Blue-footed boobie

So how did everybody do with the recent time change? For me, the usual difficulty waking up an hour earlier than I have all winter long. And with my WoW guild friends, it's been downright confusing since we're all in different time zones already.

But, it's a sure sign of spring to come, even if it doesn't much look very springy outside just now. Not at just a glance. But if ya look really close in the right spots, you'll see that the buds on my tulip tree are very plump and ready to bloom. You'll see honest-to-gosh cliched robins at the bird feeders. The skunks are mating, thunderstorms are back in our forecasts, the Cadbury eggs have returned, and humans are already prematurely donning their shorts and sandals.

And them knitting Sundays still come around every week, when the Fertile Turtles all gather at the local mocha spring in Turkey Creek.




Brooke found a pattern on Ravelry that she's calling "Red Ripples." She has this scarey, yet interesting, theory about the knitter's having a contemporary level of their own Dante-ish hell, but she's still fleshing it out. I can't help but stay tuned.

When I took pictures of folks with their projects, she assumed her favorite pose . . .


... which inspired Anastasia to 'pull a Brooke.' She's working on the Cherry Blossom shawl from Interweave.



And just dig these craaaaazeeeee shoes Anastasia wore! I asked her if a license was required to wear them things. Apparently not, but a more sensible pair of shoes are needed in the car, for the safe utilization of the pedals when driving. I would think so.






Kim nearly has one of her Snow Queen socks finished.






Mary Beth has a very good start on her purple Cassidy sweater.




Debra's gray cardigan is making for some very plush and pet-worthy cables.



And Raeus, ever the queen of making unexpected color pairings actually work, has a large chunk of her brioche project done.







And Carol just thought she was simply bringing her current project on which to work, while coming to the knit-together. But oh no. No, no, no, no.

She brought the very pattern that is the very exact sort of thing I've been looking for, to knit up the Noro stash I got for Christmas.

Oh, I've got a long list of possible patterns that I was going to use with that yarn. But each of those projects was almost what I wanted for this yarn, so I could never really settle on which one.

What she had going is exactly what I've been trying to find - did ya hear the angelic choir last Sunday afternoon? Yeah, that was me seeing this pattern and shouting, "That's it!"







Pam is toggling between two projects, an afghan and some more Monkey socks. She swears by that Berrocco Sox yarn!



And of course, she arrived sportin' a finished pair of hand knit socks. I had my own Monkeys on that day, them Grape Apes.











So what about our knittin' moms-to-be? Well, Kristine is still very much waiting for her special delivery, and in the meantime is doing some test knitting for Mimi.


And Nicole has delivered their son, Jax! I reckon we can chalk that up as yet one more sign of spring.

Oh, and the spring issues of many knitting magazines are out now too (how's that for an awkward segue-way?). I found this advertised in one of 'em: Naked Knitting. Um, it's a calendar for charity.

One of us found an ad for Knit Nation in London, to which another blurted out, "We ought to take a road trip and go to it!"
"To London?!"
Yeah, okay, this London ain't the one in Kentucky. It really is the other London. The real one. Yeah, that one.

Somehow, amid the chatter, the notion occurred to us that a wine rack would make excellent and artful storage for our yarn stash.

And drifting my way from the other side of the table was a phrase from Mary Beth, ". . . blue-footed boobies . . ." I asked her, mostly politely, to repeat whatever that was she had just said.

She really and truly did indeed say, "blue-footed boobies." I've no idea in what context.

But, it turns out, that there are birds in this world called that. Them poor, sweet birds (who do have blue feet).

Don't they just make ya kinda want to knit up a toy bubi? They come in a red-footed variety too, I've since learned.