In a blink of an eye

My oldest son is 13, almost 14. He's an 8th grader which also means he's a smelly, moody, awkward kid! But honestly, he's a good kid. A really good one. I got lucky with this one.

I feel like he's grown up over night and is suddenly not my little boy anymore. Where does the time go? It's flying by. I guess you may be wondering why I am posting this today...

Well, high school is in the very near future and we are extremely lucky to have good schools as well as career academies in our county to pick from. When I was going into high school, you just went to your town school. That was it. Of course there were catholic schools, but for me, it was public school. And it was a great school. It still is. Now the county has started up these incredible career academies and last night, we visited the one that our son is most interested in.

I was blown away. It's amazing. He was also impressed and wants to apply.

They only accept the top student from each district. He should have a good shot at this.

This kid of mine is a smart one. I can't do math to save my life, but not this kid!

Whether he gets in or not, and if he does get in and decides to go or not to go, I'm just excited for him. He's in a time of life where everything is available to him. 

And he looked SO GROWN UP last night at the information session.

My little boy is getting big...in the blink of an eye.

The picture above was taken 5 years ago. He's about 2 feet taller now!

Yarn Along- Rift for Rick

Sweaters are my favorite thing to knit. So when my husband asked me if I would knit him a sweater, I said yes. Twist my arm. Joan, one of my awesome knitting students wanted to make a sweater for her husband as well, so we decided on a pattern and casted on last week.

We are knitting the Rift pattern by Jared Flood (I know, you're shocked. Hah) You can not go wrong with a Jared Flood pattern. Trust me. He's a genius and it's always a joy to knit anything he designs.

Here is the pattern description from the Revelry Page...

What Brando would have pulled on over that famous white T-shirt if “Streetcar” had been set farther north. Distinctive shoulders elevate this staple pullover: the sleeves are a classic set-in shape, but a ribbed motif worked from large charts creates a handsome raglan effect. Rift is knit in Shelter, worked in the round until the underarms. A generous crew neck worked with a sewn bind-off allows for a comfortable fit over collared shirts and provides a minimalist finish to coordinate with the shoulder details. Turned-back cuffs and hems in single rib lend a casually sporty touch. This sweater is designed for everyday wear, so choose a color that will work with any outfit.

I am knitting Rick's sweater with Beaverslide Yarn 90% merino, 10% mohair.

It's a beautiful charcoal gray color called, Woodsmoke Heather.

Knitting this with size US5 & 6 needles. It's creating a very dense fabric. It's going to be very warm which will be good for watching our kids' sports games and shoveling the snow!

I started this last week and so far so good. A nice easy knit right now with beautiful side details. The shoulders are the best part of this sweater and I can't wait to get to them!

Reading:

I finished The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. Good book!!!! 

Now I'm reading The Life We Bury. I just started it, so I don't have an opinion yet. I'll let you know more next week.

Happy Knitting!

Joining in with Ginny at Small Things for the weekly yarn along.

Monday Inspiration

Hello friends. It's Monday. And to start off the week, I am posting some inspirational photos that I found on Pinterest. It's in no particular order other than it made me happy and reminds me of fall. Maybe a picture will inspire you to knit, take a walk, craft and enjoy the season. And one picture of Tim McGraw, because it's never bad to see a picture of Tim McGraw.

The leaves are beautiful here at the Jersey Shore right now so it's full on fall time here!!! 

Makes me want to cook and knit the days away.

Happy Monday....

Told ya, never a bad thing to look at a picture of Tim McGraw. 

Have a great week everyone! I'll be back tomorrow to post the alpaca show results from last weekend. Ribbons came home!!!

Meeting THE Fat Squirrel!

Let me begin with this statement. I'm a total dork at heart. And I am very proud to be one and I own my dorkness. As an adult I know who I am. I know what I like. And if you think it's odd...ok, I don't care. 

Part of the dork level is totally loving knitting, yarn, blogs, instagram posts about knitters and yarn as well as podcasts (video and sound). I love it all. It's what makes the world go round. Right now, in my life it's what makes me happy!

A year ago, our house was hit by lightning and it knocked out our tv and internet service for 2 weeks. I do love my tv and left without internet or tv I had to find something to fill that void.

In comes PODCASTS! I started listening on my phone. I found that I loved to hear people talking about knitting, wool, cooking, reading and motherhood. I found like-minded people that were spending some time putting their thoughts out into the world through sound.

I have learned so many things by listening. I have kept up to date on what is going on in the fiber world and it's very entertaining.

My favorite, favorite, favorite is Amy Beth aka The Fat Squirrel.

Have you watched her? Well, if you have then you know....she's hysterical. Helllllloooooooooo!

