TGI Labor Day Weekend

This image is from a few days back but I just love this time of day. This is taken from inside the house. Why didn't I step outside????? It doesn't show up any of the pics I took but the gravel is crisscrossed with I guess spider webs. They were reflecting light like jewels. It was really pretty.







The roses continue to bloom. I just dead headed this a.m. so had to take some pics. Yes this one is a lame attempt at camouflage. You have to get that water away from the house somehow.















I plan to watch this one all weekend.
















Do you ever read someones blog and they tell you they will send you a little something just for commenting, answering a question, etc? Well I enjoy reading Mary's blog. She was doing a little cleaning out and sharing with her readers. Look what I got! I am so excited.
This is the top layer. Oh yes, there were layers.















I loved the little extras. A wooden spool, a strip of leather, odd buttons, wire for beading.....




















A kit for a bookmark.




















A box of baubles.




















This eye candy is a combination of things. The lovely pink yarn I received along with a packet of teas, they were wonderful. I'm not sure why I received this package. It must of been from a long ago swap that I have forgotten about. I hope I kept up my end of the bargain. The purple is the yarn my daughter picked for a scarf to go with the new coat she plans to buy this fall. We were at Wildflower in Manhattan, Kansas where my daughter attends school. I was so overwhelmed and couldn't decide what yarns to purchase when my daughter saved my budget by telling me she would love a scarf. Needed some shorter DPN's as well. I could have bought oh so much more and within hours of getting home I signed up for a new KAL. I will have to go back.






















I had entered three items in the Ravelry Olympics. I metaled with this one. It is a scribble lace shawl that looks great with a little black dress I bought recently. The other wip, my son's log cabin blanket, is still a wip but I am hoping that a road trip tomorrow will finish it off. Lastly I was going to learn to knit socks. Foolishly that is what I was trying to do during the opening ceremonies. The ceremony was simply too amazing to get much of anything except plain old garter stitch done.

My Weekend Adventures

8/2/08

I read brooklyntweed's blog so I already knew I liked these mittens. Stopped by the book store to see if Vogue had hit the newsstands yet. I didn't even see the title until after I have picked it up because of the cover. I love the cover. It has it all, color, texture, expression, balance. I rarely buy a magazine but I brought this one home in part because of the cover. Thankfully I like some of the projects and articles inside as well.






My husband is in Sturgis for the big motorcycle rally. The original plan was for wives to go along but I couldn't go because of work and other wives had other issues. We wanted to take a support vehicle so the guys wouldn't have to carry so much on the bikes, we could take turns riding with our guys and we could actually lock up things like cameras. My husband almost never travels without a camera. This week he will have been in at least four states other than Kansas with no camera.
So with a week to myself, other than work, the fair, and who knows what else crops up I hope to get a good amount of knitting done. That much knitting requires a few movies. I went to the section marked 2/$1 and picked up some that I wanted to see and some I had never heard of. I actually got home with one I didn't intend to get. It may turn out to be the best of the bunch.

Saturday morning I took four projects to the county fair. Two received red ribbons, one didn't receive a ribbon at all and I didn't expect it to. It was one of the scribble lace shawls and other than the yarn they are nothing special. My Everlasting Bagstopper, I don't remember if it got a ribbon or not. Our display space is adequate at best. To see the bag I had to get down on my knees to look at the bottom shelf. Next to my bag was a lovely garment of some sort but I couldn't see the tag to see whose it was or what it was. There were several other items in the same predicament. I believe when we meet at the fair for knit night this week we will be discussing the display situation.


On my way home I stopped at a couple of garage sales. I found this lamp. It works. I don't usually go for things like this but it kind of spoke to me. Once I find a shade that works with it will decide its fate. At this point I am thinking of sanding it down and spraying it with one of the paints that looks like stone. I might also do some sort of mosaic or decoupage treatment. Time will tell.















My other garage sale purchase was this box of beads. A nice little assortment to add to my collections.








My last stop was at the craft store in town. They have everything BUT yarn. We are trying to talk them into it because they have employees that know yarn. One of the employees raises sheep, spins, dyes, knits and weaves. We will keep trying.
Anyway, they have a pretty decent bead section. I picked up a few things to work on an idea for some stitch markers.








Here I added some beads from the garage sale box.











