Hurray!

I can't believe it's been a whole month since my last blog post. It's been crazy busy around here, that's for sure. I have to blog about this though, cuz it's so awesome.

Two Saturday's ago (the 8th) our daughter, Ruth, graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Computer Science and minors in Geology and Math. We drove down to Moscow, ID to attend the ceremony. I got a couple pictures with my phone, but they're a bit blurry because we were so far from her. She is the one in front of the young man in the blue suit in the below picture. The graduates were walking up to the stage to receive their diplomas.

Here she is shaking the college President's hand.

My husband and I admitted to each other that we were a little bit in doubt until we actually saw her walk into the arena. Then I just started crying I was so happy. It took a long time for her to get through college because it was very hard for her. I am so proud she finished.

Afterwards, we went to a restaurant for lunch, and to celebrate. My husbands twin brother and his wife, and our nephew and his girlfriend were with us, as well as a surprise for Ruth. Her sister, Sarah, flew out for the weekend to see her sister graduate. We didn't tell Ruth. She found out when she looked up in the stands and saw us all sitting together. Here we all are at the restaurant. From left to right going around the table: brother-in-law Dan, Sweet Hubby, Me, daughter Sarah, daughter Ruth, nephew's girlfriend Alira, nephew Nathan, and sis-in-law Sue

Here is the graduate. Ruth.

My beautiful daughters, Sarah and Ruth.

It was a fantastic day.

Last Saturday we drove down to Moscow, ID again to move Ruth out of her apartment and bring her home. Dan and Sue came down with us and helped. I'm so glad they did because it was a big job. I don't think we could have done it in one day without them. So now Ruth is home with us and after the holidays she will seriously be looking for a job.

On Tuesday of last week was the annual Rathdrum festival called December Delights. The library participates every year and this year they asked us to do this little booth thing. Myself and another member of the Rathdrum Library knitting group had a little table set up in the library to sort of advertise the group. My friend and fellow member, Barb, and I spent a couple hours answering questions about the group and knitting. There were a lot of people that came. It was fun. Here we are with our little table. We both brought a few small items we'd knitted to display.

I have one more thing. Knitwits had our December distribution meeting earlier this month. We made a total of 1850 items this year. That makes for a lot of bags.

The Coeur d'Alene Press did a very nice article about the group. If you're interested, you can read it if you click on this link:  Knitwits article

So, next Saturday we, that's me, hubby, and Ruth, are flying out to Providence, RI to spend Christmas with our daughter Sarah and her husband. They bought us tickets and I'm very excited. My sister-in-law Kathryn is going to stay at our house while we're away to take care of the fur kids. So I probably won't be blogging anything until after New Years. I promise, I have been knitting and beading. I'll blog about them when I get back.

Have a wonderful holiday celebration, and of course, as always,

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Wednesday 1/15/2014

I returned by plane from northern Michigan last night. I had an excellent uneventful flight home. Everything ran on time and there was no bad weather. In fact, all three legs of my journey went better than expected. I got window seats all the way, and the seat next to me was empty all the way. I can't ask for more than that.

The trip went well. We had a memorial gathering for my father rather than the traditional funeral service. My sisters and I provided a potluck type meal for everyone. It was all family that attended. I saw cousins I hadn't seen since I was a teenager. It was great catching up with everyone.

I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my two sisters too. We hadn't been together in a long time. We caught up on each others lives and whatnot. My sister, Liane, and her husband, Lowell, and I stayed at my sister Jodies house. Liane and I did quite a bit of cooking. Jodie doesn't cook, so we really spoiled her husband, Dale, with our fantastic cooking skills. He's gonna miss us a lot.

My sisters and I.

I took my gansey with me on the trip and got quite a bit of it done. I'm halfway through the arm gussets.

I've finished the first 2 sets of stitch patterns. The first one is a zigzag. The second one is a basket-weave or checkered pattern. I've altered the checkered one. The original pattern is 8 sets of 3 rows high. I changed it to 6 sets of 4 rows high. I like it much better.

