Back from Hiatus

And with loot! Lookie lookie! A handknit wool sweater - or a photo of a portion of it in any case...

The last week or two has been light on blog content as I've been off traveling for work. Last week brought me back to my home state of Minnesota and a brief visit with friends and family. I was amazed at how much was new, and how much still remained familiar back in the Twin Cities metro area. Time with friends and family was wonderfully cherished - it was very nice to catch up with everyone and see how much people have or have not changed as the case may be.

While I was at my parents house, I went hunting for old goodies from my childhood. Sadly, a goodly pile of things were not able to be located, but that is to be expected, especially since my childhood bedroom has changed owners several times since I moved away. One thing I was exceptionally excited to have found was that ball of wool to the left...it was perched precariously on top of a box of old clothes. I didn't dare hope to find the rest of the wool...which happened to have been handknit into a huge cabled sweater...but I did! The sweater was handknit for me by the abuela of my Uruguayan host family...that's right - I have a huge handknit sweater from manos yarn...the sweater is not my style and is hugely oversized (as that was the style of my clothes back then). I plan on handwashing gently and then reclaiming the yarn for another project yet to be determined. Any suggestions?

The checkerboard sweater is also from Uruguay, but is knit from a much more coarse wool - it has a distinctive sheepy smell about it, and will also be unraveled and remade into something new.

Other clothing finds include my frothy confection of a prom gown (not your normal prom gown - this one is more of a ballgown - complete with volumes of crinoline, inset and hand beaded lace panels and melon sleeves). Not sure what I'll do with it, but it will likely be put up for sale somewhere.

Other surprises of the weekend? My sis-in-law has taken up knitting...as has my brother! :) how cool is that?!