A Weekend to Remember

I kinda wish this past weekend would have never ended. I loved every minute of it. I spent Thursday and Friday at The Hotel Monaco with my husband extraordinaire. Such a great guy and a great gift giver! It's a charming and eclectic hotel just outside D.C. We had lunch here at The Charthouse overlooking the Potomac.

After lunch, we had a little artist's date at The Torpedo Factory . It was so inspiring to watch the artists in their studios. I'm intrigued by all of the different mediums. The gallery had an exhibit called Baa-merica which was right up my alley. All the sheep were crocheted using mixed media and modeled after pop icons. No photography was allowed. It was quirky and fun.

We strolled the streets of Old Town Alexandria in the way that parents of 7 without any of them present would do. It's a beautiful city, very similar to my native Annapolis.

Seriously old fashioned, this place.

Wouldn't you love to have drinks on this charming rooftop deck?

I had drinks on this one instead.

We took a water taxi on the Potomac over to the National Harbor.

That's the Woodrow Wilson Bridge joining Maryland to Virginia. You can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol building from this bridge.

Check out this sculpture in the sand. Do you see the little girl for scale? Very cool.

I returned home to all my little loves and found they had made this sweet birthday cake for me.

How cute is that? Foil knitting needles.....

Here's some happy faces with candy and the biggest gumball I have ever seen.

Someone lost another tooth!

Good thing it fell out before he rotted them with all of this candy!!!

I have been waiting for a big chunk of time to learn to weave. I've had a lot of starts and stops since getting my loom, so I am still amazed that I got this thing warped. I did it!

Tying onto the back beam

Direct Warping

Pulling warp through the slots

Tying warp threads onto the cloth beam

Woohooo!!!

Last, but not least

Winding the weft yarn onto the stick shuttle

I found the best tutorial for warping a rigid heddle loom by jenonthefarm on ebay.

Just for fun,and just in case this post is not quite long enough, here are a few yarns I finished this weekend and last.





What a great birthday week. My Irish twin would agree. "It's a wonderful life" indeed.

Sunday Comics

I keep a special journal for each of my 7 children. I write them love letters on birthdays and other special occasions. I took out #7's journal to write him a letter for his 4th birthday. I had written down his reaction to waking up and realizing it was his birthday last year:
"Happy Birthday!" I greeted him. Feeling grouchy, he replied, "Huh, I NOT having it! Humph, humph, humph." Funny little crankster!


one helluva gumball

Hot Pink and Orange

I'm smitten with hot pink and orange these days. The evidence:



It may have started with this luxurious gift of merino/silk from Dragonfly Fibers. I spun it as a fine lace 2 ply to crochet into a shawl of whatever design I fancied up in my head. I'm diggin' it so far. Every time I pick up a hook, I am so grateful to the crochet goddesses who taught me. You know who you are:) and I just love you!

The love affair with the pink and orange continues. I think my heart skipped a beat at the sight of some Corriedale that Kate had dyed in this color family.



I've been on a spindle kick and I literally wound off what was on my favey fave Greensleeves Black Ebony and grabbed a handful of the Corrie and spun. Just like that. No prep, nothing. It was the nicest spin ever. So smooth. I still cannot believe how it drafted. I never quite understood the mad love Kate had with this vendor, but now I do. I will be visiting this Corriedale vendor next year at MDSW for sure! I only had a handful of this amazing stuff, but knowing what I did not yet know about this fiber, Kate stuffed another handful in my hand as I was walking out the door. She's just amazing like that. And generous with the fiber love. Speaking of fiber love, here's a must have colorway.



Dragonfly Fibers Redbud Dragon Sock, which coincided with this Summer Mystery Shawlette. You know what happened next.

Babylove

Babylove is not a baby anymore. Today he turned 4. Why is the passage of time so hard for a mama to believe? Apparently, he couldn't believe it either, because he would exclaim to anyone who would listen,"I can't baweeve (believe) I'm four!"


I'm so appreciative of every little moment together. So much fun in our future, little buddy! Happy Birthday to you!


You are so loved!

Sunday Comics

"Well, I'm definitely gonna need my own car when I turn 16," he announced,
" 'cuz you and Dad are gonna be like 90 or somethin'." He cracked himself up.

So This is Wednesday

"So, this is Wednesday," he realized.
Wednesday=Special Time.

The Big Weekend

You know the one. The annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Such a gorgeous weekend spent with good friends from all over the country. I had quite the haul. Maybe celebrating Mother's Day as well as my birthday this month left me feeling entitled? MDSW to yarnies is like the dollar store for little kids. Only it's more like the $100 store. Make that the $500 store.

Why am I still buying one of these every year? It all started years ago with a bunch of us each buying one and calling them our SPIRIT mugs. Just the right mug. You know the one. Naturally, my Littles broke mine before year's end, so I replaced it. but I have continued buying one every year. I think I'm over it now:)
I also bought a lovely shawl pin for a Citron gifted to me by a new friend. Here's the shawl:


Here's the pin:


Oh, did I say pin? I meant pins.

Here's a pin before the shawl.


I bought some tools for my weaving and felting, books, yarn and other fun things as well. But, here's where the memories were made:

Steph and Kate

Lexi and I

Steph of Loop

Kate and I

Kate and Lexi

Lexi

Steph and I

Christina and Donna

Hotel Spin-in/Swap

I had such a fun time and met some great new people. I came away so inspired. I'll keep ya posted on my projects. Spin on, sistas.

Random

Today I discovered someone's spelling homework done on the back window of my car. Ironically, the first word on his list was " shouldn't."

Really? Who DOES that?
PS. Would you believe I just had my car washed less than a week ago?
Aaah-chooooo!

Sunday Comics(Continued)

Maybe this needs to be a regular column. Funny things have been happening on Sundays lately. The most endearing thing happened this morning. I purchased a mug from my favorite potter at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival yesterday. It was late when I arrived home from dinner and an after party. So, I just filled the mug with soap and a little water and left it beside the sink.
Mother's Day is a time for spoiling Mommy, right? Backwards cards with coupons like " this coupon is good for... to go to the movies with me." So cute. Clever way to get a movie outta mom ;) And wouldn't it be great to surprise Mommy with coffee in bed in her new mug? Daddy went out and bought Mommy a special coffee and #6 wanted to make it extra special by pouring it into the new mug. After spilling at least 1/2 in the pour and 1/4 on the stairs, hallway, and bedroom carpet, one proud little boy arrived at my bedside with yes...soap coffee. He was so delighted with himself. I could only smile, even as I pretreated and scrubbed no less than 30 coffee stains on the coffee trail back down to the kitchen. My breakfast-in-bed-out-of-bed-back-in-bed was so sweet. But just between us friends, the only thing worse than soap coffee is cold soap coffee. Oh, how I adore my little people.