soxchik

Plum

2012-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

What is up with with all this plum color?

Here it is in my Nuvem knit along project. It is slow going and uses very few brain cells. I could practically work on this in my sleep.

Then it appeared in some socks. They are knit with Zauberball sock yarn. I like the fuzziness of this yarn after they are washed, but found some torquing issues with the socks due to the yarn being a single ply. There were also several knots and color sequencing issues that popped up. Perhaps it was a bad day at the mill (hangovers from Octoberfest?).

Then there's my Kauni skirt. I loved knitting this but was at a loss for how to wear it. How does one accessorize a 'church lady' skirt? Definitely granny boots. I wanted to get a corset style belt, but that was a tall order to find one in Northern Michigan. I ended up finding a stretchy toggle belt (at the Grand Traverse Mall!). It will work for one of my Stitches West outfits/costumes. Just a few more weeks.

I've been doing some really good baking. Katherine gave me these two gluten-free cookbooks for Christmas. Carol Fenster is a genius when it comes to substituting flour. Her bread is so tasty that the whole family attacks the loaves when done. That has never happened before in my gluten-free baking life. I don't mind sharing, if they don't mind helping me track down the quirky ingredients.

Gotta go make tracks!

Ninja Warrior

2012-01-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend we tested out our Ninja blender. Last night, it handled pina coladas like a champ. Today I made hummus in just a couple of minutes. Usually I detest 'as seen on TV' products (and Jerry cannot seem to get enough of them). But I am liking this one. It isn't too big, or messy, and the blades are super sharp. Maybe it will last a couple of uses.

I also made some nice bread. It's gluten free white bread, nothing fancy. I found the secret ingredient (shhhh, it's guar gum) at the Edson Farms health food store. It helps thicken and bind the flours. My bread is now behaving like real bread. Guar gum rules!!!

No, I haven't abandoned knitting. I am wrestling with this sock. It is taking forever, because the yarn is so dark in color. I adjusted the contrast and exposure so that the stitches could be visible, but it is really charcoal, soot and berry colored. I think I need to try out the bendy lamp my mom gave me.

How's that for fashionable ninja headwear!

Buh Bye 2011!!!

2012-01-01T07:04:00.001-08:00

This was the first full year of living in Northern Michigan. I was doing fairly well as a blogger until October, then I just kind of got a little careless and let things go feral.

Now that it is a new year, I thought it would be a good time to start with a clean slate. I don't want to make a bunch of resolutions that I won't stick to. Heck, I can't even manage to crank out a blog on a regular basis. So instead, I should probably just try to be productive and stay healthy. That should be enough to work on in 2012.

Here's to 2012!!!! Let it be a great year.

Fall Knitting and Some Beading Too

2011-10-06T08:41:00.001-07:00

I do a lot of transporting of kids. Between taxiing the girls to school and Will to his job, I spend a bunch of time waiting around in the car. I always bring my knitting and ipad (and Darla dog) so I don't get bored, angry or lonely. I am still working through my stash and decided to get some winter socks knit up. This orangey red yarn is Zauberball, a German yarn. I am liking how the fiery ember colors emerge.

I also knit up a hat that is in the zig zaggy chevron style of Missoni. I love Missoni knits. I even got to take a tour of their Lake Como design studios when I was in college (it was to die for). When I heard that Target was going to have a limited edition Missoni promotion, I got very excited. Our local store in Traverse City only got in a few of the promised items. I took some photos of the shoes, bedsheets, shower curtains, neck pillows. They weren't as splashy as the original designs but it was nice to see an attempt at high fashion being marketed for middle America. Too bad that Target wasn't prepared for the hoards of customers wanting a piece of the zig zag action. Their online server broke.

Here's how the finished hat looks. It's going to my friend Maria, who won it off me in a game of Words with Friends. Maria is from my hometown in Long Island. Her mother was my girl scout leader and I remember taking these horrible roller skating lessons with her and her sister. Anyway, she now is in San Jose, Ca and I'm sending her the prize hat. Who knew she was a scrabble champ?!?

I haven't done this in a few years, but Katherine and I did some beading. It started when I kept seeing this sweet bracelet in some catalogs at ridiculously high prices. We dug out the bead bin. Doesn't everyone have a bead bin? And we picked out some of the strands that would be suitable for the Chan Luu look.

I chose bronze pearls and brown leather for a double wrap. It looks sort of Viking-ish and Thor, doesn't it?

Katherine chose metallic gold square beads and opted for a single wrap (check out her pink glitter nails!).

We got them done in a few days between homework and other stuff. I went out and bought more leather lacing and thread for a couple of more bracelets. Click on this link for some tutorials on how to make them. They're pretty easy. I think I need to try one in faceted garnets next. But I better finish my second sock first.

Distractions

2011-09-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

I keep getting caught up into these black holes of time suckage. They aren't necessarily bad things, but once I fall into them, I have the hardest time climbing out.

Here are are a sampling of them:

Pinterest. It looks dumb at first glance. But after I spent some time surfing around on other peoples' virtual bulletin boards, I have found some really cool DIY projects, recipes and other inspirations. Don't knock it.

Words With Friends. It is Scrabble without all of those pesky little tiles. I have about ten games going at once. The fun part is hooking up games with people from all over. The ipad version doesn't have the little irritating advertisements in it. Here's my bragging moment: I made a word last week with 102 points! I still lost the game because I am careless and goofy, but it was an epic moment.

Facebook. I pretty much gave up on Twitter. Facebook is where it's at.

Tomatoes. They just keep coming and coming. I have been removing the skin and seeds and packing them into gallon ziplocks and freezing them. The Roma tomatoes are great for sauce, but they are kind of small and a pain in the ass to deal with. So far there are at least five gallons in the freezer. I expect to get a couple more before the plants die down.

My Rug Project. I started this thing about at least a year ago. I thought it would go fast, but it didn't. I would burn out from boredom and throw it into timeout. This week I decided to go big and plow through the monster brown sections and finish it off. I am glad it is finally done. I like how I got it to match the walls, cabinets, and counters (duh- that was point of making it myself).

It is super thick and cushy under foot. And... it used up a lot of that ramboulliet cross roving that was poorly processed and a little too neppy for use in spinning. I don't mind if it gets somewhat felted, it is a rug after all.

There is already dog hair blending into it from Darla's contribution. At least she blends in with the color scheme.

I am so burnt out on this rug that I don't want to look at a hook for a long time. But I bet I'll do one again sometime in the future. I still have a bunch of that brown to use up.

Ravelry. Just surf around on this site. I practically live here.

Knitting. I don't even have to explain this, do I?

There, I am done with my confessions. There isn't enough time in the day. I love my time suckers!!!

The Garden Post

2011-08-17T06:43:00.001-07:00

This was my first successful garden in a long time. After living in 'base housing' and in locations with heat and wind issues, I dug in deep to see what Northwest Michigan can produce.

This pig is from the Northwest Michigan fair. All of the pigs were smiling and napping at the same time.

She's Looking Like a Hobo

2011-07-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Remember Malcolm McLaren?

Well, I made myself a hobo bag, so I'm looking like a hobo (again).

I made this from a free sewing pattern that I found online. It is huge and can hold tons of stuff (like yarn). It is rated 'advanced beginner' and goes pretty fast. The hardest part was printing out all of the pages and figuring out how to align them and tape them together (no small feat). Katherine made one in zebra canvas a couple of months ago and it has become her favorite tote bag. I put an extra pocket on the front of mine. That pocket button is an antler slice with some goldstone in the center.

Here it is inside out, so you can see the innards. A zippered pocket on one side.

A plain pocket and a cell phone sized pocket, on the opposite side.

I think I need to get some hammer-in snaps for securing the top, bronze color if possible. In the meantime, Darla is a great purse model.

Now for some garden photos.

The garlic is scaping. I have been putting them in stir fries, Mexican style eggs (migas), marinades, you name it.

They also make awesome bracelets for keeping away vampires.

The pumpkins are sprawling. The roaming gnome better watch his back or he'll get grabbed by one of those tendrils.

There are two rows of overgrown neglected grapes that need to be cleaned up. They may still have a chance.

Here's a Georgia O' Keefe style photo, just for fun.

Bad Dog

2011-06-27T07:32:00.001-07:00

Darla found some left over M&Ms in Jerry's fleece pocket. Seriously, whoever heard of leftover M&Ms? Anyway, She couldn't help herself and she ate through the pocket lining to get to the candy. That's determination.

I wanted to do a repair that Jerry would appreciate and remember. So when I saw this fabric at JoAnn's, I knew that I had to buy some and draw some freckles with a Sharpie pen.

By the way, there are firework tents popping up everywhere. This one was in the JoAnn's parking lot. Fabric and pyrotechnics- one stop shopping.

We've been making campfires these past two weekends. I love sitting around a fire and watching the sky slowly darken. For Father's Day, Jerry picked out a bunch of campfire tools.

We roasted some footlong hotdogs and Hebrew National Kosher hotdogs. Super garlicky and delish!

We also tried some pie iron cooking. There are whole websites dedicated to the art of pie iron campfire cooking. We made chicken quesadillas. Mine used corn tortillas, Jerry tried the flour ones. Melty good with cheddar and roasted chiles.

On the knitting front, I completed my Pruney Lace Citron. Before blocking, it was the most wrinkly purple blob of knit, ever! Blocking works wonders and magically transforms shapeless messes into elegant pieces. I think this one's a keeper!

I immediately cast on another one in a splashy tropical fruit color palette. It looks like a sunset and may be too much on the caliente side. I am toying with the idea of throwing it into a very weak dyebath of brown to tone it down and unify the colors. The process scares me, but I think it may soften the look.

Burn Baby Burn!

Where Was I?

2011-06-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Here are some photos that will get us all caught up:

I dyed a fingering weight blank.

I used the wrong red. I still like it. Here is how it looks in a yarn cake.

I got into a triangle shawlette phase. This one is made of Wolle's color changing cotton.

This one was made from Malabrigo sock yarn. The patterning is kind of hard to see with the purple color. Next time I'll go lighter.

I tried out Wise Hilda's basic sock pattern on some hand spun. They're pretty simple to knit and fit great. Hilda is quite wise.

I bought this dress and shruggy cardigan to wear to my niece's wedding in July. I love the color aqua. Hopefully my lichen rash will be gone by then. It's improved greatly over the past two months.

A bunch of the seasonal ice cream stands have opened. I like one called Leone's for their turtle sundae. But the Dairy Lodge has the best sign. The locals call it Dairy Slut. I better watch how much I eat or I won't fit into the above dress.

I've been puttering in my garden. I am excited about garlic and brandywine tomatoes.

Will graduated from high school. Way to go Will!

Now we're caught up. My blog guilt is gone.

Super Freak

2011-04-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a Super Freak, I'm Super Freaky. Leave it to me to get some rare rash that stumps the doctor. Back in February, while at Stitches West I was getting very itchy on my inner elbows. I thought nothing of it and dismissed it. I wasn't going to let a little itchiness ruin my trip. When I got back home , the rash had grown to both arms, and legs. I picked up all sorts of natural soap, creams, salves and oils. You name, I slathered it on. It just stayed weird and rashy.

I went to my doctor twice. On the second visit, she did a biopsy, a shot in the fanny, and a prescription for some steroids. I was getting pretty miserable by this point. I also convinced myself that I caused this rash myself by eating a paczki (Polish pre-Lenten doughnut) in my craze of celiac paranoia.

Third time back to the doctor, and the biopsy results are in. I have Lichen Planus. Excuse my profanity but WTF?!? It can last for up to a year. So if you see me, please excuse my lichens.

I am finished with knitting my skirt. Here it is pre blocked, before I bound it off:

Jerry says I look like the Church Lady. I am so flattered. Between my leprosy and my Church lady look, I am beside myself.

Here is a photo of the skirt blocking. I used fiberglass driveway markers and T-pins to shape it.
No more photos of me modeling, until it's finished.

I am making a lace edged, slip/petticoat to wear under the skirt.

Next, I need to knit up some bloomers to go under these layers. Just kidding!!! (maybe!)

Dublin 2002

2011-03-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Here's a photo of the Guinness factory. Behind the tall gates is where all the magic happens, just like the Wonka factory. I drank Bulmers the whole time. Jerry, Tom and Patty on the other hand, drank Guinness.

Drink responsibly today and always!

