I'm headed out of town for a long weekend but wanted to sum up what I accomplished during the stashalong.
Here it goes:
crocheted cat
3 Mini Weasleys
Baby Cardigan
Postcards for swap
Itty Bitty Bear (I do not recommend this to anyone)
Vinter Lue
Pot holder/hot mat
House Unity Hat (i do hope to post the pattern for that before too long)
Womb
Another, but different, crocheted cat
Finished my circular shawl

My plans for the future are:
Socks: for me and my husband
Shawl for my sister for her wedding in September
Fingerless gloves/mittens
Many more amigurumi creatures
Some type of sweater with the alpaca yarn I have in my stash
Some type of top in the Noro yarn I won
A shawl for my aunt
I want to Kool-Aid dye something and make a hat or mittens... (maybe the fingerless ones!)

Most of these will require me buying more yarn, but I hope to not just acquire yarn without a purpose. That's why I'm stuck with this alpaca. It really weighs heavily on me.

I also hope to get my sewing area set up and begin doing more sewing again. It really is my first love.

Unfortunately, my out of town trip will take me near no yarn stores (But I may see Wayne Newton in concert!!!). I will have to wait until next week to buy the sock yarns of which I am dreaming.

These are pictures of some of the great items I received in the mail while my computer was down. First one is my present from the Knit the Classics Mystery Swap. My swapper was Jennifer from Craftlilly. The yarn is so appropriate for the swap! I've already formulated some plans for both skeins. The book she sent me was a lot of fun to read. It's one of those mysteries where if you really pay attention while you read, you can keep your own notes and try to figure out who did it. I really enjoyed reading it. A murder on a plane and everyone on board is a suspect. One thing I found interesting is the language used. Every the word "plane" was always spelled " 'plane". Only once in the book was the full word "airplane" used.
Thank you Jennifer!

The second picture is of the womb that I made with the 10 skeins of Noro Lily Mulit yarn that it won! Over at Knit the Classics there was a project contest for our March reading. My womb won! I was bouncing off the walls for days, and still get all giddy when I realize I have won something. (I think the last time I won something was back in 3rd grade at a Burger King party where we had to stack up burger boxes to see who could make the tallest tower.) I'm going through a few different ideas on what I can make with the yarn.

I must say that the womb has been a big hit with all women I've told about it. My friends took turns taking it home, showing it to their husbands and seeing if they knew what it was. My mom wants to have it for a bit to show her friends. She had wanted to take it to a baby shower, but I couldn't get it to her in time.
Knitting the womb has been quite an experience!

For Poetry Monday:

This is from the book, "Recitations Old and New for Girls and Boys" by Grace Gaige. (copyright 1924) It contains so many good poems.
This one stood out to me today because we have so many little wild violets in our backyard right now. I love the color they add to our grass!

The Violet

Down in a green and shady bed
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view.

And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its color bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower,
Instead of hiding there.

Yet there it was content to bloom
In modest tints arrayed;
And there diffused a sweet perfume,
Within the silent shade.

Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.

-Jane Taylor

See what poems others have chosen for today.

Finally, my computer is back and I finished the shawl edging! The computer was set back up yesterday, and I finished the edging last night. I can't believe how long it took for the computer to get fixed. They said it was "corrupted", whatever that actually means.
I almost feel that I had something to do with it taking so long, because when it first went away I thought, "wouldn't it be nice if I was finished with the shawl by the time the computer was fixed?"
If I had only realized how long over 1000 rows of edging would really take.
I have a ton of computer catching up to do, but I hope to get back in the swing of things quickly.
I have much to share!
(By the way, the shawl is laid out on a queen bed - Just giving you an idea of size. The quilt was made by my husband's grandmother for our wedding. She's 97 now and still lives on her own at her farm.)

Computer is now not even in my home. It is sad how addicted I have become. See - I woke up early today, a Saturday, and came to my husband's office to check email. The withdrawal pains are many. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
Still chugging away at the lace edging for the circular shawl.

Sorry there have been almost no postings lately. My computer has been down since last week, and may not be up and running until Thursday. I'm at my husband's office trying to catch up on some things. This is where I came yesterday to post the poem.
Knitting-wise, I decided to go ahead and do the edging for the circular shawl I made last year. It is taking some time - there are over 1000 rows to knit to make it all the way around this thing! I'm about a quarter of the way through.
Hopefully my computer will be back up and running by the weekend. I have many things to share!

"Daffodils" (1804)

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Here's the finished cat, contemplating a small ball of yarn - or is she contemplating Clara Bow? Hmmm...
I am thinking about putting a small ribbon around her neck before I wrap it.

Now, what to do next.
I have a circular shawl that needs its edging.
I have 10 skeins of an alpaca yarn in a creamy white and 5 skeins of the same yarn in a nice cafe au lait brown. (all skeins have 110 yds each with a gauge of 5 st. per inch) I bought this yarn over a year ago and have yet to find the right project for it. I'm still searching.
I've been thinking about making a prayer shawl for one of my aunts.
I want to make myself some long fingerless gloves or mittens.
And there are always little stuffies that I want to make.
We'll see what I pick up this evening.

Today is Girl's Day!

I made this little model for Girl's Day from a great site. Yamaha has some intricate paper crafts you can print out on cardstock, cut out and assemble. You can make some of their motorcycles, rare animals of the world, rare animals of Japan, rare animals of the Amazon, and a category calles the Seasons. The Seasons is where you can find models for all kinds of traditional japanese holidays, and some western ones, like Halloween.

Be forewarned that they are very detailed. You will need some small, sharp scissors, a lot of time and a big ol' hunk of patience!

Please click on the picture to see it in more detail!

Here's my gold medal for finishing up my project for the Knitting Olympics. I really enjoyed the challenge. I think it would have taken me much longer to finally do it and finish it if it had not been for the olympics.

I will try to get my notes together and write up a pattern for the hat soon.

Hooray!!!

I am currently working on The cat over there in green yarn. We have a couple of three year old birthday parties to attend next weekend, and the cat will be for one of the girls.

The second party is for a boy and a girl, and the moms have asked party-goers to bring only one present, a book. At the party, the books will be exchanged among ALL the kids, so that everyone goes home with a new book and the birthday kids aren't loaded up with more toys that they don't really need. I love the idea.

I should have had this cat finished by now, but I have been quite busy with my high school reunion. I am on the startup committee and I am the one in charge of keeping a database of the updated addresses, running the website, and manning the email address. We have a big organizational meeting this weekend, and I needed to get all my notes together. What has taken the most time has been working up a list of all the addresses we DON'T have, so that we can pass that around at the meeting, and begin our hunting down process. There are well over 100 people that we don't have information for yet. We've been a bit slack over the years and have never had a reunion before. There's a lot of catching up to do!

And by the way - The poem in the last post is from A. A. Milne's book of poems, "Now We Are Six". It's a wonderful book.