Now I have added in some of my own beads. I want to keep the grey/silver tones but add a sharp contrast and I think it will be red. I have lots of red beads.


A lamp project and a beading project. I only thought I was going to get a lot of knitting done.





I am test knitting a pattern for a breast cancer fundraising calendar. I don't have a yarn source close by so when I went to "the city" I picked up every pink yarn I could find that would work for a dishcloth.
I am using the mercerized cotton second from the right and it is working up beautifully. Pictures and info. on the calendar at a later date.





Love this car seat blanket pattern but do not like the yarn. I was on my way out the door and needed something quick. It is sooooo yucky but knitting anything on a long car ride is better than knitting nothing. It will make an OK gift for someone or for the grandgirls and their baby dolls. I will knit this pattern again in something much nicer.





















8/3/08
I love ripe fresh from the garden tomatoes. This one has been ripening on the counter for a couple of days and it was perfect on Sunday. I

Pizza or Turkey?

7/27/08

I made homemade pizza with all the fresh veggies from the garden. There is onion, green pepper, garlic and tomatoes. It was the best pizza I have made in quite sometime.

I love my baking stones. The handles on this make it much easier to get in and out of the oven. My old one had a rack to set it on but I was always forgetting the rack. It was passed on to my son so I could justify this one.

7/28/08

This turkey has several siblings that "hatched" last fall. I knit up three or four of these guys for gifts in a short amount of time. I chose this pattern to knit for the household items category at the fair because it was an easy but visually interesting knit. I knit the first 1/4 of this cloth several times and finally cut the yarn off and threw it away. It was beginning to resemble a well worn piece of string rather than yarn. Once I got past the half way point I didn't have any further problems thank goodness. There is one very obvious error but of course I didn't see it until I was blocking. I'm sure the judge will see it as well but I enter more for fun than for the ribbons. Too bad I didn't remind myself of that when I was having so much trouble knitting this thing. After the fair he goes into the mail to an Internet friend who has mentioned she would like to have a turkey.

In addition to this dishcloth I took a scribble lace shawl, my misknitted Everlasting Bagstopper shopping bag and a preemie hat. There were other projects I had planned to take but it is best if they are completed before entering them in the fair.

Today I cast on a pink dishcloth that I am test knitting for a breast cancer calendar fundraiser. More on the topic in the weeks to come. I have tested some patterns for quilt designers before but this is the first time testing for a knit designer. I hope I am up to her standards. She does beautiful work.

Racoons, Cats, Flowers, Children and of Course Yarn

I am in charge of the Prayer Shawl Ministry at our church. We ask for yarn/money donations to buy yarn for our knitters and crocheters to make into shawls. We get alllllll kinds of things donated. When there is something that isn't appropriate for the shawls and I want it I trade appropriate yarn for inappropriate. I am going to try some felting projects with the tapestry yarn.

This is cotton yarn and I love the colors. I haven't decided yet if I am ripping out the things that are started or not. It may depend on what I use the yarn for and if I need to rip. It is large enough and nice enough it could be a pillow cover or something. Time will tell.

This lovely wool I received in a barter on Ravelry. She needed scraps to finish a granny square afghan that she inherited and I had plenty of that to share. This is yarn she bought while living in Ecuador. I envision felted projects. She was very generous and I love the yarn.

I love my roses. They are just off the deck on the east side of the house. This combination of just about to open and half open is so lovely together.

This rose is a trooper. It hung in there after a hail storm and tried to bloom. This is as far as it would open due to the damage I guess. The base was pretty beat up and seemed to keep it closed. It is still beautiful to me.

7/12/08

The granddaughters were visiting again and we were playing outside. During a game of kick ball 4 is about to kick the ball. 2 has found a particularly delightful bug on the grass. Can you guess what happened next? 2 was upset that she lost the bug and 4 couldn't understand why 2 didn't kick the ball back. I think we switched to golf after this.

The raccoons visit when the cats don't clean up all of their food. I think this guy has figured out that if he shows up before supper is over he gets the good stuff not the left overs. I was too far away with not enough lens to get very good pictures but at least I captured this story.

Notice the two cats off to the side. They aren't too concerned.

Soon though, Baby has had enough of this guys backside in her face so she moves.

There that is better.