I finished that section on the plane last night. I've got 5 plain rows now, and then it's the next stitch pattern. I've really been enjoying this project. It's been very calming for me. I feel like I've got Daddy with me when I'm knitting. He's right there watching me make the stitches.

While I was away, my order for 16 skeins of Berroco Vintage DK arrived.

The color is quite a bit darker than I expected. More a navy blue, but it does have the purple haze in it.

I love the color and will use it for what I planned, which I'll get into another day.

That's it for WIP Wednesday until next time.

If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Just Call Me the Slipper Queen

I'm back! I had a good trip. I accomplished the goals I'd set and got things done. I also knit 3 pairs of slippers.

Brown and Turquoise Mens Slippers

Pattern: Family Foot-Warmer Slippers by Anne Baron Designs, made for Knitwits.
Size: Womens 8-10 inches

Yarn: Northern Worsted by S.R. Kertzer
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Brown

Yarn: Red Heart Soft Print
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Icypond

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 10.5

Cast on: September 26 2013
Completed: October 4, 2013

~~~~~~~~~~

Fuzzy Cuffed Burgundy Slippers

Pattern: Pattern: Fuzzy Cuffed Ladies Slippers by me, made for Knitwits.
Size: Womens 8-10 inches

Yarn: Northern Worsted by S.R. Kertzer, knit with 2 strands held together.
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Burgundy

Yarn: Aldemir Yumos

Content: 100% Polyester, bulky weight.

Color: Rainbow Black

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 10.5

Cast on: October 5, 2013
Completed: October 7, 2013

~~~~~~~~~~

Fuzzy Cuffed Dark Brown Slippers

Pattern: Pattern: Fuzzy Cuffed Ladies Slippers by me, made for Knitwits.
Size: Womens 8-10 inches

Yarn: Northern Worsted by S.R. Kertzer, knit with 2 strands held together.
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Twiggy

Yarn: Aldemir Yumos

Content: 100% Polyester, bulky weight.

Color: Copper/Brown

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 10.5

Cast on: October 7, 2013

Completed: October 11, 2013

I stayed with my baby sister, Jodie, while in northern Michigan. I had a great time with her. I think it's the best time I've ever had with her. It was so wonderful. I feel like maybe, at last, our relationship is starting to heal after all these years. While I was there, she and her husband, Dale, bought a new pickup truck. It's a 2009 Ford F-150 with 4-wheel drive. It's in beautiful condition. I took a pic of them with the new baby.

I am so tired after the trip. It was kind of exhausting. I'm gonna chill out over the weekend and recover.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Ruth Blocks Her Blanket

Ruth blocked her blanket on Friday. I took pics.

Remember the Before picture? Looks rather narrow and puckered in places.

The blanket is her own design. She used several colors of  Baby Bee Sweet Delight Baby yarn which is an acrylic/nylon blend. She started by weaving blocking wires in along the edges of the blanket. Then she pinned it out to how she wanted it on a sheet spread on the rug. She used my Jiffy Steamer to lightly steam it.

This is after the blanket was dry and she'd taken the wires and pins out.

Quite a difference. Now it lays flat (no more puckers) and is much wider. She's been wrapping herself up in it ever since. She loves it. I'm glad. I am also just so darn proud of her for finishing this project. It was a big one!

Speaking of big projects, this morning UPS delivered a book I pre-ordered months ago, as soon as I heard it was being reprinted. I am so thrilled to have the new edition of Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt.

It's a big book, over 700 pages. It is the most comprehensive resource book on knitting techniques you will ever find. It was first published in the 1980's. I didn't discover it until after it went out of print. Ms. Hiatt says in the forward that people have been clamoring for a reprint. She decided to redo the whole book, updating and adding new things she'd learned since the first publication. It took 10 years for her to do it. It is AWESOME! Not only does she tell you HOW to do things, but WHY you do them that way and WHEN to use them. There are no patterns in the book. Just lots of knowledge about knitting and how to do it. I am extremely pleased to have it in my library.

