Eastburn Adventures

So last Friday night I traded being at the yarn swap hosted by Brianne for a night at Chateau. It may not sound like a tough choice, but I really wanted to be there since it's been a while since all the Springfield Knitters were together. But I was there in spirit. Brianne and I met Thursday and did a pre-swap swap, and she took my bag of tradeable stash and she and Zarah swapped for me on Friday. So much for being on the yarn diet!

Holy cow! Do these girls know me or what? Definitely "my" colors!

Unbelievable. I know the photos aren't great, but here's what I came away with:

A ball of Noro Kureyon (courtesy of Zarah's leftover Lizard Ridge blanket)

4 balls of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed (2 dark brown and 2 light brown)

9 balls of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes (2 tan, 2 wheat, 4 chocolate, and 1 snickerdoodle)

2 balls of KnitPicks Essential in red

1 hank of KnitPicks Shadow in Redwood Forest (the same colorway my last pair of socks were made from!) and part of a leftover Shadow in a mystery color (I think it's Sunset Heather)

2 balls of a mystery variegated nubby yarn

1 large hank of Lorna's Laces in Bullfrogs and Butterflies

Some Sockotta, and 2 more mystery balls, as well as 2 patterns

I'm thinking I was the benefactor of some donations - there's no way I had that much to trade! So, thank you Brianne, Zarah, Meredith, and Linda - this was like Christmas! I couldn't have picked better selections if I'd been there in person. You girls are the best!

Most of my faithful blog readers know that I only learned to knit because my sister, the blogless Kathy, asked me to find someone to teach me, and then I could teach her. However, her beginning lessons were less than stellar. She became frustrated, and determined that I could cast on for her, and that she would only knit, because "purling was too hard." However, determination and patience paid off, and now Kathy can churn out stockinette with the best of 'em.

She decided she wanted to make a felted purse. Keep in mind that I've yet to felt anything. Brianne had a pattern; Kathy picked out yarn. The problem was that the yarn she picked was a worsted weight wool instead of the bulky weight that the pattern called for. We did a test strip and felted it, and Kathy took off knitting the base of the purse. The problem was, I've had limited time available to help her with the pattern and picking up the stitches to start the bag part. This is an excerpt of an e-mail she sent to me:

"I really want to fit the knitting in somewhere soon. Are you going to be around in the morning? If you're not busy could you run down here with the pattern and show me what to do next? I can't leave the garage (she was having a garage sale), and I hate to say it, but I'm afraid the knitting thing is making me crazy - I'm enviously looking at the part I've done every time I walk by it in the kitchen, and feel sorry for it just laying there alone and neglected." (Note to Kathy: this is why you should have more than one project going at a time.)

Isn't that great? She's one of us! How could I turn her down? So this morning I headed on over to her house where she showed me this:

Like I said, I've never felted before, but I kind of thought this was a little overboard (this is just for the bottom of the bag, remember?). Our test felt only lost about 30%, so unless she was planning on a huge tote bag, there was no choice but to rip it out.

Kathy said, "Rip it out? But I worked so hard - it took me so long to do this much! But, I want it to be right" - so right then and there - whoosh! Off the needles and that yarn went back into the stash. (We went shopping tonight for a bulky weight wool to start over.)

I'm so proud.

Today Robert and I drove to Kansas City, MO with Steve and Ginger to see a once in a lifetime event.  Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were on exhibit at Union Station.  It's really hard for me to express the magnitude of this event.  One of the event staffers said that the collection was valued at over $65 million, but I don't think that he, or many others at the exhibit, understood that these fragments were priceless.

We saw, with our own eyes, the earliest known fragments of the Bible.  A fragment from Genesis detailing creation, and specifically God's creation of man.  A fragment from Isaiah that prophesies the coming of Christ as from the Branch of David.  A large portion of a Psalm where, even if you can't read Hebrew, you can pick out where the scribes had written YHWH - Jehovah. 

The fact that those fragments were preserved for over 2,000 years is also due to the instruction and providence of Almighty God.  Jeremiah 32:14 says, "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says:  Take these documents . . . and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time."  The scrolls were found in clay jars in the caves near Qumran, just above the Dead Sea.

We also saw a Gutenberg Bible, a Tyndale Bible, and a Luther Bible, as well as many artifacts from the find, including the stone jars that held the water Jesus turned into wine, and a small vessel that would have held precious oils like Mary had when she anointed Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair.

And to further credit God for knowing me so well, of all the other artifacts to have at this exhibit, He allowed for me to see an ancient weaving loom, linen fragments, pieces of wool, some indigo roving, and a spindle and several whorls found at Qumran.  Photos weren't allowed to protect the exhibit from further damage or decay, but I'll remember this day forever.

It truly was a once in a lifetime experience.  To God be the glory.

So, I've been knitting, yada, yada, yada. I've made progress on my sweater, but since you just go 'round and 'round and 'round, it's kind of boring to blog about. But here's updated photos:

Even the photos are boring, but I just can't visualize how to make a round blob of knitting look exciting. Suggestions from my photographer friends would be welcome! Of course, the sweater pattern is boring, too, which is why I'm planning on spicing it up with different sleeve cuffs and a different waistband. It shouldn't be that hard to modify - I just need to pick the right stitch pattern - but that's a ways off yet.

The Jaywalkers went to the frog pond. I was trying to do them on 4 needles instead of 5 as the pattern called for, and kept ending up with 4 extra stitches at the end that didn't fit into the pattern, except that I had the correct total number of stitches. Anyway, when I went to rip them out, I realized they were going to be too big. This is the second time I've made that mistake - why do I think my ankles are bigger than they really are?