Post Stitches Startitis

2011-03-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

After returning home from Stitches West I caught a pretty bad case of startitis. I am usually fairly monogamous with my knitting. I can obsess and plow through projects with amazing force. But right now there are three projects going on at once, and that might not be enough. I need to get a grip and rein myself in.

Two days ago I cast on my Kauni yarn for a Claudia Evilla skirt designed by Ruth Sorensen. Ruth is from Denmark and has done some really exciting designs using the color merging yarn, Kauni.

This is what the finished skirt will look like (except it will be all navy and purpley). I am jockeying two giant yarn cakes and am about to add a third to keep the color sequencing further spread out. It hurts my little brain when I think too hard about what I am doing, so I will just use my blind faith on this project. Thankfully, there is no steeking involved.

I also got the wheel going. I am spinning up the last braid of fiber roving from Judy's Novelty Wools. It is a hand painted merino in splashy watercolors. I need to get an air filtering machine going in the house because this wool is particularly irritating to Jerry's eyes. Some fibers are more airborne than others.

There's also this crazy tiny honeycomb lace that I've been working on. The yarn/thread is a super fine two ply morphing color yarn from Jojoland. I cannot believe I am knitting with this stuff. I once purchased sock yarn of Jojoland's and it contained knots and mismatched ugly color changes. I must have been caught up in a shopping frenzy when I saw a lovely sample at Galina of Skaska's booth. I immediately wanted to cast on a fishnet type lace scarf even if it meant I would need total concentration, Ott light assistance, and mad chart reading skills. The needles I am using on it are sized 000, the tiniest ones in my fishing case (don't ask about my other small needles, somewhere else in this house are some 000000 (or is 6/0?). I like that this is very portable and can bring it with me in the truck while waiting for the kids at school.
That's all that's going on knit-wise, at least for now.

Jerry surprised us the other day with some treats. He works next door to a culinary arts department at the college. Very dangerous. On Thursdays they have a half priced bake sale. I did a cheat and dove into one of the chocolate filled tartlettes. Oh my God, it was good, I think there was some sort of liquor in the filling. I stopped myself three quarters of the way through and handed it off to the hub. Thank goodness my celiac stuff seems to be in a dormant state at this time. I am totally tortured!

Overcome by Yarn Fumes (SW-2011)

2011-02-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

Stitches West 2011 was this past weekend. I completely transformed from a disciplined monogamous knitter to a crazed all over the place knitter and shopper without an ounce of self control. I'm going to use the same excuse that the Yarn Harlot made up and blame my bad behavior on the yarn fumes. I am going to get this embarrassing moment out of the way and show the photo of my shopping haul. There's cashmere lace weight yarn, Danish color merging yarn, a buttload of sock skeins, and some super saturated spinning fibers, plus some fancy sundries (including the elusive Addi Turbo 00's). It should keep me busy for awhile. I am so in love with my haul.

There. Now that the haul is out in the open, I can now blog about my adventure. I arrived in Santa Clara on Thursday and stayed at the Hyatt at the convention center. My roomates for the weekend are my friends Stephanie aka Woolydaisy and Rhodi. They come from the foothills of the Sierras and belong to a very fun and active fiber arts guild. When they arrived, they asked their fellow guild member Luci to celtic braid their hair. Check out their 'Fraggle Chic' do's.

Here is a closer view of the back, so you can see how intricate the braids are.

There were lots of fun people high on the fumes in the lounge area and Stitches market place. And they are hardcore. One 'dirty knitter' showed me her ink. That is a serious commitment.

This group of animal heads were promoting their patterns. They gave me their business card and gladly posed. I am partial to the giraffe head.

Ali MacGraw of Love Story fame was there promoting sales of a hat kit. The proceeds of the purchase goes to some animal rescue organization. She is not a knitter, but she graciously offered up her celebrity status to a cause. She was a good sport.

I took a dye class with Cheryl Potter. It was a wearable art class in which you end up with a beret. I got some good info, but not all of the technical info that I was hoping for. Cheryl may have been holding back on me. Fun class though.

Stephanie was completely taken by surprise when she got out of her class and found out that she had one a door prize for a skein of hand dyed yarn by the Sanguine Gryphon. We made her do the 'Publisher's Clearinghouse' prize pose. Almost as fun as holding a giant check!

My roomates took off Saturday afternoon. And bright and early Sunday, I had my never ending day of flying. I did manage to sit next to a woman with the wildest handbag. It is made of sparkly red car upholstery vinyl or maybe like on the banana seat of a stingray bicycle. The lining had leopard print. I couldn't help myself and asked her permission to photograph it.

The bottom has bullet feet and car seat quilting.

By the way, she was a proud granny. How cool was she!?!

Great weekend.

Heading West

2011-02-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

I am so excited. Stitches West Starts tomorrow in Santa Clara, California. I plan for this event way in advance, like in September. As soon as the classes are posted, I pour over the list of instructors and class titles. Sometimes, I go for the famous knitting 'rock star' teachers (or at least famous in the knitting world). Other times, I take in a new skill or technique. This time I am taking a class because it involves dyeing- so it's the fun and messy aspect that appeals to me. I cannot wait to get my hands in some dye!!!

I also cannot wait to meet up with my friends from California. We shop, we eat, we tell stories, we eat, we shop, we get goofy....you get the idea. It's like a giant fiber pajama party.

Here are the things I have been working on this week. I finished the Autumn Flutters shawlette:

It has a semi-circular construction, which is helpful for wearing on the shoulders and wrapping around the neck. This is my first ruffly garment. I am not so sure about the ruffllage. Since it lays flat as opposed to a bozo ruffle, it is staying for now.

I think I want to search for a spiraling shawl pin to keep it in place. Spirals look like they grab the knitted fabric and won't wiggle their way loose. I have seen some on the internet like this one (made from precious metal clay):

And this one by Rosemary Hill (of sterling silver):

I started on a no brainer lace scarf:

It is called the Foreign Correspondent's Scarf. It is going to be for airplane and hotel knitting at stitches. I know I won't have enough brain cells going to handle anything more complicated. The yarn fumes can get to you!

The hooking continues. I am still chugging along on the locker hooked rug project:

Jeni asked if I am using roving. The answer is yes. I am using whatever happened to be hanging around. The brown and grey rovings are of unknown breed origins. The orange and red are Corriedale pencil rovings that I dyed. I think I am going to skip the red. It pops too much against the other colors.

Here is one more fun link that I found that I have to share: a random lace chart generator. You plug in your numbers of your parameters and it spits out a random lace knitting chart. Crazy cool, huh? You can also plan it to make mirror images. I have been 'stalking' a crazy lace group on Ravelry and this tool is right up their alley. This definitely needs more exploration.

Snow Day

2011-02-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

The great Mid Western storm hit a couple of days ago. We have been getting snow here almost every day now, so we didn't get into the full panic of storm prep (buying milk, bread, eggs, TP, candles and batteries) this time. The storm did blast us with some more snow and the kids and Mr. Soxy got a 'snow day' from school. A good day to hole up and stay warm.

I forgot to post about a milestone. Will turned 18 years old last week. He chose to celebrate by going to the Olive Garden for dinner and ice cream cake for dessert. That boy (I mean man) can eat!

I have been having trouble with finding the right project for my handspun BFL. I am not the best gauge swatch knitter. I usually just grab a pattern and dive right in. Most of the time, I have great luck. But dealing with handspun, which isn't always consistent in size has me spinning in circles. I first tried a triangle garter stitch shawl that ended up too tight.

My second shawl was going kind of funky with texture- the dinosaur points on the edge were too dramatic. They also consumed too much yarn. I had to quit before there was a major fashion failure.

I ended up trying a pattern called Autumn Flutters. I like the semi circular shape and the bands of different stitch patterns. Nothing too complicated here. I hope it blocks out nice or I will have to blame the yarn for failing me over and over again. It will break my little handspun's heart. I hope to get it done by the weekend.

Maybe I will get it finished before my Saturday morning knitting group. I joined a group of knitters that meet at a yarn store in the tiny town of Cedar, called Wool and Honey. They just started doing this Saturday morning gig and since the kids like to sleep in on the weekend, I thought I would give it a try. Let's see how long I can handle the early Saturday wake-up routine.

P.S. I am still hooking!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2011-01-23T13:05:00.001-08:00

It snowed all day yesterday and we woke up at 8:00 to the sound of the plow. When I went out to walk Darla, the snow mountain in the front yard had grown. The truck thermostat read 1 degree F.

Here's the view of our little woods in the back. No animal tracks, no visible animal residents.

We've been cranking the basement pellet stove. I would hang out down there all day, but I hear it's the guys' territory. They don't want my gurl cooties and craft project contaminating their space. Harumpf! Give me a break.

I started on my hooking project. It is going to become a rug for the kitchen. The locker hooking is fast and addictive. But, working with a hard canvas is wreaking havoc on my hands. Time to break out some hand balm, and try to pace myself.

Katherine finished her zebra bag. She's thrilled with the results.

I started a lace shawlette from Gudrun Johnson. It's the Wast Side pattern. It is constructed by making all of the dinosaur points first. It is kind of slow going.

I finished my funky stripey super saturated socks. The colors may even make snow melt! They are so toasty.

Sewing with my Girlie

2011-01-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

The kids had off for Martin Luther King Day. Katherine wanted to work on her tote bag project. Last weekend, she spent a couple of hours laying out the pattern pieces, pinning and cutting. I could have speeded things up by doing it for her, but this needed to be a learning experience.

She picked out a contrasting hot pink cotton for the lining. Of course there's a cell phone pocket. The other side has a zippered pocket, which I helped install. Zippers are a big pain in the ass to sew. Katherine didn't need to deal with a zipper on her first big project. We tried putting in a magnetic snap closure. It was a failure because the magnets were too strong and we thought it might pull through the fabric. We ended up removing the snaps. I'm thinking a self fabric tie closure will work out better. Next weekend I will show her how to finish the shoulder strap, hide the holes from the snap disaster, attach ties, and close up the lining.

She's so pleased. I love the pattern. And.... it was free on this website. I think I may have to make one or two for Steph and myself.

Now back to knitting and that dreaded laundry mountain.

Becoming A Hooker

2011-01-14T09:42:00.001-08:00

I'll start this weekend!

Christmas in New York

2010-12-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

Long time no blog ... again. It seemed for a while that I had nothing exciting enough to post about. I have been busy organizing and setting up the homestead for the last couple of months. Fall came and went pretty fast. We all seem to be settled into our routines and schedules. And we quickly learned that Northern Michigan gets a lot of snow. Jerry has become a pro at using the snow blower and I have come to appreciate the farmer across the road who has us on his plow route.

I was looking rather scrappy, so I got my courage up to try out a local hair salon. Somebody recommended a salon to me and when I map quested it I found out it was located in the old State Hospital (read mental asylum). That sounded right up my ally so I scheduled an appointment.

It was kind of creepy and interesting at the same time. And.... it looked like the perfect place for those paranormal investigators to do some serious snooping. They also converted some of the buildings into high priced condos. No thanks, I'll pass. By the way, the hair came out nice!

This year we decided to take the plunge and drive to New York to visit the grandparents and family. We haven't seen some relatives in years so it was a big deal. I packed up all my knitted projects. I think I had finished seven pairs of socks and two watch caps by the time we arrived in New York. Fourteen hours of drive time equals a lot of knitting if there's adequate daylight.

Once we were in the tri-state area, we saw all sorts of interesting sights.

Kosher foods:

Dogs in strollers dressed better than their humans:

You could tell we entered a whole different dimension.

On Christmas, we had a lovely morning at Jerry's mom's house. The kids were thrilled with all of their gifts. We then drove out East to my brother Tom and Aida's house in Shirley for Christmas afternoon with the all of the Dankowskis. My family is larger and louder and goofier than Jerry's. I was afraid of Will and Steph having a meltdown or something , but they did very well and kept things together. Tom went out of the way to keep the bull mastiff out of sight (for Stephanie) and provided a variety of food options for the picky eaters. It wasn't exactly a Charles Dickens Christmas but my kids had a great time with their Long Island cousins. Magical!

The day after Christmas we promised to take the girlies into Manhattan to see the city. The twins were born in New York City and wanted to see what it was like. We had to go in early because a blizzard was in the forecast. So Jerry, Steph, a panda and I bundled up and got on the Long Island Railroad.

