Halloween cuteness!

The wiggly one & I tonight at our community's party.

dishcloths, dishcloths, dishcloths!

It seems I don't knit anything other than dishcloths! Truth is, they're quick (a 2 hr project most of the time) & easy (mindless tv knitting!) & are always useful gifts!

My Christmas stash o'cloths is almost done & then I need to make up a few more scrubbies & I just might be done before Veteran's Day. Then I can focus on gifts for the MOMS exec board & Betsy's teachers (one of whom is on the board with me!). I'm thinking some pretty mohair scarves would be nice to add to their gift bags.

We found out this week that my friend Josie will be having a boy in April! I KNEW I'd get to use the Plymouth Naturale in blue/greens for her!! I need to find a good pattern for it & then get started on her layette (blanket, kimono, pants, hat, washcloths, bibs).

My socks are still on the needles. It alway seems that there's knitting for someone else to get done! I'm going to start Hunter's felted slippers the next time he goes to the field (in a week or so for Marne focus). They should knit up quickly & be felted & dry by the time he comes in.

We're getting over being sick in our house---Bets with a double ear infection as well as a mild reaction to her antibiotic (love going to the hospital 2x in one week!) & a bad cold for me. Friday night I went to bed at 930---you KNOW I'm sick if I'm asleep by 10!

We've had a nice weekend with Daddy home & a restful one to boot! He took Bets to the px & library yesterday so I could rest (thank you sweetie!) & today we went for a walk to see ducks & now the wee one's playing & Daddy's reading the paper.

My Knitting Books

My old swap pal, Abby, has a list of her knitting books in her blog profile. I did that only to realize I have too many to list:

The Knitting Experience: Book 1: The Knit Stitch (Knitting Experience Series)The Knitting Experience: Book 2: The Purl Stitch (Knitting Experience Series)The Knitting Experience: Book 3: Color (Knitting Experience Series)

Knitting on the Road

Lavish Lace: Knitting With Hand-Painted Yarns

Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures

Knitting Vintage Socks: New Twists on Classic Patterns
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: a Manual of Elegant Knitting Techniques and PatternsBeautiful Knitting Patterns

No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting Knitting Journal Knitting with Ribbon Yarn

Sensational Knitted Sock

Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Easy Afghans for Knitters

Felted Knits

The Knitting Dictionary

Sock Calendar

Nicky's Knitted Christmas Stockings

Bags: A Knitter's Dozen

Got my tote!

My tote from my International Tote Exchange II partner arrived today----all the way from Dothan, AL! LOL

Laura sent the most adorable bag & not in my usual red, blues or purples! I told her that I have a problem with those colors---I LOVE them! So she set off to make this gorgeous bag that you see pictured above! She also sent some wonderful goodies (Cascade Fixation, drool) & a lovely note.

I'm so thankful for Laura & her talents & wonderful emails---they made this exchange a blast!!

"I hate this part!"

A fun little Halloween timewaster!

Some FO's

I FINALLY did "The" Mason-Dixon Warshcloth! 3 in fact! After 2 unsuccessful casts on I broke out stitch markers which made everything so much easier! I'm working on a red one tonight! I've also done 3 snowflake illusion cloths & will get pics of those up soon!

This is the shawl I made for one of the gals on a message board I frequent. She'd posted a pic of a shawl she wanted but was lamenting the fact that the ones she saw were all of a finer fabric---she wanted something more nubby. I posted a pic of this shawl (well the pic in the pattern) & viola! a deal was struck! So, a few trips around town looking for the color yarn she wanted, 2 skeins & a few hours later we had a shawl that is now en route to her home. I hope she likes it---it came out beautifully!

Last night we went to the Open House at the wiggly's school. It's impressive how much they've learned in a couple months! Several of the parents wanted to meet the wiggly one as their own wee ones talk about her a lot at home! She was excited to see her friends & for us to see her classroom & show off the things she's done. I am so proud of her---she's done so well with school!

Sad ending for the Gardner-Quinn family

Body of missing Vermont student found

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 14, 6:41 AM ET

BURLINGTON, Vt. - After chasing leads for nearly a week, police investigating the disappearance of a University of Vermont student got a break when a group of hikers spotted a body in a rocky ravine.

