a little birdie told me...

Hi Knitters,

Well, it's Monday already. Hope you all had a good weekend. It was a wet and cold one around here. Later yesterday the rain turned to ice and snow and this morning it looks like a glistening wonderland. The sun is out and the trees are absolutely sparkling. It is pretty.

I am starting out today on a note of sadness for a blog reader and a request for your help if you are interested. Lucinda Snyder emailed me a short while back and told me about her grief after recently losing her baby after only a few short weeks of life. She and her husband called their son Birdy as a nickname. Since losing her son she has been struggling with grief and purpose. She came up with a knitted memorial idea. She is trying to get 100 bird ornaments knit up to hang on a tree in tribute to her son. These little birds would then be given as gifts to other babies fighting to live as a kind of guardian angel. I think she wants to reach 100 birds by May and she asked me if I would post about her mission on my blog.

If any of you are interested in knitting a little bird ornament to help Lucinda please check out her blog for the bird ornament pattern and contact information. Grief is overwhelming and any help we can give Lucinda at this time would be a wonderful thing.
On to a few other things this morning. It's time to announce the winner of the Easter Egg yarn giveaway. The winner is:

Denise Skelton from Johnson City, TN!

Congratulations to Denise. She has won 2 skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. Denise, you have 2 days to contact me to give me your mailing address. I will then pass on your address to Susan Druding, owner of Crystal Palace Yarns, and she will send you the yarn.

A short while ago I finished up this fantastic glove set and I wanted to share this project with you. The project is called Strata and it is in the book, Knitting New Mittens and Gloves by Robin Melanson. I have mentioned this book several times before but it is worth another mention. It is filled with beautiful, wearable, innovative designs. This is my third project from Robin's book. I plan on many more.

The gloves are knit out of the dreamy Blue Sky Alpacas Silk and the outer layer is the Blue Sky Alpacas Brushed Suri.  These are both extraordinary yarns. The Brushed Suri is knit on a size 6 and the silk on a size 3. Both gloves are done on double-pointed needles, which I love. I plan on making the entire set including a pair of short-fingered gloves and a pair of fingerless gloves. I loved the colors Robin selected so much that I am doing the same. 

Love the book, highly recommend it to all!

Take care on this sparkly Monday, Knitters.

best, susie

p.s. Just found this site and I am crazy over it, really cool patterns.