Once in Penn Station we decided to separate. Jerry took Katherine to Rockefeller Center, ate a hotdog from a street vendor, and went to Saks Fifth Avenue for some swanky shopping. She was awestruck and the local mall will never look the same to her.

I did a simpler route with less walking and no subways for Stephanie. We first went to Macys.

Then we went to the Empire State Building.

Then the snow started. We didn't go up to the top observation deck but we went inside and checked out the art deco lobby. It has very elegant lines and is one of my favorite buildings.

We then stopped by Sephora to buy some sparkly cosmetics. Total teen girl experience.

The snow was getting pretty nasty so we headed back to Long Island.

The weather got really bad overnight and I thought we would be stuck. Thank God for our four wheel drive trailblazer, I don't think I could have been snowed in there.

This is the Throgs Neck bridge on the way out of dodge. Jerry's college, SUNY Maritime is located underneath at the base of the bridge. Very troll like!

Here is my favorite gift. My niece Terra, made every family a framed silk screen print of the Dankowski family crest. Makes me smile every time I look at it. I love how we embrace our ass-head heritage.

My second favorite gift is a Chumlee bobble head doll. I am a Pawnstars fan. I love seeing the treasure people bring in for evaluation. And the Chumlee guy is such a likeable buffoon.

Home Sweet Home! Enjoy your New Year everyone. Be safe!!!

Scary

2010-11-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Halloween everyone. I want to be that swinging Hepcat in the skirt!

We had a rather quiet Halloween. Not a trick or treater in sight. Thank goodness we didn't go all out, or I would have felt ripped off.

I do have to share a new doll that Stephanie got in the mail. She saved her allowance for months to get this Blythe doll. Her eyes change color by pulling a string in the back of her head. She loves her! I think I have to make some clothes for her.

I have to show you some of her other dolls. She has such an eclectic collection. I love Mr. Clean!

October is also Socktoberfest month. I thought I would be able to crank out a pair of socks with little effort. I was so wrong. This move to Michigan confused me so much. I am still organizing my stash room. I still cannot find my ipod and it is driving me batty. Any suggestions or hints on where to look would be appreciated. I got one sock done rather fast. I used my last skein of Miss Babs yarn and made a ruffled top cuff (from Lucy Neatby's book) and grabbed a random pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational knitted socks book. The first sock was fast and easy.

But then the Chiclone (Chicago+Cyclone=Chiclone!) hit us. Winds whipped through the area like nobody's business. Jerry was in DC at a conference and the power went out. I had no idea that when the power goes out, the water goes out too. The kids and I had flashlights and camped out in the living room. Not much knitting got done on sock number two. At least that's my excuse.

I did get the second sock finished today. A little late, but that's okay. That's another pair for the holiday gift pile.

We did some baking today. Cornish pasties filled with shredded roast beef, potatoes and carrots. They weren't as messy to make as I imagined. Next time I will attempt to find a gluten free version so we can all enjoy them.

Unpacking

2010-10-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

We are unpacking all of the boxes and cartons. It was pretty scary for a while. I wasn't sure if we could fit it all in. Here are some photos in no particular order:

The weather turned cold a couple of weeks ago and instead of knitting socks for Socktoberfest, I opted to crank out a long drapey scarf out of some Mini Mochi fingering weight. It is smooshy soft. While everyone was out of the house today, I blocked the living crap out of it. Now it's even drapier. Remember Mini Mochi is not just for socks.

Here are some Potoskey stones that the former house owners must have collected. They were in small pile outside by the front door. Maybe we'll find some while beach combing next summer.

Here's a back view of the house. One of my first jobs is to scrape off the flaking stain on the deck and give it a new coat. That sounds like Thomas the Tank engine! I think we will have to go sledding down that back hill, or at least try.

This is the garden out by the front. I need to do some research and figure out what to do before it freezes. It's a nice size, but I may get ambitious and make it a little wider in the spring.

Trick or Treat!

This is my favorite thing about the house, the orange kitchen. It's very Halloween-ish. I like the warm color. Now I have to dig out the aprons and get to work (after I cast on some Socktober socks- Feeling lame about blowing off most of Socktoberfest). See ya!!!

Settling Inn

2010-09-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. We are in Traverse City, Michigan, and living in a small hotel while waiting to close on our house. The hotel has free wifi but it only works sometimes. So we have been taking turns on the ipads which have 3G internet. I love the ipads, but I miss my macbook keyboard for blogging capability.

Stephanie and I were the first to arrive here. Steph had never been on a plane before. I was worried that she would have problems. She handled the three flights like a champ. I was so proud of her.

Jerry, Will, Katherine and Darla dog showed up by car a few days later. They had a smooth trip too. Jerry found us a pet friendly hotel that happens to be old, charming and ever so quirky. The maids only come sometimes to clean the rooms, but they showed me where they store the linens and vacuum if I should need them. I haven't had the urge to vacuum yet! They have free bicycles to borrow and there's a nifty ten mile trail behind the building. They also offered us beer and wine. See, they're quirky!

The kids are all in school and Jerry is settling into his new job. I am slowly familiarizing myself with the lay of the land, lots of rolling hills and farms. I found the grocery stores and pharmacies (the Michigan ravelry group was very helpful). Also found the malls, yarn shops, post office by getting lost a lot. The produce in the supermarkets looks so fresh and beautiful- no offense to Texas (you still reign in the BBQ department)!

We had nothing planned for last weekend, so we did a little road trip to our first Michigan festival: The Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Show in West Branch. We checked out the cute critters:

Jerry got a look at the angora bunnies and told me no about 100 times. I think he secretly liked them. All I could think of was their airborne fiber and me screwing up and forgetting to brush their hair. They are probably more work than I need to deal with at this time. But they are so soft and cute and very friendly.

Oh, I have to show you the bathroom door art! I better read up on Michigan Indian lore.

I did buy some nice stuff but I haven't photographed it yet. The move has made me (more) scatterbrained. I did manage to get some work done on some socks. It's another pair of Waving Lace by Evelyn Clark.

That's all for now. Stay well friends!

Ready or Not

2010-09-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

Ready or not, the packers are coming tomorrow. I think I am not ready. There's a ton of clothes that have to be folded and put into suitcases. There's paperwork scattered everywhere. There's still a refrigerator full of food. I think I may need to borrow Woolydaisy's photo and let out a good scream:

I grabbed some yarn and did some stress busting knitting.

The edge looks complicated, but it is sixteen rows of lace and a few nupps. After those first few pesky rows are complete, the scarf /shawl is smooth sailing with stockinette stitch. I used a Kauni yarn that had a funky color morph from violet, to grey, to taupe. Very strange, but it kept me entertained while my world around me is being disassembled and put into boxes.

Jerry also threw a retirement lunch at the officer's club. We were up to our ears in Schlotzsky's deli sandwiches and wraps.

There was a nice selection of cigars.

Jerry was presented a plaque with his work phone attached. That phone rang at all hours of the night and would set the dog into a frenzy. It was the phone from Hell!

And this really nice shadow box with his medals and stuff. The flag that's encased was flown over the Alamo. That's so Hank Hill!

I will try to keep you posted of our whereabouts while we transitioning to Michigan life. As they say, "Fair Winds and Following Seas!"

Packing and Moving

2010-08-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

*Please excuse some of the blurry photos in this post, I was moving fast and on a deadline*

We have been pretty busy at the Soxy house and I haven't posted in a long time. I better fill you in with the details of what you've been missing. Jerry put in his retirement letter with the Coast Guard. It has been an adventurous twenty one years of living all over the United States, but the time has come for something new. He has accepted a position at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and we're heading North to Traverse City, Michigan.

I flew up to Michigan last weekend for a whirlwind house hunting tour. Traverse City has the prettiest little airport. It has a Frank Lloyd Wright theme throughout. Gotta love those simple lines!

I drove around with a realtor, JD, for two days looking at available houses. He showed me houses with 'mancaves'....... They were willing to throw the pool table and flat screen in for free at this house.

Houses with wet bars...

A house with a home theatre.... (complete with crazy floor lighting)

A chalet that was expensive to heat, and very far from the nearest grocery store when you run out of milk......

Several houses with a super steep driveways that would be a nightmare for us in the winter!!!! Um, no way....

My stomach is in knots and I had a major stress related crying meltdown when I returned home. But we decided on this sweet house! Hopefully it will be ours.

I did get a little bit of sock knitting done on the plane ride (Miss Babs Sinderella superwash).

So now we are in the process of packing, throwing away old stuff, making trips to Goodwill, setting up the kids with their new school and all sorts of crazy. Sadly, Jerry sold his Harley and the RV this last week. I have a feeling there will be replacements in the future, but we had way too much stuff to deal with right now. And we were trying to make the move as simple as possible.

I'll keep in touch!

Spinning Like Mad

2010-07-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

No words for this post, just photos....

Stormy

2010-07-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

We dodged Hurricane Alex this week. This is the look out our back door. Just tons of rain, wind, slop, and some thunder and lightning. We lost a couple of tree limbs and our satellite dish is a little messed up, nothing too bad.

I attempted to photograph my current sock project. It is called Death by Lace, from a Hoar Wars competition. Who names these competitions anyway? I did some modifications since it was a toe up design. I've done a couple of toe ups but I prefer knitting from the cuff down.

The Tour de France and Tour de Fleece start tomorrow. I plan to make a huge dent in my spinning projects. I have had my wheel out in the living room for a few months now and am making a conscious effort to spin more often. Here's a youtube to get you in the mood:

I have a basket of 'worlags' prepped up and ready to go. This is from the Mother's Day fleece Petunia.

Katherine and I did some mother/daughter bonding while learning crochet. She's getting really good at making even stitches and can count her work better than I. I helped with the face details and assembly, but she did all of the pieces by herself. This may be her thing. She even joined Ravelry!

Oops, I forgot these Fruit Loop socks. They were finished right before the weather turned. They're super cushy. Into the gift pile they go.

That's all folks. Stay dry and spin forth!!!!

Warming Up for Tour de Fleece

2010-06-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

This week is the beginning of ESY (extended school year also known as summer school back in the day). I hate to say I am relieved, but three teens in one house is a little crowded and the bickering is pretty much non-stop. Will and Stephanie go to school from 7:30- 12:00 Monday through Thursday and that gives Katherine and I a little down time. Katherine choses to use it for sleeping late and computer time. I plan to use it for spinning, sewing, and maybe a killer nap or two.

The Tour de Fleece (and Tour de France are approaching soon). I have been training by working on my Mother's day fleece, Petunia. So far I have spun up six skeins (one more has been added since this post). I am enjoying learning about techniques in fleece preparation including washing, carding, and flicking locks. I am enjoying the whole sheepy process.

One does not survive on yarn alone. I am also trying to maintain my sewing skills. I finished my Emmeline apron. I was a fun project from an indi designer. I like to support the newer artists on Etsy . They are very brave to put themselves out in the public arena and need to be acknowledged.

This the 'A' side:

And here's the 'B' side:
I will definitely make more of these aprons in the future.

We also tried converting the Pioneer Woman's cobbler recipe into a gluten-free variation. A substitution of King Arthur's Gluten-free flour blend, an addition of some xanthan gum and a little egg replacer and you would never know the difference. Some flour substitutes are very grainy, but this came out pretty 'normal' tasting.

Not to neglect the stash, I am still plodding along on these socks. They are the Fruit Loops from Knitty using Madelaine Tosh's sock yarn in a Baltic color. It's slow knitting due to some crazy stitch maneuvering but I am loving the results.

Time to get back to the wheel, later peeps!

Sheep to Skein

2010-05-29T19:36:00.001-07:00

This is how Petunia's fleece looked right out of the box. A little bit of veggie matter and a lot of dust. I gave the locks a scouring with Dawn dish washing liquid, and off came the gunk. Underneath the dirt and lanolin was a pretty vanilla.

I used the hand cards and brushed the remaining debris out and aligned the fibers.

It was an easy spin, enhanced with merlot for the total zen experience.

Here's how the skein came out. I need to get some more done. Tour de Fleece, here I come!

The tomato monster in the front yard has started producing. I had to shroud it in bird netting because raccoons and possums were leaving teeth marks in some of the fruit. I am thinking of getting some mosquito netting for myself, as they are hatching en masse and attacking me every time I go outside. Yesterday, I had a giant goose egg bite on my forehead. Maybe I'll hit the Academy Sports camping department for one of those mosquito shirts. Or maybe, just for fun, I'll Google beekeeping clothes. That would get the neighbors talking.

