Penny Rug

Whew! I meant to post yesterday evening. But apparently I needed to sleep for almost 12 hours. All better now :)
I finished stitching the penny "rug". Obviously would only work as a rug for a small softie. An old, old craft although I'm not sure they had fuschia and coral fabric available. There was a great big box of woolen scraps, many of them felted blankets and we could just rummage around to chose our fabrics. I took many pics and for some reason it was hard to actually get the colors to show up right but these are the best.




I really enjoyed stitching the little not-quite-round circles. I noticed when I uploaded the pics that one of the sets needs to be scooted down a bit. It will have to wait though as I used up all of my black embroidery thread and...I can no longer buy it in my town. Oh..who am I kidding. It will probably be a bit out of place forever!

I glanced through a couple of books our instructor had. A lot of patterns that didn't look traditional at all. Just using the process. Hmmm...now I have some ideas.
One of the vendors had some needlepunched felt which followed me home. But I'm going to have to go thrifting for an old blanket or something that I can use for the base part. My color pieces are rather thick so I'll have to find something that I can felt that will be of similar weight I think. Only problem is that not a lot of wool is worn here. Cross your finger that I find some old sweaters or something, k?



Always good to have ideas circulating! Now I have to go check on some yarn to see how much I have of it. I want to make Fetching.

Friday Night w/Fiber

Last night was the first part of a fiber weekend..well Friday evening and today. Because of some logistal glitches we didn't get to start as early this year, but there were great cries of "Oh hi...how have you been?" "Ohhh look at this!" etc.

After an always great potluck, a woman who teaches natural dyeing classes talked to us. Whoa..what a cool person! Besides teaching at City Arts, she also teaches kids in alternative school. She said it was pretty funny watching fairly obvious gang members whisper to each other that she was a witch. She had examples of the work they didn't want to keep..i.e. not their best efforts and still it was just amazing.

My afternoon class, basket weaving, got cancelled to be rescheduled later..knee surgery could really impact a person! Get well soon Debra! My evening class was Wool Applique. I'm making a penny rug. I learned several things.
1st: Even when drawn on with a sharpie, I am unable to cut out a perfect circle in fabric.
2nd: My project is "organic" which in this case seems to mean my circles are wonky.
3rd: Wonky circles are hysterically funny when everyone is tired.
4th: Perhaps the best part of this sort of event is getting together with the people. (See the 3rd thing)

I'll take pics later. I have to be out there early this morning. The only class I signed up for today is called "Silk Fusion". I think I will feel very "arty" doing this! And I don't think I will need to cut out circles.

Let Them Eat Cake

It's been a calorie laden week here on the prairie. Monday night found me having dinner with friends. Homemade potato/broccoli/cheese soup to die for. And an assortment of meats and cheeses and lots of embellishments for sandwiches. We chose what we wanted to eat. I nominated the sandwiches. I love, love, love making big Dagwood type sandwiches but in a house alone, the lettuce goes bad before it's eaten or I'm terribly tired of ham/turkey etc. So this was a real treat for me. And the soup...OMG I just wanted to sleep in it. Sooooo rich and very good. A little wine, some fruit and lots of good conversation. And on a Monday of all days! Too fun.

Then it was cake at home time. When I was little my mama used to make this dessert that she called Cottage Pudding. To my little brain, I thought that must mean we lived in a cottage since we ate it in our house. It was basically a rather bland whitish cake that you served with a warm, clear nutmeg-y sauce over each serving. She gave me the recipe for the sauce, but told me that you could just use any cake..a cakemix white was just fine. Well, ya know...it just wasn't right. The cake was too fluffy. The original was more dense. Sort of like eating a great big fat soft sugar cookie, or so I remembered.

So, fast forward to 2007. And an ad in the mail for a repro Betty Crocker cookbook. Since I cook so often (not!), a cookbook wasn't on a want list, but I really wanted this one. And, since it could be paid off in 4 easy payments that were certainly modest, I ordered it. It arrived Saturday and I've spent quite a lot of time curled up and reading it. And then....shazamm, right there on page 221, is Cottage Pudding. The sauce recipe was right and I tried the cake and YESSSS! Of course, I've eaten the whole cake. Well, it was just a little cake...sort of..in an 9x9 pan.





