Two!

The boy had his second birthday this week. We had a party with most of his grandparents, and all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. He really enjoyed the frosting, but neglected the carrot cake after that.

He got his own table and chairs, giving him yet another way to be higher. So far it hasn't occurred to him to move the chairs to other locations for climbing. We're not mentioning it!

I can finally reveal some baby knitting since the shower is in a few hours.

Sarah, if you happen to be reading blogs instead of playing with your family, move on now.

Oliver will be the best dressed baby in NC!

My own combination of the Child's Placket Neck Pullover and Barbara Walkers Top Down Raglan. Yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in an unknown colorway.
Most fabulous yarn ever!

And every baby deserves some hand knit socks right from the beginning. Yarn on the left is my own hand dyed in Koi, on the right Interlacements Tiny Toes.

Studio Tour Time Again!

Toe River Studio Tour
Spring '09 edition

June 12, 12-4pm
June 13-14, 10am-6pm

In the last two weeks, I've fired off three loads of pots. A new record for me! Most of the first load is already out the door for orders, but for once I really feel like I have enough for the tour. Usually I have a few mugs in each color, this time I fired 90 in all! Yikes! I also have three nesting bowl sets, another batch of soup mugs and plenty of ice cream bowls.

The tour is always lots of fun, I love seeing friends and returning customers as well as new faces. Mom and I have collaborated on a handful of new pieces, Lucas will be joining us with his iron, and Matt Willig is coming again with his fabulous jewelry.

And if there's anything left, the next weekend I'll be exhibiting at the 4th annual
Mountain Farm Lavender Festival
June 20-21, 10am-5pm
Visit their site for all the details.
I volunteered in their shop last year and had a great time. I couldn't believe how many people came, so I decided I needed to dust off the traveling booth and take pots for this year.

His favorite cup this week made by my friend Claudia

Baby Knits- One Down....

I've got several babies to knit for all arriving late this summer. I had never made the famous Baby Surprise Jacket, so this was my chance. This is yarn I dyed myself last year and have never gotten around to making socks from it. I love how it worked for this. Every time I hit an orange spot it made me smile.

I started before anyone knew the gender thinking it could go either way, but now that it's finished, I'm leaning toward girl with some flowery buttons.
That was confirmed when the smallest member of the household offered to model it this morning. He's only about 20 months and 15 lbs too big.

Swatching now for the next sweater. It's Oliver's turn next!

Little of everything!

Someone's been enjoying the second generation toys this week. My Grandpa made this bank for me. The date on the bottom is 1985, and he made one for each of my cousins that year. The boy managed to get it off the top of the dresser and has been pushing it around the house all week.

A family record for most food on one's face and head in one meal.

I finished a pair of socks. These were the second round of the Sock Madness competition. Some pairs were done in a day, mine took a month. But they will be so warm next winter!

Tokena socks
Purple is Knitpicks Essential
Blue is my own hand dyed

There's also been some cooking. We found strawberries this weekend on a visit to Marion, so we made three batches of strawberry jelly. We also had a batch of grape juice in the freezer from last fall so while we were at it we did a batch of grape too.

And finally, I made Chocolate Eclairs for this month's Java Jam. Looks like I'll have to make them again in July, they were popular. They were pretty amazing, we each had to sample of course.

Some New Pots

I've spent some time this winter working on a few new forms. One of the most requested items is soup mugs. I have a few in my cabinet that are 10 years old and we use them all the time, so it was time to try them again.

I have 10 of these large ones. They are about 20 oz
There is also a batch that are not glazed and fired yet that are just a bit smaller,
I'm guessing they will end up around 16 oz.

The next thing is tumblers. I had a request for some large tumblers and I tried out a few shapes. Here are a couple. These are also around 20 oz.

These Brown and Green ones are slightly flared and drink well and though they are too big for my small hands Kevin likes them.

And the dark blue ones with a bit of a curve.

I'm planning to keep working on these forms and have even more before the studio tour. If you are interested in any of these shown here or in the yet unglazed soup mugs let me know and I can set them aside for you.

I also have a dinnerware set ready to be glazed! If you've been thinking about dinnerware here's your chance with no wait list. Get in touch for more details.

Fire on the Mountain

Spruce Pine's annual Blacksmith Festival is this Saturday from 10-4.
Lucas will be exhibiting and demonstrating.
The rest of us should be there around lunch time.

There is an exhibit of iron work at the TRAC Gallery on Upper Street as well.
Reception is Friday night 5-8.

Wheel with a view

We had a couple of crazy weather days with sun to rain in a matter of seconds. Made for a great rainbow. I just wish you could see the lilacs in the foreground.

Kevin and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last week with blueberry pancakes. The smallest member of our family really loves blueberries.

I got knocked out in the second round of the Sock Madness competition. This is the Tokena pattern. It took a full two weeks for all the brackets to fill, but this is as far as I got on both socks. I have since turned the heel and added about an inch on one. I'm skipping round 3, but maybe I'll be done with these and ready to knit along with round 4.

But Wait, Wait there's more!

I finished up a long overdue pair of socks last week. These are the Slippin Stripping socks from last year's Sock Madness competition. They are the third round socks and of course the round I got knocked out on. They are knit with double strands of laceweight yarn from Tess' Designer Yarns. No self stripping for us.

Slippin' Strippin socks

I was anxious to finish them up and free up some needles since Sock Madness 3 was beginning. Last Thursday morning the round 1 pattern arrived in my email. I finished the pair this Thursday evening. One week and half a day. Not bad around here since I spend much of my knitting time standing at the dining room table watching to be sure the kid doesn't jump off something.

Tropical Mer-tini socks
Mama E C*eye*ber Fiber Sock

And finally-
But Wait, Wait there's more!
I'll be a contestant on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR this weekend!
I'm only a little nervous.
OK since it was taped last night I'm only a little nervous to hear it on air, last night I was a lot nervous.

6 Week Sweater

It only took 6 weeks to knit, but then it took another 3 to actually get around to taking a photo. I have a sweater idea in my head, I've searched for the right pattern for a few months without finding just the right one. Then Christi posted a finished sweater at the beginning of the year that seemed to fit the bill. It's more of a theory than a pattern, and it has it's own book. Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. I ordered it the day I saw Christi's sweater and started my sweater the day the book arrived.

I did the V neck version with a seed stitch border around neck, cuffs and hem.
Yarn is Karabella Aurora 8 Space Dyed
bought on sale last summer at Yummi Yarns.

It's not quite THE sweater I've been thinking of, but it's a good start and I've already worn it many times. Next up, I'm going to refine the pattern a bit and try again.
This time in Cascade 220 Heathers, the color is Mystic Purple.
I got this in the mail from The Loopy Ewe yesterday. It was so hard to choose a color, they sell all 200+ colors of Cascade!

Swimming

We had our first swimming lesson today. It was fun! The boy woke up cranky and didn't get over it until the class was almost over, but after it was over we did hang around and splash a while.