I should mention that some time last year I managed to acquire a used copy of the original printing of this book. I love it too. But I have to admit the new one is quite a bit better.

Live long and prosper. \\//

It Was a Slow Day

Yesterday was the first day people could bring their entries in to the fair. Wow, it was slow. Depressingly slow. I have less than half the entries we should have by now. And it's just not the knitting department. All the departments in the building are experiencing the same thing. I sure hope things pick up today or we're not going to have much to display during official fair time.

The weather is being unseasonably cool for August. 70's and 80's. In fact, the whole summer has been cooler than normal. We have only had 1 day over 90 degrees this whole summer. Yesterday it was almost cold, but the sun was out. To be honest, I've been enjoying it. I can spend more time outside when it's cooler. I feel really bad for those who are baking and roasting in the south and on the east coast. I think they got our hot summer weather.

On Sunday we (we being me, hubby, daughter, brother in law, sister in law and nephew) took a drive up into the Coeur d'Alene mountains over Lake Pend Oreille to pick Hucklberries. My nephew was visiting us from Boise and we wanted to give him an adventure.

The picking crew.

 Where there were berries up higher, they were all green. Where the berries would have been ripe, there were none. Commercial pickers have cleaned the place out. We didn't even find a whole cup worth of ripe berries. The drive was nice though. It's so beautiful up there. At one point we stopped on a ridge that overlooked the lake and ate a picnic lunch.

From the south end looking north.

My daughter had a hard time keeping her cookie away from Tripper.

Mine!

Tommy enjoyed the trip immensely.

Such a sweet boy.

Further along our drive we saw the lake from the east side.

What a view!

We eventually made our way to the east side of the mountains overlooking the Clark Fork river. The valley is gorgeous right now.

Clark Fork river valley.

Montana is off in the background somewhere. We came down out of the mountains into this valley and then  headed for home. We didn't find much in the way of berries, but it sure was a beautiful day for a drive.

Live long and prosper. \\//

My Dad Knits?

Someone said they wanted to hear about my Dad and his knitting. That's the subject of  the day.

As I've mentioned before, he is the person who taught me how to knit. Specifically, it was cast on, knit, and bind off. I was on my own to learn anything else. Other than that, I have NEVER seen me Dad knit. I only know just a tiny bit about his knitting history, from what he told me.

He learned to knit from his father. His grandmother knitted too. He knitted when he was in the army. He talked about sitting in foxholes and knitting socks. He was in the army in the 1950's, between wars. So he never had to kill anyone or be in any real danger. He was stationed in Germany.

After his tour of duty was over, he married Mom and never knitted again until the day he taught me. Then he never knitted again after that. I've tried very hard to get him to go back to it. Even bought him needles and yarn once for Fathers Day. He's not interested, which I think is a real shame because he would be really good at it and he's got a lot of time to do it being retired and all.

Besides, how cool would it be to go visit him and the two of us sit and knit together?. A fantasy that probably will never come true. Oh well. I have told him, many times, thank you for teaching me. Of all the things he's done for me, I appreciate the knitting lessons most of all.

Dad when he was in the army. This pic was taken in 1957 in a Salt mine somewhere in Germany. Daddy is the second fellow from the left on the train.

 

Dad when we visited last June, sitting on his favorite possession, his 4-wheeler ATV.

Live long and prosper. \\//

12 down, 18 to go.

Invaded!

With the unseasonably warm weather comes millions of these:

We call them Stinkbugs because if you disturb them they let off a cloud of really bad odor. We also call them Pine beetles because they live in pine trees. I don't remember what the official name is, but my brother-in-law Dan knows it, if you should ever run into him. Regardless what they're called, they are a huge huge HUGE pain in the patoola! The one above is on the umbrella on the deck. Literally thousands of them are hanging on the side of my house sunning themselves right now as I write this, and a fairly good number of them are finding their way into the house. They are lousy at navigating while they fly, so it is not uncommon for me to be minding my own business when one just flies into my hair by accident, or lands on my face. I'm seriously grossed out. There doesn't seem to be a natural predator around eating them either. The local birds won't touch them with a 10 foot pole. In fact, the local spiders won't even eat them.