So here's a photo I took before the bug bite invasion. These are retro rib socks that I knit up out of Miss Babs sock yarn in chocolate kisses. I love anyone named Babs, especially if they have great sock yarn.

The apron obsession continues. While Jerry's mom was here, I snuck out to the fabric store and picked up some coordinating prints for my next apron project. This one is reversible. I can't wait to figure out how it's constructed.

Here's some bonus photos! Will earned a letterman jacket for being a Special Olympic athlete. He is so proud. So am I.

And so is Grandma Bird of Paradise!

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-10T18:03:00.001-07:00

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. Jerry and the kids did their best to let me goof off the whole day, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are some things that I have been working on over the last couple of weeks:

I finished my Aunt Bea apron and did a little photo shoot. Here's me, trying to look domestic. Not buying it, huh?

Okay, how about some hot appetizers?

Remember my dye experiment from left over party streamers?

Here is how it spun up. Pretty good results from a pile of tattered crepe paper. I think it needs to become another scroll lace scarf.

I am still working on my retro rib socks.

I decided to help Jerry out with picking out a Mother's Day gift. After browsing around on Etsy (a very dangerous place), I found this lovely lady. Actually it's a corriedale fleece, from a sheep named Petunia. Isn't she stunning?

Here is a close up of her locks. I can't wait to play with the hand cards , and maybe the drum carder. This should keep me busy for a few months. Good times, good times!

Tomato Monster

2010-05-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Behold, my beloved tomato monster of 2010. Last year, I failed miserably at growing tomatoes. I think I got four tomatoes in total. Then the weather got too hot, too fast and everything died. This year I tried some new things. I started earlier (first week in March) and bought some magical red tarp cover for the base that is supposed to increase tomato growth and production.

So far things are going great. The monster consists of four plants of different breeds in living in two Earth Boxes. There are bunches of little fruits all over this thing. It is situated in the front of the house because the backyard is too windy. The only problem with being in the front is that I have to guard it from the little (often naked) kids that live across the street. I busted them the other day for pulling green golf ball sized tomatoes off the vines. Pissed me off big time and I had to remind the mom to keep an eye on her guys. I am looking forward to homemade salsa, caprese salad, and guacamole. Keep growing fellas, I've got big plans for you!!!

On the knitting front, I finished my scrollergurl scarf. I love how the yarn spun and knit up, though I wish it was a tad softer. Maybe with wear, it'll get smooshier (wishful thinking). Here is how it looks in the daylight:

And here is how it looks on the bod. I love the curly wooden shawl stick thing that Woolydaisy and I bought at Stitches West. Slightly elvish!

There are also some socks on the needles. It is the retro rib pattern from Evelyn C. Clark.... yet again. The yarn is from Miss Babs in a colorway called chocolate kisses. Who could resist a name like that?!? I usually work on socks while waiting for the kids to finish school, very portable.

I also made (a little) progress on my apron project. I made a ton of bias binding that will coordinate with the botanical fabric. The bias gizmo really works, I did have my doubts when starting. The next quilt will get the homemade bias treatment!

That's all for now, I must go guard the crops!

Hijacked By Facecrack

2010-04-14T15:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry I have been ignoring this blog. It's been about a month and I blame it on the the biggest time sucker of all time, Facebook. I have been avoiding joining Facebook for years because I knew it would play on my addictive personality. But there was peer pressure involved, and now I have to work on self discipline. I'll try to be better in the future.

Spring has sprung here in South Texas and everything is in full bloom. I snapped this photo of bluebonnets from a vacant lot by the base carwash. They're the prettiest wildflowers. Mother Nature is awesome!

I have been spinning lately. My latest yarn is from a Blue Faced Leister (BFL) roving purchased from Lisa Souza's booth at Stitches West. The colorway is called fuerte and it is quite luminous.

It spun up easily into almost a fingering weight yarn. I plan to make this Heart to Heart scarf designed by Sivia Harding. I might blow off adding the beads. They are a little too blingy for this yarn (and a pain in the ass to work with).

The girls turned fifteen last week. They celebrated by having a pajama party. Jerry and Will did the wise thing by getting the heck out of town and RVing to Del Rio. Smart guys. The gurlies were in full fiesta mode.

Stephanie came out of her shell and had some fun too. She's usually very serious and matter of fact, so when she loosens up it's a big thrill!

I went to a Pizza Hut for a few pizzas for the party girls. While waiting for my order, I noticed this vending machine. What a find.

Here's my Sacred Mary of the Pizza Hut ring. Katherine swiped it and broke it already. I must get back there and secure a bunch of these. Too fun!

*****************************************************

I also have a dye experiment to share. I once saw this French craft blog where the artist was dyeing yarn with crepe paper. I cannot read French too well but I got the gist of the project, thank goodness she had lots of photos. Since the girls used a bunch of crepe paper streamers for their party, I thought why not try this with some wool roving. So follow along with the pictures:

Gather up your materials: Wool roving (presoak it in a solution of 3 quarts water, 4 cups vinegar, and 2 teaspoons of basic hand dishwashing liquid), Party streamers, Plastic wrap, and something to cover your work surface with.

Roll out a generous amount of plastic wrap. Place layers of crepe paper streamers on top in a
criss cross fashion. Allow a little space to be free on either edge, for rolling up.

Squeeze excess soaking solution out of the roving. It should be wet but not dripping wet. Lay the roving on top of the streamers in a zig zag fashion.

Lay more of the crepe paper on top sandwiching the roving.

Cover all of these layer with a final layer of plastic wrap. Roll up all of the edges so that the liquid stays sealed inside. Take an old rolling pin (not your good one!) and roll across making sure that the dry streamers get saturated with the soaking liquid.

Roll the whole thing up burrito style and steam. You can either use a roaster (as shown), crockpot, or microwave. I have the roving elevated and there is a layer of water on the bottom of the roaster. When the packet blows up like a balloon check to see if the color is absorbed into the wool.

Here's how it looks once dried. It looks a bit like the Pink Panther's home insulation minus the fiberglass slivers. I can't wait to see how it spins up.

Surviving Spring Break

2010-03-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

So here it is Spring Break. There are all sorts of college students on the loose, getting loaded and hitting the local beaches. It is a good idea to either get out of town or do the lockdown thing and wait for it to be over. We chose the latter because Jerry has to work and I wasn't creative enough to come up with some sort of teen plan. But I joined Facebook, and it is a great way to amuse myself while the kids are at each other's throats. Great strategy huh?!? So I have been getting in touch with my home town of Bethpage, New York and friends that I've met throughout the years. Being a nomadic Coast Guard family makes it extra fun because we've done at least eight duty station moves in the last 21 years. So... since I am in the black hole of Facecrack and Spring Break, nothing new is getting started or completed.

But I did complete a bunch of things before this hiatus. I'll give a quick review:

I finished this tote bag. I enjoyed the pattern drafting and it felt good that I still have it in me.

Here's a view of the tote's innards. I only had to do some minimal edge binding because the lining gave the bag a pretty clean finish. I also gave it an inner zippered security pocket and a key clasp. I would have added racing stripes if I could have. It was good to have a change of pace and drag out the sewing machine.

For my next trick I want to make this quirky retro apron. The fabric reminds me of the curtains from the 'Sound of Music' that Maria Von Trapp sewed into childrens' play clothes. I may have to yodel and twirl!

I finished these socks. The yarn was a gift from Woolydaisy and Rhodi. The stripes spiral fairly evenly around, except near the heel which tends to shift the color pooling. They are squishy soft and super comfy. Thanks gurls!

I also finished some spinning. I'm not entirely sure of how I feel about the results. I was going to use the celery green and ply it with the snapdragon singles from my previous post. But when I tried that, it was looking a little too washed out and Easter-ish (center photo). So I stopped what I was doing and plied the single onto themselves Andean style (left photo). The colors are a bit darker and more to my liking. I'll use the celery singles somewhere else. Nice experiment though.

Not fiber related but just for fun, here is the big finish. This is a photo of our Direct TV dish. Our television screen kept freezing up so we called in a work order for a service call. I was busy with the kids so I didn't bother watching him work. But after he left I noticed this masterpiece on the side yard. A cinder block wrapped with wire dangling pendulum style in the center of the tripod. What a masterpiece. I believe the service call bill was $50. I am still amazed at how he steadied our signal. Totally speechless here.

Startitis

2010-03-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

After getting home from Stitches, I came down with a big case of startitis. I was over-inspired, and wanted to play with everything in my stash, all at once. So, after calming myself down I chose this BFL roving from Miss Babs. The colors almost glow.

Here's how it looks on the bobbin.

It's only four ounces and I thought that I better come up with a plan to stretch the roving a little further. Here's what I ended up doing: I dyed up four ounces of Corriedale pencil roving in a coordinating celery green. I think the two yarns plied together will work up nicely and give me enough yarn to complete a somewhat larger project. I hope this works.

The startitis crossed over to other genres, too. I went to the fabric store and picked up some canvas.

I am trying to duplicate my tote bag in some prettier fabrics. Out came the pattern paper, metal drafting rulers, and after a couple of false starts I think I figured out how to piece this bag together. The inside is lined in olive green (actually fused with some stuff called 'Wonder Under' ) because the floral fabric is a little on the flimsy side. I still need to add a front outer and an inner zippered pocket. I can't wait to put this whole thing together. Wish me luck, I don't get excited about sewing too often.

What Happens at Stitches......

2010-03-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

I always have the best time when I head out to a Stitches convention. For the last four years I have been attending Stitches West in Santa Clara. Since I am now in Texas, it is a bit of a trek, but I really enjoy myself, enjoy the company of my friends (Woolydaisy and blogless Rhodi) , take in a class or two, and replenish my stash. I also get a much needed break from the house of teen angst. Needless to say, I had a blast.

One of the best parts of the Stitches marketplace is the people watching. Everyone loves to show off their original garments. I always try to get a photo or two. This woman was especially striking in her yellow prism yarn cardigan. She was so cute in her fuzzy chick sweater that I admit to following her for around for awhile. Loved her. Nice purse too!

I also spotted this woman's felted rat brooch. She obviously has mad felting skills and is not afraid to show them off. I asked for permission for her photo and she was flattered. She also rocked the pink turban, but I totally loved the rodent look.

So this is where I flash my haul. I was into a bright and splashy palette and found some great things. The top row is all my new rovings. The little bags contain some carbonized bamboo that's been likened to crack. I'll give a full report on the crack when I start working with it. The second row contains some square double point needles, a few skeins of Miss Babs sock yarn, a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn, two hulking skeins of silver alpaca, and two skeins of Kauni color changing yarn. I love my haul, the colors were extra bright this year.

On Saturday, I took an all day class called "How do your socks get striped", taught by Elise Duvekot. She's mastered sock knitting with the 'knit one below' technique. Here are samples of socks that she has made. Aren't they gorgeous!

Here is my wee mini class sock sample that I made. The color work is fun and not terribly challenging. Well maybe a bit challenging. I have the book coming on interlibrary loan, so I imagine crazy striped socks are in my future.

I also got this mini locker hooking kit from Judy. She gave Steph, Rhodi and I a quickie lesson. We all plunged right in and went locker hooker crazy. I guess we're officially now hookers!

It was so good to get away and recharge my batteries. I can't wait until next year.

Taking One for the Team/Plantar Fasciitis

2010-02-10T16:27:00.001-08:00

For almost a year now I have been having some heel pain related to my short lived love affair with the Wii Fit. I thought I was coordinated enough to handle the running program but I wasn't and I did some damage to the point that I couldn't walk normal (I've been toe walking, which looks weird and feels even weirder). So after two visits to the base doctor, I got brave enough to take the steroid heel injection. It hurt, not as bad as everyone said, but it was nasty. But now the pain is down enough to bear weight. And that is terrific news because there are only two weeks left before heading off to Santa Clara home of Stitches West. I cannot wait to be surrounded by yarn, fiber and knitting friends.

I did some spinning last weekend with my friends Joanne and Heide. Heide just got her first wheel an Ashford Joy last November and is spinning usable yarn already. She barely had a learning curve, no freaking fair! I spun up some pencil roving from my friend Donna's shop Indian Meridian Weavery. It's from Louet and it's their nonspecific breed Northern Lights roving in the Forest Glade colorway. The colors blend into a black watch tartan blur. Very easy to work with as well.

