemp, linen, and cotton, however (and silk for those that could afford it). We toured the Wythe house (a signer of the Declaration of Independence who tutored Thomas Jefferson AND John Marshall in law!). They had a spinning/weaving house on the property:





There was a knitting shop in regular (non-colonial) Williamsburg, but we were off touring places during all of their operating hours. :( All in all, it was a great trip and one I'd recommend highly. Now that we know Washington DC is only ~7 hours or so by car, I want to go there next. It's downright embarrassing that I'm 37 years old and I've never seen our nation's capital city!

Spring Break!

Yes, we've been on vacation since Monday. Thankfully the hotel has free wireless and the rest of the family sleeps later than me, therefore allowing time to upload pictures of our trip so far! Since this blog is primarily a knitting blog, I decided to create another blog called "The Bastians" (found here: http://www.bastianhouse.blogspot.com)

Check it out to see our latest pics - keep in mind they are un-edited - straight from the camera pics - I haven't had the time (nor motivation) to even name them - there's nearly 100 pics from the last two days!!

This is the first pic I took - we stopped for lunch on the drive and found this retro Denny's Diner - it was very 1952/Happy Days on the inside - fun!