Mona's Knitting Room

It's been four months since my last post -- yikes! Where has the time gone? Between work, family time and fiber opportunities, I've had no time to spend on my blog except to think of it fondly in passing. Well, life has settled down a bit now that the kids are on summer break and I'm glad to have this chance to highlight the last four months.

We went on vacation in April to Las Vegas. I've always wanted to see the desert in bloom and the Hoover Dam and so off we went. What a beautiful area of the country!





Of course, no vacation is complete without knitting time. I finished these Cascade Fixation socks for me:

The next highlight was Summer SPA at the Western Massachusetts summer house of a spinning friend, Sherry. I forgot my camera so I don't have pics of the idyllic setting: a rustic house set on a private lake with canoes and kyack to enjoy the serene beauty of the tree-line lake, along with a half dozen knitters and spinners with whom to enjoy the time. Sigh! That was a nice weekend.
I spent the majority of the time practicing my spinning. Everyone donated bits of their roving to me so I could try different fibers. I ended the weekend with a nice collection of mini skeins and the the confidence to move from my "practice" fiber to "real" fiber for a project. Before and after. Can you see my progress?

Dateline: Memorial Day Weekend
The next highlight was a camping trip with my son and two of his friends to Lake Conway, New Hampshire. We had a wonderful campsite on a point that juts into the lake. We went fishing and biking, played some baseball and generally had a great time. The loons were out and about; I felt like I was a part of On Golden Pond. You can barely make them out in the photo on the right.

I, of course, spent some time in my comfy chair with my lovely view and knit. I was able to get quite a few inches completed on one of the sleeves of my FLAK sweater before I noticed that the pine trees overhead were dropping sap occasionally, two such splats landing on my sweater. Gasp! I put away the FLAK and I whipped out my portable knitting. I was able to finish my patriotic socks knit from Fortissima Colori sock yarn in colorway "1776".

The next weeks were filled with the hustle and bustle of end of school year activities. I managed to start another pair of socks and make more progress on my FLAK. Best of all, I finished spinning my first "real" fiber and now it's time to ply it. Here's my first full bobbin of singles from Lorna's Laces merino roving. It was gifted to me by Nancy McGlynn of Knitting Now.