Friday, May 11, 2012

sea otter, a miracle and the happy dance!

lot's happening here at the woolydaisy homestead. haven't had a chance to blog about anything. to catch up- we headed to monterey to the sea otter classic- an amazing bicycling event- our youngest son loves cross country mountain bike racing and sea otter is the bomb! (gee don't i sound hip? hahaha-i'm sure the bomb is already old school-help me out here hipsters)

liam was very excited as sea otter is the "stitches" for bicycling- booths galore with everything imaginable from tires to chain lube, cliff bars to handle bars- great swag!! i was burping cytomax by the end of the weekend!!!

Liam raced the cross country mountain bike race. 14.6 miles i think it was with a lot of elevation gain.

liam did great! he came in 11th out of 31 racers. very proud of him!!

got to spend a wee bit at the beach as well! i "heart " the monterey coast so much!!!

spring exploded while we were gone.

i quickly started some healing salve with all the herbs that were bursting forth! calendula, plantain and self heal.

placed them in in a jar with olive oil to steep on the windowsill. later i will strain the herbs and blend the oil with bees wax to make the salve.

many of you are probably wondering about the "miracle" in due time in due time...saving the best for last:)

I made another lacy gaitor -see previous post, using the same skein. this time i used a different cast on on method with smaller needles-#3 and the rest of the cowl was done on #4. this worked much better.


compare the 2 cowls- the top one being the new cowl with the different cast on. the first one was too loose and floppy. if you want more info-go to my ravelry project page here.

dish rags have been happening on the homestead- i want to eventually have all handmade ones. never buy a store bought one again. here's a new one:

bet you didn't know dish rags could be so exciting and cool- hey they are the bomb too! and so are folks who make them! more to come!

remember "darlin" the merino fleece i purchased from judy at stitches LAST year? well to refresh your memory click here. i finally got around to getting it processed. a huge thank you to mardi for taking it down to morro fleece works for me and to wendy who picked it up and brought it back-saved a bunch on shipping!! it turned out fabulous. sheri does such a great job at morro fleece works.

buttery goodness! luckily hubby was out of town so i could sneak the huge box into my yarn store, studio, closet. now if my back would just cooperate i could start spinning down my stash!!!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! now the moment you've all been waiting for-the miracle. what miracle? are you ready? woolydaisy-yes, that's me......actually completed a UFO(unfinished object.) insert happy dance- i finished my tappan zee bartlett cardi and i love it so much!!! it even fits!!! this is really big for me- miss winner of the startitus award!!!

hope to get some modeling pics soon. i love elsebeth lavold silky wool yarn-one of my favs!! and in my favorite color too- my sistah sharon describes the color perfectly: "electric pear/acid bio-luminescent bog moss lichen green" thanks for the description sharon-it's perfect!

if you've been keeping up with my blog you will know what this means-woolydaisy-hey that's me-can cast on a new project guilt free!!!! and i did-immediately-got my junkie fix!!!! keep it shiny wooly!!! i casted on my brown-eyed susan shawlette from juju's loops new fabulous book!!!

i'm knitting mine from shibui staccato sock-merino/silk! ultra soft baby!!!! cruising right along while learning the joy and tranquility of becoming a monogamous knitter. well sort of.

4 comments:

Birdsong said...

Your Tappan Zee turned out absolutely adorable! Are you ready to cast on for our KAL on Monday?

Sara said...

Great Sweater! I even like the color (sort of grows on you...); new project looks interesting too :).

I loved the years my boys did the mountain bike race scene: lots of knitting time! And they came back tired, dirty and very hungry :).

woolydaisy said...

bsong- i may be able to cast on but i can't knit lace in a social setting!!!! this may be a late night -after everyone is in bed project for me.

sara- best color:) that is so great your boys were into racing as well- yes, lot's of knitting time:) lovin my new project-learning new things!!!

Sharon said...

I know you're not tall, but my goodness Liam is! And he so looks like you - at least his expressions. That was fun and you sweater is my favorite color of green - like it a lot. Hope to see it modeled :)