I started a new pair of socks. The yarn is a gift from Woolydaisy and Rhodie that they picked up from Tactile Fiber Arts. It is naturally dyed superwash wool that feels super squishy. The colorway is Dogwood and I love it.

I am trying a new trick. I like how the above sock is spiraling. So I took a photo of where I put my first cast on stitch. See how it is at the place where the olive and ivory meet. In theory, if I cast on the second sock at that same spot , I should have matching spirals, right? Say right, even if it is just to humor me. I will report back to how this idea works out. That photo is taken while in the car knitting while waiting for Will and Steph to finish at school.

Here is my finished pair of Waterfall Rib socks. They don't match up. There were cuts and knots in the skein that pissed me off big time. But I kind of like the mismatched charm and quirkiness that comes with self striping yarn.

That's all for now. I plan to knit some lace (think spires like in the Chrysler Building) for the Ravelympics that are coinciding with the 2010 Winter Olympics and Stitches West. To balance things out I am unravelling a sweater during the opening ceremonies. Nothing like over committing oneself.

Hotel Camping and Girl Scout Camping

2010-02-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday, we got up super early at the crazy hour of 4:30 am to head down South to Girl Scout Camp Bayview. We had to be there by 8:30 for the camp activities. I had Katherine, Stephanie, and the leader's daughter in the car with me. It was really cool, the bright full 'wolf moon' was on the right side of us until the sun rose. We got there a little late (no surprise) but all in one piece. I managed to snap a couple of photos before the archery lady yelled at me and shooed Steph and I away.

So here's the first photo of some antiques. I love these old kitchen appliances with their sexy legs.

Now check out this detail of the dial on the oven. It has specific food settings for those cooks that are unsure of temperature.

The only creepy thing about this camp is the alligator issue. Who picks an area to build a camp near alligators? That's a total WTF.

Steph and I stayed overnight in Brownsville right on the border. Jerry found us a nice place for some hotel camping. I brought a sock project, trashy tabloids and snacks. Stephanie brought her i-pod and some books. We were total slugs.... and it was good!

We picked up the campers on Sunday morning and had an uneventful ride home. The only thing that made me a little nervous was driving through this border checkpoint.

They look in the car and ask questions. I always have this fear of saying something wrong and getting hauled away.

Here is the sock I worked on. I finished it Sunday when we got home. It had a huge stretch of orange that was just out of control. I couldn't let it happen, so I ripped a bunch out to make a more manageable stripe.

Here's another finished project that came out pretty good. It's a grey Meret (mystery beret) by Woolly Wormhead. It's got a Patty Hearst vibe. Loved those Patty Hearst beret photos back in the day.

Oops, I forgot to show this. I got back the fleece I bought at Kid and Ewe in November. It is now four big bags of roving.

Here it is all ropey in roving form. Not much veggie matter considering it was full of grass when I found it. I tried spinning it my normal way on the smallest whorl, but a few fuzzy neps got through. I found I need to spin it on a larger whorl and slow things down a bit. Time to get spinning.

Deeee Lightful!

2010-01-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

Last weekI received a package in the mail from Wooly Daisy and Rhodi and it was absolutely delightful! (Remember that crazy techno pop group Deee-lite?).

Anyheck, here is what came:

-a gorgeous Polish stoneware coffee mug

-some crazy gnome knee high socks

-a gnome car freshener that smells like vanilla cake mix

-a couple of retro coasters

How cool is that?!?!? I love those foothill gurls, they are the best! I can't wait to see them when I head to Stitches West in February. I always have a great time with them.

This is where the blog gets a bit foodie. Last Saturday my neighbors across the street had a sort of cooking competition between two pilots. These guys love to share their skills and throw parties. So the captain decides that he is going to make a dish called Timballo di Maccharoni or Timpano. It was the featured dish in the movie Big Night, which is all about the survival of an Italian restaurant. Rent it, just to stare at the meals.

I didn't want to go to this soiree empty handed, so I decided to make Scotch eggs, Jerry's favorite pub snack as appetizers. I made some gluten free ones using Mexican tortilla crumbs and they came out pretty tasty. I then made the rest of the batch 'normal' (for the rest of the free world). I was feeling so cool and foodie and full of myself with my chicken apron on.

When we get to the party, I quickly realized I was so out of my league. I mean I am a pretty good cook. But these guys were serious. Check out this timballo dish:

It was filled with ravioli and sausages and sauces all made from scratch encased in some sort of pasta cocoon. I googled the recipe and it is about four pages long, that's just crazy!

Not to be outdone, neighbor Mark made eggplant parmesan, rigatoni casserole, homemade cannoli, biscotti and on and on and on. [My lowly Scotch eggs are hiding down at the end!]. I must confess I did some gluten cheating that night. I could not help myself. It was amazing.

Now for some knitting content. I have been plugging away on my modified Sage Remedy top. There have been a bunch of modifications and gauge issues that it has earned the nickname Sage Wrestling top. I got all the pieces done and noticed a bit of torquing (spiraling twist) of the pieces. I am hoping the blocking and edging help with those problems. Nothing like a knitting challenge to get me all worked up!

Hopefully it will all work out. I need this top because it will hide all the inches I gained this past month from holiday eating. Sigh. But still dee-liteful!

Hollidaze

2009-12-28T10:52:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone's holidays went well.

Ours went with a couple of hitches and glitches. Some of the stuff didn't show up in time. It was a little hard for Will, but he was a great sport and the gifts showed up over the last couple of days. The kids got some games for their 'devices' (I think there's one of every genre in this house: Wii, DS, PSP ). Jerry's mom sent us a check and he went out and got an X box 360, so I guess that can go on the list too. He, the biggest kid, has been happily gaming along and killing aliens and making the world a better place. I am not a gamer at all. I don't even know what they are talking about half of the time. Does it bother me? Not at all, Santa/Jerry gave me a new MacBook. Our other one is three years old, and lately there have been too many fights over who gets to use it. I love having my own. I also get the gift of time to knit while they are doing their game thing. I will watch reality television, movies or listen to podcasts with a glass of wine and knit away. Total bliss.

Here is my latest project. A modified sage remedy top. I am using a lighter weight yarn, in a rayon /linen blend. I took off the rib on the hem because, I don't do the 'bubble look'. Probably nobody should do the bubble look, except for maybe babies. My rows per inch are dramatically off so, I am doing a ton of improvising and praying to the knitting Gods for insight. I think blocking may do wonders on this top (it better!). Oops- I just noticed while staring at it that I want it to be a bit longer before the feather and fan pattern starts. Some more frogging tonight. Sigh

I also tried my hand a candy making. We made some batches of butter crunch. It was super easy and I am going to investigate the possibility of doing this with a gluten free cracker base or maybe even pouring the candy goo over some gluten free pretzels. But that's an adventure for another day.

Jerry loved the quilt. He was surprised that it was made while he was gone those two weeks. I told him those two weeks were a madhouse, because of the quilt factory. He then told me I sounded extra crazed. That's the toll speed sewing takes on you. Darla didn't want to share the couch in this photo of Jerry doing the 'Dagwood' pose.

Phew!

2009-12-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

I am so glad that marathon knitting is done and in the mail. That was a freaking nightmare. And I somehow manage to do this to myself every year.

So here's a peek. A herd of cowls (giggle):

They were fun and a great way to use up those random skeins of handspun that keep popping up all over the place. Also, they are a great way to try out lace patterns.

They are going over to my sister's house in Virginia, because she has a gaggle of gurls (5!).

I also cranked out a pair of camouflage socks in the blueberry waffle pattern for my brother. He requested them last summer and I made a mental note. I also sent some Dominican cigars because if you're wearing hunting socks, you probably would enjoy a cigar too.

Jerry helped me come up with the weird sock wrapper.

I actually needed it for a bunch of merino/possum hats and the Celtic Pep boys hat for the gang at work.

I am so done with knitting for others right now. But... I do have a hankering for starting a Sage Remedy sweater. Maybe it's a good time for some leisurely swatching.

Back to Normal

2009-12-13T11:12:00.001-08:00

After Jerry's mom left, Jerry took off for a two week school in Yorktown, VA. That meant two weeks alone with the kids loaded with pre Christmas stress and anxiety. Bird of Paradise must have enjoyed her visit because I received this basket of Godiva goodness last week. She said it was a "bread and butta" gift in her best coffee tawk N.Y. accent. I'm not a big chocolate fiend, but when I indulge, I love the good stuff. And I love copying her accent. Thanks Birdy!

Here's something I've been meaning to do for a while. I took these two sock books to the Fed Ex Office store and had them spiral bound. It only cost $11.00 and now they can lay flat and behave. Now I want to go through my whole library and see if any other books need spiraling.

I picked up this sparkly batt of merino, bamboo and firestar from the Butterfly Girl at Kid And Ewe. The Butterfly Girl tends to make them super sparkly, with tons of angelina glitzy mylar stuff in them. I found one with firestar which is a little softer. I thought the batt looked a little vampiric (new adjective!), so I knew daughter Katherine would love it.

Here's a shot of how it looks as a single. Even though the photo is blurry you can see all the sparkle action. I plyed it with some black BFL to tone it down a notch. I'll show it in my next post.

William went to see his developmental pediatrician last week for a check up and a case of broken heart. This doctor has his own teen son with Asperger's and goes the extra mile. He'll listen to Will's 'transformer talk' with the patience of a saint. And so I decided he was sock worthy. I never gifted a doctor before, but this was a special case. He also saw me working on them and liked the colorway and design. They're Cookie A's Trysteros. A real pain in the tush to knit, but look really cool and cabley.

I am still cranking out the gifts and currently working on some camouflage waffle socks for my brother. The waffle stitch has thermal properties, or at least that's what I keep telling myself. He hinted that he needed a pair when I saw him over the summer. They're a quick knit with an easy to memorize pattern. My kind of knitting for this time of the year.

That's all for now. I better get back to the needles!

Recovering

2009-11-27T10:38:00.000-08:00

Soooo.... Let's back up a bit to where the car died after leaving the fiber fest at Boerne. Jerry and I did some shopping and comparing and decided on going with this Ford Focus as our new commuter car. I love that it has an iPod outlet, and ambient lighting that can be changed from pink to yellow to red to blue to green (I'm partial to the pink, so far). I am a sucker for silly details. I usually drive the Chevy Trailblazer for transporting kids and running errands, but having a smaller car for Jerry's work trips is a great fit. Bye bye little red, welcome little grey!

Here is the completed hat that I started while trapped at the Pep Boys Auto Repair center.

Here is some spinning that I started at Boerne. It was the first purchase I made when I arrived there. I was running a few hours late and needed to get some fiber and catch up with my friends. It is 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate CVM(that stands for California variegated mutant-I think). It is next to skin soft and fluffy and the color is delightful. So far I have two skeins spun up. I should probably finish up the rest, because it looks like I finally have enough of something to make more than socks or a scarf.

Jerry's mom (aka Bird of Paradise) has come and gone. While visiting we did loads of eating and some cooking too. Here is a rustic tomato/onion/cheese tart I threw together. It came out surprisingly yummy.

We also ate tons of Texas barbeque brisket, ribs, smoked sausage. smoked turkey. My body will need some time to recover from it all. I did get a small break from eating when Stephanie decided she couldn't deal with the Thanksgiving buffet at the Officers' Club. I was secretly thrilled because I really had enough of the fine dining and looked forward to just having a couple of hours to hang out in the house with Steph. Here's to a speedy food detox!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone had a great feast!

Kid and Ewe and a Freak Out Too!

2009-11-17T06:08:00.001-08:00

Kid and Ewe weekend was fabulous. There were a few bumps in the road, but life always has a few twists and turns.

I got a late start on Friday, due to a malfunction of the TomTom gps software (we could only get travel instructions for Guam for pete's sake!!!). Then while driving , a rock flew into the windshield and gave it a good chip. That was probably an omen for things to come.

I got to Boerne about 5:00pm, met up with Joanne and Cati and shopped and spun for a little while. Then I checked into my 'rustic' motel and headed out for Mexican food.

Saturday was a continuous day of spinning, shopping, and snacking. Here is a photo of my haul of fibers:

I can't even tell you what they are right now, but they all have name tags and fiber contents which I will refer to later on down the road.

Here is a photo of Cati in a cotton dyeing class. They used these nifty little divided dishes from a dollar store to lay their skeins in. Genius!

I loved this woman's makeshift trashbag apron. All she needed was a flowerpot hat to achieve the Devo look!

