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. Oh what a wonderful prize!
    Keeping fingers, toes and eyes crossed :-}
    (And may your mom heal swiftly and well. It may reassure her to remind her of her local pals who can come help out if she gets in a pickle once you are gone.)

  2. I love your beautiful knitting designs. I wish I were good enough to knit lace while visiting with my friends at knit night. I have to take something a little more mindless. Michele’s bags are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

  3. I love the designs, and I’m really, really glad that you share the Three Bags Full love. I have a few of the mini bags for small projects, and have been eyeing and saving pennies for one of the sweater bags. I really love the print here on the giveaway – so pretty!

  4. Putting in my name for the bag and sending my congratulations to the winner. I never win, so I’ll just get it over with now.

  5. I’m in Rochester, ny so we are “enjoying” pretty much the same weather. I love Michelle’s bags. What a wonderful contest. I have an e-reader case that she made. Her craftsmanship is great!

  6. Here in Southeast Alaska it rains pretty much every day from August until it starts to snow in November. Normally I like the rain but I think I need a new raincoat this year because I am not feeling the love. At least it is good knitting weather!

    I love that sweater project bag! Perfect for bringing along larger projects!

  7. This will definitely make knitting look tres chic again pulling my WIPS and yarn from this darling bag on the subways of NYC!

  8. Michele’s bags and your patterns make me smile. Love the quality of the workmanship on her bags and the attention to details on your patterns. It is a win win situation.

  9. I love the bag, and I’m looking forward to seeing your new nupps. I’m currently starting the border of my first “nupped” shawl and am not wholly convinced that I like knitting them.

  10. If there is one thing I love as much as yarn, it is a great bag! Love it! Please, please, please, pick me, pick me, pick, me!

  11. That is such a cute bag! I would love to win it! Not rainy here, but definitely colder. Darn! Want those 80 degree days back please.
    Thanks for a chance!

  12. Love the bag, and I certainly don’t have anything that nice in a sweater size .
    Thanks for the chance.

  13. It’s been rainy here in Western Mass too. I really hope it clears up in a couple weeks for my wedding! 🙂

    Love the bag, it’s so cute!

  14. I love her bags, they are super cute and the construction is great – I take them everywhere and my knitting is always safe and looks good to!

  15. I have been admiring these bags for a while. I have also been admiring your patterns for a while. Keep up all of your creative work!

  16. Hope your weather and your mom are better today. 🙂
    These bags are so cute. Thank you for giving your readers a chance to win such a lovely prize!
    carol

  17. It is raining here too in PA! Seems that we haven’t seen the sun more than a couple of days in September…

    The bags are lovely!

  18. Today is beautiful here, but the last couple days were amazingly windy!

    Hope your mom is feeling better today. Mine has pneumonia right now, but not bad enough to be in the hospital — antibiotics are wonderful!

  19. Weather here has been cold and somewhat nasty also.

    Love that bag though and would be really happy to win it.

    Hope your mom is doing better.

  20. Goodness, I just poked my head in to see how your mom’s healing up (and to check on Blumchen, I admit it), and look! Bag giveaway! Perfect for those Knitpost sweaters I keep knitting, right? 😉

  21. Love the bags. Everyone can always use a bag,and why not a super cute one like these..Hope the sun shines for you today!

  22. I see the weather isn’t any better in the Albany area than it is in central New York! I think the weather guy said it’s about 15 degrees below normal… So your photo of the pretty bag was a nice diversion! Thanks for posting and for giving it away!

  23. Well, how can I resist something like this?
    I’m so sorry I missed you while you were in southern Ontario a couple of weeks ago.
    Hopefully, I’ll be able to make it the next time you’re up here.
    All the best, as always.

  24. What a wonderful prize! I have learned recently that a sweater for a man more than six feet tall is not good commuting knitting. Other metro riders frown on it. But it would be so nice to have a bag like this to keep my things organized!

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