Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

I only have thirty more teaching days and if the past week is any indication, it's going to be a long thirty days. We have had temper tantrums, girl fights, and cranky parent calls, and my classes just finished their research papers, which was an uphill climb. All the way.

So, as a treat, three other teachers are going with me to the MDS&W Festival this weekend. All four of us knit and we are quite excited about going. I'm the only one of the group who has attended fiber festivals, so I'm the de facto leader of the group, although it won't take long for these savvy women to become experts! We are leaving from school Friday afternoon and staying in a hotel nearby, spending the day at the festival, and on Sunday, we are visiting fibre space in Alexandria. I'm the only one who's been there too, and I know they are going to love it. Bonus: the Brooklyn Tweed trunk show is there this weekend too! We may not be able to make it home after all the fiber goodness!!

As always, I'll be taking and sharing lots of pictures.

I've fixed the fronts of my sweater and have been procrastinating the seaming for some reason. I've also started a pair of Cafe Au Lait mitts using a light green skein of Green Mountain Spinnery yarn I bought at Rhinebeck., probably in hopes of justifying buying more yarn this weekend!

 

This photo shows the pattern,

 

but this one is the truest color. Spring like, isn't it?

And speaking of spring, these may be the best $5 I've spent in awhile! Aren't they gorgeous?

 

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Spring Break, What I Did On My

The week before spring break was full of issues at work, including me going home sick one day, probably due to stress more than anything, so I was really looking forward to relaxing and resting this past week. And that is mostly the way it went. I hung out with my mom, my daughter, and my stepdaughters, at least a time or two, and my BFF and I were together a lot; we knit at my house, at a couple of LYS, and even one night at the restaurant/bar where my youngest works and calls Bingo games on Wednesday nights! I really didn't do anything except eat out, knit, and nap, so I hope I've recharged enough to make it through the home stretch until June. I did have a bout of intestinal distress and a migraine, so it wasn't all rosy, but I do feel fairly rested and relaxed.

Melissa and I were photo bombed by one of her coworkers!

Lori and I didn't win a thing, but it was lots of fun, especially when Melissa would use her megaphone to give us a shout out!

I also took advantage of being off in the daylight hours to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the spring flowers. These are tulips from my stepdaughter's wedding three years ago.

 

I think dogwoods are my favorite of all spring blooms.

 

I had hoped to be able to sit on the beach, but although we had some beautiful weather, it was much too windy this week.

I pulled out the sweater I had begun in early fall, and was hoping to finish before tomorrow, but it will take a few more sessions. I only have half of one sleeve (short) and the button band to knit before seaming so it's very, very close.

I also made a couple of "homemade" pizzas, using ingredients from Trader Joe's.

And a lot of the time, I just hung out with my sweet cat, Gracie.

My little shadow; I love her so much!

 

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Spring!

Yesterday was blocking day. I finished a hat and two baby sweaters and decided to block them all today. Was I inspired from this post? Probably. But I'm also ready to gift the two sweaters, so that's the main reason.

This is my third time knitting the One Baby Sweater; I used a skein of Adriafil Knitcol, so it knit up a bit smaller than my last one did, but I love the colors and found the perfect color button in my stash!

 

Shelter yarn really blooms with a soak in warm water. I still don't love knitting with it, but I do like the finished products, so there is that.

 

 

I went to a knitting pajama party last night two weeks ago, which was quite fun. It was a potluck and the shop owner gave out really nice door prizes, plus we did two shower-type games. One was "Guess how many balls/skeins of yarn are in the basket", and the other was the "Don't say the word yarn or pattern or you lose your clip", which is surprisingly difficult when knitting, and was the point of the game. Anyway, it was lots of fun, although between eating and talking, I didn't accomplish much knitting.

Steve and I went out to breakfast and then stopped by the farm market and chatted with my youngest for a few minutes last weekend. Isn't she the cutest?

And yes, that's a hand knit hat I made for her quite a few years ago. Always nice to see her wearing the gift knits. Gracie is super excited about it too!

It's finally looking like spring around here. Lots of flowers, shades of green all over the place, and the birds are really making a lot of noise! I did some closet cleaning this past weekend and took the flannel sheets off the bed. My spring break begins this weekend and I'm hoping to clear out some more clutter and maybe even begin planting some vegetables. My hay bale garden wasn't successful last year, so I'm either going to be more diligent about it or go back to container gardens. So many plans! Hopefully I'll follow through on most of them. Happy Spring!

 

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