I love her. So when I heard she was making the trip to Rhinebeck, I was a bit excited and hoped to meet her. Rhinebeck brings thousands and thousands of people to the fairgrounds and finding someone in that crowd isn't exactly easy. And then she announced that she would be at the podcast meet up on the hill! Yippee! I asked my mom and Liz if they minded going to "the hill" to meet her. Ummm ok. They then saw me get ridiculously giddy and I have to admit my heart was beating a little too fast. Yes, I'm a dork. And I was a very happy dork!!!

Hey, it's the little things in life right? 

Amy Beth, you make us laugh and keep us entertained. Keep doing what you're doing!

#Rhinebeck2015

It's the morning after Rhinebeck. It's the same feeling I had as a kid the day after Christmas. I am on a high from such a wonderful day and yet I'm sad I have to wait an entire year to do it again!

Rhinebeck (aka New York Sheep & Wool Festival) is a huge event that gathers wool folk, sheep and alpaca folk, knitters, crafters, crocheters, felters, farmers, vendors, food, and PRETTY LEAVES!

People travel from all over the country to attend this event.

This year I made the trip with my mom and sister, Liz. Our sister Andee and her family camped a few miles away from the festival but we just took a day trip.

Here is our day through pictures....

On the road by 6:30am

 We made it! oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Yes it is.

This was my first purchase of the day. I bought from them in Maryland and loved it! This will be a cowl to go with my apple green coat. 

The weather was a 10! Blue skies, cool temps. Perfection for a wool festival.

I enjoyed seeing people that I have gotten to know through the Woolful podcast.

This coat! Yes, I stalk people and take their picture.

So soft!

Loved this booth. Sawkill Farm is a farm close to the fairgrounds. She was selling handmade soaps (with super cute packaging!) I bought one. She also had fresh meats from their farm.

 Cool sign. Loving the hand lettering and colors.

 Lizzie was a happy lady. She found these women making fabric rugs and she learned how to do it and is going to make some with our yarn and rug yarn.

This woman couldn't decide what shawl to wear...I totally get it. Wear them all!

Sweater stalking...

Totally intrigued by this half dip yarn. It knits up with stripes in a small project like a sock, but does a half pool in larger rounds like a hat. Hmmmm. 

Good hat for drop spindle spinners!

What pattern is your poncho??!!!! Haha. Liz bought this at Marhals. Yes, Marshals. And people hunted her down ALL day to ask her what the pattern was. We laughed very hard. I told her to just tell people she forgets the name and it's on Ravelry. Andee, I suggest you design this poncho pattern. You'll make millions.

Love this gold and yellow sweater. I stalked her all day.

This is my color palette. Heaven. 

Was happy to see my design is a finalist again this year. I won 2nd place for my design last year. They suggested that this year I stay very gender neutral. I incorporated the giant orange trees that are famous at Rhinebeck. I hope I win!

My mom and her big purchase! This beautiful handmade wool felt bag has been in her mind for a few years now. The woman that makes them is a talented artist that we have seen every year and been dreaming about. It's beautiful!

I am a sucker for that yellow color.

I bought the bulk of my yarn at this booth. I spoiled myself and bought a sweater quantity of cormo! Ahhh!!!! Now to find the perfect pattern to show off this gorgeous wool. Brooklyn Tweed is calling my name. This yarn calls for a classic sweater that will never go out of style.

Another woman I got to know through the Woolful podcast. I loved her color swatch cloth hanging. She is a natural dyer and I loved her interview with Ashley. I was a bit star struck this entire show, but more on that later....

We saw Paige and Miller! I can't get over how many people we ran into. If we had tried to meet up we wouldn't have found each other! 

Yes Miller, I'm sweater stalking and I took her picture. It's ok at Rhinebeck...now if I did this at the grocery store, it might be considered weird. But not here. Totally normal.

Ahhhhhh!!!!!! I met the one and only Amy Beth (aka The Fat Squirrel!) More on that in another post.

This made my day. 

This drummer was soooo not into this performance! We laughed pretty hard about this one.

He looks so sad! But the music was very nice.

Llama and sheep parade!

Heehee. This guys was tuckered out with his bag of random crap.

Just hanging out with my sheep on my lap...normal scene at a sheep festival.

 

We headed into the town of Rhinebeck for an early dinner before heading home. We picked this beautiful restaurant that was once a church. The service was not very good but the drinks and food were excellent!

Here are my goodies. I picked up a new small basket, a calendar from the winner of this year's art contest, 5 skeins of gray cormo, 1 skein of white cormo, purple blue skein of silk, cashmere, merino yarn, and a bar of Sawkill Farm Soap. It was an amazing day and I was so happy to spend some quality time with my mom and my sister WITHOUT OUR KIDS!

Hope you enjoyed my take on the day. I will post another day about meeting some internet friends.

Happy knitting everyone!