it's probably terrible to post such a thing, but finding a worm in the gardens at work recently was the exact glimmer of spring we all needed. it's predicted to snow LOTS in the next few days-- so the gardens will have to wait a while longer. on the knitting front i can now show you 2 more of the log cabin moderne baby blankets i made (crappy photos, sorry). both made from brown sheep cotton fleece, size US 6 needles.
one for alex
and one for erica

the third is for katie, who received her's with the needles still on, cause honestly, i have until june to finish it-- and i'm gonna take advantage of the time.

sure there's more going on (like the 3 times i had to restart my rusted root... thank the knitting gods that Meike started one too and i was totally inspired to try it again. oh, the all the new yarn i am the proud mama of. okay.. that's another post.) bye.

Now that this has been sent to the proper babe, i can reveal it to ya'll.

Log Cabin (guidelines from Mason Dixon book) cotton blanket for a Boy.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, needles US 6

when you see some of the other baby blankets (coming soon) you'll see i've been in Garter Stitch Land... or channeling the spirit of Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Well, i took out the ripple stitch blanket-- i didn't enjoy knitting the pattern. so now i am doing a slip stitch pattern. sure, i've made a mistake, but it doesn't bother me much so i'm leaving it. and yes, it is yet another baby blanket; number 5 of 5.
in an oops-my-credit-card-slipped-at-kpixie moment, i am now the very proud owner of 8 skeins of blue sky alpacas 100% baby alpaca, sport weight in a natural (duh!) color. i am using it to make a shawl from Nature Babies. love it! have mentioned in this post yet that BSA is my favorite yarn company? well, it is! also part of my order was the pattern for Rusted Root (i need help picking a good color) and Samantha.
In an effort to save The Fiber Whorl, my pal in Helena Montana has become of vital member to fund raising. one of their campaigns is a calendar-girls style calendar. she was kind enough to send me copy in part because it features my handiwork (does that mean i am now published?). i made that brown triangle shawl you see in mid-line-up.
see here: i made these socks
You're probably so tired of hearing about these socks, but i'm darn proud of 'em. Needless to say, the Fiber Whorl needs lots of support. If you find yourself near Helena, MT make sure to give them some love.

now, back to my luscious organic yarns.

So, for the last 6 years i have been celebrating my birthday with especially kindred spirits: My dear knitting pals. Mary is one of the dearest. I met her in a knitting class neither one of us needed to take. i was there because i needed to get out of my small apartment, out of my own depressive head, and just be out with people. (We learned to make gloves/mittens.) Meeting her literally changed my life. During many a friday evening knitting together she served as teacher, companion, woman of wisdom, sympathizer and second mother. We discovered that, although there were many years in between, our birthday's were just days apart; her's on the 3rd. We absolutely needed to share this event. The first year, is fondly remembered for the blizzard that postponed the sharing of homemade chocolate birthday cake. the following week the weather was slightly better. On the way to meet, my car slide backwards on an icy hill downtown (i was an extremely nervous and uncomfortable driver at the time) and when i finally arrived at the coffee shop it announced, "this better be the best god damn chocolate cake ever!". and it was-- and without it none of the following birthdays would have ever happened (the second year was positively the most beautiful spring day in the world. i gave Mary a huge bundle of hyacinths and daffodils, i knit my first sweater with out a pattern in 21 different colored stripes {i turned 21 that year} and we had our birthday party in the morning over coffee and oatmeal. the third year was grand once again-- at yet another coffee shop. the fourth year was a full blown party, we hauled in the loot and proclaimed, "the best way to have a birthday is with a group of knitters!". The fifth year I was so sick i couldn't get off the couch and had to cancel which broke my heart (we rescheduled later in the spring, but it wasn't in March and it wasn't quite the same).

This year was another great one: with nine knitters in attendance, muffins, fruit salad, chocolate birthday cake and a whole load of presents!

Mary and I always sit together and open our gifts.
We littered the floor with a rainbow of tissue paper. i'm obviously thrilled about something (more home/hand made soap)!
We compared presents.
and shared cards. notice we have the same gift? We each got this.

In years past mary and i gave each other very similar gifts. I made her a quilt the same year she gave me a vintage cotton quilt top; i knit her a white lace scarf the year she knit me white lace socks; i knit her a lace shrug the year she made me a cabled shawl.

this year we didn't match, but we still have the same amount of love for each other than all the years of the past.