I figure that all the stirring wouldn't use up the extra calories, but maybe a bit of knitting would help. So the second sock of the long-ago-started socks came to life last night. I have no idea why they were stopped before. Must have been something major to distract me. But we're happy together for now.



Zoey says she will just lick her foot and ignore me.

Where I Mess Things Up

I've already told you that I'm nosy. And I love to see other people's spaces whether I know them or not. There's just something so interesting. So I was delighted when Dave showed off his knitting/spinning space and had links to other people's. But, I figure fair's fair so I have to show you mine. As bad as I would like for it to be, it's not worthy of being featured in a magazine unless maybe there is one called ...well, I'm not going to go there.

This is the "curl-up" place to knit. It's never this tidy as usually besides myself, there's at least one cat and a mug of tea or coffee and who knows what else. I took advantage of the cat's having supper while Zoey was outside to get this shot. There paws are involved though as that throw is supposed to be on the back of the loveseat.
You can see in the lower left a round box. It holds most of my needles and all sorts of other stuff. It really needs to be cleaned out. The little bag with polka dots is currently the sock bag. That's open to change. Sometimes I use the one that clips to your beltloop, or my pretty pink bigger one. Just depends on the day, I guess.

The cigar boxes on the cedar chest/coffee table hold stitch markers and little balls of waste yarn and rulers and needle gauges..that sort of thing.



Inside the cedar chest are several groups of yarn. It's not full of yarn (I wish), for there are other throws and pillow covers and stuff that's for this room in the bottom of it. Used to be a real pain in the butt to find anything, but some judicious recycling of a copy paper box and a Christmas box makes it much easier to get to the lower half. I'm quite fond though of just gazing at the colors. And wondering why I still haven't unskeined my Cabin Cove or why I really don't want to knit my Cherry Tree Hill. They are just there for petting, I think.




Then there is the Playroom. It's about all sorts of projects and only recently came into being so it's still a work in progress. It was a bedroom. Last bulky trash day the old mattress etc went bye bye and it's trying to find it's way. But with the keyword up on the wall, it knows the way to go.



It's a good room to use for things that need a lot of light (like an intarsia chart) and/or somewhere to spread it out. I can 'drive' my dining room table in there easily and set up the sewing machine. If I want to cut fabric (NOT my favorite thing to do), I elevate the legs of that table on bed risers which brings it up to the right level. I cut out much more happily if my back isn't screaming at me. The shelves in front of the windows originally were full of plants headed for a Walmart. Once they were unloaded, the shelves were scrap but I grabbed them first.

Since I can't actually see the picture on here, I've sort of forgotten what all you CAN see. There's a chair. It's really a lawn chair covered with a quilt..Mid-century Modern and made from double knit fabric. *G* Oh and the lovely footstool...another copy paper box, painted and "upholstered". And the magnificent old bedspread on the floor for Zoey. She has a for real bed in the bedroom but she really prefers this. It's hysterical to watch her "arrange" it.



I had knitting to show off...but then..well, trouble. First of all, Laura wanted to see my intarsia..the first. It's over 1/2 way through, having been restarted 3 times. So I took a pic of it Friday night.



Then I thought that I would wait to post until I had even more done. It had been several days since I'd worked on it, so first I made sure I had all ends woven in. Usually, I'd just quit whenever I was tired and then the next time I'd weave in any ends. So that done, off I go. Well yesterday, I discovered a glitch a couple of rows back. I should have just put it down..I was tired, it was late and obviously my brain had turned off. I'd woven the ends in so well I couldn't get them out, so I thought I would just cut it and go back to the row before that. Uhhhh you can't just pull on the yarn and have the whole thing unravel at once. So now it's just a mess, with some areas raveled back farther than the next color. I'm going to have to think about this. Or...start over. I do enjoy doing it.



Then there's this felted bag. Somehow in my magnificent mind I had decided that things shrink in width more than in length (it's the opposite) so I knitted this hugely wide bag. Uhhh, it's still way to big to do anything with. I'm thinking maybe saddle blanket? Rug? Or cut it up into smaller pieces.







