Remember this?

Viking Turid, Knitters Magazine, Fall 2000.  When I saw this, I was gobsmacked.  It represented everything I admire in a design: simplicity, art, wearability, longing, uniqueness.  I knew I would make this and I did.  It was a labor of love.  The designer is Elsebeth Lavold, who brought Viking Knits to the US with that design.  She also designed my “Holy Grail” project — aka the Dragon Sweater (see main post here).

Her signature book, Viking Patterns for Knitting opened up a whole new approach to doing cables.  She is a prolific designer with her own line of luxurious yarns.  And I got to meet her!!  Yay!

Elsebeth held back-to-back workshops yesterday for the Minnesota Knitters Guild.  The first focused on her cables and techniques.  The second was really about her creative design process: what inspires her and how she takes a design from concept to culmination.  It was fascinating to listen to her!

She is such a warm, down-to-earth person.  She told us that she comes up with ~60 designs a year, which is necessary to populate her books and other commissions.  Wow.  Again, wow.

She is working on a much anticipated sequel to the original Viking Knits series — I’ll be the first in line to buy it.

Her designs truly stand the test of time – her Inggun Vest (which she had with her) is now in my queue!!  I recommend that you revisit her designs – you will be inspired!!

And, excuse me, but isn’t spring in 15 days??!!??

They called a snow day today in our school district which NEVER happens, so I had to stay home… 🙂

Sometimes it is gratifying to just make something, put it on and love it.  This happened to me last weekend at the Birkie.  On Friday evening, I started and finished this cute little bracelet:

DMC Perle Coton #8 and Size 11 Seed Beads

I wish I had better pictures!  The pattern is Lucy Neatby’s Diamond Beaded Bracelet 751 (? – don’t ask me what the “751” means!).  I need to thank Shelley H. for telling me about this pattern! 🙂

As my first attempt with the pattern, I wasn’t sure about sizing so I ended up making mine a little too big.  Instead of ripping back, I sewed the thing together.  I slip it over my hand to wear it, which has worked fine thus far.  I will be making more of these and will adjust the size to fit using the button.  I have tons of perle coton and beads to choose from.

What a great intro to teeny beaded knitting – lots of bang for the buck!!

PS to Robin — the Sweater Vase was purchased from Crate and Barrel.  I saw them in Vogue Knitting and the hunt was on!!  Unfortunately, I bought it in early 2012 right after the 2011 holiday season.  I do not believe they are still available. 🙁

Crate and Barrel 2011

…My hubby for his 30th Birkebeiner Cross Country Ski Race!!  This year was the 40th year of the American Birkebeiner.

Here you see him after the Award Ceremony in his couture look!!  John had his best Birkie finish at 62 years old.  I could not be more proud!  He broke into the top 500 (out of 10,000 skiers in all), and placed 8th in his age group.  Yes, they are oldies, but they came in only 40-50 minutes behind the winners.

I will be watching the greatest show on earth tonight (The Osc&rs) — my middle-age female self will win out this time against my adolescent male self (the part of me that is addicted to The Walking Dead!!).  I can catch TWD with On Demand 🙂 .

Edited to add an action photo:

John is in the Snow Leopard Print — Bib 2018!!

Sally and I are taking part in a mini-knitalong.  We are both starting Snowbird by Heidi Kirrmaier.  We love Heidi’s designs (such as Summer Solstice and Vitamin D) and this one is no exception.

I am knitting with the most wonderful yarn I have used in ages.  LOVE it.  Acadia by The Fibre Company: 60% merino, 20% silk, 20% alpaca.  Wow.  What a combination.  Sally used it for her Summer Surly.

This is truly fabulous yarn.  I love the feel, I love the nubs, I love the color.  And Sally gave it to me out of her stash!  Yay for me!!  She thought it would be too close to her Summer Solstice to make another sweater with it.

Yep.  That’s all I have done so far — LOTS more to go!

Sally – feel free to add a picture of your Snowbird.  It will be a slow knit, but I hope it will be very wearable when done.

It is Surly’s birthday!  Yay!  In honor of my favorite sister’s birthday, here’s a short stroll down memory lane.

You can see at a glance that these two are going places:

On the Tarmac

Yes, we were Air Force Brats.  The little one is Sally, of course.  And notice the cute matching outfits.  I’m sure our grandma had something to do with that!! 🙂

This next photo captures Surly as a sweet young thing – in her early college years:

Great Hair!!

Few would suspect that Sally and I once dabbled in the cinema 😉 .  Here is our only “starring role”: in the blockbuster Jurrassic Park:

The Rainey Sisters in a Faux-to Op at Universal Studios

We were told to look “fierce.”  We told the guy that there is no way we would be anything but scared out of our wits!!  That trip to L.A. was one of our first “road trips” and really, really fun.

Have a fantastic birthday, Surly — there are many great memories to come!!

…from The Monkey Sisters!

You are not seeing double!  Susan made a second Sock Monkey Project Bag for sister Surly.

We are finally getting the snow that we deserve!  It is a winter wonderland here and out east, but makes it a hassle for a lot of people (we have a parking ticket to contend with as DD’s car was on the street when they plowed 🙁 ).

I have been working on a humongous and very slow project for the last month+ (to be revealed later), but take a break from time to time to knit up something fast.  I made an impulse buy from Webs for a very expensive Noro yarn: Nadeshiko in the “red-denim” colorway.  $25 per skein!!!  I bought two.  As luck would have it,  someone in my knitting group was wearing a beautiful cowl called Seyfert – the perfect pattern for this yarn.  And free (thank goodness!!).

So, here is my $50 cowl!

I really love it and have worn it often!  I had part of a skein leftover so I knit up a matching hat:

The hat is a little tight but kind of cute.  About the yarn: it was full of knots – three in each skein!!  For that kind of money, you would expect better.

Hope you all get to work on time today – drive safely!!

I blame Kim.  For all sorts of things 😉 , but this time I blame her for my knitting obsession of the last couple of days.  She sent me a picture of a cute new project from CiD Hanscom for a small project bag…

Here is the result!!

My Little Monkey Shines knit in Ella Rae

Yes.  It is a Sock Monkey Project Bag!  My husband said, aren’t you over those yet??  Yes.  But it’s a Sock Monkey Project Bag!  It was fun to make and putsy to finish (which you can tell by looking, I’m sure).  I am going to line it when my fabric arrives from Amazon:

Here are some more pics:

You use plastic needlepoint canvas to give it its shape.  They make circles so the bottom was easy to do.  I think this would make a good holder for a ball of yarn.  Fun and cute, with very clear directions though I really think it needs to be lined.  Nice little project!

PS: To Mary Lou

Sock Monkey Ball Gown Minnesota State Fair