The Inauguration

How proud are you to be an American today? I hope you all watched and prayed and were profoundly moved today. Say what you will about this country when we do it right, we really do it right.

Yes We Can!!!

When the world gives you snow, make socks and shawls and vests.

This isn't even the worst of it... we have had 6" more inches of the powdery stuff fall on us since I took these pictures yesterday. The dog is having a hard time finding a spot with enough clearance to take care of "business" if you know what I mean. And he is a Labrador, not a breed usually considered too short to take care of "business."
Mace, you have to imagine this with another 6" on the deck. This is perfect skiing snow, light, fluffy and powdery. Too bad my skiing days are behind me.

I finished my Norwegian Woods Shawl from Sivia Harding. I love, love, love this shawl. It is drapey, and beaded so there is weight and it is gloriously beautiful in Handmaiden Sea Silk. I wore it to church on Sunday and got a few compliments. The only real downside, and this is a problem with all triangular shawls, is the point highlights a part of my anatomy I try to hide. DH said he thought it was beautiful and bragged to our girls about it so they would be impressed. Gotta love him. I don't even think he likes lace but he has been very sweet.

The beading was really fun an easy. I just crocheted them on with a wee tiny crochet hook rather than stringing all the beads on before I started to knit. Much easier, and the beads stand at attention just the way they should. More pictures on my Ravelry page.


Also finished DD#2 vest but not before she left and she wouldn't be using it in Costa Rica. The tempts are in the 70's there so no need for the woolies. Am happy with how it turned out and think it will be becoming on her.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Debby Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed
Color: Grape
Needles:US #5,3.5 mm Addi Turbos

I have also finally finished Caty's Fair Isle vest but need her to model it for the full effect. She is happy with it so I am happy.

Finished a pair of socks out of Sundara sock yarn, yummy, while watching the inauguration today so I am feeling very chuffed at all the finishing taking place.

Started another pair of socks during the AFC championship game on Sunday, GO Steelers, but am not happy with the coarseness of the yarn. It feels very stiff and hard and am not sure washing will soften this up. So back to the drawing board for those.

Have started another pair in Schaeffer Anne so am certain they will be soft and squishy.

And just for Mace... another snow shot.

Happy New Year

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and are looking forward to the new year.

Finally can share all the things I spent the last month hiding from my kids and consequently all of you. (That sounds like I have tons of readers, actually I think my kids are the only people paying attention...)

A pair of gloves for DD#1. She asked for gloves but I don't think was expecting anything this elaborate. She loves them and was showing them off during the holidays.Very bright girl our Cate, she knows the correct way to warm the cockles of a knitting mom's heart.

These are knit at the smallest tension I have ever knit a garment, 9 stitches to the inch. I loved making them, especially playing with the design but my hands were very cramped after working all those fiddily fingers.

Mittens for DD#2. I also changed these up a little . The original pattern is in Selbuvotter but of course couldn't leave well enough alone and added a corrugated, two color cuff and some Latvian braids just for the fun of it. She also loved them so another home run .
This is a scarf for DD#2 made with Knitpicks Gloss. Gorgeous fiber which had been percolating in the stash for a while so was thrilled to use it for something other than the another pair of socks.


A cabled vest for DD#2. She has been clamoring for cabled garments so thought this would fill the bill quickly. My hubris knows no bounds. I started this about a week before Christmas thinking that such a big knit would whip along and I would crank this out before she came home. Of course I crashed and burned. I would have had a chance if I hadn't ripped the blinking thing out 3 times each for the front and back trying to get the neck opening started at just the right place and the cabled situated just so.

I am happy with it now and she was very happy with the fit. "Negative Ease" is her new favorite phrase. Unfortunately, she has abandoned us for a semester in Costa Rica and has no need for woolies. She even left before it was dry so I couldn't get any money shots.


Yes the little stinker has moved to the Cloud Forest Mountains of Costa Rica where she will be student teaching in the special ed classroom and helping with science education throughout the school. She is over the moon happy and so we are less anxious. She has called twice and regaled us with stories of the warmth of her host family, the intensity of her immersion Spanish and the beauty of her surroundings, to say nothing of the temperatures in the 80's. It is 24 degrees, gloomy with freezing rain here in western PA today so I am relieved and jealous.

