THE WINNER IS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the orchids on my desk at the office.  Yes I am working today - it is not a holiday in our company but we usually get released early in the afternoon.  I'm proud of these little flowers because my plant has not bloomed in almost 2 years.  I keep talking to her and encouraging her and she finally bloomed again.

Now on to the exciting stuff!

Here are the names of the blog commenters who entered my drawing.  I wish there had been more but it makes the chances for winning much better.  The lucky winner is KRAYOLA - a first time commenter on my blog !  Congratulations Krayola - please email me at mbryan10@comast.net to discuss mailing your prize.

Since I could not post without a stitchy related photo - here is a shot of the LHN Schoolgirl Lessons.  I think I've done a little on it since my last WIP shot.  I brought to work with me today in hopes of getting in a few stitches during lunch.  Things are very quiet here today.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I hope you have flags waving, music playing, drinks cooling, grills cooking kind of day and many happy stitches in between!

CELEBRATING MEMORIAL DAY

I hope everyone in the US is celebrating our freedom with family and friends this weekend.  Many of you are off on trips and many are staying home and enjoying cook outs and beaches and maybe just staying out of the heat and catching up on movies and handwork.  I'll be doing a little of all of the above except traveling - for many years we always took a short trip up the mountain in North GA over Memorial Day weekend - I think next year we may just revisit our past haunts and do that again. We started thinking about it much too late to make plans and reservations and that area is certainly busy on holiday weekends.

Last weekend our sampler guild met after a long absence.  It took a while to find another location to meet after the Olde Green Cupboard closed.  We met at a local library and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing each other.  Some great projects were underway and I thought I would take a few photos to share with you. 

We started a guild SAL a few months ago on the Vierlande sampler which was published in SANQ.  DF Henrietta has finished hers and was it a WOWZER!  It is stitched on 40ct (vintage buttercream I think) with DMC.  Mom and I are working on this too and Mom has more done than I do but she is still in the alphabets and I am only on row 3 - I haven't worked it on it in a while as I am trying hard to focus on Where the Heart Lives.  I think Karen is also working on this but I did not get an update from her when she visited me earlier this month.  Great job Henri !

Also from Henri is this lovely WIP Hannah Horsfall - repro'd by DF Karen aka The Spinning Monkey - I think the linen is 40ct -  Lakeside Homespun but I'm not positive on that and it is in DMC. This is a gorgeous Ackworth and Henri is getting down to the last few motifs on it.  I see another BIG finish on the horizon.








Kerrie does a 10 hour rotation on her projects.  She has a number of really big samplers like Jane Rees, Where the Hart Live and Charlotte Clayton on the go. Here is a WIP of her gorgeous Providence by Brenda Keyes.  Wish I had gotten a shot of Jane Rees- she is on the bottom portion on this beautiful red Bristol Orphanage sampler.

Last but certainly not least is Linda's PAPA sampler.  I think she is using 45ct Graziano linen in creme with HDF silks in a lovely blue.  I'm not that familiar with Vicki's silks so I did not catch the color name but it was lovely.  Linda also had a beautiful french sampler called Marie-Lucie in reds on the go but I failed to get a photo of that one.  Oh well  - blog fodder for next time.

I thought for sure I had a shot of my Where the Heart Lives from sampler guild but I did not seem to have one.  So I'll leave you all with a beautiful shot of the full moon rising up over the river as I was sitting in a restaurant eating my dinner last night.  This photo is not nearly as dramatic as the sight really was but you'll get an idea.  This spot is about 5 minutes from my office.

Wishing you all a very happy and fun filled Memorial Day weekend!

I DO BELIEVE IT'S A FINISH!

So hard to come up with catchy blog post titles.  Drum roll please - I have a  finish - don't faint - my faithful followers know it is a momentous occasion that Mel has a finish.  I have been working on this shawl for at least 2 years maybe more.  It was my car project until it got too big and bulky to drag out in doctors offices and restaurants and on lunch hours.  I took it in the house and it sat for a long time until I started getting the itch to knit with lace weight yarn again.  I don't know about you other knitters but I have to be in the mood for lace weight - it has a different hand than heavier yarns and while I adore small needles - there is a trick to knitting with lace -I am a loose knitter anyway and i probably have less of a problem with dropped stitches than tight knitting so lace weight is fairly easy in that regard for me.  well here is my masterpiece - it is so much bigger than I expected I am not going to block it otherwise it would turn into the bat cape I'm afraid LOL - and oh horror of horrors for any knitter - I RAN OUT OF YARN -  yep - I ran out just before the picot bind off on the ruffle edge.  Oh well - not to be deterred I found some other stashed lace weight yarn in the lime green color and I just kept on trucking - I was determined to finish this thing come hell or high water.

