We had a wonderful visit with our good friends Pam and Tyler in Massachusetts yesterday.  We haven’t seem them in quite some time, so it was nice to chat and catch up.  It was so nice that the only picture I took was of their cows:

Lucy and Ethel.  Lucy will have a calf in the spring.  If it is a boy, they will name it Dinner.  Yes, I totally just went there.  They have chickens too.  And a huge 20 pound cat named Otto.  And two cute 7 year old boys with lots of energy.  And they make maple syrup from the trees on their property. (We took some home.  The syrup, not the trees)  Tyler is a carpenter and made a wonderful dining table with reclaimed wood from a barn floor on their property and an old iron wagon wheel they found in the woods after they moved in.  Wouldn’t it be great if I remembered to take a picture of it?  It’s really cool.  A fun afternoon all around!

And now to catch you up on my knitting (and crocheting!).  I finished my Umaro blanket!

love. Love. LOVE!!!  So warm and cozy, perfect especially since it was only 18 degrees when we woke up this morning.  I made it with Cascade Lana Grande, a super bulky 100% wool yarn, and size 15 needles.  LOVE!

On the drive to Massachusetts I started a new project, the Pinwheel Sweater:

This doesn’t show you much since it is crammed onto a circular needle, so go up there and click on the pattern link to see the pattern picture.  Cute and whimsical, I think.  Perfect for the other doodlebug for Christmas.  And it is knitting up fairly quickly too, once I got the sleeve hole thing figured out (thanks to Robin!).  More on that later.

And then, last night while I was stuck on the sleeve hole thing, and my Glitz at the Ritz was giving me a slight problem, I started the crocheted Ripple Blanket:

That is one small section of a 227 chain row.  It was so many chains. And the first row took so long to do because it’s hard to crochet into that first chain (for a beginner, that is).  And now I’m doubting if I’m using the right size hook.  It seems a little loosely crocheted to me and it appears to be an awfully wide blanket.  But I’m dreading starting over with the 227 chain beginning, to use a smaller hook and get a tighter gauge.  What to do?  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, take a look ( a blurry look) at what came running through our yard yesterday:

A buck!  In the 6 years we have lived here, we have only seen does and fawns, always wondering where the dudes were hanging out.  Very cool to see, but he was on the move so we didn’t see him long.