DD#1 has also flown the nest... she is interviewing for architecture jobs in Virginia Beach and looking for apartments. So far 2 concrete offers and another interview on Friday so things are looking up all around. Of course this means she will be moving very soon. This nest is emptying and I am not sure how happy I about this.

Another Door Opens

We spent last night doing one of the most remarkable things a parent can do...we watched our oldest defend her architecture project in her FINAL REVIEW!!! She will be graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University next Tuesday and we are the proudest parents.

Caty has always been an amazing kid, certainly to us, but what an awe inspiring thing to watch your little girl shine like the professional, polished young woman you know she is. I can say with all objectivity, she really is amazing. For the uninitiated, working toward an architecture degree is a grueling process. Many sleepless nights, 5 years of agonizing over the smallest detail, mind numbing boredom followed by flat out panic, development of artistic, engineering and verbal skills, and criticism that would eviscerate a lesser mortal. Every project is reviewed by a panel of professors and professional architects. It often seems the whole point of the review is to destroy the student.

Caty has been through dozens of reviews and she handled this last one with grace and humor. She defended her design so well. In the end the architects were very happy, her professors were complimentary and her mom and dad were ecstatic. Shouting and gesticulating were not allowed but I know we both wanted to jump on our chairs and hand pump. Tom Cruise has nothing on us.

And why is she so amazing you may ask, well, aside from the fact that she is my daughter and therefore everything she does is amazing, she finished her 5 year degree in 4 1/2 years and she is still considered one of the "sweetest girls" you ever could meet. (That's what others say about her, not just her mom.) If she weren't my daughter I would still want to be her friend, she is that incredible.

Congratulations Catydid, well done!!

Hey Guys!! Look what my little baby did last weekend. She ran the Philadelphia Half Marathon!!!!


Mayor Nutter was there to start the race. He had a great time slapping hands with all the runners who filed by before the start of the race.

This was Mace's first race ever and there was a little trepidation (especially since she really doesn't like crowds and there were 18,000 runners, all waiting to start).

And the finish. A good friend and his son also ran the race. (My camera died because of the cold and we begged this shot from our friend's wife, the only one of the finish.)


She did very well finishing at 1 hour and 54 minutes, beating her goal of 2 hours. Not bad for a girl who has never run a race not even a 5 K and who has asthma. It was a really cold start in the 20's so of course I was a nervous wreck but she came through like a trouper. and is now talking about training for a full marathon. I am one proud momma.


And because this is a knitting blog I thought you might like to see the finished stockings of doom... I am so done with these. I charged an arm and a leg to knit these for an acquaintance, partially in the hopes that she never asks me to knit any again. She has asked every year for the last 5 and I am so done with them and their acrylic yarn. Done, Done, Done.





There has been some really wonderful knitting happening but I can't share as it would be a spoiler for Christmas. Check out Ravelry they should be uploaded there soon.

I also recently took a class with Cat Bordhi at Knit One in Pittsburgh. It was an amazing class. I learned lots about new pathways in sock knitting. She is a lovely, gentle woman and everyone should take a class from her if the opportunity presents itself. Her brain works differently than the rest of us and it is a wonder. And like Obama she inspires confidence with her calmness. Great lady.

She also was wearing a gorgeous shawl knit for her by Sivia Harding out of Handmaiden Seasilk, her Norwegian woods pattern. It was intensely distracting from the required sock knitting. Totally petable. I actually ordered the yarn in the same colorway from Colorsong as soon as I got home and have started it for myself. But must finish Christmas knitting first so it waits for me. But oh is it a beauty.

Apple Picking Time

I like to start my posts with a picture but today Caty told us a great story I want to share.

Caty has ridden horses since she was a tiny little girl. The farm where she rides is very social with lots of warm, loving people coming and going. Last Saturday she rode with a woman who told the best story.

