Hi, Folks!! Remember this?
Note the lovely [crumbling] blacktop. We have needed a new driveway for years and it finally happened:
We are not yet able to drive on it and it still needs some finishing touches (as do the garage doors) , but it is getting there. And check out a better picture of the crabapple tree nearing its peak:
It doesn’t hold a candle to the flowering gardens that Sally has, but we do love it!
On a knitting note, I am definitely having more second thoughts about the hand-dyed yarns we are drawn to and love to purchase. They have so much variation skein to skein that it is a crazy roll of the dice to get matching skeins for anything larger than a one-skein project. Very frustrating!! More on this topic later…
Success Story: This week I made one of these S-I-M-P-L-E ruffle scarves out of Marina, and the crowds went wild! Everywhere I went I got raves. I tried to explain that the yarn does all the work, but they would not hear of it. Talk about bang for the buck. Out of all the knitting I have done, this gets noticed. Go figure!
Picture from Pattern Page
My colorway consists of blue, purple and green — quite pretty:
PS — Denise wrote, “I CAN’T BELIEVE that novelty yarn is coming back.” I can’t believe it either but these new yarns are very different. You can’t see it from the pictures above, but the Marina looks like crocheted lacy chains. It is very beautiful knitted up and sells like hotcakes from my LYS.
Very interesting – the comment about hand dyed yarn. My experience has been mixed. They look so beautiful lying there, in the skein, but the finished object is often not so pretty. I tend to like those that are dyed in a tonal fashion, with little variation in color. Anyway, can’t wait to hear your comments/experiences with hand dyed yarns. Oh, the driveway is fabulous. K
Comment by Kathy — April 21, 2012 @ 10:19 am
I agree about the hand dyed yarns. So pretty in the skein, but so hard to work with. I too restrict myself to the tone on tone, but even with those, multiple skein projects can be a problem.
Comment by technikat — April 21, 2012 @ 10:32 am
Love the driveway! Seems like one of those items that you ignore until it’s fixed and then you think “how awful did it look before and why did we wait so long to fix it?”. Ours is so bad that random paving companies sometimes stop with ‘offers’ to repair ours. Out hunting business, I guess.
On another note, I CAN’T BELIEVE that novelty yarn is coming back. Perhaps I’ve been doing this longer than I’d like to admit and another generation of knitters is entering the market? I will probably pass this time around, unless the sons’ girlfriends are keen for something.
Comment by Denise in Ohio — April 21, 2012 @ 11:16 am
My mother and I have made several and everyone loves them. I agree it is a lot of bang for the buck. I also like that it isn’t a reincarnation of the previous novelty yarns.
I agree with you about the hand dyed yarns. I only purchase single skeins for shawls, socks and gloves.
Comment by Beverly — April 21, 2012 @ 3:00 pm
Garage and driveway look wonderful! (I may have to email you for paving company!)
Variegated yarns always call to me, but I have rarely been happy with the results (the FO just doesn’t look as pretty as it did in the skein). Definitely hard for those projects requiring more than 1 skein. Not sure how everyone else does it with such success.
Comment by Amy — April 21, 2012 @ 3:38 pm
Your new garage and driveway look wonderful! That first picture is so unique – you’ll love having it as a memento later on!!
Comment by Barb — April 21, 2012 @ 8:20 pm
Hi
Want even more bang for your buck with that yarn? Weigh it out and cut it into two equal portions. Knitting these smaller lengths will give you two ‘collars’ of a nice length….one for you, one for a gift. I really like the shorter length better.
Comment by Ann — April 22, 2012 @ 11:35 am
I so look forward to your comments about hand-dyed yarns. And, why are almost all of them superwash? Don’t people like old-fashioned wool anymore?
Nice looking garage and driveway, although the first shot in this post does have a certain charm.
Comment by Susan — April 23, 2012 @ 12:52 am