Fair Entries for 2019

I took all the stuff for fair entries in today. I had a total of 22. 6 of them are mine. Here's what I'm entering this year.

Mini Star Trek Cross Stitch. I was literally finishing the framing an hour before I left today. I'm very happy with how it's turned out.

Polka Dot baby set.

Fairisle Mittens

Necklace

A bracelet

I entered this necklace too. Apparently I forgot to blog about it. I made it for my daughter Ruth for Christmas. I remember life was crazy then, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I forgot to blog it.

It's made with the new technique by Gerlinde Lenz called Peyote With a Twist - Not Crochet, or Peytwist for short. The pattern is Tiger by Mero Lugaa on Etsy.

That's the list. I will find out how I do in two weeks.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Mini Star Trek Update

With the North Idaho State Fair coming in just a few weeks, I thought I better finish my Mini Star Trek cross stitch project. I decided after getting the little characters done I'd put the famous words "To boldly go where no one has gone before" at the bottom. I declared it done Monday. Then I took a picture of it and posted it in a Facebook Cross Stitch group I am in. Everyone liked it, but one person said it needed the Enterprise in it. I thought about it and realized she was right, so Wednesday I stitched a couple little ones (found in the book Star Trek Cross Stitch) either side of the words. It added so much. Suddenly, the whole thing is perfect.

I've ordered the frame and mat. Should be here late next week. I'm getting a gold frame and a navy blue mat.

When my kids were young we used to frequently go for walks on the Parkarosa, mostly looking for wild flowers. I wish I had a good camera back then because we found some incredible beauties. Some of them were quite rare endangered species, a few which are gone now because their environment has changed due to everything just growing. For instance, there used to be a lot of California Cow Lily.

Yesterday I took a walk in the woods with my daughter, Ruth, and my dog, Zoey. along one trail I haven't been on in years. I took my camera. The trail has changed so much. It used to have small pines along it that are now 15 or more feet tall, so the trail is much shadier. No more Cow Lilies because they don't like shade. There are more wild apple trees and they are loaded with baby apples. There's also quite a bit of Everlasting Peas. Oh my gosh, they are such a beautiful shade of pink.

This one was hanging on a low branch of a young Ponderosa Pine. Oddly, these do not have the sweet odor that the domestic garden variety Sweet Peas have.

I love the detail of the veins in the petals.

One area used to be a field of wild clover. The clover is gone. That area is loaded with 10 to 12 foot pines and tons of snow berry bushes. Also quite a few of these tiny little pink flowers standing on very tall stems. It's the Mountain Pink, a member of the Dianthus family (also known as the Carnation family). Notice, the pollen is purple.

I like this picture.

They were growing in a fairly shady spot. They really stood out bright in the small rays of sun coming through the trees though.

I need to get myself to go on more walks. My knees are able to handle it now. More Parkarosa wild flowers to follow.

Live long and prosper. \\//

It's Star Trek Day

Live long and prosper.\\//

Mini Star Trek Progress

This is where I'm at on the Mini Star Trek cross stitch project.

All the characters are done. I'm about half done with the names of the characters. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do for a border and I want to put something at the top. Perhaps the words "to boldly go" or something like that, and a little Enterprise ship somewhere.

After a week of gorgeous weather, we are having a rainy day, which I am enjoying immensely. The cleaned gutter is working perfectly. There is no more waterfall coming down in front of the back door. It was worth the effort.

The knee is healing. I have been able to sleep in my bed the past 2 nights, fairly comfortably too, for the first time since spraining my knee. I have enjoyed the sleep so much, and I think getting sleep is helping the knee heal faster. I've got times during the day with no pain. I'm also getting some energy back.

I've come to terms with sweet hubby going back to school. It could end up being a very good thing, for him especially. Acceptance can be a good thing. I will adapt.

Live long and prosper. \\//

I Have Romulans

Thought I'd do a WIP post today. First, we have my current counted cross stitch project, MiniStarTrek.

I finished the Romulans today. Eight characters done, 11 to go. That red thread is the center of my fabric and right where the next row of characters go. It will be Mudd's Women.

I've also been working on another sweater for Zoey.

The light for this pic is terrible. Should have done it in daylight. You can't tell, but the wide orange stripes are supposed to be dark pink, and the collar is purple. I am now at the point where I put the ribbing around the bottom edge of the body, and then around the leg holes. Both will be purple like the collar.