I met Buffalo Gold's Ron Miskin and picked up a skein in a cranberry for a beret for Jerry. And also a little laceweight in a luscious teal for myself (I'll photograph them later). He also showed me some white buffalo that they have been attempting to breed. How exotic can you get!

Here is a gigundo shawl I had admired and stared at it all weekend long. A person could get lost in it, though it was quite gorgeous.

Here are some of the alpacas that came for the weekend. One of the brown guys was very vocal.

I noticed one barn had a bunch of garbage bags of fleeces they were selling for $20. I dug around and found this gray rambo cross mega fleece that weighed 13 lbs!

The processor looked at it and advised me to do the skirting out back on a picnic table and to shake out some of the hay bits. I grabbed my friends and we had an old fashioned, on the spot hayshaking party. By the time we got through it, the fleece was down to 10 pounds of cleaner wool and we were all kind of earthy smelling. But our hands were silky soft with lanolin.

These Yorkies were there in a playpen. Why? I have no idea.

Sunday, I left Boerne at 10:00, and that's where the real drama began. The car's radiator light and check engine light were both flashing. I had a freak out moment and called Jerry and cried.

He gave me number for AAA and found me a Pep Boys to get 'little red' towed to.

I tried to relax by knitting a hat in the customer waiting area of Pep Boys while waiting for my men to come rescue me. I didn't blend in too well.

Here's how the hat is turning out.

By the way, we decided that the VW isn't very reliable any more at 11 years old with several cross country trips in it's history. We offered it up to whoever wanted it, and a coworker is going to buy it from us. We'll be getting another car in a few days. More on this later.

Catch Up

2009-11-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been ignoring this bloggy blog of blogness, but I have been busy being a mom lately.

I haven't done much, so there isn't much to post about. But.. here are three photos that'll bring everything up to date:

Here is Will on Halloween in his Bumblebee Transformers helmet. He loves the helmet!

Here is some really loud (think kryptonite) green BFL that my friend Katie dyed up and I spun last Saturday. Katherine loves it and wants some fingerless mitts made out of it for the bus stop (and teen gurl awesomeness). I can manage that request.

Jerry asked me to knit up some possum yarn watch caps for some pilots at work. Possum yarn is super warm and will work well in those chilly cockpits. I found a classic pattern and am in the process of cranking these out. They are only 80 stitches around, so they knit up super quick. I'll let you know how they like them.

On Friday there will be a swap. I am heading to Boerne in Texas Hill Country for a mini fiber festival called Kid and Ewe. It is small and quaint with only about 20 vendors. I will love it. I will have Jerry's mom (her alias is Bird of Paradise) flying in from N.Y. as my replacement. I'm sure they will have a bohemian weekend, as will I. I'll keep you posted. Adios!

Papillon Route

2009-10-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, I felt as if the twin fairies had summoned Mothra. There were tons of moths (or what I thought were moths) all over the place. Every time somebody went in or out a few slipped in.

I just found this wacky Youtube video from one of the more recent Mothra movies. It makes me giggle. It will help you get into the Mothra mood.

So later on, I found out that these are baby monarchs that are making their trip to Mexico. They fooled me. It was still kind of icky to have all these guys fluttering about.

I did manage to photograph a few on the bushes. The ones in flight were impossible. I couldn't get any of them to hold still for a second!

Enough about the butterflies and on to the knitting content. I whipped up a cowl out of some handspun corriedale. The pattern is called Good Luck Cowl by Christianne Gerstner and it is available for free on Ravelry. This went fast, practically flying off the needles. I must crank out a bunch of these for holiday gifting.

Here is the Katherine modeling. She was in a teen angst mood so I cropped the angst part out.

Then I did some dyeing this week of other yarns. The grey skein is Henry's Attic pony laceweight in a steely grey for my upcoming Chrysler crown project. The pinkish skein is some BFL handspun fingering weight with no set future plan. I laughed when I discovered they matched my plaid shirt. It must have been a subliminal thing.

Lastly, here is photo of the Steph trying on some high tops. They have escape zippers in the center back seams. She did not get them, though she was very attracted to them. I hope I can survive these next few teen years!

Spin Cycle

2009-10-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post but lately I've been distracted. I have been focusing on spinning and trying to work towards a more uniform fine yarn. The problem is that I don't practice enough. Soooo, over the last few weeks, I've been working on spinning down my stash of rovings. Here is one from Judy (Stitches West) that is a little on the thicker side. I was aiming for sock weight or finer.

Here is some watercolor finn that I dyed up. The dog got skunked the day after I had dyed it and I was so lucky that I had put it away and it didn't get ruined.

On the left is the finn spun up. The plummy one on the right is some corriedale that was getting towards the desired thickness. Now I think I better work on some gift cowls to knit down the handspun stash. And then in November I'm going to the Kid and Ewe sheep fest to hunt down more fiber. It's a crazy vicious cycle that spinners and knitters put themselves through.

I've been working on some socks for my gift pile. I think that this one is from Lisa Souza's petite hard twist. But if it isn't, then it's one of Tess' sock yarns. The pattern is from Cookie A and you could probably guess that from the crazy cable action it has going on. Not an easy to follow pattern, don't watch any foreign movies with subtitles and easy on the wine with this one.

Thanks to our local grocery store, you get a bonus WTF with this post. While cruising the poultry aisle looking for inspiration for dinner, I came across this wonder of wonders. What does one do with a package of chicken feet? I know they are popular in Asian cultures, but we are living at the base of Mexico. I am going to research chicken feet recipes and see what comes up. Meanwhile, doesn't this look like something that goes into a witch's cauldron? Spooky!

The Good, The Bad and the WTF

2009-09-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

So here is the good. I finished my Aeolian shawlette from Knitty. It was wildly addictive and hard to put down at times. I think I cranked it out in a week which might even qualify for some sort of Ravelry record.

Here is me practicing some twirls and Stevie Nicks moves. I really should have permed my hair and popped on a gypsy skirt.

Here is some more good. I dragged out my bead bin and set the girls up for a bead session. They sat and beaded for two hours and talked without fighting. Beads have super powers.

Here is the bad. Actually very bad. I didn't even try and block this, it was that bad. The pathetic part was that I kept going because somewhere in the back of my mind I was hoping that it would magically get good looking. Well, that didn't happen. Very bad.

And here's my WTF. A mink thingy that I can't seem to throw out. it was hiding in my bead bin. It was once part of a wearable taxidermy piece . My friend gave it to me so I could trim a pair of Tlinget moccasins I was sewing. All I have left is the front half. I think I'll save it a while longer. It looks good hanging out of a basket.

Okay, here's one last twirl, while I'm in the mood!

Darla, the movie

2009-09-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Magusmog, I had to figure out how to use the movie feature on my camera. I lost the instruction manual, so it took a little fiddling around to get this going. So now I present to you Darla the useless dog:

My Dirty Little Secret

2009-09-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been neglecting my bloggerly duties, but this last knitting project knocked the daylights out of me. I am glad to say that it is done and I'm pleased with how it came out.

Behold the Barn Raising Blanket:

It coordinates best with Katherine's bedding.

But it doesn't look too shabby on our king sized bed (ignore those wrinkled shiny dark curtains, they make for killer naps!):

The i-cord edging was very time consuming. The whole blanket used two skeins of Miss Babs' to crochet and bind. Not as much as I expected. I took it in small chunks and it became a more manageable task.

Here's the dirty little secret. I still have a bunch of spaghetti ends that need some burying. Don't tell anyone. I'll save that for television knitting.

On a sad note, I want to put up a Youtube from the Jim Carroll band. He had died this past weekend and will be deeply missed by the punk community. I was lucky to see his band during my college days. Rock on in heaven Jim!

Soxyville Horror House

2009-08-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

The mystery continues. Our air conditioning is having some issues with overflowing drip pans, insulation and maybe even mold build up. At least that's what the maintenance guys are saying. They are confused and confounded. They finally decided that they will bring in an outside contractor to assess the situation. Meanwhile, here are some photos of my mysterious oozy drippy ceiling. Totally demonic. The kids keep yelling at me to stop staring at it, so it has some serious hypnotic properties. I tried all morning to find a Snuffy and Weezy image of a house with pots and pans catching drips. Love them hillbillies.

On a happier note, I finished a blueberry waffle sock. Very easy and they have a cushy thermal knit look. Gotta love the waffles.

Channeling My Inner Stevie Nicks

2009-08-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

I have been wrestling this machine knit silk blank for the last three days. Silk is a different animal than wool. It needs to soak in the vinegar bath longer. And it needs to take it's sweet time absorbing dye. It took me three days to figure out how to be patient. So here is a photo of how the blank came out.

Here is how it looks in a yarn cake. It is mostly cornflower blue, just like the flowers on the Corningware dishes. The outer edge of the cake is dyed much darker and inkier. The plan is to knit an Aeolian shawlette. And to punish myself more I went to the bead/crack shop (not really, but beads are kind of like crack to me) and picked up a couple of vials (get the crack reference?) of clear size 8 beads with an aurora borealis finish to embellish. I must love torture or something. I will wait for when school starts to begin this project. Very Stevie Nicks.

Reinventing the Easy Bake Oven

2009-08-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I loved my Easy-Bake Oven as a kid. My mom would mix up a box of regular human sized cake mix and I would spend the whole day cooking over the light bulbs (what an idiot!).

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when I caught Jerry all glazey eyed watching an infomercial for this cooking machine that is compact and red and comes with several different pans. It looked like the perfect size for the RV. I asked him if he wanted it. He said he'd wait until Christmas.

I guess as soon as I was out of sight he bought the red wonder gadget, because it showed up on Friday. Not only that, but Katherine runs into her room and returns with some hidden boxes of cake mix! The stinker, she knew.

So here is a photo of Katherine's cakes. They sort of look like ladybug wings.

Here is the little red wonder machine.

Here are the ingredients for Steph's gluten-free, egg free cakes. I also picked up some pink food coloring, because pink makes everything better in Steph's world.

Here's one of Steph's moon cakes. She was thrilled.

I started a new pair of socks called blueberry waffle socks. The yarn looks more like blackberry. The pattern is a no brainer to remember, which is perfect for this last crazy week before school starts. Sigh.

Quick Update

2009-08-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post this. It was done about a month ago from a gigundo sunflower leaf and some easy mix concrete (and a pile of sand to get the concave shape). I think I want to paint it in a verdigris blue/green style, but it is too hot to deal with that idea for now.

This is a pair of socks that I started in July when I did that trip to Long Island. The socks are from Cookie A's new book, Sock Innovations. The yarn is from Tess, in a nice mossy color. I got a little lazy and stopped the pattern after the cuff.

Here is how the blanket is progressing. I've been adding squares on every night. I still haven't put much thought into how I want to handle the outer edge, but I-cord may be the way to go.

Day Trip-What's Up With the Snakes?

2009-08-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

We needed to do a day trip and get out of Dodge, so we threw a bunch of pillows, blankets and snacks into the RV and hit the road. We took the main highway out of town and the funky back roads home. We had an astounding roadkill tally that included a pig and a cow, it was a bit much. There also seemed to be a snakey theme going on and I was extra careful.

We also passed a collie farm with beautiful murals. ....

Awesome old towns with great architecture....

Tons of cows.....

And a terrific frozen custard shop that made the best turtle sundaes....

I couldn't finish mine, so I popped it in the RV freezer and saved it for tonight. Yum!

Never Underestimate the Power of Crochet

2009-08-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

One of my goals with this blanket is to figure out how to attach the squares with the least amount of starts, stops and ends. I came up with a solution while laying in bed, trying to fall asleep- crochet. I figured out a path of zig zagging concentric paths radiating out from the center. And by George, the plan is going to work. I just follow my photo of the layout, grab a few squares and get single crocheting:

Now doesn't this idea just kick ass! Don't neglect those crochet skills, they'll come in handy sometime.

Testing.... one, two

2009-08-05T16:08:00.001-07:00

The squares to the Barn Raising Quilt are all done and I spent the morning laying out the squares in an arrangement that pleased me. Of course, the dog took that as a cue to walk in the middle of everything and sit. I got some good photos before she rolled around, silly girl! By the way that thing in the bottom of the photo is a ladder. I had to stand on a ladder to get everything into the frame.

Then, I tried a sample of connecting the squares with single crochet. I have a very dark color from Miss Babs called blackbird (not in this photo). I think black single crochet will give a leaded stained glass effect. I think I am ready to finish this beast.