It's times like this that I wish I owned chickens. I bet chickens would love eating Stinkbugs. Chickens will eat anything with 6 legs.

Parktoberfest was great! We had a huge turn out. I had every intention of getting drunk, but I just couldn't do it. I guess I'm just not one for inebriation. Actually, I can't think of any one who got drunk. That's pretty unusual for Parktoberfest. Instead I enjoyed the mountains of good food, knit a bit, played a trivia game called Smart Ass (and won!), threw the iron frying pan (best throw ever, but I still didn't win), and laughed a lot. Just good old fashioned fun. All in all, everyone had a wonderfully good time.

I got about 4 inches done on the second sleeve of the Navy pullover. Yay! I also cast on and knitted the first few rows of another pair of fingerless mitts, using the same pattern as I did the fuzzy black ones. Didn't wear the Fuzzy mitts because it was boiling hot out. Clothing of the day was shorts and flip flops. But I had them with me just to be safe. Despite the heat of the day, the night gets pretty chilly. Still, I didn't need them.

I got another few inches done on the sleeve last night. I'm halfway to the cuff. Hurray! I can see myself finishing the knitting on this baby by the end of the week.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Goodbye My Brother

Something truly awful happened yesterday afternoon. My wonderful brother-in-law, Chet, passed away. It was sudden. He and sis-in-law Diane were just settling down in a restaurant for his favorite meal, Fish and Chips, when he just-died. Doctors say a blood clot went into his heart and blocked his Aorta. What's especially ironic is that he'd just had a thorough physical 2 days before and was told he was in great health. He wouldn't die from a heart attack or stroke.

We are devastated. I don't know how I will live without Chet in my life anymore. I can't even comprehend it all. So, the blog is going to be set aside for a few days while we get about the business of mourning a truly great and wonderful man, Chester Arthur Park, who I am honored to call my brother.

Life is so fragile on this planet. Make sure you tell the people you love how much you do.

Take care

Anniversary #28

Our trip to California went fairly well. We got quite a bit accomplished despite the problems we had. First, our flight out of Spokane was delayed 2 hours. I was knitting while we waited. Dan, Sue, and Doug were sitting opposite me. The scene cracked me up. I took a picture. They can't live without internet for 5 minutes.

Sue's mom had a lot of stuff packed into her little house. Most of it is junk. I learned something important while going through it and segregating the good from the bad. Please, folks, as a favor to your children, before you croak (or have to be put in a home) please please please throw out all the plastic bags, padded envelopes, and little boxes you've been saving 'just in case'. Sues mom had mounds of this stuff. Every drawer, closet, shelf, bag, box, suitcase-anything that could hold stuff had carefully saved plastic bags, padded manila envelopes, and/or little boxes in them. Unfortunately we had to look in every one of them because she hid things-randomly-through out the house (mind you the hidden stuff was mostly junk too, but we never knew so we had to look.)

Let me also just state this.

I hate Publishers Clearinghouse.

They are a parasitic predator on the elderly of our society. Shame on them!! Just because they sell something with a certificate of authenticity does not mean it's valuable. It's still worthless junk people!

Anyway, on Friday I worked like a dog and accomplished a lot for Sue. Unfortunately, the next morning when I got up my gimpy leg had swollen up to a frightening size and hurt like crazy. My right leg was swollen too, even though it didn't have a clot in it. It scared me. I don't know why the swelling either. I was not on my feet that much. Most everything I dealt with I got to sit down to do. It put a serious crimp in my ability to work because I had to keep it elevated. I feel really bad about that too. We could have got a lot more done if that hadn't happened.

The weather there was wonderful. It was sunny until the day we came home. The trees are getting their new leaves, the flowers are blooming, the air smelled so good. It was a nice break from the cold gray at home.