I've been looking very hard for an entrelac dog sweater pattern. So far no luck. One is listed on Ravelry, so I bought the book it's in only to find out it isn't actually entrelac. It's modular knitting, which is a whole 'nuther animal that involves a lot of ends to weave in. I also found some hand made entrelac dog sweaters on Etsy, but the knitter is not willing to share her pattern, which I completely understand (I wouldn't either). I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. So, I guess I'm out of luck, unless one of my readers can point me to one. I think I might have to figure out how to do it myself.

We got a little bit of snow Thursday night. The predictions were for a lot of snow, but it turned out to be just a quarter of an inch. Now we're having a warm spell for the next few days. Someone even mentioned getting into the 50F's. I'll believe it when I see it.

Tuesday is the 30th anniversary of my 29th birthday. Yikes, I'm starting to get old. I will be baking myself a Coconut Cake that day, but won't eat it until Wednesday, at the KnitWits meeting.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Doll Knitting

I've been knitting doll clothes. Mostly to fit my Iplehouse JID dolls. I've made a couple sweaters that don't look like much in these pics.

However, they fit my dolls perfectly. I'll be taking pictures of them wearing these eventually.

I've made some hats too. Getting closer to putting some new things in my Etsy store.

I've also started a cross stitch project. I'm not sure what it is, but at this time of year I get a hankering for cross stitch. A couple of years ago I found an awesome set of free cross stitch patterns on a blog called Mini Star Trek. I am working on something using them. Mine will have 19 characters from the original series. I've finished the first two. Can you guess who they are?

We got some snow last night. Just an inch. It spent the day melting. Winter weather is in the forcast.

I don't think I've been blogging about my hot tub woes. In October, as a matter of routine, I emptied the hot tub to clean it, and the filter. I got it all done, refilled the tub, and started it up. The next day I went out to use it and the water level was down a good inch and a half. It had leaked the water overnight. I discovered a leak on the pump and told sweet hubby about it. He fixed it the following day. I filled the tub up again. It still leaked. A third of the water had leaked out overnight. I was quite upset about it. Instead of getting better, it was getting worse. We couldn't figure out where the leak was.

Sweet hubby went on Google and discovered Fix a Leak. It's for fixing pool and hot
tub leaks. You pour it in the water with the filter removed and circulate the water. The stuff fills up the leaks. It will plug leaks up to an eighth of an inch wide. You let it cure for a few days before you can use the pool. We decided to try it. It WORKED! My tub doesn't leak anymore! I am SO happy. Now I can use my tub again.

I got our Christmas tree up today with the lights on. I haven't put the star or ornaments on it yet. I can't remember where I put the star last year after I took it down. I'll do a little search later this week.

Tomorrow I have Yarnies. I'm working on another pair of kids mittens. I probably will take that project with me.

I started another baby cardigan too. I've been working on writing up the pattern for the little letterman jacket style sweater I designed. The pattern is being tested on Ravelry. I'm going to knit up a model to photograph for the pattern. It's coming along nicely. Should be done by the end of the year.

Well, that's the news for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Mukluks for Susie

In the last few years of my fathers life, my cousin Susie took care of him like he was her own father. She did it because I lived so far away and she loved my father (and me) so very much, and he loved her. I will forever be grateful for all the love she gave him.

In one of my trips back (northern Michigan) during the last few months of his life she and I went shopping together and she pointed out some Mukluks and told me that our grandmother used to make them when she was a kid and how much she loved them. I didn't know about this. It surprised me. She talked about how she wished she had a pair of them now.

Mukluks are a type of slipper. They're basically knit thick long socks with leather soles sewn to the bottom. They usually feature Native American stitch patterns in them because they are a Native American invention. After daddy passed away, I wanted to make her a pair to thank her, in a very small and inadequate way, for all she did for daddy and me. I found a cool pattern on Ravelry and for the last 2 years I've been struggling to make them. They looked like crap and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. This fall, though, when I was working on the funky socks for the son-in-law, I finally learned what my problem was and how to fix it. Of course, right after I got the Christmas knitting done, I got back to those Mukluks and I've finished them. They are finally the quality of workmanship I expect from myself.

Pattern: Kamchatka: Knitted Mukluk Slipper Socks by Erssie

Size: Medium

Yarns: Berroco Vintage
Content: 50% Wool/40% Acrylic/10% Nylon
Colors: Indigo, Black Current, Red, Cracked Pepper, Mocha, Butter Cream

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: December 9, 2017
Finished: January 29, 2017

Comments: This is an advanced skill pattern. So knit accordingly. I should note that the original pattern has a lizard under the eagle. I substituted a traditional snowflake because I didn't think Susie would like lizards on her slippers. This is the chart I used for the snowflake.