Gurlies Shopping

2009-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the girls and I went off on an adventure to check out some antique shops, get some nail polish and hit the health food store, not necessarily in that order. Our first detour was this bead shop we never noticed before. It had rows and rows of tubes of seed beads. I had to compose myself and fight my magpie urges. I told the girlies that if they wanted to buy beads they had better have a project in mind first. Meanwhile, I never did that myself, I would just buy beads like crazy and deal with their destiny later. So we left before we got into trouble, but I definitely need to make something knitted with beads, and soon.

Then we drove to antique lane to search for treasure.

There were some junk shops mixed in with real antique shops. And sometimes it got very overloading. The musty smells mixed with the confused piles of clutter was a lot to deal with. Steph handled it surprisingly better than I did. Here's a pair of awesome Fendi sandals that Katherine spied. I love the colors and the hand painted platforms.

I spotted this old Belgian album of the Singing Nun, a sixties folk phenomenon. I remember the movie they made out of it with Debbie Reynolds. I tried to find it on Netflix but it's unavailable. I think I will order The Trouble with Angels instead. There was an oversaturation of Catholic influence(poisoning?) in my past.

We also found old treadle sewing machines and typewriters. The girls knew about typewriters from the book "Click, Clack, Moo" (ducks that type).

Then we found this weird cool alleyway that had neat stuff. Unfortunately it was over 100 degrees in there and we could only handle about five minutes.

We got so overloaded after about an hour of schmying that we had to bail. I only ended up with a lucky horseshoe that needs some cleaning up.

At home we chilled and did some funky home pedicures. I did a dark plummy purple with some dagger type things on the toes. Kath did some neon yellow with black designs, and Steph chose her signature pink. My toes got so cold that I wrapped my feet with some old Noro legwarmers. We then sat up late and watched the movie Mall Cop (very New Jerseyesque). It was a great girlie day.

Here's the last of my Sunflowers. As they say on those NPR parodies, Good Times.....

Will Napping

2009-07-30T20:27:00.001-07:00

This is how we found Will napping the other day. I swear he can sleep anywhere.

200

2009-07-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what 200 squares in a bunch of ziplocks look like:

I celebrated by purplizing my grey streak:

Whirlwind Trip to New York

2009-07-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

My mom's birthday is in July and I decided to take a quick trip up to New York to spend some time with them (and get away from the Texas heat). Here is a mini photo essay of what I saw:

The airport in Dallas had this cereal concession stand. I have never seen anything like this (though I do enjoy eating cereal).

This is the house I grew up in. It's in Old Bethpage, right near the golf course where the US Open was held this year. My brother hangs out with the groundskeepers. I met two of them Friday night and kept thinking of Caddyshack or Groundskeeper Willie.

Here is a photo of my mom's hydrangeas. They are one of my favorite flowers. We used to call them snowballs when we were kids.

Here is a photo of my mom and dad. We were at a luncheon for my folk's stroke survivor support group. Dad had a stroke 14 years ago. My kids were so young so they don't remember my father when he was mobile and verbal.

I was sitting next to my mom. On the right side of me, was seated this woman, Mary Ann. I stopped dead in my tracks when I got a look at her nails. And she was very proud to tell me that they were real. You know I had to ask her for a photo! Then across the table there was a volunteer named, Gert. She was 98 years old!!!! I think she does stuff like take take attendance and make name tags. No heavy lifting for her!

On the airplane, to and from NY, I worked on some socks. I started a pair from the new book Sock Innovation by Cookie A. I am making the Glynis sock in a green sock yarn from that saucy Tess yarns. I had a hard time centering the motif for the foot, So I got practical for once and decided to leave the foot of the sock plain. Please don't tell Cookie.

There was an issue with this yarn. It was crocking off on my tension finger(index) something awful. I had better soak the completed socks in some vinegar or my feet will become all blue and yucko.

That's all she wrote. I am so glad to be home with my gang.

Concrete and a Green Tutu

2009-07-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

Recently I saw a blog where a woman made these gorgeous stepping stones by casting concrete over rhubarb leaves. I was inspired to try some concrete casting of my own, but I wanted to start simple. I grabbed a girlie and went to Michael's, our local big box craft store because they usually have this sort of kit. I scored and found one for about $12 (they gave me their discount coupon price even tho I didn't have a coupon).

The process is rather simple. I used an old garbage pail to mix the powder with water until it looked like brownie batter. Excuse the fogginess of the photos, it was 95 degrees outside and the camera lens kept fogging on me.

Then you pour it into a mold and smooth out the surface.

After the mixture sets up a bit you can add beach glass and found objects to embellish. We also stamped the surface with names and added a paw and dog treat imprint. The waiting is definitely the hardest part. It has to cure inside in a regulated temperature so that it doesn't crack. I put it in the laundry room on a baking sheet so it wouldn't be disturbed by anyone.

Here is the end result. The coral looks a little funky (top center) but I bet it will get more exposed as it weathers.

I want to do some giant sunflower leaves from my Sunzilla sunflowers next week (thanks Wooly). They require more effort with sand supporting the leaf into shape. It will surely be a messy project, I can't wait!

I have been noticing that the birds have been chomping on my tomatoes and leaving gaping holes. I love having fights with small animals (like outsmarting squirrels and ants) so when Katherine suggested we cover the plants with a net, I was all over the idea. We picked up some green tutu tulle at the fabric store and shrouded the tomatoes. Take that, you birds!!!!

Wednesday I am heading up to New York to visit my parents. It is my mom's birthday and I haven't seen her and dad in four years. I plan to just hang and visit. The kids gave me a couple of shopping requests. The girls want me to go to a Sephora shop and get them glitter eyeliner (I was 14 once, I totally understand), and a bakery for some black and white cookies (I think they are a NY bakery standard) . They are totally delicious. They might be worth a gluten cheat.

I might stop at mom's local yarn shop for a skein of sock yarn for the Barn Raising Quilt. I am so close to finishing (183 squares-WOW!) but it might need a little Long Island thrown into the mix.

Jerry said I have to go out drinking with my brother John on Friday night. I guess I can't disappoint.

I will bring my camera and take lots of notes. Long Island is chock full of crazy. It's the land of Seinfeld, Baldwin brothers, Jessica Hahn, Amy Fisher, Billy Joel, Howard Stern, Joey Buttafucco and many more loons. Oy, this is going to be quite the trip. I'm sort of scared! Wish me luck. Laters!

Father's Day

2009-06-25T12:20:00.001-07:00

We gave Jerry the Billy Mays Big City Slider Grill for Father's Day and he was delighted. The whole kitchen was a production area but the results were worth it. We tried them with German curry ketchup and they were quite yummy. By the way isn't this link to Ketchup World a hoot?

Stephanie wanted to learn to crochet. For her first project she wanted to make an afghan, like Katherine. She's a quick study.

Katherine has been making paper doll clothes with her Klutz book. She and her friend can hole up in her room for hours doing this. I should photograph the whole collection before they get ruined.

I have been wrestling with how to assemble this mountain of squares into a blanket (when they're done, that is). I am thinking of crocheting them together from the center outward. I am hoping for less cutting and knotting. This plan looks somewhat promising.

New Do

2009-06-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

It has been months since I have had my hair done. Where does the time go? I have a little bit of hairstyle anxiety. I never know what to ask for and feel very goofy in those smocks that they wrap you up in. I go through magazines for inspiration and never end up looking like what I ask for. Today I just bit the bullet and got my grey blended in with some blonde highlights and had it styled into an 'inverted bob' (that means short in the back and longer in the front - I think). Then while waiting around with foil on my head there was a 15 year old getting her bangs dyed a deep blue. I was instantly jealous of her confidence and grabbed my stylist. So here are the results:

With a little impulse color hidden underneath.

Next time I will ask for the color when she's starting, so it will be more rich and intense. I hope it lasts a while!

There ain't no cure for the summertime blues

2009-06-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Except for Frostbite Blue toes (China Glaze). It's almost like a car color. Love it!

This week there were many tangles in the afghan yarn. Maybe next time I will prewind the yarn into yarn cakes with the ball winder.

The Topsy Turvy tomato planter was declared a failure. It could not handle the Texas sun and wind. All it did was spin around in crazy circles.

Meanwhile my trusty Earthboxes kicked ass. I think I will put something in them in the fall too. I must ask my spinning friends how to plan out the growing seasons. I am so clueless.

We are getting a couple of tomatoes everyday , if we pick before the critters and varmints get at them.

Also, I caved and joined the ranks of Twitter. Peer pressure and all that! I think I can handle quick short summaries of my actions. And you can't beat the Twit name.

Just a Bunch of Crazy

2009-06-09T18:42:00.001-07:00

This is my living room ceiling. The air conditioner drip pipe was clogged by algae and it backed up. The secondary drip pan in the attic overflowed and started leaking. So the repair guys unclogged the pipe and now we have this giant stain on our ceiling. They sprayed some primer white on it (while still wet from the flood) and called it done. I am so glad this isn't my house.

This is a photo of my collection of bug bite balms and salves. I really like the Mexican sulphur soap. I am pretty bitten up. Nobody else has bites, just me. Last summer wasn't like this.

I got a little paranoid and tested some of the squares for color fastness. They are fast.

Katherine has become a crocheting wonder. She's making her own afghan.

I bought some more yarn for the Barn Raising blanket. The purple mist is from Madelainetosh. The hot pink is from Miss Babs, and is called Sinderella. The semi-solid black is from Babs too and is called Blackbird. I have 133 squares as of today. I still have to weave in the centers of a bunch of them, groan.

I did get a break on Saturday and went spinning with my friend, Joanne. Joanne works with students that are blind. She also does weiner dog rescue (really) and raises some alpacas. I love when we escape from our regular crazy routines and get to relax and spin.

Here are my two latest spinning projects. The top one is merino/tencel and the other is ramboulliet. I think they'll become cowls or scarves when they mature.

100

2009-05-29T13:03:00.001-07:00

One hundred squares done. Here is a mockup of what 100 squares looks like. I think it is still a little on the small size. Maybe 12x14 will be big enough. I want Jerry and Will to enjoy it too and they are both over six feet tall. Forging onward.

I got my nifty cupholder the other day. I found it is also great for holding the television remote, or phone. I'm so loving it.

I test drove it with some California merlot and some merino/tencel roving yesterday. It spun like butter. I am even more thrilled that I successfully divided the roving in half and was only off by one gram. We'll see how accurate that is once plied up (my spinning isn't the most uniform).

Today we are sending Katherine off into the wild, well actually to Lost Maples Park for her first real backpacking trip. She's done tons of lazy camping but this is the first primitive experience. She even left her techno gadgets at home. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

And here is her latest creation. I only helped with embroidering the face and helping her count stitches. The next one is vanilla with chocolate frosting. Yum.

Randomness

2009-05-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we had some mimes over. Just kidding. The girls had a sleepover party. One kid brought some facial masque cream. Naturally they had to run around the neighborhood with it on (in the rain!). Love it.

I tried to spin up my firey balls of ramboulliet. They spun up okay but not as I envisioned. I'll try to salvage them into some socks.

I broke down and ordered this little gadget. It is a cup holder that attaches to the spinning wheel. I am thinking it should enhance my spinning life tremendously. If I am having a glass of wine or a cider I won't care if my spinning is ugly. What a great invention. Here's the link:
FBN Plastics

When it arrives, I will give a thorough review of how it performs and which beverages spin the best. Very scientific.

Lastly, here is a photo of Will's "other" dog. Meet Wrigley (like the gum and baseball stadium). She is the therapy dog at school. She helps keep the students calm and happy. Will spends a lot of time on the floor with her. She's such a sweetie. I have no idea who that woman in the photo is... oops.

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T17:34:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. Mine was very mellow and relaxing. The kids let me sleep in, which is a delight. They made me cookies, handmade cards, chore coupons and a friendship bracelet. The piece de resistance was this action figure. We were watching this strange gang movie a couple of weeks ago called The Warriors. Sneaky Jerry searched around on eBay and found me this action figure, 'Swan'. He comes with interchangeable hands, a knife and molotov cocktail accessories. I suppose he can hang out and guard the Barbies.

Jerry took Will and Katherine to see the new Wolverine movie. I was a little jealous, but then I embraced my free time and hung out with Stephanie and knitted..... a lot. I was freaking out about whether there was enough yarn spun up to finish these socks. So I just went on a marathon and finished the pair with only 16 inches to spare. Very close call. They almost became toeless pedicure socks by default. All in all a great day.

