saved for a rainy day

Posted on Posted in designing, lace/shawls, projects

i hope the weather is just a little bit nicer where you live; it has turned awfully miserable here—steady rain with thunder and lightening even. not exactly what is needed in upstate NY right now, with the major flooding of last month’s storm (and its consequences) still smarting for many area residents. only in the last few days have they finally cleared some of the giant fallen trees in her neighborhood; electricity is still a newly-restored luxury to many homes here.

i don’t know if i’ve ever mentioned it, but my mom lives right in the heart of the albany pine bush preserve—over 3,000 acres of inland pine barrens preserved by new york state (just one of many protected areas in the state, which has a pretty good track record for conservation, thank goodness).

anyway, that scrub pine pictured above is a typical specimen that sits right outside her front door; it was a tiny charlie brown tree when she moved in and it’s been lovely to watch it grow in the years she’s lived here.

one of these days, i’ll take my camera on one of my walks to show you a little more of the pine bush—there are a number of trails close by that can be accessed easily. when i first got here, it was too muddy from the previous flooding for my purposes (i only have one pair of running shoes with me); i was hoping to go in at the end of this week for a photo safari, but i don’t know now . . . it may have to wait for another time.

today is a good day for knitting, that’s what it is.
one of my mom’s friends is coming over after lunch so we can get her started on a scarf she’s been having trouble with. a little afternoon knit and chat. i have several items in progress myself that will be perfect for working on then—one in particular that is secret.

yesterday we were out ALL day for therapy, hair appointment, and grocery shopping. i think my mom is getting nervous about being on her own in a few days so she wanted to see how much she could do. and like any of us might, she overdid it a bit, so she’s now sleeping in (but that’s good too; she needs it)

anyway, i had quite a bit of wait time at the hairdresser’s and PT facility, so the nona scarf grew appreciably in length.

i forgot to mention that with this scarf, we are revisiting nupps! i really enjoyed knitting those into the pea vines shawlette, which was my first nupping experience. this time i’m doing them just a little differently; since the yarn is fine, these ones will be knit on the WS rows to make them just a bit poofier, more like what my grandma called popcorn sts. and i must say, this method (which produced a bobble too big for pea vines) seems to help them sit up and stay on the RS of the fabric a little better (today’s photos are crappy due to the bad light, but i’ll show you the new nupps next time we look at this project).

the other night i finished my first blumchen sleeve and cast on right away for the second one.

i managed to get through the hem/cuff part on the smaller needles and changed to the larger needles before bed. the rest is sorta mindless, so it will be a good piece to bring to knit night at trumpet hill yarn shop, where i’m hoping to be by about 6 pm tonight.

i stopped in last wednesday to visit and knit with my friends robena and celeste and we had SUCH a nice time catching up. i wasn’t sure i’d still be around this week for knit night, but since it looks like i am, i want to go back.

and when david gets here, i promised robena we’d go over, so he could show her the progress on his wrap (he’s ready to finish it up, and i’ll help him with that when he gets here).

now, if you’ve read this far and put up with all my rambling, you’re just about to get to the best part of this post.

several months back, my friend michele, maker of wonderful bags at three bags full wrote to offer one of her beautiful sweaters bags as a giveaway when the rené sweater pattern was released. we made all our plans and then stupid ME, in the flurry of activity around getting my mom home from the hospital, i forgot all about it on the day of the pattern release.

i’m so sorry . . .

but as with all good things, there is a bright side—today, when it’s rainy and dreary, we now have a wonderful bright spot to have fun with.

a gorgeous notus grey sweater sized bag for one lucky winner.
leave a comment at the end of this post sometime between now and sunday night at 9pm EST, and who knows?? you could be the one to receive it.

sorta sheds a whole new light on saving for a rainy day, doesn’t it?
(and of course, there are many other amusing styles, sizes, and fabric options in michele’s online store—go now to check it out (omg those new elephant and giraffe bags?? too cute!)!

and with that, it’s time for breakfast. it’s also clearing up dramatically outside; i may get a run in yet today, yay.
have a wonderful day; i’ll be back soon with more knitting progress . . .

533 thoughts on “saved for a rainy day

  1. Love the bags! Picked up the pattern for les Abeilles today. Can’t wait to get started on it.

  2. Love the bag! So cute!! Would love to win as I’m using an old tote bag as my project bag.

  3. Lovely bag. I love your designs and will order one tomorrow with my daughter’s help, since I am computer illiterate.
    I hope your mom is doing well.

  4. Hi Anne,

    This is my first visit here. I only recently became aware of your patterns and I am looking forward to knitting them.

    I pray your mom has a quick recovery and has no problems on her own.

    Debrielle Welch

  5. such a lovely bag for a grey day. I love knitting bags. a fellow Ohioan, Mary in Cincinnati

  6. Hope your Mom is doing well.

    Lovely knitting, yarns and knitting bags. What more can one say????

  7. What a perfect bag to cheer up a dull grey rainy day…it has been raining here (Quebec) for a few days now too. All this wet grey weather has me looking at my yarn stash for some bright colours to perk up the day.

  8. The Rene sweater is goregous, can hardly wait to get it started. The bag is beautiful also, ready to win!

  9. I bought the pattern and still yarn shopping for it! I cant wait to start it! I would love to use that sweater bag for my new sweater project!

  10. hi there! I got to meet you in person at Sock Summit when you stopped by my booth in the marketplace.

    I would like to be entered into the drawing for the bag; it’s very pretty.

  11. Omg, that bag is adorable! The Rene sweater is amazing as well, I just joined the Mad Tosh sweater club and I’m thinking about using one of the shipments to make one : )

  12. I think UFOs would have a greater chance of being finished if I got to carry them around in such a pretty bag!

  13. Well now, better late than never! So glad I decided to look at your blog on ANOTHER rainy day. The sweater bag is gorgeous; the colors really catch your eye and make you happy! Can’t wait to see you!

  14. Could you pack up some of that rain in the beautiful bag and send it down my way in dry, dry, Okla? I would love both.
    Thanks!!

  15. Love the colors in the bag. It is starting to rain here in the PNW with gray skies, already miss the long summer days.

  16. I have been coveting these bags for quite some time! I hope I win so I can stop that little behavior! Can’t wait to see the completed sweater!

Comments are closed.