Marie Grace Designs

Winners...

I explained to Tater that we were gonna pick little pieces of paper out of her hat. She thought it was pretty funny but went along with it anyway...

And the winners are...

Winners have already been notified by email.

Turkey and Tater

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend no matter how you spent it.

We spent part of the holiday visiting elsewhere and part of it here at home with company.

This was the first year I cooked the holiday turkey myself here at home. For the past several years Mac Daddy has actually been the cook. See, he never planned to be the holiday meal chef but 4 years ago our holiday prep was unexpectedly interrupted... by contractions that were a few minutes apart all morning and hadn’t let up by early afternoon.

Turns out we were gonna have Tater with our turkey (her being 3 weeks ahead of schedule). The day after Tater and I came home from the hospital Mac Daddy did the entire feast himself. It sort of became a short term tradition after that.

So at our house you get a choice of dessert... pumpkin pie or birthday cake... or a little of both.

Happy Birthday Tater.

Tomorrow ... winners of free yarn!

Free yarn...

I've never done a yarn give-away before but Llamajama and I are in cahoots to get the word out about a new yarn. Nothing spreads the word faster than yelling “free yarn” in front of a bunch of knitters so here goes...

Llamajama has this to say about their new 1855 Wool collection...

This is our artisan created, hand-spun, naturally dyed merino wool yarn.

In 1855 everything from printing inks to textiles was colored naturally. It was the year before the creation of synthetic dyes. We have gone back, not to 1855, but to the original process of naturally dyeing yarns. We begin by spinning the combed and carded merino fiber by hand to create a strong worsted yarn. Next we use dyes that have been adapted from ancient recipes using locally available flowers, roots, barks and even insects to dye the wool. Our color palate is rich, subtle and like all things in nature, ever changing.

Whether you are looking for historically accurate yarns, or you simply love natural fibers, the 1855 wool is sure to delight you.

Because 1855 yarns are naturally dyed and handmade, you can anticipate subtle changes in color from skein to skein. Buy enough yarn to complete your project at one time. Alternate knitting from two skeins every few rows.

Since I do a bit of designing for Llamajama I had a chance to do some secret sampling of 1855 Wool before it went public. The colors are rich and deep and I’m fascinated by the fact that every inch of it is hand-spun on drop spindles. Its a chunky weight with a somewhat thick-and-thin nature that knits up super fast and the fiber is very soft and sturdy so its a great choice for even next to the skin knits.

I designed Wool Noggins (shown above) specifically for 1855 Wool. Its a simple hat pattern that’s quick and easy (and FREE) and really shows off the yarn. All you need is one evening and one hank of 1855 Wool. And I’ll even supply the hank of yarn for a few of you!

If you would like a chance to sample some 1855 Wool for FREE just leave your name or nick-name and your email address in a comment to this post.

-Sign-ups will be open through Friday November 23rd 2007.

-3 winners’ names will be drawn from a knit hat (quite literally) and announced in a post here on Monday November 26th 2007. Winners will also be notified by me by email.

-Winners will receive a hank of 1855 Wool in their choice of either Sky or Mixed Berry (shown in the picture above).

-Everybody can have a copy of the Wool Noggins pattern. Its available as a free download at The Garter Belt.

While you're at TGB check out our 2 new members and all the new designs that are available!

The Lily Cardigan

This grown up version of The Daisy Cardigan is perfect whether you need a light sweater for a cool autumn weekend or something to ward off the chill at the office.

The Lily Cardigan is knit from the down. Just like The Daisy Cardigan front ties are built right in to the front edge bind off and little picots lend a bit of polish to cuffs and bottom hem. With a deep Vneck and light waist shaping this is definitely a grown up version of a cute little cardi.

Sizes: To fit chest 30(34, 38, 42, 48) inches.

Finished Measurements: 
Chest: 34(38, 42, 46, 50) inches.
Length: 22(22.5, 23, 23.5, 24) inches.