I'm thinking I'm going to work on a sock. I have one started. Just a plain 2x2 ribbing. Maybe I can manage to do at least ribbing without messing it up. Or maybe a nap. /shrug

Upstairs, Downtown

I really love old buildings, and I'm nosy... well, make that curious. It sounds a lot nicer. And one of my fantasies is to live upstairs above a shop; of course, I own it and it's thriving. Perhaps I read too much.

However, when the chance to explore the upper stories of some of the buildings downtown, I jumped at it. It was part of a Paranormal Convention held here last weekend. I would have loved to attend everything, but I found out about it too late and it just wasn't in the budget. This part, though, I could manage nicely.

So after a brief rest after the alpaca adventure, off I went. With new batteries in the camera and drivers license and keys in my pocket, I wasn't burdened with a bag which would leave my hands free and me a bit more mobile.

There were 4 buildings on the tour but I will just tell you about 2 of them. One of the others was basically just walking through some attorney offices (?). The 4th was quite interesting and my guide, a young man in character was delightful but I have no pictures. More about that later.

The is known as the Babcock Building.





It's housed a ton of different offices on the upper floors and a lot of shops on the bottom, but now only the first floor is functional. There was a secret door. One of those hidden in paneling. Each floor above it had a hole in the floor in that space. Not big enough for an elevator..actually I'd guess about 2 feet square. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it was for. And although this floor wasn't safe enough for all of us to walk out on, I'll have good "image ups" about this being my parlor. And it's snowing. And I've brought up some lovely yarn from my yarn shop. And I'm knitting something beautiful. Dream on.



And this is now known as the Russell-Murray Building and houses a hospice business. Not patients, but the staff and management have their offices on the first floor and part of the second.



I actually did this tour twice. Once while it was still daylight and then again just before I went home. I had two different guides, so I got a lot more information. It was built to house a grocery on the first floor and a hotel on the upper floors. Later, in the 20's, there was a bordello on the upper two floors. The 2nd floor had the better quality "girls" and two bathrooms! The upper floor had one bathroom, and screen doors just like you'd have on your house for ventilation. I can only imagine what it must have been like on a hot summer's day. Ewww! One of the doors on the second floor had a peephole with this little doohickey that you could slide back and forth. Not, however, so the room's occupant could see who was in the hall. It went the other way. So that the person in the hall could see into the room. Hmmm.

They had gathered some things with the idea of setting up a little scene in one of the rooms from when it was a hotel, I guess. There was a bed made up, a rocking chair and this dressform which I'd love to have!






Three folks were getting it set up, and one of them asked the others if they believed in ghosts. And, then the rocking chair rocked back and forth three times. Everyone had been standing still, just relaxed. And the one that told the story is someone I trust and who has an excellent reputation for not being a flake. So...hmmm.


There were decorating ideas galore. I could live quite comfortably with this linoleum.



I might have a bit more trouble being comfortable with this wallpaper.




There was all kinds of stuff in this building since the upper floors hadn't been used for anything but storage since probably the 60s. Unfortunately much of it was removed by thieves. What's really scary is that a lot of it was done at night while the hospice administrator worked late. The thieves apparently put a ladder on the flat roof of the next door building and then climbed in a 3rd floor building. She said she would, at times, hear noises but attributed them to pidgeons. Scary.

They restored the woodwork on the areas they are using...it's a beautiful space. But some things hopefully are being loved and cared for elsewhere.



One thing that I found really interesting was that apparently people had much smaller feet when these buildings were built. I wear a size 9 shoe, which isn't tiny. But in almost every building, I had to come down rather like a crab because the stairs were so shallow. We even measured, and with my heel way back against the back of the stairs, my toes were way out side of the step's edge. They probably wore them down going up and down stairs. Since all of the ceilings were really high, so were the flights of stairs!

Remember when I said I put fresh batteries in the camera before leaving? I can go a long time between battery changes, but I carry extra ones in my bag. The interior pics you see here were taken in daylight without the flash (although I had to do a bit of highlighting in Picasa). And there were probably a total of a dozen pictures taken before the batteries went *poof*. I had to go out Sunday to take the exterior pictures. Perhaps there were some things that didn't want their pictures taken. /enter Twilight Zone theme.

Look!

This is what greeted us as we walked through the parking lot after work. We have some new nurses and one of them, as she walked around me standing out in the middle, asked "What in the world are you doing?"