On Saturday night we went out to dinner to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. Family went with us. We went to the Shadowbrook Restaurant in Capitola, which, if you ever get the chance, you must go there. It has the most wonderful atmosphere, and the food is outstanding. Take lots of money cos it's expensive, though worth every penny.

Because it was our anniversary, the waiter brought us a small plate with chocolate truffles on it, and candles. I thought that was so sweet of him. Here are some pics taken at the event.

Niece Maria took this one of us, the happy couple.

Dan and Sue (also taken by Maria).

Niece Maria and Nephew Ryan. (Taken by me)

Nephew Mac, Ryans brother. (Taken by me) By the way ladies, he's single.

We had Ryan and Maria's son Ethan with us too, but all my pics of him turned out so blurry I can't even tell who it is. Sigh...

The trip was not all work. We enjoyed our breakfasts out, I got to walk on the beach at sunset on Friday evening, and we got to visit Ryan and Maria and see their house. So we had fun.

Coming home, again, our flight was delayed. This time only an hour and a half, and Sue and I spent that time in the airport bar drinking and watching the US vs Canada hockey game at the Olympics (We tromped 'em. Go USA!). It's the first time I've watched a sporting event in a bar. I see why folks like it. It's fun! Everyone cheering the team on and whatnot. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The guys were chained to a stand at the gate that provided internet access. LOL!

The flight home was uneventful, but I have to tell you, when I stepped out of the airport into freezing cold I about passed out. I adjusted to that nice warm California weather way too quickly.

Monday morning I awoke with a horrendous headache, sick as can be. Doug and I have both been sick ever since. Now I'm coughing, my chest is congested, and I feel like death warmed over. There must have been something in that house that was truly unhealthy for us. The swelling in my legs had gone down completely Monday morning, so that's a good thing.

I did not take socks with me on the trip. I took the shawl. Here's where I am with it at the moment:

I have half a pattern repeat and the top border left to do, and it will be done. Hurray!

Have a great day.

Birthday Loot

I don't usually get much, if anything, for my birthday. This year was different. My birthday was last Saturday.

My first Mink! Isn't it adorable? (SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!)

It came in a lovely quilted bag-which is that fabric under his little keester. My sister made this teddy bear out of old mink coats. She has started doing this as a business. So, if you have an old fur coat that isn't worn any more but you don't want to get rid of it for whatever reason, you might consider having her make it into a bear for you. You can find her at Fairy Godmother Creations.

My sweet hubby gave me Clear Converse Chuck Taylor All Star shoes.

Now when I wear my awesome knit socks people can see them (not that it really mattered if they couldn't-but it's nice anyway).

He also gave me a bottle of Crown Royal Reserve. It's very tasty with ginger ale.


My daughter and her husband gave me beads

in a bag she crocheted. They also gave me a skein of sock yarn in purples and browns (no pic of that).

They took me out to dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, which I think I mentioned a couple days ago. My family is awesome.

I have finished the 'unfinished' sweater. It now has bands and buttons and is all ready for a child who needs it.

I decided to start a new project, even though I have a couple other projects that have been on hold for awhile. Oh well. Maybe next time. I'm making a lace triangle shaped shawl with worsted weight yarn for Knitwits. I found the free pattern on Ravelry-of course. I'll give more details when I actually have something worth taking pics.

I also dragged out a bead crochet project I started on our trip to Tulumn Mexico last year. I had 7 of 9 yards of beads strung. I finished the last 2 yards yesterday. Now I can start crocheting. Originally I planned for this item to be a 40 inch lariat (which is why the 9 yards of stringing), but I'm thinking maybe I want something shorter with a beaded bead focal, or maybe a cab that will go with it. We'll see. The important thing is the worst of it is done-the bead stringing. The rest is all fun!

Have a great day.

Another Hand of Catch Up

I can not believe how BUSY I've been lately. Someone, please! Stop the ride! I wanna get off.