Yarn: Llamajama Alpaca/Merino blend
(50% alpaca/50% merino)
100 grams/220 yards per hank.
5 (5, 5, 6, 7) hanks.
Sample shown in color “Heather”.


Needles: US#5 (3.75mm) circular needle.
Set of US#5 (3.75mm) DPNs.

Extras: Waste yarn for holding stitches, darning needle.

Skill Level: Easy +

Skills Needed: Increasing, decreasing, working in the round with DPNs.

Gauge: 20 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches on US#5 (3.75 mm) needles (washed and blocked).

Price: $5.50
Your printable pattern will be immediately downloadable in Adobe PDF (v5.0 or later) format

Home...

So the move is over and we’ve been here at the new house long enough for it to start feeling normal. There are still boxes that need unpacked and things that need organized but we’re functional enough to get by.

The first week was a little ooky with all the convenience food and no cable. (Just so ya know... if you move into a new house that is pretty much in the middle of no-where cable and phone technicians are not in a big hurry to come hook things up for you.)

Luckily we managed to keep in mind that we didn’t really move here for the cable anyway. We’re all so fascinated with the new territory we have to explore. I even went out early one morning to get some pictures of the sparkly frosted yard. This is no small endeavor because truthfully I am not a morning person. (Okay... that was the understatement of the century.)

Now, I am no botanist. You’d think growing up in the country I’d have picked up on the whole identifying plants thing but it seems to have escaped me. Either that or I spent too much of my youth identifying the wrong kind of plant... hmmmmm....

Anyway, I don’t know what they are but they look all sparkly and sugar coated early in the morning...

I’m thinking I need to start a semi-regular column entitled “Hey Elizabeth, what’s growing in my yard?” because she seems to know these things.

The Little Guy watches a lot of those survival shows on Discovery and loves all things nature-ish so once the sun warmed everything up a bit we went for a hike.

Tater decided she needed a map (thanks Dora).

Here’s the view from the crest of the hill behind the house...

I can’t even explain how much we love it here. The view is fabulous. The trees are beautiful. The sun rises above the mountain ridge out behind us every morning. Its everything we wanted it to be.

We even acquired our first outside pet whether we wanted one or not. This little girl showed up the day after we moved in and hasn’t left since. She’s friendlier than the average barn cat and even follows the kids around when they go out to play. We finally gave in and set up a box and blanket for her on the front porch along with a bowl of food. I guess she’ll be our first barn cat come spring.

Darwin has settled right in. He just follows the sun beams from spot to spot all morning. The cats have adjusted quicker than I thought they would. Toby, of course, had to make things a little more difficult than they needed to be. He did well with the move but disappeared one evening and hadn’t reappeared by the next morning. Our cats have never been outside a day in their lives and I’m pretty sure Toby would starve to death if he needed to depend on himself for food. When he didn’t come out to eat breakfast I was pretty confident he had accidentally slipped out when we were moving some things in downstairs the day before. After a frantic search we found him hunkered down under the basement steps looking a little spooked but fine.

All in all we’re settling in. I’m looking forward to things settling enough for me to be able to concentrate on some yarn work. I haven’t really allowed myself to get involved with the yarn since we’ve been here because I had an overwhelming urge to get things “just so” first. Mac Daddy was home on vacation the entire first week so we took advantage of the time we all had to spend together before work and school took us over once again.

Now that things are shifting back toward routine I find that I’m thinking more and more about the yarn. Its extremely inspiring to be here in the mountains in November. My yarny mind wanders through simple tasks and I’m looking forward to unpacking the stash.

Don’t forget there will be a fresh newsletter from TGB next week. I’ve decided to celebrate our new house by giving some of you a housewarming gift... free yarn!

Tater knows all about it but she’s not tell’in. She’s too busy hiking in the woods in a warm wool hat and a new Smitten jacket (because she outgrew the purple one).

Finished...

Sweet and simple alpaca cardi... pattern coming soon.