Before I could answer, one of the others said "She's getting her camera out. She takes pictures of everything..even dirt"



And this isn't real..I played with the controls in Picasa but I really think it's cool so I'll see how it looks here.



And now, there's thunder rumbling, so I'll shut this down and get comfy with some knitting.

Quick Post

I'm working on a post but it's still in draft stages. I get so confused with all the html I see instead of just a picture.

But for Laura, a picture. More big sky. More prairie, but this time some of it's baled.



It's getting closer to the weekend!

Alpaca Saturday

A bright, breezy day for going to visit some alpacas. I've forgotten the exact title but it was something like Alpaca Farm Day and surprisingly there is one not too far from me!
Chisholm Trail Alpacas is a family owned enterprise and they were all very friendly and knowledgeable. But the stars of course were the alpacas. There were pregnant mommas separated from the youngsters we got to know. No upsetting them in their "delicate condition". So they looked on and probably gossiped about all these goofy folks that had descended on their home.

There was also a guard llama (who happily didn't spit on any of us) and guard dogs who were extremely happy. I'm glad they didn't see me as a predator. You all probably know a lot more about alpacas than I do. I didn't realize there were two distinct types. I got to meet a suri whose fiber, when ready to be sheared will resemble dreads I'm told, and huacayas whose fiber is shorter, sooooo thick, sooo OMG it is wonderful. These little guys have really nice fiber and in fact, some was carded and entered in a contest and won a blue ribbon.



They were a bit skittish but, at the same time, quite curious. Here they are looking to see whose walking through their backyard.



A woman and her little girls, one still in arms and an older one arrived and it was so cute watching the older one interact. She was very good at being calm and patient and the alpacas were entranced by her. I sat down on the ground in hopes of getting some good shots of them and suddenly there was an alpaca bumping the back of my head with his nose. At that point, I forgot about taking pictures and was all about sitting still so we could get better acquainted.

I loved this little one. Named "Oklahoma Rising" after a song written for the Centennial and called Okie. I love the color of the fiber and the sweet expression.



Indeed, I fell in love with them. I don't have quite enough land here but that didn't stop me from buying my very own Okie!



Then after a quick stop at Hastings where I found one copy of Simply Knitting; it was time for a lunch stop at Long John Silver's where I got a 10 % discount AND a free ice cream cone! Ahhhhh life is good! And there were more adventures to come.

Which you will hear about after I get this house cleaned up a bit; groceries purchased and the laundry finished.

Just a Kid at Heart

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Almost true. I can be quite cynical at times but I'm working on that.

Ridin' Down the Trail

Since it's our Centennial year interesting things have been going on and this week we get to share in one of them.

Cattle Drive 2007...minus the cattle. It was hot and they'd all taken to the trees and I couldn't get there from here. But do go look at the link. And if you like cowboys and cowgirls...real ones...there were a lot there. Part of our Centennial Celebration the drive will end up in Caldwell, Kansas and has roughly followed the Chisholm Trail.

You could drive in from a gate on Route 66, but I chose to go from Fort Reno. It's a real fort..or it was. Still in use as an agricultural experimental station, and in the process of having the buildings restored. People still get married in the chapel but I don't think anyone is allowed to be buried in the cemetary. I don't know if it's on their site, but Black Jack, the riderless horse in President Kennedy's funeral was raised and trained here.

OK, so the lady at the visitor center said, "Go down the road that says you can't go down it. For awhile it will be paved, then it won't. You'll see a sign that says "wagon rides". Stop this side of the sign and wait." Simple enough. I got a bit distracted on the way. No, not distracted; attracted. So stops were made and pics taken. Like this somewhat secluded site




But at last I got to the sign and the wagon was returning with it's load of folks.
I clambered up in the bed of what, during the drive, is a chuckwagon. And it's a really authentic wagon but there's been some restoration done.




As we bounced and jiggled and shuddered on what appeared to be barely a worn path, I looked out across the horizon. And imagined how it must have been to come here when it all looked like that (without water storage thing LOL).



When sunflowers slapped you as you rode by them and the sound of locusts and horses snorting and snuffling as they ambled along were the soundtrack. Until you heard someone calling to their child. Or someone laughing. Or someone crying.

