You are all very kind and generous with your compliments about my latest accomplishment. Thanks for taking your time to read and to comment. I appreciate it very, very much.

I have absolutely NOTHING knitting right now. I have a couple little things planned for some gifting, and got out a couple of balls of Sugar ‘n Cream for some dishcloths, but not a thing on the needles. Mostly I plan to ohmagahgetthequiltdone and to do some spinning for a while.

But now for something completely different...

pardon the old ladies hands...

Wonderful Guy picked for me a beautiful and special ring with which to ask me to marry him. It has Australian opal, which I had never really paid attention to before. He bought it up in Estes Park from a jeweler who rides a Bandit, just like ours...well...his!

This necklace is a gift to Eldest Daughter from a dear friend (dentist by trade, jeweler by avocation). I wore it when Wonderful Guy and I were married.

funny how I don't think of myself with grey hair...and yet...it is!

These are the matching ‘earbobs’. This opal isn’t the Australian opal, so not quite as deep in color, but still lovely, and the filigree setting of the necklace is great. Baby diamonds, too!

This necklace was a Christmas gift from Wonderful Guy. It is set in both gold and silver. I now zoom in on opal jewelry whenever the opportunity presents. It’s richness and warmth , along with all this significance, make it very special.

Well.

Opal just got WAY more special.

Seriously way more special.

Opal Marie, Grandbebe Girl Two. Yep, I'm gonna' have 2 of 'em (at least!). I just can't believe my good luck!

Ta-Dah!

Rarely have I been as glad to see something come to an end as this project, and just as rarely have I been as pleased with a project as I have been with the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket (Mason-Dixon Knitting).

It is ALOT of garter stitch, lemmetellya.

That's a double bed it is spread out on, for scale.

Which can be good. But it can also truly be the doldrums. But the beauty of this beast is that just about the time I was convinced I was going to have to put it away for a while (something I really do not do), the color would end! Time for another ball of yarn!

Ooh! New! Shiny! And all excited all over again I would get!

I did not follow the ladies plan exactly. Eh...what's new? I had reasonable intentions to at least follow their general drift, but lost track at about....block 3.

Yep. That far...

See that purple block? One ball of Moda Dea...four knots!

I cleaned my stash of six balls of Moda Dea Washable Wool at 166 yards per and seven balls of Paton's Classic Wool Merino at 223 yards per, and had to purchase 4 skeins of Cascade 220 at...220 yards per...to round it out. I found some of my first handspun perfect for the edging, bringing all the colors together. Or at least I think it works. And I am not doing it over.

Close up of the handspun edging...just cause I am all proud!

(The giftee won't be told any of it is washable! For her own good, don't you know.)

I toted the beast with me as car knitting in a shopping bag, convinced I would finish it before the bag fell apart, which I did. I believe Wonderful Guy had his misgivings about what I was doing. My travel projects have not had quite this girth. But last night, when I finished, and spread it out on the floor to make sure I had all the ends woven in, I had his attention.

This afternoon, when I was steaming the blanket, he remarked it looked 'really nice' and seemed almost to much too give away. I replied immediately, 'Nope!'

oooohhhhh....prettttty!

On this one, that was the whole intent and purpose and goal. And motivation to keep going to the end. The giftee? She is going to love it! Well. I hope she does, anyway.

Wonderful Guy also asked when I was going to give it to said giftee. I said I originally intended it for a Christmas gift, but may use it for the birthday this fall. He thought that was a long ways away!

Silly fellow...he doesn't understand the concept of handmade gifts. One must plan ahead to make it work!

Summary: Three months of fairly monagomous knitting. 4000+ yards of yarn. Some good stash busting. And the paint worn off the tips of a brand new pair of circs!

Newsflash...

...knitting knitting knitting...

...edging is done on two sides of the MLCB...

...so close...

...no more post until....

....knitting knitting knitting....

...I can post a picture of the FFO (finally! finished object)....

Snow Day!

Sent home from work after just a couple of hours this morning because of the weather. It is nasty out there, and continuing to snow and blow.

The thing about spring snows? It won't last. We will be in the fifties this weekend.

I am thinking there will be no lilacs this year, though. I was seeing buds this past weekend, and I am sure this 20 degree snap is 'nipping them in the bud'.

I missed them last year, and will miss them again this year. That's the thing about lilacs, though. The years that they do bloom, I appreciate so much for the years they don't.

Since this is sort of a 'filler' post, I will take the opportunity to answer a couple of questions that come up in the comments lately.

Lynne-Dearest Sister has her sources for patterns, and some are transfers. I don't know if theseswere. If you check out her place, you will find more information. I am woefully ignorant of such things. I have to let her be the expert of some areas!

Tish-There likely won't be a 'Mr. Needles' post, except in passing reference as to how wonderful he is to let me do whatever it is I feel like I need to. Such as getting an DSLR camera...

Susan-The robins here are not a harbinger of Spring. They winter here. Doesn't mean a thing!

Kathleen-I anxiously await your relocation back to the area, where you can enjoy the change of seasons, fiberloft, public libraries, and maybe we can meet in real life!

I wound hanks into 'yarn cakes' last night. I think I hear MLCB calling me for some knitting time. Maybe I can get that last skein wrapped up and start on the binding with one of those cutie-pie cakes today.

Who am I kidding....only if I want screaming tendonitis!

More Knitting History

A couple of posts ago, I talked about my mother teaching knitting in the backroom of the local five and dime in my hometown of Greensburg, and about being The Resource.

Wisest Sister commented on that post.

"FYI your mother gave knitting lessons at our home before I was born(Yes, even then!) She also sold yarn. The tatting edge that she added to a pillowcase was payment from a lady who did not want her Mr. to be able to criticize "wasteful" spending on lessons. Mom also knitted a skirt for herself...and later used that yarn for a jacket for me. (Yep, she "unknitted" her skirt so I could have something special. Love, WS"

Well, I didn’t know that! Imagine. I knew that Momma was very keen on the early version of ‘reduce, recycle, reuse’, which was ‘use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without’, but she thrifted yarn?

My mother, again, goes before us! What we think is new…

So I remarked to Wisest Sister…tell me more. I say to her,

"I have a little knitted outfit in my hope chest, a skirt and vest of tweedy looking yarn, grey and cream and black. I wore it in kindergarten. The story I remember is that it was worn by the ‘Big Girls’ before me. And Eldest Daughter wore it when she was a wee tyke."

Well, apparently…

"The knitted outfit is the one that was Mom's skirt! My memory misfired that it was something else, but your memory helps me. (That’s what sisters do!)"

And here it is…

A skirt and vest, all grey/black/cream tweedy...and wool...scratchy on a five year old's skin!


Buttons up the front...with reinforced buttonholes...ten of them!

Ribbing around the bottom of the vest...

Slits about one inch deep for 'belt loops' for the ribbon belt...all the way around.

Is that not just something?

There is some discoloration, and some moth holes. The FO has to be sixty years old, the yarn older. (I feel certain that the moth damage is from long ago, and that in the hope chest and in the dry Colorado climate it is safe from further damage.)

We may not be EZ and Meg Swanson, but we sisters, well...we have our own family history of knitting.

And I'm thinking it's a strong one, just like us...