But then a scratching sound is heard from the tree above. A young male descends to sit and watch the intruder. I don't know how high up that tree he had been but apparently he felt a little braver and came down a ways.

Finally one of the kittens had enough of hiding under the deck and decides to strike out across the yard. Not too close now. I think the score is now raccoon 1, cats 0.

7/7/08

This is one of the most delightful gentlemen I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He is my husband's father. I have only known him about six years and still do not know him well. He lives two hours away and when we do get together it is usually a family reunion, funeral, etc. and you just don't get to know people well that way. After a couple of weeks in the hospital Dad needed some more time to recuperate so we brought him to a nursing home close to us. I have enjoyed the last two weeks immensely. I was able to watch Dad get stronger every day. I have enjoyed numerous conversations with him and I have learned what a witty, intelligent and gentle man he is. Unfortunately I have also leaned how poor his memory is. I fear his days of living at home with his wife are numbered. We hope to move them both back closer to us very soon. I look forward to that day.

7/19/08

I can't believe I missed sharing this lovely lady with you. She resides in a day lilly and iris garden a few minutes from my home. We have an art show there in the spring and we use the gardens occasionally for portrait photography. When I arrived for the art show this spring I was delighted to find this lady right next to our space. I should not covet but I cannot help it. I want this sculpture.

6/8/08

She sits at the top of a rise and looks out over the gardens to the north.

Her back is as lovely as her front.

Gentle Giants

6/29/08

We were driving east across Kansas on Sunday when we came upon these. We had not traveled east from Hays since state basketball a year ago and these were not here then. It was fascinating to drive for several miles watching these advance toward us and fade behind us. I particularly liked this photo. If you look closely you can see the utility poles running along the hill toward the giant on the left. I remember driving near them in the past thinking how tall they were. Isn't it amazing how things like height are relative?

6/22/08





My kids give me a new rose bush each Mother's Day. This one is two years old and I simply love the color. But then so do the insects. They have been munching on my roses and the leaves but they are still beautiful to me.

Now for the knitting content of this program. Mittens! Yes mittens. In the middle of summer. The special feature at our county fair this year is mittens. I enjoyed making the Peekaboo mittens so much I knew I wanted to make more. Knitting knowing that the item will be judged by someone who knows more about knitting than I do makes it not quite as enjoyable but I still love the pattern.

Remember this? I knit it for a dishcloth exchange back in February/March. I have it on my projects page on Ravelry and Rachel asked to use my photo on her pattern page. I am very honored of course. If you would like to make this dishcloth you can find it here.

A Wonderful Weekend

We kept two of the grandchildren this weekend.

Saturday morning we went to Council Grove, Kansas to see the Wah-Shun-Gah Days parade.

These handsome young men presented our colors proudly.

Of course there were bands.

This is the reaction of Two when the band started playing right in front of her.

This covered wagon spent the last week on a trail ride across eastern Kansas. The driver is my dad and in the jump seat is my mom. On or around the wagon were various family members.

Four was watching quite intently. She was pretty sure there would be ice cream after the parade. Of course she was right. Who knew two little girls could eat so much ice cream? Strawberry for Four and "choco chip" for the Two.

Other activities over the weekend included naps. Everyone needed a break from all the fun. Then there were wagon rides checking out the livestock. They don't like bugs, they did like the turtle and the cats stayed way far away from the fun.

When the long wagon ride was over it was time to cool off in the pool. The general consenses was the water was still cold but we simply couldn't wait any longer for it to warm up.

A fun time was had by all.

They love their Grandpa.

Flower Dishcloth

6/9/08

As my Mystic Light lies about basking in solitude I have only managed mindless knitting. Just before I lost the light tonight I managed to get a shot of the dishcloth I am knitting. There is a flower in the middle but it is difficult to make out in the variegated yarn. I love the colors in this yarn.

I finished another Scribble Lace shawl this weekend too but I didn't like how it looked in the late evening light.

Of course the cats were trying to help. I'm surprised that the rubbing on my legs didn't jar the camera.

Oh yes. Insurance picked up part of the tab on the air conditioner and also paid to fix the wash machine. So far no more lightening damage but my daughter's cell phone died the day the wash machine was repaired. The wash machine had died the day the air conditioner was repaired. PLEASE let this be the end.