The horses, Dan and Pat, were getting rather tired of ferrying us city slickers but they gamely did as they were supposed to when our driver said quietly "Get up now boys" And perhaps they knew they were going to have a nice break with a bath before some evening festivities for bigwigs.



We arrived at the camp. It was getting on towards supper time and there were scents of meat being cooked over a fire. There were guys standing under the shade from a wagon cover, laughing and doing that punch-in-the-shoulder dance. And nary any cattle to be seen. Well not exactly true. You could see vague shapes and colors that didn't belong in the trees. The Oklahoma sun wasn't going to be beating down on them.



Today they'll be moving on north. And I wonder, if in this rather secret space, there just might be prairie spirits laughing because they were there when the fort was alive.

Zoom, zoom, zoooooom

Did you see that flash of light? That was me flying in here on my new cable modem!!
However, it involved me it got really complicated.

The installer was scheduled to be here between 1-4 yesterday afternoon. We are incredibly busy at work so I worked until the very last moment and zoomed home. The guy was here just shortly after that and told me that it would probably take maybe 30 minutes. He left at 5 pm. And I had no internet. TV was iffy but it got better once he drove away (??). Prior to that, every so often it would just lose signal for 10=15 seconds.

He had used 3 different modems; replaced all the cable in my house; replaced all the splitters and finally replaced the line from the pole to the house! And talked to various and sundry supervisor type people on his Bluetooth. Finally he said that his supervisor was going to come. Someone named Dan.

No internet but the tv was working which was a very good thing since OU was playing football and it was televised and I would have been seriously unhappy if I'd been unable to watch. So I made a quick sandwich so that supper would be over before 'Dan' arrived.

Except Dan didn't arrive. And didn't arrive. And didn't arrive. And finally it was dark. I though perhaps I'd misunderstood and that he would arrive on Saturday. But then I picked up the phone to call a friend....and I had no phone either. So cell phone in hand I went outside and watched a spider and chatted with some nice person at the service center who thought maybe she could reboot it. Nope.

So it was decided that someone would come today between 10:00 and noon. And while the clock was chiming a new guy arrived. He just left. It seems he had to re-do everything the first guy did. But it's all functional and I am a zoomy girl.

All's well that ends well. And there were benefits. I got all the laundry done yesterday including the ironing. I was at the grocery at 8AM and everything is put away and the rest of the day may just be play. Now I am going to go take a picture so I can see how fast it uploads.

And slowly but surely I'll replace all the bookmarks. And get used to using IE at home. I kinda miss my Firefox.

Things Should Go Faster

after tomorrow. I'm scheduled to step nervously into the 21st century. After a bazillion hours, I will finally get cable internet. And I won't have to schedule blog posts (well the photo part) for large blocks of time. Either that, or I will have a lot of extra time because it doesn't work at all *G*

In the meantime, while I scoop litter, make my bed and have a bath I will upload pictures that hopefully will result in new knowledge. Last winter, I bought an orchid at W*Mart. I asked questions at a real nursery, repotted it with the stuff they recommended and once the blooms fell off, just watered it and dusted the leaves. They told me that the woody stem would dry out and just break off. That didn't happen. They also didn't tell me about these shiny, gray things that are growing out from the base. Are these roots? I have a little bird that clips on the pot and one of them was getting a bit personal with that yellow thing...wrapping right around it.

The long stem turned really vibrant red/orange and now it's drying up.




But what to do? Does it need a bigger pot?? Is it planning a takeover?

The 'preview' of this pic that Blogger shows me is a bit weird. Actually it shows 2 of the same pic. But since after I click on the 'add' or 'post' all I get are lines of code, I have no idea what it will actually look like on the blog. If it's goofy, sorry.

It's Time!

For the Great State Fair of Oklahoma! It's the Centennial celebration and I went on opening day. I usually go on the Sr. Day (which is next Wednesday) so I can get in free, but my boss will be off this coming week. However, for opening day they had a special admission price of "100 pennies for 100 years" Hey, I can afford a dollar!

