2011 winter Mystery Shawl FINALLY finished!

I started this Mystery KAL from Goddess Knits with good intentions.  The original yarn I choose was a kettle dyed lace wight. I fought against the yarn; frogging endlessly. I couldn't get past clue 1. The yarn is dark blue, midnight. There is nothing wrong with it. I was very "green" as a lace knitter and struggled with working with lace weight yarn. One night I just gave up and headed to The Knitter's Edge in Bethlehem, PA. It was a Monday night and they weren't open; so I went to AC Moore. They had the Patons Lace I chose. I decided to do the optional beading as well and purchased inexpensive seed beads while I was there. Ok, I really was NOT thinking this through or I was too "green" to know what I was doing. First off, NEVER cheap out on the beads for a knitted or crocheted project. The shape, size and wholes are far from consistant. Frankly, half the beads didn't have wholes! UGH Nightmare! Second, think twice about beading Patons Lace, unless your beads are larger than what you would normally use for lace weight yarn. Well after hibernating the project frequently, I set out to finish it. I love the shawl.  It is far from perfect. I made mistakes along the way I was too inexperienced to notice at the time, but I love it.

I present Snowfall - Goddess Knits:

Enjoy!

Nancy

Spring is Here!

This was a busy first weekend in May! On Saturday my sister-in-law Beth and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool show. It was in West Friendship, Maryland. My new friend Abby, from my new Fiber Group was on the trip too. It was a beautiful day, 72 degrees and sunny! We had to meet the bus at 5:15 am and returned around 8:00 pm. Long day.

 

I purchased some beautiful fiber. I got a chocolate brown alpaca fleece that is the softest I have ever felt! The fleece was from Wanda. If you look in the bottom left of the picture, you can see a part of her head.

I also purchase lovely fresh clipped Angora. Here is one of the bunnies that was for sale. He was so sweet and soft.

These gorgeous Angora Goats had beautiful fleece. I got mohair from one of the yearlings. It is soft and has a beautiful luster. It is white to golden in color.

After the long day Saturday, Sunday morning we went to our favorite nurseries to purchase our vegetable and herbs to plant. We had the onions, lettuce and peas in already. Today I planted Super Sauce Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Amish Paste Tomatoes, Marconi Peppers, Yellow Bell Peppers, Eggplant, Canteloupe, Spaghetti Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary. Thankfully the Oregano and Thyme survived the winter!

Enjoy the beautiful weather & happy gardening!

Nancy