Our yard sale was a resounding success. Even though we got rained on a bit. I didn't make as much money as I had hoped (Niece Stacy got the lions share of the take since she sold the most stuff), but I did get rid of all the computer crap that was inhabiting the house. HURRAY!!!! That alone made the weekend worth it. Most of it I gave away to a gal whose boss could make good use of it. I could not believe how much of it we had. Or maybe I should say Sweet Hubby had. My goodness! Boxes and boxes of it. Old hard drives, power supplies, cases, cards of various types (just how many sound cards can a person use?), memory chips, monitors, and cables. Cables of every design and type. Miles and miles of computer cables. Daughter Ruth said it was like living in a computer museum when she saw what we had. Who uses 5 1/4 disks anymore? Got rid of it all! Some went to the dump to be recycled too (that was the first truck load).

I also managed to sell my old Sony Mavica camera, my old sewing machine, and one of Sweet Hubby's bicycles that he didn't use any more, as well as various odds and ends like dishes, glassware, etc. It feels so good to get it all out.

Now I've got space for more yarn. Nah, just kidding! Ha ha!

Here's a pic I took during the sale. Nephew Tyler, who is over 6 feet tall, was challenged by his cousins to prove he could fit in this dog crate. And darn if he did!


I have to admit, I was sorely tempted to leave him locked in there. LOL!

At the end of the sale we had leftovers. We got lucky too. A gal from the local Catholic church asked if we'd be willing to donate it to their youth group for a big sale they're having next weekend if she hauled it away. Well, let me see, her-hauling it away, or St. Vinnies-we have to haul it away. She won. So she came with a pick up truck, 3 young fellas, and they hauled all that stuff away for us. I gave her the 6 boxes of cross stitch patterns left over from my store too. I was tired of seeing them there in my storage shed-laughing at me.

Besides working on yard sale stuff, I've also been getting my entries ready for the fair. I finished the necklace I was making with one of my beaded beads. To be honest, I finished it 3 times. The first two times I didn't like the results. They just weren't right. Some of my ideas are not good ones. On Monday I took it apart and redid it the 3rd time. Finally! I got something I liked. I've named this piece (click on the pic to embiggen)

Smokey Barbecue

What can I say? That's what came to mind when it was done. Admittedly, I was hungry at the time, but it works. There's smoke swirling in those saucy porcelain beads, and the transparent ab/smoke colored seed beads I used help with the idea.


I made the toggle clasp from scratch, in peyote stitch. I really like how it turned out. It fits the necklace well.


I also did some small changes to this necklace which is a combination of Russian spiral and Biva Nepal chain.



I actually made this about 3 years or so ago, but I was never quite happy with it. Now I am. I learned a long time ago that if I'm not happy with something I made, fix it until I am.

Detail of the Biva Nepal Chain part.


Dark purple bugles and silver lined light topaz seed beads, with some round gold beads and a couple purple lampworked beads for embellishment.

This is the Russian Spiral part, which I used for the focal point.


I finally finished this cross stitch I started eons ago (I may have even blogged about it). After I got it matted and framed it looked pretty good-to me anyway.

Sorry about the reflection in the glass. It was hard to figure out a way to photograph it because the glass was freshly polished.

Yesterday I finished up getting all the entries ready, then hauled them to the fair grounds. I have a total of 18 entries including the 3 items above. I also entered the fir cone lace shawl, beaded lace fingerless mitts, Mexican Waters Lattice socks, the green cabled mitts I made my daughter for Christmas, the "Red Flame" crochet rope, a few more jewelry items, the photo of the butterfly eye, and the bridal bouquet I made with the french beaded flowers.

My daughter Ruth entered something for the first time. She finished these fingerless gloves the night before, so I talked her into entering them, along with her Trilobite hat-which I've just realized I never took a pic of it.

She used a Berroco Socks Metallic sock yarn that has a thin strand of metallic in it. The sparkle doesn't show in the picture.


I just love the little cabled rib in the cuffs.


Now, last, but not least, more tomatoes from my little vines on the deck. Yum!


Hopefully, life will slow down for a little bit. Ruth went back to school last night and summer is starting to wind down. The trees are already changing color, getting ready for autumn. Summer just isn't long enough for me, even if it is busy.

Have a great day.