Here is a close up of the bell ruffle and the neck edge trim which is entirely in the green - oh well - at least it matches.  For any knitters out there - it was knit out of Malabrigo lace in Hummingbird and the pattern is actually from the Victorian Lace today book but this version was published in a Knitters mag several years ago.

 
 
 
 
 
 

in my last post I mentioned DF Karen came to stay with us and we attended the annual hook in not to mention our traveling about.  I wanted to show you the awesome neck warmer she made for my birthday out of Malabrigo Rasta. I dont' remember the colorway but is it GORGEOUS and so cushy - this is their super bulky weight and I had never seen it before.  Darling buttons HUH?  go and check out Karens recent blog post and you'll see more photos of our shopping excursions and adventures while she was here.  Karen also gave me a wonderful Vera Bradley lunch tote and a note paper holder.  I screwed up the photo so there is no shot of that.
 
Speaking of wonderful birthday gifts - DF's Jackie and Teresa went to Stitches South last month and brought me a BIG SURPRISE -  Sanguine Gryphon Bugga - WHEEEE - it is a very coveted and almost impossible to buy sock weight yarn.  They sure know how to peg the MEL colors - isn't this awesome !
 

I will have to think long and hard about a special project to honor this yarn and my DF's who gifted me.

Speaking of special yarns - I wonder how many of you know who Ysolda is?  she is a hip new designer from the UK - she visited Lornas Laces in Chicago not long ago and in honor of her - LL developed a new color - Ysolda Red - WOW WOW WOW - is it ever gorgeous - I don't think my IPhone camera can show the depth of color and variations but here it isI wound one ball of the Shepherds Sock by hand last night in preparation for my cast on with friends of the Traveling Woman shawl at Knit Witz Midnight Knitting.  I am not usually a red person but here is more recently purchased red yarn.

This is Malabrigo Lace in Sealing Wax - an awesome pinky red - There is a cardigan in the newest KnitScene mag that uses this yarn and I wanted another lace weight project to replace the Ruffled Fichu I just finished.

The obsession with Malabrigo seems intense right now - I could not leave Hanks without trying the sock weight - no I am not technically a sock knitter but what does that have to do with anything ?????

Another exquisite sock weight yarn - Saki by Prism - wish the color was more true - it is just gorgeous.One last photo of my recent yarn buying excursion.  This is the Spud and Chloe sweater (worsted weight) yarn.  Purchased from Wild Fibre in Savannah - I am going to make one of their patterns called the Tea Party Cardi - darling !

Our local sampler guild is meeting tomorrow afternoon.  It's been a long time since we saw met as a group - about 2 months.  It will be fun to see everyones projects and of course I'll be sitting in the corner hanging my head in shame - again no finish in the stitching realm but there is hope.  I will be showing an updated progress pic on my folks anniversary sampler soon.  Also some rug updates - I have a big announcement coming up soon in the hooking WIP world.  Don't forget to check my previous blog post and make a comment there to enter my Memorial Day drawing for a hooking, stitching or knitting prize. 

I enjoy all of your blogs so much - they inspire me and enrich my life.  You are all so special and unique and I love what you do.  thanks for coming to visit and for leaving your comments.  Have a wonderful weekend doing what you love to do.

MORE TRAVELING

WHEW .............  TGIF and all that jazz.  I am exhausted. Wonder if I can remember what I 've been doing since I last posted. Come take a little journey with me on my adventures in wool land for the past week.

 DF Karen came up last Friday to spend a long weekend with us. She arrived on Friday afternoon and I quickly whisked her off to a not so local yarn shop called The Local Needle in Macclenny FL.  Karen is doing a KAL with this shop and Joan had special ordered some yarn and shipped it to Karen.  It was fun seeing Karen's project in it's final stages.  LN has knit night two fridays a month but we opted not to stay since Karen had already had a long drive up from South Florida.  She treated me to a wonderful evening at a favorite local bistro called Biscotti's near my work.  We had a delicious cheese tray and some lovely reisling and finished with a great spinach cobb salad. 

 On Saturday our annual rug guild hook was held in Jacksonville.  It was a great time had by all.  You'll have to take my word for it since I did not take one single photo. BOO HISSSSS - I know all you closet hookers will be miffed at me for not posting a single photo of the rug exhibit.  I can only say that all I did was talk and eat.  there were many people there from surrounding areas, even as far away as GA and So Fl.  We had visitors who were interested in learning to hook, we had members who we have not seen in years - it was a wonderful but tiring day.  I did not get very much hooking done but I worked on my Peace and Plenty from Not Forgotten Farm.