I just had the best time. Ate lots and lots of fair food. Saw cows and goats and chickens and people. Heard squealing pigs and squealing children...and squealing young at heart on the rides. It was just warm enough, and just cool enough and just breezy enough. As the baby bear said, "It was just right"

Every year I hear folks say "It wasn't as good this year" "Or it's getting smaller". Perhaps I am not perceptive enough, but to me it's always big and bright and huge and colorful and ever so much fun. Or perhaps as they get older their fascination fades. Thankfully mine is just as much there as it was when I attended for the first time in 1957. That year for the sesquicentennial, the theme was Arrows To Atoms. And I remember wondering if I would be around for this year. But probably if I was I would be too old to go. LOL. My thinking has changed.



It was wonderful discovering that my friend Susan's Centennial Quilt had been awarded a blue ribbon. She designed it and even included a picture of the "home place" I was absolutely smitten with the fabric used in the letter K. It was wheat!




I didn't stay as long this year as I was to get together with a group of fiber friends in the evening and I thought it would be good to get home in time to clean up a bit. And to be able to enjoy a bit of my souvenir. ohhhhhh the sugar!

Too Funny

The part of the test (that's in the last post) was at the very last. It doesn't show on this copy but there was a graph at the bottom that showed how you scored in relation to others your age.

I was 99% higher in each group. Do you suppose that's because most folks my age aren't testing themselves to see what Sesame Street character they most match? I'm so sorry. I bet they're doing important things. :-)

Tickle Me??

Your Score: Elmo

You scored 60% Organization, 66% abstract, and 62% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are mostly organized, more abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

Most people either love or hate Elmo. I hope you love Elmo, because that's who you are.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Elmo has the same basic approach. His place is pretty tidy, but he doesn't spend all of his time cleaning it up.


You both are abstract thinkers. You definitely are not afraid to take chances in life. You only live once. You may notice others around you playing it safe, but you are more concerned with not compromising your desires, and getting everything you can out of life. This is a very romantic approach to life, but hopefully you are also grounded enough to get by. Elmo's whole life is based on fantasy and his imagination. In the beginning he was a regular character, but now he spends most of his time in this fantasy world.


You are both somewhat extroverts. Like Elmo, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations. Elmo spends some of his time with real friends, but he also needs some time just to chat it up with his goldfish.

The other possible characters are

Oscar the Grouch

Big Bird

Cookie Monster

Ernie

Snuffleupagus

Kermit the Frog

Grover

The Count

Guy Smiley

Bert

Hey, don't be a grouch! If you liked the test, let others know by rating it below. Feel free to vote for your favorite character too.

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Early to rise..

means that now I can watch Knitty Gritty reruns on HGTV! My expanded basic cable doesn't get the DIY network so I've never seen it. While being bored enough to be reading early morning tv listings in the paper, I discovered that it comes on HGTV at 6 AM here. Now I know why I've been waking up so early. So this morning by 6 I'd answered comments and an email, fed the kids, scooped the litter boxes, had breakfast and a bath. And no, I'm probably not going to make a cribbage board but unless I forget everything I saw, I've learned a bit. And even if I forget it all...starting out the day with a knitter isn't a bad thing, for sure!

Sometimes you're the dog,

and sometimes you're the hydrant. At least it's been somewhat of a hydrant day.
First off, my favorite skirt, a light sagey green slickery thing accidentally got into the wrong load and it's now a light terra cotta slickery thing. Uhh. I'm not sure how that happened. I'm sure it's a chemistry thing. Not a bad color but it should have given me a clue as to how this day was going to go.
Next, I wasted much time trying to download pics from the camera to my computer. Apparently they're having a trial separation. Or maybe the divorce is already final. I tried reloading the stuff that came with the camera to no avail. I then decided I would go borrow my friend's cord (we have the same kind of camera) and see if that was the problem. But the thermometer said 103 and I decided I didn't want to borrow it that bad.
All was not lost however. I could scan the new sock I was working on so that you all could be properly impressed. Apparently I'm not ready for gansey socks. Having restarted 5 times, and never getting past row 4 of the pattern (I did really well on the ribbing part :-), I decided that they not only needed to go to time out, they have possibly gone to that part of my brain that never remembers anything. Gansey what???
There weekend started well. Early yesterday morning, The Girl and her aunt and I set out to do a bit of back to school shopping. Fortunately, much has already been done and she's also the proud owner of some of her big sister's outgrown stuff so it wasn't a frantic *have to find something NOW* sort of trip. Very relaxed and happy and laughing sort of shopping adventure. Not much time spent on clothing...more time spent in Staple's looking for just the right binder. And I got a new clipboard that will actually hold my magnet board. My old one was pretty worn out and suddenly the magnet board and pattern would just go sliding away. And all that shopping caused a great hunger so there was a HUGE breakfast! I love, love, love, big country breakfasts but I detest cooking them. So that was a real treat.
And this evening after stuffing that sock into a dark corner, I sat down with some fat yarn and str8 needles and figured out how to knit backwards. Not tinking to undo something. But purling without turning the knitting around. It was working quite well. Maybe intarsia is in my future.
AND, in spite of the summer heat that finally got here, it's pre-season football time! And if I close the curtains, I can pretend it got dark early and it's truly fall!