I have been asked several times where I got the slipper soles. I ordered them from Paradise Fibers. Here's a tip for sewing the soles to the slippers: stuff the foot part with something (I used paper towels). It's a lot easier to sew them on that way.

The antibiotics I'm taking are working. I am SO relieved! I feel so much better. The coughing has almost stopped completely, the fever is finally gone, my nose has stopped running, and my plugged ears have opened up some. I'm starting to feel normal again.

Yesterday morning it started snowing here and it's not stopped yet. We've got about 10 inches of new snow so far. The wind blew all day yesterday too, so it's been drifting.

Here is a pic from the cruise that I took with the new camera.

John DeLancie ("Q" in TNG and Voyager) was taking questions from everyone and answering them. (He was just a few feet from me.) It was the evening of the big costume ball. It was supposed to be out by the pool, but it was raining and cold out so they moved us into Thirteen Forward. He answered questions while we waited for the band to get set up inside. The room was so full no one could have danced if they wanted to.

By the way, Mr. DeLancie is an incredibly nice man. Not anything like the character he played in Star Trek. He really showed his appreciation to the fans too. I frequently saw him on deck walking around taking selfies with folks.

Well, I need to figure out what knitting project I'm going to start next. Of course, it will be stranded mittens. It's just picking a pattern. I've got so many of them. If you are into stranded colorwork, especially in mittens, I would highly recommend these books.

Mittens of Latvia: 178 Traditional Designs to Knit by Maruta Grasmane

and Selbuvotter by Anne Bårdsgård

I bought both of these before the cruise.

Thankfully, Mittens of Latvia is now available in English (I have the Latvian version too. It was available a couple years or so ago.). It's chock full of the most amazing mitten patterns. The book is about the history and traditions of mitten knitting in Latvia. All the mittens in the book are charts of actual mittens from a museum. The book is divided into chapters featuring mittens from each area of Latvia. They each had unique aspects incorporated into their mittens. It's very interesting. They are an important part of the Latvian culture.

Selbuvotter is in Norwegian, so I can't read it. However, it is still useful to me because it has literally hundreds of pattern charts. Like the Latvian book, it is about the mitten knitting traditions of Norway and all the patterns have been charted from mittens in a museum. There are some very cool pictures in the book too. I love the cover pic of all those beautiful black and white mittens. I am hoping that eventually they will publish it in English so I can read it.

Selbuvotter is difficult to obtain. It's available at Schoolhouse Press right now. When I was looking to buy mine, they were out of them and didn't know when they'd be getting more, so I ordered it direct from the museum in Norway. That turned out to be an expensive way of doing it because they didn't accept credit cards so I had to do a very pricey wire transfer, but I'm so happy with the book I'm just glad to have it. Even at the price I ended up paying, it is worth every penny to me.

Well, that is it for today.

Live long and prosper. \\//

It's a Hat!

Oh my goodness but I've been so busy! I had a great Christmas and New Years. We spent time celebrating with family. I got some great presents too. My husband got me a new laptop. It's a Lenovo. I was totally surprised. It's kind of cool. I can fold the screen backward and it turns into a tablet with a touch screen. It is also a lot faster and lighter weight than my purple Dell. I love my Dell but it has become obsolete. Most of the new software, including Windows 10, won't run on it, so it's time to let it go.

We got lots of new snow. Saturday night dumped a foot of it on us. It's bitterly cold too.
Single digits at night. Brrr..it's definitely winter.

In my last post I mentioned I'd broken my camera. It was not repairable, so I bought a new one. It's a Nikon Cool Pix B500. It's quite a bit larger than my old one. It is pretty cool too, though I seem to have a problem with keeping the shots from being blurry. It's supposed to have that hand shaking prevention technology, but it's not as good as my old Sony was. I think in time I'll figure out how to work around it though.

I've been getting things ready for the trip, moving vast quantities of snow, working on getting moved in to my new laptop (I'm using it to do this post), and learning how my new camera works. Yet, somehow, I got my Guinan costume done. Yes! It's finished! Here's the hat.

I worked on it all day yesterday. I used THIS pattern that I found with a Google search. It was a very challenging sewing project. Using a slippery stretchy knit fabric made for some frustrating problems that I finally solved with some iron-on interfacing. I'm extremely happy to have it done, and I'm quite pleased with it.

