Big Sky Yarns & Crafts

Nothing says love like green pancakes

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday; I sure did.

It did start out a little rough, however. Kate bounced into bed at 6:50 am with great expectation: "Mom! Is it too early to wake up Paul to make you breakfast?" I told her, yes, too early, and couldn't go back to sleep since she came to me in such alarm and I felt my heart racing a hundred miles an hour.

The day before Kate asked me, "Mom, do you promise to like what I got you for Mother's Day?" Being the good mom I said, "Of course!" It turns out I didn't even have to lie as Kate and Dan went to the yarn store and here is what I unwrapped yesterday:

Perfect! Berroco's Ultra Alpaca in a fetching pink. Love it! If Kate buys me yarn every year (as I do now almost every year for my mom) how endearing is that? I can't wait to knit a precious scarf with these 200+ yards. Ultra Alpaca has wonderful mileage, especially when you consider how fine a yarn it is.  One of my favorites. And did I mention Kate even used her own money? I almost cried right there. 

Here are the sweet pictures she gave me too:

This one is from school. The greatest work of art is to follow:

How often am I awesome? 

I even cruised a bit on my Gaia:

 

But what did you have for breakfast?  Nothing says love like green pancakes. And that is what I had for breakfast courtesy of Kate and Paul (and food coloring).

Hope you had your equivalent of green pancakes. Perfect pancakes. Perfect day. Knit on.

Just one more baby...

I finally swatched for my Gaia -- life was getting in the way of my fun knitting:

Size 7 was needed for the stockinette stitch portion and I went down one needle size for the lace. I am an extremely loose knitter, so if those numbers scare you, do not be alarmed as those fabrics are not bullet proof, I promise.  (The orange marker indicates one repeat of the chart.) The color's official name is Old Jeans.

There are some errata on the pattern; it was updated April 25 just in case you printed it out before then. Also click here for the knit a long on Ravelry if you would like to join or check the errata there as well.

I don't know if you can see in the pic, but the lace has the most lovely hourglass shape. The leaf idea, yet so much easier. This would be a good pattern to start on if you are new to lace knitting. I don't do much of it, but it zoomed right along while I was swatching.

As you may recall, many new babies have joined the flock recently. I have one more sweater to knit, this cute little cardi from Knit Simple:

Aptly named, the Child's Zippered Cardi is from Fall 2009.  Though the sample was worked in Berroco's Comfort, I have some Vintage also by Berroco that I think will be just perfect:

Think stripes at the body and sleeves -- how snappy is that? I can't wait. Yes, the green is mighty familiar. I knit my brother's baby's cardi in it as well. Vintage is that perfect washable wool that is not sharp at all on your hands when you are working with it. I can't be too much of a commercial because I just love it.

I also went to Wild Purls Grand Opening this weekend and that was some fun. I finally got to meet Diana and Leslie, the owners of Mountain Colors Yarns. They have a special place in my heart, as they were the first yarn company to send me yarn as a new designer. It was a bonus Christmas for sure.  They have a new sock yarn called Crazyfoot, 90% superwash wool and 10% nylon. Here is the scrumptious hank I purchased called Thunderstorm:

It is a striking combo of blues and purples. I hope to design an easy lace scarf to wear with black -- won't that be lovely? I think so. Now I need to be able to stop time like they did in the Twilight Zone....

Happy knitting.