Sisters, friends, nephews, monsters, fuzz....

While I was visiting in CT last weekend, my mom, my sister and I went through some old pictures. Check this one out of me (on the left) and my sister:

Does that not completely represent the older-sister-tormenting-the-younger-sister dynamic? Did you catch the terrified look on my face???? (click on the picture for a slightly larger view!)

I went back to Connecticut for the day this past Sunday for brunch with some girlfriends:

I don't get to see them often so it was nice to catch up!

And then went to see my nephews again, and play some ping pong:

Yes, that's the dining room table! You do what you can with what you've got - we had the paddles and the ball, so the dining room table it was.

The Daisy's and the Brownies came to visit the shop for their meeting on Saturday:

Yvette gave them a tour of the shop, a spinning demonstration, taught them finger knitting and read them "Phoebe's Sweater" while they had a snack. Whew! It was a whirlwind hour - thanks to Yvette for being the tour guide!

In other news, I was wearing my Adult Surprise Jacket the other day and noticed that it was started to fuzz/pill where the arms rub the sides of the sweater. Here is what I got when I used the sweater stone:

Felt like almost a whole sweater's worth! The jacket is made with a loosely spun merino and is not tightly knit, hence fuzzing and pilling is much more likely. It looked much better after its haircut. (Wouldn't it have been nice if I had thought to take a before and after of the jacket? --- I was too amazed by the pile of fuzz...)

I'm working on a knitted monster!

....in anticipation, next week, of the arrival of The Big Book of Knitted Monsters! An absolutely adorable book of all kinds of household monsters. This is Geet the Garage Monster. Among others in the book are the Closet Monster, Icebox Monster and Garden Monster.

I also made a baby bonnet from the Cotton Candy pattern book:

Cotton Candy is a 100% cotton yarn, and it is very soft. So nice for baby things....

CUSTOMER SHOW AND TELL:

Betty's cowl made with Expression:

Theresa's convertible mitts which she is making to donate to soldiers:

Robin's zippered child's cardigan, made with Encore for the class she is teaching in March:

So cute - and she said the zipper was easier than you'd think!

Phyllis and her finished afghan!:

Phyllis has been working on this (among other things) at the knit-ins since before I took over the shop almost three years ago. Pretty!

Stephanie's stash of finished objects:

Her beautiful shawl, the Octopus Mittens from 60 Quick Knits, and several skeins of handspun yarn! She recently purchased a wheel and has been going to town spinning up a storm.

Alison's first ever socks, made with Encore Colorspun:

She's hooked on socks now.