Yesterday I had the urge to dye. And grabbed a bag of ramboulliet (sp) from Stitches. I wanted to do something firey hot so here's a peek at it wrapped and ready to steam.

Here are my pink tinted fingers. They are still a little pink today.

And here is my pile of dyed roving. Es muy caliente!

Lastly, here is a video of my cousin John's band Flying Machines. He's the Vietnamese guy on guitar. They won some contest with Fender guitars. Nice work John.

Bye Bye Mr. Chesty!

2009-05-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our big garage chest freezer bit the dust after 13 years of service and four cross country trips. Jerry found a suitable replacement in the scratch and dent department of our base furniture store.

Meet his replacement, Miss A-Cup. She's a smaller chest, but she'll do fine. We don't buy month loads of food at one time like we used to.

Here's a preview of my Mother's Day gift. I went online and ordered some Fleece Artist and Indie Dyer fingering weight yarn from the Loopy Ewe. It will be for squares for the Barn Raising Quilt. I have over fifty squares done. I am now at the slow and steady pace now.

On Saturday, I was able to make it to my monthly spinning group with my friends Joanne and Katie. I spun up my Lisa Souza merino roving from Stitches. Then I spun some more Saturday night while watching a retro comic book movie called The Spirit. It was visually interesting, though the plot was a mess.

Lastly, I have to show you my sister's new baby. Go ahead and say it, Nice Ass!!! Isn't he a cutie.

Ant Attack!

2009-04-25T14:50:00.001-07:00

No, not that guy! I've been collecting areas of ant bites on random parts of my body, like legs, upper arms, stomach. At first I thought I had contracted some sort of illness like shingles, but I don't have all of the symptoms. I also went nuts and checked for bedbugs with a flashlight at night. And the crazy part is I don't remember any ant attacks.

But I think I figured this out and found the culprit. Darla leaps into bed and attempts to smoosh into me (or spoon I guess) every night. I believe it's her herding instinct to never be more than five feet from me. So whenever she goes out into the yard, she's probably sneaking a few ants in her fur. So now it's time to address the anthills in the yard. I guess that makes me an ant bully.

I am making great strides on this "Thistle Blossom" tank (formerly known as the 'Lotus Blossom Tank" from interweave. It definitely looks more like a thistle than a lotus. I don't normally wear tanks and skin baring clothes. So I am a little peeved about all the ant bite scars which will take a while to go away. Bring on the skin balm. Curse you ants!

As a bonus photo, I got to be a mud flap gurl today! See:

On Jerry and Katherine's last RV adventure, they had a nasty tire blow out that tore the mudflap out. Since Jerry has big 'man hands', he needed to borrow my delicate knitterly monkey fingers to get in there and reattach the stripped out screws with longer ones.

P.S. I know my roots need work!

Quick Air Show Summary

2009-04-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

What I learned about photography and fast airplanes this weekend is that you have to be quick and accurate with the camera. I definitely do not possess the skills to be an airplane photographer. So I will show you my tiny dots of airplanes instead.

These dots are the Blue Angels taking out my eardrums.

These dots are the Golden Knights paratroopers jumping out of airplanes for fun.

These dots are my crazy neighbors across the street that set up camp on their roof for viewing. I am so happy they decided to leave their twin toddlers inside the house. Phew!

That's it for airplanes. I needed to take a short break from my Barn Raising Square factory. I have 45 squares done and that's a good start. I needed to cast on for the Lotus Blossom tank with some cotton/bamboo Webs yarn that I bought at Stitches West the previous year. It is a soft and drapey yarn that will hopefully make a nice comfy top for when things get sizzly here in Corpus Christi. I am knitting a size small on size 2 needles and getting gauge for a women's medium which is what I need. That is part of the woe of being a loose knitter. Always a gamble.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Girlies!

2009-04-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is so late, but there were some technical difficulties. Old photo albums were lost in the garage. My power cord and laptop battery had to be replaced. But... I think we are back in business.

Katherine and Stephanie turned fourteen. Let's celebrate with a mini photo montage:

From itty bitty premies

To little mermaids

To kitties and viking princesses

You've grown so much!

What a long strange trip it's been. I love you girls.

Noisy Angels

2009-04-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Blue Angels are literally outside my backdoor practicing for this weekend. And Dang are they ever noisy! I have foamy ear plugs in so I can quit ducking out of fear. It is sort of like thunder cracking. Hopefully the kids and Darla will get through it unscathed.

I'll try and get some photos for bloggage. Laters.

Gem Sweater Babe

2009-04-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

I must share this craft video with you. This totally cracked me up:

I must go find some hot glue.

Sneak Preview

2009-04-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is part of a care package heading West to my friends. This is a set of sock blanks for Rhodie. Don't tell her Steph! From what I've seen, she likes purples and plums. I have enough extra dye mixed up that I may splash dye some pencil roving for myself. But not today.

As Seen On TV

2009-04-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

Guess what Jerry bought on late night TV?????? No it's not from Ron Popeil or Billy Mays.
We're going Topsy Turvy! We have bad sandy soil, with too many weeds and nasty Texas sticker burrs. The wind is pretty bad, and the only safe place is the front patio. We thought we would make the upside down tomato planters the focal point of our house. I know all the neighbors will get jeal, just you wait.
Saturday, was the Corpus Christi Special Olympics track and field events. Since it was spread out and a very long day. Jerry took charge of Will, and I had Steph's company. There was a lot of down time on the bleachers. I worked on a square.
Steph got a ribbon in the 100 meter dash and a gold medal in the softball toss. Yay Steph!!!

Will got a silver in his dash and a bronze in softball throw. Sorry, no photos of Will this time. I was unable to clone myself .

That night we watched The Warriors on Netflix. It is so funny and dated. I loved the weird gangs and their costumes. I highly recommend it if you like bad movies. A great weekend.

Balls in a Jar

2009-03-31T16:01:00.001-07:00

No, not Jerry's, I meant yarn balls! I have a ton of sock scraps hanging around waiting for inspiration.

After assessing the situation and spending too much time on Ravelry, I decided the perfect solution to these remnants was to make a Barn Raising Quilt by Larissa Brown and Shelly Mackie. I am loving how easy they knit up, they are done with no purling. I am making my squares smaller to fit the size of my leftovers. The squares are portable and they will help whittle down the scrap heap to a manageable level. This project is going to take awhile!

So the dryer is broken and twice I had to sneak over to the Navy Lodge's laundry room across the street the dry a load. I was able to knock out a square during the 45 minute dry cycle and it fit nicely in my purse. I hope the repair guy gets it fixed tomorrow, because I'm afraid of getting busted (for laundry of all things!).

Some other Air Station action: This cute little vixen was trapped at the next aviation building over from our block. It was so sad to see her there Sunday night with her mate trying to rescue her. I went over there Monday morning and he was still with her, both frightened as can be. Hopefully, they just relocated her. I think the maintenance people were trying for skunks or raccoons. I didn't hang around for details, though I am heart broken.

Go Get Him!

2009-03-26T06:38:00.001-07:00

Thanks for defending my knitting. I love you guys!

Why Bother?

2009-03-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

I am almost done with this February Lady Sweater. I was trying it on and asked Jerry to photograph my progress. Do you know what he said????? "God that is an ugly fucking sweater." And do you know what bothers him? It bothers him that I like it and will probably wear it. Wait until I start my Lotus Blossom Tank.

P.S. Katherine doesn't like it either.

Get Me Through Spring Break!

2009-03-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

This week was Spring Break and the natives were restless! One was reciting Weird Al Yankovik songs over and over again, one was learning to walk in high heeled silver lame sandals, and one discovered the joys of eyeliner. I didn't plan any activities, so I guess it's my fault that they are going a little batty. I lit a Holy candle hoping that it would calm things down.
Come on Virgin Guadalupe, do your stuff!

I completed the body of my 'Soxy Lady' sweater and am pleased with the results, so far. Now for the sleeves.

I forgot to post how my spinning came out. They are very Spring like. The two on the left are from the same corriedale pencil roving, though one is much lighter. Whatever I do with these has to be alternated between the two skeins.

One last thing. Here is an ad from Tractor Supply Co. It's chick days! I better keep away from there.

Getting Your Irish On

2009-03-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

March Lady Sweater

2009-03-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

I started the February Lady Sweater this week. We saw a bunch of them in the wild at Stitches (maybe that's in captivity). Getting the gauge armhole depth and yoke figured out was a pain in the ass, but it looks like like the rest will be smooth sailing. I am knitting the large because some were looking a bit on the snug side on Ravelry, and I don't mean in a cute cropped way. This Brook's Farm 'Duet' is smooshy soft and drapey with a slight halo. I will have to reinforce the front bands-drat.

Steph and Will brought home some bronze medals in basketball at the Special Olympics. They weren't really into it, though they don't mind getting the medals.

Deep Fried

2009-03-07T19:08:00.001-08:00

The first Saturday of every month is spinning day. What that means is my friends Joanne, who is in a master spinners program, and her sidekick Cady volunteer and demo spinning at the Corpus Christi Science and History Museum. They are always on the lookout for fellow spinners, so when they found out I spun, they snagged me. The spinners sit on this funny little stage area.

Nearby are old tractors, and coaches.

Check out this collection of old irons. It reminds me of Edna Turnblad( from the John Waters movie, Hairspray) lamenting about how much ironing she does.

We always take a lunch break and eat at the Brewster Street Ice House.
Yesterday, I ordered an avocado stuffed with chicken salad. I thought this would be a nice and healthy meal along with my "sweet tea". So when the server brought me this deep fried dinosaur egg bomb I was a little surprised. Texans will deep fry anything. It really cracked me up. By the way, I did end up eating it. Now where's that deep fried Snickers bar???

So here's what I ended up spinning. It's corriedale roving from Judy in Utah. The colorway is called 'purple mist' I'll post a photo of it all plied because it looks less "Easter eggy" once plied.

On a final note, here is a photo of a huge bottle of barbecue sauce from Rudy's BBQ ( the wine bottle is for scale). Jerry and his mom ordered so much take out from them while I was gone that they were given this great big bottle of "sissy sauce". Hey, they survived.

Yarn Coma (part deux)

2009-03-05T19:41:00.001-08:00

Things got very sketchy Thurs after the market preview. I know we went up to the room to eat a yummy savory spread provided by Steph (Wooly) and Rhodie and we plowed through two bottles of merlot. They are seriously gracious guests.

Rhodie completed this terrific seed stitch shawl with a ruffled edge. I fumbled around trying to start a pair of socks and I believe Wooly was winding also. I never got far on the socks.

There was talk of going swimming, but it didn't happen that night. Friday, after breakfast we hit the market and got completely overwhelmed again. We came out once for air and lunch but had to do one last market trip in the afternoon. We then set up camp at the lobby bar area. We made friends with the following Ravelers: Zardra, Curlie, Melinda and probably some others I am forgetting. Zardra made a dash back to the market for a ball of precious qiviut. We all oohed and ahhhed. Before I die I must buy some.

Someone showed us her new thong patterns she just purchased. I always do that at the bar! We also defended our Polish waitress' honor from some guy with sparkling teeth.

Wooly and Rhodie had to pack up and and get ready to leave. I was sad to see them go but I think they will do this again next year. I was was delighted to find a gift of lovely yarn from Tactile snuck into my suitcase. I'll get a good solo photo of it later, it's very pretty. Wooly and Rhodie are the best.

The rest of my adventure is rather mellow. I took an all day Russian lace class with Galina Khmeleva, owner of Skaska Designs. Galina is a brilliant, witty, and may I add patient instructor that went through the history of Orenberg shawls. She passed around her samples that were just heavenly. We practiced our swatches with zephyr yarn while she spoke in her hypnotizing accent. It was great.

I met mother and daughter podcast team Gigi and Jasmine. They host a podcast called the Knitmore Girls and are quite entertaining. Zardra was spinning with them on Saturday at the Purlescence booth.

By Saturday evening I was pretty much shopped out and was lounging out in the lobby. I met fellow Raveler, Orangina and chatted for a couple of hours while we were people watching. Lily Chin popped by as Cruella DeVille. I love her costumes.

I think that sums up Sue, Wooly, and Rhodie's Excellent Adventure. I was tired. My luggage was overweight. And my body ached. But it was so worth it! See you next year!