Hi all… I’ve been gone from work a week and it feels like months… I’m in the town of Martin, Slovakia teaching English to a group of students (ages 9 to 42)……

It’s been quite an experience but so much fun at the same time… I brought some yarn along to knit in my spare time but have found there isn’t much extra time to be found! If we’re not teaching in class, we’re wandering in the town square or on a field trip or sometimes crashing with a nap… The land looks so much like Washington state with the mountains and green (and yes, a little rain too) – except in Washington we don’t have castles…
Speaking of castles (great segway, huh?) today I took a trip to the Castle Strecno about 15 kilometers from Martin.

Here I am …

Oh, I am so close to finishing my Aran Sweater from The Knitter’s Almanac. I made a lot of progress this week thanks to Craft Night and a staff meeting. After the weekend I needed to change to just one sleeve at a time. You can see that one sleeve is longer than the other! One more repeat of the cable pattern and then I will move to the second sleeve.
You can see that I am so close to being finished! Steek for the sleeve openings and the front. Add a buttonband and all finished! Well I stlll have to buy buttons. I may buy buttons in Ireland as special souvenirs. <

When all else fails, I fall back on Elizabeth Zimmermann. Particularly the Knitting Workshop. This is the book I would have with me on a desert island.

The Stonington Shawl has a garter stitch body with a lace border. Just what I want for a travel project. Simple at the beginning with more challenge for the trip home. I seem to look at the time every five minutes when we are traveling back home. Keeping track of a lace border will be very helpful.
The simple design will show off the hand-dyed colors of Shimmer Bayou. I am going to find a fancy border for it. I can’t wait to see this all finished! <

….my Affirmation Marker is larger than the beginning of my Jolly Green Socks for Socks for Soldiers. This time I am going to use Tina’s pattern for Two At A Time Toe Up Socks. I love her garter stitch heel that extends under the heel. I’m going to add a special touch – double strand the garter stitch section for extra padding! I can tell you that it is much easier to knit with Sarge than black yarn! <

Wow, it’s been exactly a month since my last staff blog post–oops! Time flies when you’re knitting snowmen. Yep, that’s what I’ve been up to this July. We decided that we wanted a “mascot” of sorts to show up in our holiday catalogs and emails, and the next thing I knew I was knitting wee snowmen with accessories. There are three different snowmen: Lumpy, Rosy & Slim. They each have their own unique shape and outfits and you’ll be seeing them cropping up in September. Of course, we’ll be offering my patterns too so you can make your own as ornaments or toys. I decided to give you a sneak peak of Slim (he’s Frosty’s cousin and the most traditional of the three). I was really pleased at how his felted top hat came out, since I just improvised the pattern on …

I met Judy, TassieKnitter, when I joined Ravelry. We spent many months happily chatting about our knitting and spinning projects before she mentioned that she would be visiting America in the summer. And, in my area, no less!!!

Between Judy’s touring touring around with her friends and my schedule, it took us awhile to get together. But, yesterday afternoon we met at Nordstrom’s downtown. Xena was very pleased to meet a new friend! Judy had already hit a few places I would have recommended – Powell’s books, Dublin Irish shop and Knit Purl.

Since Judy had already been running around all morning, I decided a quick trip to the little Elephants Deli next door to Nordstrom was in order. She grabbed her first Brownie in America and I had an oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie. Some Dry Lavender soda finished off our …