March 4

Greetings! In like a lion out like a lamb? We'll see...... we did get a bit of sun this week though the next few days are looking better... and the sap has started to run! Our neighbor up the road has started to boil, always exciting here in Vermont! Paul and I wanted to get a cross country ski in over the weekend and were all set to head on over to Sleepy Hollow Touring Center which is, as the crow flies, just over the ridge.... but 30 feet out of the driveway we decided to come back home and just ski in the fields and hills around the house. It was the. sweetest. ski. ever. And I've had some pretty sweet skis. We used our waxless (we usually wax our wooden skis) as it was so warm and they were perfect. We still have a great base here at the house so we stayed on top of the snow and had so much fun :) We both got warm quickly and were shedding our mittens/gloves quickly. The sun was out, no one was around and it was peaceful and sweet.
Woody came out to turn on Monday and is trying to arrange his schedule so he'll have more time on his lathe. I've been delighted to hear back from those of you who have his work, and he's excited to produce more. He did a beautiful large noste for tonight, one I know will be perfect for wrapping heavy and bulky weight yarns..... but I wondered how it would work for a lighter weight. So, I used it to wrap 360 yards of DK weight yarn that I'm using for my sweater. Woody leaves what he turns in one place and requests that I handle it as little as possible, so I was very careful using it and even removed my jewelry :) I found it bigger than I was used to, but once I slid the yarn to the end of the noste it really worked really well. So, it really will wrap any weight as well as bulky! I've finished the back, one sleeve and just started the left front, when the other sleeve and right front are completed, I'll pick them all up at the underarm and knit up, can't wait! Did I mention I used a long tail tubular cast on? I love it... I'll share all the details upon completion! I've really been enjoying wearing my Ravelympic sweater ... so warm and cozy.
I know I mentioned a few of the podcasts I've been listening to and thought I'd share the links. These are my four favorites:

The Knitting Show Podcast
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-knitting-show/id336207042

The Knitmore Girls
http://knitmoregirls.blogspot.com/

Knitajourney
feed://knitajourney.libsyn.com/rss

And.. The Manic Purl
http://manicpurl.blogspot.com/

All quite different and all just wonderful. On a different note, and not knitting related, you can hear my good friend Natalie Tucker Miller here:
http://www.ageless-sages.com/blog/

Hear her wonderful, weekly words of wisdom ;)

Taylor's girlfriend, Hannah has been doing so amazingly well with her knitting! Look at her first (very well done) pair of mittens! We had a great time at the sale at Northeast Fiber Arts... she found yarn for some fingerless mitts and a shawl, and I snatched up two bags of yarn for sweaters. A Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in the prettiest pale yellow (!) and a bag of Sublime mohair/angora in a pretty soft blue mmmmnnnn....

I think that's it for this week... Oh .. I wanted to mention case night! I know many of you had fun but I don't plan on doing another one for a long time! It was... wild, and it felt odd for me not to have bags up. I was getting emails from women who hadn't read the News Page saying, 'It's 9:30... where are the bags???' So... back to the usual :) And I'm thrilled to say that I'm all caught up on the double sales...

Till next week, knit on good women!

Martha.