My fur kids wanted their pics taken with the new camera, so here they are. First, we have Chenille, who is 14 years old now. She yowls at me a lot since bringing Zoey home. She's not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do about that. Zoey stays.

Zoey is hard to get good pics cuz she can't sit still so I'm pretty happy with these.

Last week I took her to the vet to get her toe nails cut because the groomers was unexpectedly closed. I had them weigh Zoey for me. She's 27 pounds and almost 6 months old.

The cruise is just a few days away. We're leaving on Saturday, and I have so much to do yet. So I probably am not going to post much.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Third Place

Well, the doll photography contest is over so now I can tell you about it. I won 3rd place, which is not bad. I have to admit the 1st place winner was pretty darn good.

The theme of the contest was Favorite Television Show. Well, Star Trek! What else? First, though, I needed costumes for my dolls, which you'll remember, I knitted.

Here's the pic I entered.

Here's my poem:

To boldly go, brave explorers they be.
Aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701 B.
Strange places and species they get to see.

Some aliens are dangerous and others friendly.
Spread out all over the galaxy.
Their captain, so wise and handsome is he.
With all that excitement, how can it be?
Miss Ellowyne still has her (yawn) ennui.

No one said I'm a good poet. My story was they're waiting for Scotty to beam them up after a successful mission welcoming the planet Dragonia into the Federation of Planets. They're making friends with two of the natives while they wait.

Hey. I got third place. The prize was my choice of an outfit donated by group members. I chose a Pink suit with black trim that comes with a book entitled The Pink Suit. It should be here soon.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Fun With Star Trek

I have finished all my Star Trek doll uniforms.

This is Captain Penn.

I can not believe how well this little sweater fits him. I loosely based it on a pattern for another doll, and adjusted it while I was knitting it (I wrote it all down so I can do it again.). I fully expected the sleeves to be either too long or too short, and they were perfect. Damn, I'm starting to get good at this knitting thing.

The sweater is made with Berroco Folio, which is an Alpaca/Rayon blend. I really love working with this yarn. It's so soft to the touch. The black neck band is a bit of Wool Gatto from Lana Gatto yarns that I found in my stash. It's a superwash wool that's been in the stash a long time. I carried it in my shop. It's no longer being made. That's sad cuz it's a wonderful yarn. I used size 1 needles for this project.

For the insignia, I embroidered it on a piece of stiff interfacing. I even went to the trouble to put the proper symbol on the insignia, though they're so tiny it's hard to see it.

Then I cut it out. I ran a black permanent marker around the edges because the edge of the white interfacing was visible. Then I glued it on the uniform shirt with some Aleenes Tacky glue.

I decided to embroider the Captains rank stripes on the sleeves too. I strive for accuracy.

I got lucky on having a communicator. My Spock doll has that and a tricorder that came with it. Both items fit my Wilde dolls perfectly.

Science Officer T'Amber.

Yes, she's a Vulcan. Can't have Star Trek TOS without a Vulcan on board. This dress is made with Briggs New Boy, which is a yarn my daughter Sarah gave me. She bought it while she and her husband were on their honeymoon in Norway. It's a superwash wool, and a very nice one. I wish I had more of this. Again, I used the Wool Gatto for the neckline. Size 0 and 1 needles. Doesn't that tricorder look perfect with her? Penn thinks so too. Good luck with that, Penn.

Engineering officer Ellowyne.

Who says girls don't like engines? Ellowyne loves tinkering with them. She's very good at it too. Only the best get to serve on the Enterprise.

I knit this dress with a fingering weight yarn my daughter gave me that she bought in Norway. It has no label, and it's rougher than a brillo pad. Actually hurt my hands to work with it. I soaked the dress in hair conditioner for a bit to soften it up some, not that Ellie will mind it. She has no nerve endings. I have a skein of this in a lovely shade of blue too. I don't see myself using it.

Here are the girls together.

And now, with the handsome Captain Penn.

I spent about 2 hours outside yesterday setting up for my contest photo entry. It came out fantastic! It's all ready to enter, as well as the poem that goes with it. I'm ready for this contest! And very excited!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Bicycle Dreams

That's what I call this outfit I got for Luna.

Of all the outfits I have for her, this is, by far, my favorite.

I found it on Etsy, and I'm looking forward to seeing what this talented seamstress will come up with in the future.

Nobody showed up to install the insulation in the shop yesterday. I expect they meant NEXT Tuesday.