A Knitted Garmet

Completed even.
My first wearable other than socks.
Specs: Rowan Cashcotton DK..less than a 50 gm ball left from something.
Needles: CP bamboo #2 and Bates Str Red #5s
Pattern from Knits for Children and Their Teddies by Fiona McTague. One of the books I bought on sale awhile back.
Made for: One of my bears LOL

So here is Barnsie wearing his new vest. The pattern sort of came from this book. Except I got mixed up and ended up making up part of it as I went along. Didn't help that B's tummy is rounder than the pattern called for. I can empathize with that. Happens to me too. The weirdest part was the ribbing that goes up the sides of the front and around the neck. I just thought that I'd be picking up stitches to knit it. But instead, I was to just knit long strips then sew them on. And I totally didn't understand the button holes. I figured out how to make them, but couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do in between. B likes it a lot!


Completed even.

S is for Skyline

I so enjoy the photos that folks share of their cities. I love to see the skylines with all the interesting buildings and I sometimes imagine what it must be like to live around all that incredible scenery. My scenery is more wide open. Well, not at my house. Here I can't see the sunrise until it's above the house next door and by that time it's just sun. And I can't see the sunset unless I go a few blocks away because the trees block it. But I took this just outside of 'town' as I returned from lunch out with friends. Sky and grain elevators! And yes, it's black and white.

T is for Tea..and Yarn too!

Awhile back I signed up for Zoe's Yarn in a Teacup Swap. I sent my packet off awhile back and forgot to take a pic. Sorry. But it went off to near Boston and was nicely received. It wasn't a secret swap, so I'd emailed with my sendee about not only her likes/dislikes but also about what she was going to send off. She'd found this really cool tea, but was a bit concerned that since she was sending to a Brit, they might think she was being snarky. I thought it was fun and apparently her person did also. Anyway, I came home the other day to a packet from her..and I got my very own tin of Boston Tea Party tea. And it's good too! Thanks loads again (blogless) Kate!


I hadn't heard anything from the person sending to me..no emails or anything and was afraid maybe something had gone wrong. So, on the last day I sent a note off to Zoe. Whoa..she gets results fast! By the time I got home that afternoon, I had a note from my sender saying she always waits till the last minute to do things, and doesn't do much emailing. I was so glad that nothing had happened to her.



And now her package has arrived. In the questionairre, we were asked if we preferred to drink our tea from a mug or a cup. I stated that I drink from a mug, but that I would love to have a real cup and saucer. Look! This is the most gorgeous cup and saucer. I can't get it to show up well, but the glaze/finish/appearance of the white parts are like mother of pearl or something..a lustre finish. I'm sorry I don't know the right word. But it is so pretty. And yummy tea, and oh yes..chocolate too. Part of which is gone. And goodness, look at this yarn. It is soooooooo soft. It's Berroco Ultra Alpaca. 50% alpaca and 50% wool. 215 yds. I'm thinking mitts? Maybe. I want it to be something I can feel and I love fingerless mitts. The color is kind of wonky in the picture but it's sort of like a celery color. And one last surprise! oops I forgot the pic. But it's one of those huge magnet ball of yarn/needles. I've wanted one but couldn't really justify buying it. I'm ever so happy! It was well worth waiting for. Thanks (also blogless) Laurie!