Happy Easter! ... and a contest.......

And so, this morning, Annie had a wonderful time finding all of the plastic eggs that Ahab the Bun-Rab had hidden around the house (all inside- way too cold to be outside- we even had snow! In fact-it feels colder today that it did on Christmas Day!). And I found this-a huge stuffed lamb (that was addressed to "little Debbie" and has a "baaaaaaa" noise all its own when you squeeze his ram's horn) and a cashew-butter-truffle chocolate bunny-in a metal case. My husband, once I ooo-ed and ahhhh-ed over it all, said,"I thought the case might be the right size for your double pointed needles. Or you could use it to hold something or other for your knitting things. I got the bunny because of the box." Oh- he's a keeper all right. And the big sheep- he needs a name-anything good comes in, I just might have to send the suggester some yarn. Like some sock yarn or something or other. You'll let me know what you like- but it will be NICE- from my stash. Email me- debDOTseanATsympaticoDOTca (but fix it up first) or leave me a suggestion in the comments-and I will choose the best name for the giant sheep. By, say, Saturday? A CONTEST it is, then.
I am also fiddling with the bright BRIGHT Silk Stream (Fleece Artist)- something that Deborah Newton did in "Designing Knitwear". She made panels of textured knit, with some patterned, two colour stuff, and sewed them into a kimono type coat. So I have been playing with a big swatch- you can click it for BIG. I kinda like it. Anyhow., I was thinking of putting a big swatch down the middle of the back, with some two-colour ones beside it, then some sideways knit (pick up stitches and knit towards the side seams) next to that. I like the idea of shorter sleeves (like to the elbow) and longer body- to wear over a solid one colour outfit. Any suggestions? Has anyone done this before? I will keep on knitting-see how it goes. I thought I would use some charcoal tweed silk (It is almost jet black), as well as some of the blue left from Big Blue-the blue would be in thin rolled reverse stockinette strips between the larger parts-we'll see if it looks like what I have in my head. If not- well, to the marination chamber it goes!
Well, I have to go and check on cooking the supper- instead of ham, I thought I might go with salmon on the BBQ- but it is too cold. So I decided on a nice prime rib. But now I have to check how long to cook it-
Happy Easter!

PS- Two, very, very sad Easter jokes-
Q-What do you get when you have a line up of bunnies, and they all take one step backwards?
A-A receding hare (hair) line.

and, as ever....
Q- What kind of rabbit practices medicine in the operating room?
A- The Ether Bunny.

PPS- Bear got a new squeaky toy- he loves it!

Edited later- Oh my- Excitement time! --Amy Singer, over at http://knitty.com/blog , is going to be on Breakfast Television-in Toronto-this Wednesday, between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m.- with the trunk show for the "No Sheep For You" book. I wonder if they will show the silk bathrobe?

Later again- For some reason, the picture of the swatch I have been knitting is not always on the blog. Hmmm- let me know if it isn't there, would you? Thanks-

OH I am too excited........................

Okay- I am really excited over this one. As some of you know, I have tried my hand at designing sweaters and such, and the last design (that I got paid for) was in the "No Sheep For You" book (by Amy Singer). I did a silk bathrobe in that one. I initially specified a silk and cotton blend, thinking that no one would even pay for a blend for a housecoat. But Amy was adamant that it had to be this absolutely decadent 100% shiny silk-and so, that was the end result. I loved it, but wondered who would ever make it. I got an email from Ann Budd (major player in Interweave) saying that she really liked it, and so I felt I had "arrived". Anyhow, today, I got my copy of Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting. In the Books section, right there on page 26, was a write up of the "No Sheep For You" book (and a very nice one, at that). I read along, happy that "the people in the know" liked the book. Then I got to the last couple of sentences-and there it was- in black and white........"You'll also be treated to a batch of modern designs for shimmering silks-you'll want to wear Deb White's silk bathrobe to the opera-...." The Vogue people mentioned me BY NAME! And they didn't talk about any other design! Oh my. I am so pleased.
By the way- I wore Big Blue today- got lots of compliments on it. I will try to get a picture-later.

Edited later..................
This is Big Blue laid out on the bed.

I also decided against buttons, so I used a lovely pewter and wood shawl pin (by Perl Grey) I got the pin at Grand River Yarns (see sidebar for link)


Gratuitous shot of Bear...."This is me, Bear, with all of my toys. I need someone to play with me. Anyone? Please? You can even pick first."