The weather around here suddenly, and I mean suddenly, went from summer to fall. It was 91F degrees one day, and the next-BOOM. it was 64F degrees and raining. All of nature says and smells like fall. The leaves are turning. One thing about north Idaho. It doesn't monkey around when changing from one season to the next.

By the way. Today is the 50th anniversary of the first day the first episode of Star Trek was aired.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK!!!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Porcupine

It's been a very busy time since my last post. Never a dull moment these days. Must be August.

Last weekend was adventurous, if nothing else. The biggest excitement happened on Saturday night. We went to Dan and Sues for dinner. While relaxing and enjoying ourselves I suddenly noticed the dogs-Cable and Tripper- were not in the room with us. They were, in fact, outside. Ruth and I went out to call them in. After some time, Cable came running up the steps ------ covered in porcupine quills!

Tripper followed somewhat later, also porcupined. Oh what a nightmare! Thankfully, Cable cooperated while Doug and I removed them with a pair of pliers. She had a lot of them in her face, nose, chest, paws, and even inside her mouth imbedded in her soft pallet and under her lips. It was so painful for her and she bled quite a bit but she stuck it through as we pulled each one out.

Tripper was another matter. He did not cooperate at all! It took quite some time to get them out of his face even though he had less of them in him because he squirmed and jumped and tried to escape the whole time. He is an amazingly strong and slippery dog and he's much more afraid of pain. It took as many as four of us to hold him down while Dan pulled them out. Poor little guy.

I bet neither dog takes on a porcupine again.

Sweet hubby and I spent the daytime hours of the weekend shopping for a new pickup truck. Our Toyota Tundra is 12 years old and showing it's age. So we made the decision to replace it. We looked for something that will handle pulling our camping trailer better than the current vehicle and had a comfy back seat with plenty of leg room for all. We found what we want and 'bought' it. We have signed all the paperwork to purchase a Ford F150 XLT crew cab with towing package in Ruby Red Metallic. It will look somewhat like this (the front grill may be different.)

2015 Ford F150 XLT

However, the actual truck we bought is at another dealership. You see, we found the perfect model on our local lot except it had one flaw. It had regular side mirrors instead of the bigger ones for pulling trailers. Sweet hubby insists it must have the larger mirrors. The dealership claims that to install the larger mirrors on the one in stock will cost more than for them to go get one from another Ford dealer, so they did some research and found one about 800 miles away. They are currently trying to arrange an exchange and trip to that dealership to bring it here for us. It was supposed to be here tomorrow, but there's been a problem. So maybe next week. It's frustrating to go through all that hassle and take nothing home. Urg. And when did pickup trucks get so darn expensive?

I went to the fair yesterday. I'm working the North Idaho Secular Society booth for 3 shifts. I took the very first one on Wednesday morning. Of course, I dashed off to see how my four entries did. I got 2 blue ribbons, one red, and one white ribbon. I will have more details after I get good pics, which I'll be doing tomorrow cuz I've got my second shift in the afternoon. I took my camera with me yesterday, but I forgot to bring it home. Left it on the floor under a chair in the booth. Can't pull the pics off it and put them on the laptop if it's there instead of here at home.

We are still having blistering hot dry weather with thick smoky air. We've had some days of nasty wind too. The visibility has been between 1 and 5 miles for the whole week, with unhealthy air warnings.  It's miserable right now. I almost want winter to come, but not quite. Rain would be good. Rain would be really really good.  I could go for a whole week of rain! They are predicting some rain for the weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Some other news. Doug and I are registered to go on the Star Trek Cruise in 2017! I mean, we are going! Really going! (Barring any unforeseen circumstances between now and then) An email came telling about this cruise. William Shatner is going to host it. Jonathon Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), Mirina Sirkis (Deanna Troy), Robert Picardo (The doctor from Voyager), James Darren (Holodeck character from Deep Space 9), and Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar in Next Generation) are scheduled to go too-so far. They are working to add more.

I have wanted, my whole life, to go to a Star Trek convention but have never been able to. It's on my bucket list. William Shatner is the last of the 'big three' stars of the original series. Deforest Kelly passed away some years ago, and then Leonard Nimoy passed away earlier this year. Time is running out. William Shatner is getting old and I don't want to miss seeing him. When Doug got home from work I told him about the cruise and how much I wanted to go. We discussed it and decided to do it. I am so excited! It will be the trip of a lifetime!

Live long and prosper. \\//