I've done pretty well sticking to the yarn diet - with a couple of excused, rationalized exceptions! Kate is making me (no, really she is) join her KAL of My So-Called Scarf, and can you believe it? I had NO worsted/bulky/suitable yarn in my stash. So she held a gun to my head made me buy this yummy Lorna's Laces Worsted in the Gold Hill colorway.

The photo just doesn't do it justice. I also had to purchase this gorgeous sock yarn from Sheri - I had it in my shopping cart the last time she had it, didn't buy it, and then it was out of stock for what seemed like forever. When I read on her blog that she was getting more, I stalked the website and scored 2 hanks that will soon be on their way to me. (By the way, if you want to place an order with her - she's super nice - click on the link on my sidebar and I'll get a $5 credit.)

Since I'm sort of on this yarn diet, I figured that only applies to yarn, right? So I have no reason to feel guilty for purchasing More Sensational Knitted Socks and - the one I've been waiting for - Charmed Knits! Love, love, love this one.

Now, if I could just find more time for all the stuff I want to do: knit, keep the blog updated, update Flickr, maintain Ravelry (have you guys seen this yet - it's awesome! Thank you, Zarah, for getting me signed up!)

Springfield Knitters - don't forget about the Marshfield Fiber Fair on May 19th! I'm so looking forward to it!

I've been tagged!  Trish tagged me :-)

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves.  Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game.  You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog.  You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Here are my facts:

1.  Except for a two-month period of time in an apartment, I have lived my entire life in the same zip code.

2.  I have driven to California from Missouri twice just for the weekend.

3.  I have been on a space shuttle (okay, so it was the prototype Enterprise at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama).

4.  I have seen every episode of M*A*S*H at least 25 times or more.

5.  I saw "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" at the theater 23 times (yes, some were matinees).

6.  In high school, I could study for my trig tests in my sleep - I literally solved problems in my dreams.  It worked - I won the gold medal in the state mathematics competition for trigonometry.

7.  I have 3 1/2 college degrees, 4 professional licenses/registrations in securities and insurance, and 2 professional certifications in the legal/financial planning areas.

8.  I'm a rebel - forgive me for not tagging anyone, but feel free to do this yourself and let me know.  I'll look forward to reading everyone's facts!

. . . Or else I have knitting ADHD. I'm trying to work on my sweater, but it just goes round and round and round. What to do when you have a larger project on the needles? Start another one, of course!

I'm apparently easily influenced by other knitters, which is why I agreed to participate in Kate's knitalong of My So-Called Scarf. Granted, the scarf was on my list anyway, but I hadn't planned to start it so soon. Anyway, it gave me a excuse reason to stray from the yarn diet to buy the worsted yarn for it, and I'm so glad I did!

I'm loving this pattern!

In family news, my great-nephew Connor graduated from preschool today!

Today "Lola" and I went to our first Fiber Fair in Marshfield, MO. I'm sure it was a small fair by the standards of the Big 3, but it was loads of fun! We checked out every booth - especially the ones with spinning demonstrations - and I've about decided that I want a wheel! Here's Lisa (aka Lola) with Phyllis - she and her husband make these beautiful wheels and sell them at a very reasonable cost of $285 - which includes a Lazy Kate, too.

I made my one and only purchase of a CD Drop Spindle for $4, which included a bag of roving and a personal lesson.

Lesson Learned: I can spin!

We also saw lots of really cute animals with really soft fleece that I wanted to take home.

<> Here's my favorite - I'm calling him Sebastian. (I think he liked me!)

Lesson Learned: Alpacas make funny noises.

After the Fair, I helped Lisa get her laptop reconnected with its wireless router. Two hours later, it was finally online and cleaned up fairly well.

Lesson Learned: Sometimes you just have to click things on the computer and pray they work.

When I got home, Robert and I decided to go out to dinner and to the mall. Since I hadn't seen him most of the day (oh, by the way, he passed his first securities exam this morning - way to go, honey!), I decided to leave my knitting bag at the house so we could have some quality time together. As we turned on the road to TGI Friday's (our new favorite restaurant because of our new favorite server, Alana), we had a flat tire. It took over an hour for the tow truck to get there - yeah, yeah, we're soft - can't change our own tire. Whatever. :-)

Lesson Learned: NEVER leave the house without some knitting.

Okay, so check out this post from March 22nd - Last paragraph.  I had the final 3 - just the wrong order.  But I'm very happy that Jordin won! (Even though I've been a fan of Blake's from the beginning.)

I have not been knitting. Not really. Not since last Thursday, except for a Lizard Ridge square in the car on the way to Lebanon on Saturday. Lizard Ridge is my standard in the car knitting project. Here it is being somewhat frightened of the thunderstorm ahead of us.

We visited Robert's mom and the cemetery on Saturday, and then Robert drove by this covered bridge for me to take some photos.

So since I haven't been knitting, what have I been up to? One, I have been working in the yard. We've cleaned out the pool and worked in the flower beds getting ready for Michelle's visit in a couple of weeks. These are some Japanese lilies in front of our house.

I've also been reading. In case you've been living in a cave, there's a book and movie coming out soon, and I've been catching up on my reading. Since Friday, I have read this, this, this, and this, and am just starting this one. See? No time for knitting. But I think it's an excused absense!

This upcoming weekend will be busy with performances in three concerts at my church called the Festival of Keyboards (Springfield friends, you should really try to come to one of them - it's going to be great!). Our worship pastor and 3 of his friends, who are all very accomplished musicians, will be playing 4 grand pianos at the same time, along with our 150+ member choir and orchestra. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, will be glad when that last concert is over.

I've also been having some internet connectivity issues, so my apologies for my lapse in blogging and in keeping up with my blogger friends. Hopefully, I'll have full access again, soon. And hopefully, I'll be picking up my needles again, too!