Spring comes to the Pacific Northwest!

Yes--although we woke to snow two of the last seven days, spring is definitely here! Snow, sun, crocuses, lambs! Weather changes every two hours!! Yes, that's what spring is here. Yesterday, our Friday spinning/knitting/knoshing group met at a Troy farm to visit the spring lambs! Although this picture only shows white, we enjoyed black, brown, black with white starred foreheads and one little tan baby ram, all running around enjoying sunny weather. Baby animals are all so adorable.



In celebration of spring, I finished my latest pair of entrelac socks in a pastel blend that makes me think of Easter baskets. It's made from Plymouth Zino, a blend of wool and nylon, a single-ply that does have a tendency to split if one isn't careful. You can see them on my Ravelry page.



Spring Visitors

Another sign of spring are the visitors that came off and on this week to enjoy my pond--a pair of Canada goose. This was the first week that the pond was water, not ice, and the pair seemed to enjoy stopping by.

Watching grosbeaks at my feeders, too! One friend saw bluebirds back. Last year was the first year I ever saw bluebirds. I had nesting pairs in my two bluebird houses and I have another house to put up. I'm considering raising mealworms to keep them well fed and loving my place! 

And the alpacas are enjoying the spring sun--instead of moving back and forth from feeders to their shelters, they are spending time sitting in the sun and nibbling at the fresh grass coming up.

Promises of warm days and starting the day outside with a cup of coffee!

Knitters can Support Doctors without Borders

Knitters/spinners/crocheters who spend any time on the internet will be (or at least, should be!) familiar with Ravelry. As they say on the website, "Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration."

Free and easy to use, the folks on Ravelry definitely inspire me. I find out what others have done with the yarn I have and what yarn others have used to complete projects. I can ask questions, get answers, give and get opinionsabout practically anything under the sun, but especially knitting and yarn.

But last night, as I was seeking inspiration, I discovered that some generous creators of knitted patterns have donated their patterns to be used to raise funds for Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers), an "international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assiste people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe." For instance, by October 31 (according to their website), they have treated close to 3,600 Haitians with cholera symptoms.

Back to those pattern creators: they have donated patterns to a fantastic knitting fundraiser called "pennies per hour of pleasure" or for short, p/hop. On that site, you can download knitting patterns for free. All that is asked is that you freely donate pennies for the time you get pleasure from using those patterns. I was able to wish p/hop a happy second birthday today and write on their blog--you can read it here.

My church has an annual "Quilt Sunday" on which the PPQ (the Purple Paisley Quilters) display quilts, serve brownies, and have a service based somehow on quilting. Yes, quilting--but since so many of us PPQ folks are ceaseless knitters as well, the talk I gave a couple of years ago focused on the way both quilters and knitters are workers for social justice. It doesn't take much investigation to find out that knitters use their artistic talents to provide comfort and warmth to premies, cancer survivors, soldiers, the elderly, etc.

If you are a knitter, join me--download a pattern (and there are many great ones--I especially love Susan Pandorf's shawls (thank you Susan)--and donate! p/hop is at 73 percent of their goal of $5000--let's make it 173 percent!