Thursday, April 29, 2010

Never a dull moment

It has been a busy month here at Chez Zimm, plus I am fairly certain Colorado is trying to kill me with all of the pollen that is in the air right now. I have never sneezed so much in my life! But in happier news...

In March, I met six of my best friends for our annual girls weekend. This year we decided to meet up in Sedona and we rented the most incredible house. It was the perfect place for us to make dinner, hang out and catch up.

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It was also a quarter mile from this.

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The view from the top of that looks like this.

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And the woman who owned the house is a wedding cake baker and she made us a fantastic cake. Yum!

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Of course, I didn't manage to get a photo of the group of us. I'll have to do better next year!

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in St. Louis for The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling. One of the highlights (aside from shopping at The Loopy Ewe!) was getting to take a class from Jared Flood, who is an incredible knitter and an equally incredible teacher. He helped make sweater knitting a lot less mysterious. I took my handspun Girasole - made from a pattern he designed - to class and I was beyond thrilled that he thought it was beautiful. It was a great compliment that someone who knew the pattern inside and out spent time looking at the detail. It was a proud moment for me. :)

It was a fun weekend full of spinning and knitting where I got to spend time with friends from past Flings and make new ones. It always goes by so quickly! I got to room with my good friend Stacy, and if you want to get a taste of what happens at the Fling, check out The Knit Girllls videocast - episode 7 was shot in my hotel room and features Stacy (I was in the studio audience and some of my projects make an appearance!).

In finished object news, I completed my Daybreak Shawl. It was also a big hit at the Fling and I think several other Flingers went home with yarn to make this easy and beautiful pattern. Mine was made from two different skeins of Madenlintosh Tosh Sock. Project details can be found here.

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I loved making this so much, I've already got the yarn ready for number 2 - and maybe #3.

I also finally finished the Baby Surprise Jacket and it went to little Jasper in Taos. It probably couldn't have made it to him any later, because the sleeves are a bit short and he slightly resembles a sausage wearing it, but I still think he looks awfully handsome.

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The BSJ pattern is the perfect pattern for handspun yarn.

Speaking of handspun yarn, I made some yarn as a gift for Sheri from The Loopy Ewe as a thank you gift for inviting me to attend the Fling.

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This is 425 yards of fingering weight yarn spun from black BFL dyed by Gale's Art. The colorway is Cherry Blossom. Sheri happens to have some of that colorway in stock. It's a beautiful fiber to spin.

It is springtime in Colorado, which means it could be snow one day and a heat wave the next, but there is always sunshine. The girls have fallen in love with the sunbeam on the stairs.

Xena had to squish herself up against the wall to enjoy this one.

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And Purl knows that the sunlight brings out her colors and makes her look serious.

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It's not a sunbeam, but Ashford seems to have found her doppelganger.

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