That was only half the battle. Investigators who have identified a suspect must now come up with the evidence to link him to the death of 21-year-old Michelle Gardner-Quinn.
The suspect, Brian Rooney, lent Gardner-Quinn his cell phone during a chance encounter early Oct. 7 as she walked back to her dormitory after a night on the town with friends.
Rooney, 36, was arrested Friday on unrelated charges of sex abuse in two other Vermont counties. He had been the focus of the police investigation into Gardner-Quinn's disappearance since was recorded on a jewelry store surveillance camera with her around 2:30 a.m. Oct. 7.
Rooney was charged with sexual assault in Caladonia County, 80 miles north of Burlington, and with lewd and lascivious conduct with a child in neighboring Essex county, where he previously lived, authorities said.
He has not been charged in Gardner-Quinn's case, Police Chief Thomas Tremblay said.
"It's almost like a new investigation starts," Tremblay said. "Now, we specifically know this is a suspicious disappearance and we are conducting a kidnapping investigation."
Gardner-Quinn, a senior from Arlington, Va., was reported missing Oct. 7 after she failed to show up for a planned meeting with her parents, who had been in town for parents' weekend.
After a night of drinking, she had become separated from her friends and met Rooney — a stranger — as she walked along heavily traveled Main Street, which runs between downtown and the campus.
Tommy Lang, 21, a friend whom Gardner-Quinn called when she borrowed Rooney's phone, said Friday that nothing seemed amiss when he last spoke with her.
"She sounded completely fine and normal and exactly the way she did when she left us," said Lang, a University of Vermont senior who grew up with Gardner-Quinn in Virginia. "There wasn't anything that made me worry or made me suspicious that anything was going on."
Lang said he called the number Gardner-Quinn had used and spoke to a man.
"He really didn't tell me a whole lot. He basically said he saw her walking up the hill toward the dorms and that's about it," he said.
Gardner-Quinn hadn't been seen since, until Friday, when passers-by spotted her body near Huntington Gorge, a popular swimming hole 13 miles east of Burlington.
As night fell Friday, about two dozen Vermont State Police and Burlington police investigators and crime-scene technicians worked in and around the ravine at the Gorge. Some were seen rappelling down into the ravine in a search for clues

Prayers for Michelle

The following is from the Burlington Free Press in Burlington, VT. Michelle Gardner-Quinn is a senior at my alma mater, the University of Vermont. She's been missing since late Friday night/early Saturday morning. All I can think is "there but for the grace of God go I"---how many times did my girlfriends & I accept rides, walk home with with people we just met, go for "after hours" drinks?

My heart goes out to her family & friends who want nothing more to see her face again. Please keep them in your prayers

Police ask for public's help in finding missing UVM student
Published: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
By Adam Silverman Free Press Staff Writer


The search for a missing University of Vermont student expanded Monday as more than two dozen law-enforcement agents searched Burlington and beyond, and the young woman's friends plastered the city with fliers. Police said members of the public should be conscious of their personal safety, and investigators asked for help in finding Michelle Gardner-Quinn, a 21-year-old senior from Arlington, Va., who vanished early Saturday morning as she walked back to her campus dorm room, alone, from downtown. For many, though, worry was beginning to take the place of hope."Time is of the essence," Burlington Police Department Chief Thomas Tremblay said, "and the more time that goes by, the more concerned we become."

Gardner-Quinn was last seen at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday on Main Street near Edmunds Elementary and Middle School. She had dinner earlier that evening with her parents, who were in town for UVM's Family Weekend, said family friend Gail Fendley of Falls Church, Va. Then Gardner-Quinn joined a group of friends to celebrate a 21st birthday at several downtown bars. She left one bar to find another group of friends, but when she couldn't connect with them, she decided to walk back to her room in University Heights, friend Tommy Lang said Sunday. Gardner-Quinn never made it back, and her parents reported her missing the next day when she didn't show up for dinner, Lang said. The family, through police, declined to comment Monday.

Fendley said she has known Gardner-Quinn for nearly 10 years, ever since her son, Ian Willson, met Gardner-Quinn at a summer camp for gifted children in eighth or ninth grade. The two dated on and off during high school and have remained "really close," Fendley said Monday as she drove to Richmond, Va., to comfort her son at college. "He's distraught," Fendley said. "Michelle is terrific. She's reliable. She's responsible. She's traveled extensively. This is so totally unlike her, especially with her parents in town. They are such a close-knit family."

Request for help Burlington police are working with canine teams and authorities from UVM, the Vermont State Police and the FBI, Tremblay said at an afternoon news conference. The chief said detectives remained uncertain whether they were investigating a crime. "Investigators have been working around the clock following leads," Tremblay said. "No specific suspects have been identified."Investigators were trying to find a Subaru or similar-type hatchback whose driver was reported to be acting suspiciously around the time Gardner-Quinn disappeared, Tremblay said.

