a win-win weekend

This entire weekend was one rollicking moment of supreme awesomeness after another. I loved every second of it and I'm so glad it's over so I can get back to work and get some rest. ;-) There's sooo much more to it all, but highlights from the blog's yarny perspective follow:

We arrived home from celebrating Scott's b'day with another stellar Fire and Ice Day at Old Sturbridge Village to discover that the mailman had delivered our copy of the latest magazine they put out for members. Flipping through, on the last page, hey! There's Scott (holding coffee cup and wearing a handknit hat) and his mom (purple coat), getting warm by the fire when we were there for Christmas By Candlelight. And you see that handknit hat peeking in at the top right edge? That's Jesse wearing Habitat. Sunshine, fresh air, a day spent among living history in action -- win.

While the guys then headed out for ice fishing with a friend, Leah and I met up with other friends at a nearby yarn store for their second annual Stash Swap. We traded in some unused yarn from our stash (most of which was given to us and just wasn't in colors/fibers we'd use, but still perfectly fine stuff) and came away with yarns we are more likely to use, including that gorgeous 3-lb cone of navy blue tweed rescued from being unloved in our friend Jen's stash -- woot! -- sock yarn, superwash wools, handspun, handpaints, some good solid wooly worsteds, and yes, there's some ladder/ribbon/railroad "yarn" there. I have a plan for that stuff too. Just you wait and see. ;-) Traded in freebies/hand-me-downs we won't use for a big pile of yarn that we will use, and hung out with friends in a cozy place -- win.

Sunday morning, while the guys had friends over for a good time, Leah and I headed north w/ my mom and our friend Elizabeth, meeting up with lots of other friends and acquaintances there for the Webs Super Bowl Escape. This is the third year we've gone to this event, which is an excellent party. Leah is in her element from the moment we walk through the door. Just such a festive atmosphere. I have been itching to do another pair of stranded mittens, had actually just Favorited the Signe mittens pattern on Ravelry earlier in the morning, so I was delighted to win a door prize of the yarn, pattern, and needles for Floral Brocade Mittens. Win.

Back home in time to say a quick hello and goodbye to the friends who were visiting Scott and Jesse (the mom asked me to teach her to knit the next time we hook up!), scoop the guys, and head out for a Super Bowl party. This was a house full of folks I've know since we were about the age our kids are now. My kids wore their Steeler shirts. The house was decked out in its usual Steelers paraphernalia, and maybe a wee bit more. The guests mostly showed up in yellow and black, a few wearing some of my dad's vast collection of Steelers shirts (man, if I had a dollar for every time he was mentioned last night...), and I dug out my Steelers pins that have been around since we lived in the 'burgh.

Notice the little crocheted Steelers hat with its hand-drawn logo? Dozens of these were made by kid crocheter Debbie (that's me!), circa 1976, I'd guess. I didn't have any here, but my mom had 2 stashed. Moms are good like that. :-) One of the guests asked me to teach her to knit! We ate Steelers cookies sent by Gram, spun our Terrible Towels like lunatics, munched classic football food and yellow M&Ms printed with Go Steelers, rec'd a steady stream of phone calls from friends/fans also enjoying the game where they were, and basically whooped and hollered until we were hoarse. And happy.

Win!

a gansey, eventually

Started last Feb. with yarn scored in a stash swap. Knit 2 strands together throughout. Slogged through all that stockinette at the bottom. There's mindless social knitting and then there's I'm-so-bored-I-could-poke-my-eyes-out-for-entertainment endless stockinette. Note: Future ganseys will have some sort of pattern on the bottom portions too.

Made my way to the top, where all went surprisingly well. Learned the stretchy tubular bind-off because sweater necks rarely work out for me, only to find the head opening this time was too small. Put the whole thing in time-out for the summer.

Ripped out the neck and did it again -- entirely the same except for staying wth the same needle size as the body, so the neck turned out a little bigger. Tubular bind-off is okay with me after all.

Scoured the yarn, which then softened and bloomed considerably. Blocked to match size of Scott's favorite sweater.

Then it sat again for weeks, while he was sick, then the kids were sick, and now I'm sick (yes, still. yes, it's getting old. yes, I saw the doctor again today. yes, new meds to start later today). I did manage to help Scott get the bakery booth set up for a farmers' market yesterday, though, and it was cool out, so I brought the sweater along for a couple of quick photos.

And then I came home and took a nap.
Pattern: Old Way Gansey from Interweave Knits, although I think I got it from a library book, with help of Knitting In the Old Way or Knitting Ganseys or something like that. I think it was a mash-up of all of the above. Hydrocodone cough syrup brain is not good for long-term recall. And who really cares at this point anyway, right?

Yarn: Mystery coned tweed wool from Jen's stash

For: Scott, with specific request for saddle shoulders and seed stitch. The boy likes his seed stitch. :-)

Verdict: The sleeves are little too long, but otherwise two thumbs up.

And now I think I need another nap. Sheesh.

mountain o' merino

I'm not quite sure how this gansey for Scott has come so far with barely a mention on the blog, but it has.

Using a honkin' cone of tweed scored at this year's stash swap, knitting two strands at a time, I'm within an inch of moving into the patterned top portion of the body -- and thank heavens because I've had more than enough of the stockinette slog, thankyouverymuch. One sleeve is knit to approx. the shoulder and the other one only has a few inches to go. Here's a sleeve detail that will also be the central part of the body patterning.

Must stay focused on the gansey, but ooh, it's tough because look what arrived at my house yesterday afternoon!

It's a mountain of merino sliver in the deep teal color that has me all atwitter lately. Yes, I buried my face in it like a big soft pillow. Scott will probably spin this luscious goodness into a 3-ply yarn that I'll knit as any one of the excellent patterns in A Fine Fleece, maybe Flyingdales, with a different neckline. I rec'd this happy-making pile in an awesome barter for soap and glass beads/buttons. The dollar bill is there for scale. Yes, it's red money, received at CT S&W, probably from a dyer, don'cha think? ;-)

Thanks, Rachel, for the offer of hooking us up with your LYS on this weekend's road trip, but our itinerary already includes one Pittsburgh yarn store knit night, an art glass destination, and a living history event, so I think we're good to go! In preparation for the road trip, I cast on a new project last night and made an emergency run to our favorite LYS for another set of Addi lace needles because P2togTBL was nearly impossible otherwise. So now we're good to go!