Lamb Cakes Past and Present

The lamb cake was a big hit:


Here's a picture of a lamb cake my grandma made for me when I was a kid:

Happy Easter!

We've already stuffed ourselves with candy, and now we're off to church.

Later tonight we are going to celebrate my mother's birthday with a surprise lamb cake:

Winner

As chosen by the random number generator at Random.org, Kristen of audioknits is the winner of "Ethnic Knitting Exploration".

Thank you all for entering the contest.

Now I'm off the crank out a knitted birthday present. 27 reps of a 10 row pattern, I'm on #5, and need to get it blocking by Monday night.

Up In Your Grill

I shot this yesterday on the way to the dump.

There's a whole lot going on here. Click to see it bigger. The grand opening sign says April 2005. You can trade your gold with them. For what? Hint, those are not tiaras, but diamond, well I don't know what to call them. You can get gold teeth, but only Monday-Saturday. You cannot add bling to your grill on Sunday. Sorry.

I have come back and added this photo. First, as proof that I really do go to the dump. Second, because it is so weird.


There are a lot of seagulls at the dump as you can imagine. But they were really swarming yesterday. This guy had something on a fishing line that he was swooping around in the sky. As I drove by I was kind of scared to look because the item looked suspiciously like a dead bird. But I'm glad I looked because if I hadn't I would have missed the hunting dog in the back of the pick-up.

I don't know if this is a dump employee having fun, they all wear day-glo, too. Or was he hired to terrorize the seagulls? Or is he a random guy who thought it would be fun to stir things up?

One of the stranger things I have seen there. Also please note the statuary on the hill. It is only a fraction of the vast collection of religious and decorative items.

The Spinning News

Don't forget there's a contest going on through Friday. Check out the info post. I'm enjoying reading the comments.

A couple weeks ago I did a marathon spinning and knitting project. I spun up a Jacob/Alpaca blend to make a hat for the Zoo to use in a contest for the people who work behind the scenes at the barnyard. I'm organizing a group of spinners to go the shearing day on May 5th to teach kids about wool and let them try their hands at the drop-spindle.


I was overzealous in spinning. I only needed a little more than half the yarn. I couldn't find a cabled hat pattern I liked in the gauge the yarn knit up, so I just made it up. I did redo the last 20 rows. Two people I showed it to have asked for one, so with just a bit more spinning time, one person will be made happy.

I've joined a new Ravelry group whose goal is to spin a bit every day this month. Of course I've jumped so far into it that I haven't been knitting much this week. It's been neat documenting the spinning progress, and challenging to get daily creative photos.

I think this Falkland will become the contrast color for a pair of stranded mittens. The color is California Redwood from Girl on the Rocks. I'm trying to keep the green and the salmon separate so the mitten pattern will progress from one to the other.




I did take a break yesterday and knit up this submission for the The Milkweed Project, an art installation project. I spun the yarn a couple weeks ago from a Finn/Mohair blend.

Tonight I cast on for Garden Gate socks. We are doing a mini-KAL. The toe-up cast on really slowed us down.

On another note, have you ever seen an albino pea hen? This one lives at the zoo. Pretty weird.

A Contest - No Fooling

I just realized a big thing I missed yesterday: the contest.

I have an autographed copy of "Ethnic Knitting Exploration" by Donna Druchunas to give away. If you aren't familiar, Ms. Druchunas is the author of several books including "Artic Lace" as well as articles in Piecework and other publications.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, "Ethnic Knitting Discovery", which talked about Norwegian, Andean, Danish, and Dutch knitting so much that I pre-ordered her new book, "Ethnic Knitting Exploration". The approach is less about copying patterns, and more about learning and understanding the techniques so you can design your own sweater. Each category starts with a small project like a head band or gloves. It uses drawings rather than photos, to further stimulate creativity.

The new book explores Lithuanian, Icelandic, and Irish knitting traditions. I'm interested in all three. Although I know about Icelandic and Aran sweaters, Lithuanian knitting is totally new to me. Check out the author's blog, she is posting tips and there is a blog tour.

The author is of Lithuanian descent and has studied the language as well as knitting. You know how much I'm into my Norwegian heritage, so I decided on an ethnic theme for the contest. I want to hear something about your ethnic heritage. A story, song, saying. Maybe your favorite food, Lutefisk, perhaps? If you could link to a photo, that would be fun. You don't have to have a blog to enter, but if you do, why not comment with a link to it? I have found so many blogs reading comments on other people's blogs.

The Rules:

• Anyone can enter. I will mail the book anywhere.
• Contest ends Friday, April 10th at midnight Pacific Time.
• To enter leave a comment on this post telling me something about your ethnic heritage (see more ideas above). You must leave a comment in a manner that provides me with an email address so I can contact you if you win.
  
• Each commenter will be assigned a number, and the winner will be picked via a random number generator.