i throw up my hands

despite the fact that i have yet to see even one crocus pop up in our yard, i was out out for a walk last wednesday when i came across a patch of well-devloped tulip sprouts. there’s this property with a white fence out front, where the spring bulbs always show up so early and in such numbers that i’m starting to think they use a magic potion on their beds. or it’s some  fluke of the sun hitting in just the right spot or something.

meanwhile, at our end of the street, we get treated to this for the first day of spring

honestly, i am throwing up my hands in despair of spring ever arriving this year.

the latest snowstorm started almost before i could get back to my desk after seeing susan and barb off to the fiber expo in ann arbor, michigan. BTW, they are having a great time with their first retail show experience—don’t forget to stop by the booth to say hello as you move through the show.

fortunately, the snow stopped after a few hours and just an inch or two of accumulation and later that afternoon, the temperatures and “soared” all the way into the 30s in time for my afternoon run. very windy though—and there remains in it an icy breath that is no friend to my leg muscles . . .

despite the icy coat of that morning, my tulip friends are making gains hand over fist. i’ll see more of them on my long run today . . . but i’m waiting for it to warm up just a little more while i write my blog.

the night before they left, we traveled to a new-ish, nearby yarn shop named heidi and lana that is one of the first stores to carry our stone soup yarn line (also look for it at trillium yarns in morrisville, NJ!). this adorable shop specializes in american made yarns, so it’s  perfect fit for our first wholesale collection (stone soup will be showing up in here and there in local yarn shops as our production capacity grows; we’re excited about this new development).

we think that working with shops, along with participating in some wool shows, will create valuable opportunities for knitters to see, touch, and feel the quality and softness of our yarns in person. we are pleased as punch that a store so local to us was eager to participate in our new wholesale program.

the event drew a very nice turnout of visitors to see the trunk show and purchase yarn—susan, sarah, and i enjoyed chatting with steady stream of completely lovely knitters about the samples and patterns, helping them choose yarns to crate their own projects.

we also got to knit in the cozy seating area that margaret has created to snuggle into with yarn and needles. i worked on my secret project that is growing by the day and should be done for the upcoming deadline. as it happens, this piece is knit with stone soup fingering yarn, so it gave me an example to talk about. i can’t wait to share the results with everyone here in a few weeks . . .

we could hardly believe it when 7 pm came and it was time to go; thank you margaret for such a nice evening. we’ll have to do that again some time!

as i said, the weather has been very brisk these last few days—colder than you’d expect with wind chills still in the single digits. thought the days are longer and somewhat sunnier now, it’s still too early to spend much time out of doors aside from my runs, which i am religious about if for no other reason that to stop would cause me to petrify at my desk. it’s still WAY too cold and windy for biking much at all; i do miss that.

so i spent the weekend doing last minute errands for my trip west on tuesday, getting some knitting done, and putting the new kitchen through its paces.

yesterday, after yoga class and several stops to pick up this and that, i decided that i just had time to bake a blueberry pie to take to the coffee house evening at the home of our neighbors, bruce and norma. i made a batch of the same pie crust i’d used for the lemon meringue pie and got that chilling while i cooked the filling with frozen blueberries, sugar, lemon rind and a touch of cornstarch.

we prefer crumb topping on most pies so i also got that ready in advance. haha, however that is where i completely forget to take any more photos, even when the pie came out of the oven looking scrumptious.

while not so attractive, hopefully these “morning after” leftovers speak for themselves. i have got to learn to put less filling in the dish so it doesn’t bubble over so much. it just never looks full enough beforehand, heh.

while it baked i knit a few rounds; wednesday night i cast on another op art cowl, this time in a different weight of the same fiber blend—the fingering selection from spirit trail fiber works called sunna. omg, this color—va-va voom!—is to die for. such  great deep pink. at first it looks red, but then you realize that it’s got that vivid edge that makes it more of a pink. i love it.

this cowl is taking a bit longer because i cast on the largest size, but even at that, it’s easy to make steady progress because most of the rounds are soothingly mindless. last night i brought it to a coffee house evening and knit almost in the dark while we listened to music and chatted with neighbors. when we got home, i was aMAZed at how many rounds i’d completed. i even did the round of twists while i was there.

this is definitely going in my suitcase to san diego this week—it’ll be great knitting for chatty evenings with kim and her family. karolyn is working away on the test sample for the medium size in DK weight birte—also in the va-va voom! colorway.

the pattern is all set to go, so as soon as we get the samples done and photos shot, we can release it. i know that several of you are anxious for it but hang in there!

we also have matching arm warmers underway—so cute. they really show off the patterning as they expand and contract over the arms, puffing out here and there. can’t wait to show you those.

while i was working in the kitchen and since i had pie crust underway anyhow, i threw together a quiche filled with spring vegetables for our supper. beckie has been generously supplying us with plenty of eggs from her hens, so it was a great way to use some of those up.

mmm, asparagus and mushrooms. we had this for a late supper after we got home from the coffee house. there are plenty of leftovers for david to eat while i’m away; i’ll probably freeze a few slices for him to use one by one when he doesn’t feel like cooking.

speaking of mister knitspot—look at the hat he’s knitting, isn’t it beautiful? he is really quite the knitter. i’m enjoying the fact that sarah is impressed enough by david’s work to aspire to careful stitch work and even tension in her own knitting. and both of them have a willingness to rip back and fix that i’ve never seen in beginners before, the result being that both of them are turning out remarkably perfect fabrics.

i must be doing something right by just stepping back and letting them compete, haha. kinda like the hunger games of knitting?

speaking of wishing for spring, i am attempting to coax it along with my own special brand of voodoo—calling up the goddess of UFOs and promising to turn at least one big one into an FO if she will just let spring, well . . . spring.

yes, i am actually working and successfully, on getting somewhere with this sweater. i finished the one sleeve and have started the other and gotten that one nearly to the point where i change patterns.

i am taking this one with me as well, so that i can finish it up during my trip. i will be away two weeks and am taking four projects—my secret stone soup one, my op art cowl, this sweater, and another secret one that i can say boo about yet. all of them are half done, so i may even pack a fifth one, not sure yet. i don’t want to tempt myself, you know? i really want to force myself to finish up my most urgent projects. plus, i have to work every day too; i’ve got a club chapter deadline coming up when i return.

alright now, all of that is making feel stressed; i better get out for my run and get back so i can pack my suitcase. i’ll try to be back with another post before i leave on tuesday, but that’s a bit doubtful; the next time you see me might be in sunny san diego, where our dear friend kim is getting hitched in just a few days! i’ll be all news with wedding details from the front, how about that?

(this is my dress; isn’t it cute?)

and i won’t be at all sorry to be enjoying the sun when i get there.