A week ago she noticed a Dalmatian standing outside her door. She opened the door and made friends with him. He came back the next day and she let him in. He curled up in a ball and went fast to sleep. Two hours later he woke up, went to the door and she let him out. He left and didn't return until the same time the next day. When she let him inside he again curled in a ball and fell sound to sleep for two hours. Then he woke and asked to go outside. This continued for a week. He became more and more comfortable and was eventually curling up on the sofa, under a blanket, but still only staying two hours. Finally the woman was so curious she wrote a note and tucked it in his collar. She wrote that he visited her home every afternoon and wondered if anyone was concerned about him. The very next day when she let him in she noticed he had a note tucked into his collar. It said, "This is my Dalmatian. He lives with a family of six children all under the age of 7. Obviously he needs the peace and quiet you are offering. Ccan I join him tomorrow???"

Can't you just imagine this poor dog trying to be a good sport with all those little ones and finally just saying enough.

Now onto the pretty pictures.

Too beautiful to pick

Macy picking the last of the Red Romes. We don't use the romantic apple picking ladders at our farm. The bucket on the tractor fills in just fine. Although Mace wasn't sooo sure when her dad told her to just stay in there and he would drive to another part of the tree so she could reach more apples. Glad I wasn't there to see.










This is how we keep our kids entertained on the farm.

Crates of just picked apples and a cider press. The press takes a fair amount of elbow grease so it is all hands on deck when Dad says it is time to make cider!!!


This is the dangerous time when fingers may accidentally be ground with the apples. Mace is tossing apples into the hopper and Caty is grinding away. Caty is more buff and was a super grinder when she spelled her dad. Mace is a wimp in the grinding department. I am docking her pay.

Grind baby, grind.


Caty, aka, The Cruise Director, and quiet the fashinista, don't you agree? (Koigu scarf from at least 6 years ago. Apparently. the classics never go out of style.)


The Pressing.





Sneaking bites when she thinks no one is looking. (Did you notice the knits? Central Park Hoodie and a Nordic hat from her childhood that she still grabs in a pinch. Another woman on the cutting edge of fashion. Seventh Ave has nothing on Latrobe.)


We had a banner year for apples. We've made 44 gallons of cider, at least a dozen apple pies, various apple crisps, apple sauce and even caramel apples last weekend. I know just how Mrs. Johny Appleseed felt.


How cute is he? Sorry, had to add gratuitous puppy pictures when he is this cute.

Awwww, the payoff, sweet nectar of the gods.

26th Anniversary

The best part of being an empty-nester...we can vacation in the Fall, our favorite time of year. (Really, we do miss you girls, but not the school schedule that dictated our lives for so many years.)

Smith Point Beach, Nantucket, MA



I love this "Big Sky" shot. We live in the woods of PA most of the year so this expanse of blue sky is breathtaking.

The little harbor in front of our cottage.

And this is how old married folks celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary. Scalloping for Nantucket Bay scallops (the best in the world), shucking scallops and eating scallops. We were told it was an awful year for family scalloping which is done with a push rake in shallow water. But my intrepid husband would not be deterred and scouted until he found the goods and we were able to make our limit for the week. We ate plenty while on the island and brought enough back to share with the girls and some friends.






There was knitting, lots of knitting.



Wait for it...the magic that is lace. Ta da!!!!


This is Fleece Artist Merino, don't know the color. I gave the ball band to Chris at Sheep to Shore when I was on the island. Maybe Fleece Artist will be showing up on their shelves in the near future. This is a little something I made up using Medium Stitch 21 from Knitting Stitches by Mary Webb. This is a great stitch dictionary I picked up at Michell's Book Corner on the island
300 stitch patterns, all graphed ina small book so easy to carry when traveling. Love it.


Another lace scarf.


Socks that Rock Lightweight, color Tidal Pool. I played for a long time trying to find a stitch pattern that wasn't obscured by the stripping of this variegated yarn. I just gave up and went with a simple stockinette stitch sock and am thrilled with the results. DD#2 has already called dibs on these and I thought I was making a pair for myself. Oh well, such is the life of their personal knitter.



Caty's Vest is nearing completion but I am not happy. This vest has been the bane of my knitting existence for a few months and now when I am so close to finishing ... the neckline looks too high. I was going to rip it out and cut the opening further down into the body of the vest but I think I will weave in all the ends and block it first and see if I can't open it up a little bit that way. If it is still too dorky looking I will rip the ribbing back then. Will this every be done?



Stay tuned for apple pictures.