things I'm loving::

This song, found via MightyGirl::ps ~ you know the actress who plays Bones? Well the singer in that video is her sister!

These pictures of tulip fields. Don't they seem like a great template for a simple, modern quilt?

These socks! If I weren't so intimidated by the diameter of my calves, I'd cast on right now. It wasn't until writing that sentence that I realized calf {leg} and calf {cow} are spelled the same. On that note, I was referring to the size of my cows.

spring!

I'm a day late, but Happy Spring! And on that note, it's time for a spring break update. While I didn't visit Brazilians in Minnesota, I did hang out with a monkey and a peacock::

The trip allowed me to deliver some long overdue Christmas gifts, including one of Yarnmonster's "Knitting Sacks"::It was gifted to Nik, and filled with some sock yarn and Addi's to encourage her to take the leap into sock knitting... a week later, and all I have to say is holy socks.

Unfortunately, Schwartz Baby 2 did not arrive while I was there... and there's still no baby {unless something changed in the last 12 hours?}, but there is a baby sweater!::
This is Trellis, but knit on size 5 needles in an attempt to make a baby version. Since this baby's arriving at the beginning of spring, I thought it'd be great to give her a sweater that can be used as a little jacket through her first couple of weeks/months.

My break started with the timely "spring ahead" of the clocks, and I had plenty of time to enjoy the longer days watching the sun set::

And when you turn around, you see the sunset highlighting the topography of the mountains::

Enjoy the first weekend of spring!

*I'm off to buy some buttons for my finished Potato Pancake... details and pictures to follow!

extreme crafting

After seeing the Purl Bee's rundown of scissors, I thought it was necessary to share my mom's essential pair::

Growing up in this house, you learn quickly that some scissors are only meant for fabric... or stabbing you through the heart.

phenology::

n.
1. the scientific study of periodic biological phenomena, such as flowering, breeding, and migration, in relation to climatic conditions.
2. the relationship between a periodic biological phenomenon and climatic conditions.

Example A:: 3/6/09 climatic conditions encouraged the first wearing of the vest

To learn more, please check out this site and get involved! It's a great time of year to get outside and see what's going on.

what fun

I wanted to share this awesome bit of browsing I did the other night:

I was jumping from blog to blog looking for some inspiration when I came across this blog for the first time.

It led me to her Flickr site, where I found this awesome sweater. My list of future knitting continues to grow, but I can't help it when I see something like that.

And then, one thing led to another and from the sweater I jumped to a picture of this hat. The pattern for the hat can be found here.

And thanks for all of the advice in the last post, Shalom it is... I'll be busy knitting away as I patiently wait for the arrival of the latest Schwartz family babe. exciting!

To set the scene, here's a picture taken near the Schwartz home last summer::

Taking a little poll, comments welcome

So, behind the scenes I'm doing a fantabulous job of organizing my knitting, cutting down on my stash, etc... and I've come upon a problem.

This sweater::


It's something of my own design, but it's been languishing in my knitting basket for over a year now. At first I was distracted by other projects, but now that I'm coming back to it, I have a feeling that even if it were finished I wouldn't wear it. BUT I love the yarn ~ it's camel!

With such fun yarn, I want to knit something that I will wear. So, check out this link. I was thinking of taking the camel and knitting that pattern.

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

And with the lovely blue yarn, I'll probably make a cozy hat.

Two Steps Forward...

...and one step back definitely describes the weather around here. Judging by the state of the Charles{not frozen}, spring is on the way::

BUT bring in some storm clouds,::

and this is what you end up with::

And the phrase works equally well with some of my knitting. Exhibit 1 {Mom's Birthday Socks, October Birthday Socks}::I was almost done, except for the cuffs on each and ran out of yarn! Undeterred, I started digging through my yarn and found some yellow and purple superwash. With the two colors, I thought I'd do something fun and make some striped cuffs, but it was a step in the wrong direction. So my evening project is going to be finishing these up with just a purple cuff, still fun, but not crazy.

And once those are done, I'm casting on another pair of striped jaywalkers!