Sunday was Mothers Day - I thought about posting a photo of my mom and I that Karen took for us but I looked like the great white whale but my mom looks pretty good - Oh what the heck - I'll post it anyway. We went to brunch at a lovely B&B - The Riverdale Inn in the historic area where I work that has an awesome restaurant open to the public.  The history of the mansion and some local history is contained on their website.  It's a wonderful area and I love coming to work every day in the historic Bensel House.

We went back to my house after brunch - my folks stayed and chatted for a while but they were anxious to head  home.  The minute their car left the driveway - Karen and I were plotting our next trip - HANKS YARN in Gainesville.  WHEEEEE - did we have enough time to make it worth the trip - hummm - it takes 1.5 hrs to get there and they are open till 7pm - oh and what excuse are we going to use to get out of the house - hummm - going to visit a sick friend NAH - going to shop at a sale - NOT GOOD ENOUGH - Going to shop at a sale of a store that is closing UMMM - that might work - so out the door we flew.  I am participating in a KAL at Hanks and the group was meeting Sunday afternoon - well by the time we arrived that group was all gone but we still had fun perusing even more yarn.  I failed to get photos of my purchases but I did get some photos of the shop.

Their Shop has two entrances one on each side of the building. This is a shot of the long narrow space leading to the other door.  Full of yarn of course!

On this side of the shop is another seating area, the purchasing area, the yarn winding area, a nice big window and see all the spinning wheels and accessories.  They do some dyeing of their own at this shop and they have a small dye kitchen over behind that swift which by the way is holding some lovely Malabrigo lace weight yarn that I bought.

Karen had to go home on Monday - and I had to go back to work.  Found out Monday I had to go back to Savannah - OH DARN - Savannah is just about one of my favorite places in the whole world and this time I was not leaving without visiting one of my top 5 fave yarn shops Wild Fibre.  So I got up extra early and started my drive to Savannah.  It is about 2.5 hrs from my house to the dealership the company I work for owns there in Savannah.  Our controller is a long time resident of Savannah and he loves to spoil me.  We discussed visiting Mrs Wilkes Boarding House for lunch but he said we'd have to leave early because they pack out.  OK - I was up for that - why work when you can eat and visit yarn shops LOL

Well - was Brian ever right - there must have been 50 people on the sidewalk when we got to Mrs Wilkes - URGHHH- plan B - did we have a plan B??  Brian said he thought I would love Soho Cafe and it was only a block down from the newly relocated Wild Fibre.  MAN - did I LOVE Soho - you bet I did.  Let's go inside and take a look.

Apparently this was once a garage or repair shop of some type.  See the top of the huge roll up bay doors and there was an exposed ceiling with piping and so forth.  Hope I got a photo of the neat chandeliers they had hanging from those rustic pipes.  It was a very ecclectic place and the food and atmosphere was awesome.  Brian can sure pick the place.  There was artwork for sale displayed all around this enormous venue.  Here are a few more shots of the artwork and seating areas.Doesn't that look like Alice in Wonderland or Mary Englebreit meets Alice in Wonderland.  Needless to say - I can NOT wait to go back to Savannah and spend a whole day having lunch at Soho and visiting with my friend Jennifer who owns Wild Fibre.

So after a delicious lunch - we walked a block down to the new space Wild Fibre has secured.  Oh look - here's the stepsAlmost there - can't wait !!!!!!!!!!!!!!OH MY goodness - here is my first glance inside.  What wonderful light coming in from these huge windows.  I did not have time to ask Jennifer about the history of the building but my presumption is that it was once a private residence that has been divided up for retail spaces.  Look at that lovely marble fireplace.

Did I ever have a hard time making a selection from this delectible wall of wool.Another fireplace and a cozy seating area.

Such a lovely space - look at the hard wood floors.  WHHAAAAA - I did not want to leave but I had to make a quick decision and bid farewell to the sweet Savannah.  I'll be back again soon - you can bet that.

I promise in my next post to show you some of the lovely yarns I purchased on this trip and maybe just maybe - a finish of a HUGE project that I have worked on literally for years.

As a reward sticking with me on my journey - I am going to have a giveaway. Not a lot of stipulations - if you are a stitcher, hooker or knitter - just give me your preference of prize and I'll surprise you with a little gift.  Just leave me a comment on "THIS" post and I'll draw for a winner on Memorial Day 5/31. 

I enjoy hearing from you all and reading your blogs.