Police didn't say whether the vehicle was a station wagon or a sport-utility vehicle. The driver, a white man in his 20s, stopped his car and asked a woman he did not know to get in at about 2:35 a.m. Saturday near the Salvation Army Thrift Store at 336 N. Winooski Ave. The woman did not get in, Tremblay said, and she later told police the driver appeared to be alone. That incident occurred about a mile north of Edmunds. "We are considering it a vehicle of interest, a preliminary lead that may or may not be related to this case," Tremblay said.

He described the car as white with gold trim and a gold pinstripe, likely with a green Vermont license plate that has a bent-up bottom. The driver is about 6 feet tall and muscular with short-cropped light blond hair, a day's growth of stubble and possibly one nostril larger than the other, according to police. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a light-colored baseball cap.

Police also asked that anyone searching their neighborhoods for personal belongings or clothing matching the description of what Gardner-Quinn was wearing -- a gray peacoat, green button-up cardigan sweater, light blue T-shirt, and a black Puma purse with white straps -- not touch anything they might find and to call city police at 658-2700.


Precautions suggested Police encouraged people to take precautions while they are out in Burlington: Walk in pairs or groups, stay in well-lit locations and away from dense shrubbery. "Be aware of your personal surroundings, be aware of the things that are going on around you, and trust your instincts," Tremblay said.A safety forum has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at a location to be determined.


Gardner-Quinn transferred to UVM this year from Goucher College in Baltimore, friends said.Fendley said she's not sure why Gardner-Quinn transferred, but she's an avid snowboarder, interested in environmental studies and once had a boyfriend in Vermont. Fendley knew of no troubles from Gardner-Quinn's past. "She was a good student," Fendley said. "I can't imagine any problems. She was a good influence on my child."Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverm@bfp.burlingtonfreepressRgw

We have pants!!

Finished knitting them today at Lunch Buddies & got them stitched together & the drawstring on the inside this afternoon while Betsy was napping. They're for my friend Tara's daughter who is due to make her appearance in Dec.

The pattern is one I made up after examining a pair of Betsy's 3-6 mo. pants & taking the side of the kimono into consideration. I'm going to submit it to the
"pattern a day" people & afterwards to the Mason Dixon knitting gals. It's amazingly simple & they are too cute in person!!

Blankets & a tote!

It seems that EVERYONE I know is pregnant right now so I'm being forced to replenish my stash of baby blankets. I made 2 of the LB 4 hr bias baby blanket since I had some homespun to use up. I didn't attach tassles since I really dont think that 1) they're entirely practical for babies & 2) homespun splits SO much that unless they were tied at the bottoms it just wasn't worth the effort. This blanket was done on size 50 needles (like knitting w/ redwoods!) & used 4 skeins of yarn (tudor, delft, spring green & sunshine state).

This was the first blanket I made using the 4 skeins only I used gazebo instead of sunshine state. I was really mad because I started it in the car on the way to VA only to discover that my skeins were NOT the same yardage. My delft ran out about 10 rows before the end. So while we were in Lynchburg I picked up another skein of delft. Should have been fine right? NOoooooooooooooooooo! I ran out of spring green & tudor about 5 rows until the end. The kicker? I didn't start my decreases at 43 stitches like the pattern suggests---I started at 41. I had enough yarn to make the yellow/green/blue/multi blanket but it's a little smaller. Still good for bebe's tho!

I also finished my International Tote Exchange II tote & this week got the straps sewed on. I've been wanting to try this pattern ever since I started felting bags a year ago. The pattern is easy & super fun. I also loved working w/ the colors my partner is into (browns, greens, golds) as they're such a departure from my normal jewel tones! I made some stitch markers for her in green & gold & found some other goodies to put in her bag---I hope she likes everything. I'm shipping it out tomorrow & since she lives 1 state away it shouldn't take too long to get to her.

And of course, what would a post be without a dishcloth? This is the Sept. Mid-Month KAL for my yahoo dishcloth group. I am on such a denim ombre kick right now, it's scary!

The wee one refused to nap today so she's watching Snow White & enjoying some "scooby berry" go gurt smoothie. I need to get started on my jambalaya for dinner. And I also need to commit to getting to bed at a decent hour tonight. I always sleep like crap when Hunter's gone. It's still beyond me how I survived a year without him. I guess I really was sleep deprived! LOL