Jeffy's garden

Apr. 30, 2010.  Jeffy's garden is looking really pretty today.

For Vicki

Here's a picture for Vicki from my knitting group.  We were talking about home repair and I mentioned that all but 5 of the lamps in our house were made by Paulette, me, or her dad.  Paulette made this lamp out of a spindle:

Yeah, it's an interesting angle in the picture.

I started the bodice of the back of the sweater I am knitting.  It feels like I have been knitting it forever. 

Going, going, gone

Here are pictures of the tree coming down and the aftermath:

I am taking vacation this afternoon to clean this up.  The sawdust is covering up the lilies of the valley that were in front of the tree.  The tree guy told us to get a bag of lime and a bag of topsoil to fill in the stump where he used a grinder on it.

We are planning on planting a pink crabapple tree in it's place.  I am excited about this!

I was impressed that the fence came out okay from the whole ordeal.  There are big holes in the lawn where the large trunk pieces hit when they fell.  We also had a basement window get broken, which is a pain, but not the end of the world.  The window did need replacing anyhow.  When I pried it out so that I could put a piece of wood in the hole, I found that the frame of the actual window was rotten.  Guess we will be making a trip to Menards to see if we can find one to replace it.  If not, I think I can build one to fit.  My real problem is that I am not a good glass cutter.

Sorry there's not much about knitting in this post.  My sweater is coming along.  I only have about 2 inches of lace left to knit on the back until I start the bodice area.  You can see that I have been distracted. 

It's been an interesting weekend...

Well, this morning when I opened the blinds at 7AM in the living room this morning, this is what I saw out the window:

One of the large limbs of the box elder tree in our yard had come down jn all the wind we had.  Joe (our neighbor), Paulette, and I managed to trim the branches that were in the way of the neighbors driveway so that they can at least come and go.  Now we are waiting for the tree man to come and take care of the really large part.  It didn't hurt anything on the way down.  The fence and house are okay.  But I hope the tree man gets here soon so that it doesn't fall from it's perch on the branch of the mulberry tree onto the fence.

We also went to the AFSCME Council 24 Jim Boyd Memorial Bowling Tournament on Friday evening in Beaver Dam.  Here are shots of our team:

Paulette in action.

Scoreboard.

Paulette has fun!

Mike and Jean watch the bowling action.

Paulette and Jean.

I didn't bowl.  However, I did win prizes in the 7:30 PM shift raffle.  I won an tool organizer for the rakes and shovels in the garage and a bypass pruner.  Paulette went back on Saturday afternoon, and she had won a Wii!  With the tree drama outside I haven't gotten a chance to hook it up yet.

I also haven't gotten much knitting done.

Gettin' dizzy

Apr. 23, 2010.  Stop the merry-go-round, I want to get off!

Pictures

Hi there,

Here's progress on my sweater, which is going really slow:

I actually do have about 5 inches of 11.5 done.  It just seems like it's taking a long time.  At least there are no sleeves on this sweater.

The picture of the day for today is the record albums at home.  No remarks about how old I am.

Have a good day!

Confirmation time

Our picture of the day for today is my niece, Melissa, with her cake for her confirmation at her party:

Congratulations, Melissa!

Relics

Apr. 16, 2010.  Relics of past conferences and conventions.

New sweater

Here's the picture for today:

The sweater is the Summer Breeze tank from Windy Valley Muskox.  The yarn is Pima Cotton from Windy Valley Muskox.  Both were purchased at Stitches Midwest last year.  The yarn is more like knitting with thread.  It's actually thinner than pearle cotton and crochet cotton--way thinner.  It will be really pretty when it's done, though.  I ended up starting over on my lunch hour, because if I would have continued knitting on the size 5 needles I was using, the top would have been positively indecent, and, probably too large for me.  I am now using 4s for the lace.  The stockinette part is done, at least according to the pattern, in size 3s.  We'll see what happens when I get there.

I did finish the gloves I was making.  I am going to have to pick apart all the fingers on the first one I made, so that I can shorten the fingers.  Not happening right now.

Busy weekend!

First, our picture from yesterday is my newly completed sweater (that was supposed to be done by Easter):

The knitting on the sleeves was done on Friday.  It took me most of the day on Saturday to do the finishing stuff, like knitting the neckband and buttonbands, sew the sleeves together and sew them into the armholes, and block it.  Then there was the house cleaning to do.  Oh, yeah, and we went to the grocery store as well.

Yesterday we worked outside in the afternoon.  I got all of the leftover plants trimmed down.  Paulette raked a lot of the lawn.  I also cleaned out the pussy willow bush at the base.  There were all sorts of leaves, etc., built up at the base of it.  Last year it was providing summer cover for a bunch of yellowjackets and bald faced hornets.  I didn't want that to happen again.  The yard is now ready for growing season.  I don't know what the deal is this year, but the daffodils and hyacinths in our yard are really beautiful. 

Last evening I took my sweater off the blocking board and sewed the buttons on, which took me about an hour.  The buttons are mother of pearl with a ridged design cut into the border.  They were pretty expensive as far as buttons go, coming in at $1.05 each.  I can't wait to wear it!

Nap time

Apr. 10, 2010.  My sweet Churchill taking a nap.

Rites of Spring

Apr. 6, 2010.  Election Day in Wisconsin for local elections.  I worked at a polling place for a 15 hour day.  Ugh.

Apr. 8, 2010.  My daffodils and hyacinths are wondering what happened to spring.

Poor things.  The good news is the snow won't last long--the forecast is for warmer weather by the weekend.

I am almost done with the neverending sleeves of my sweater that I am knitting.  Yippee!  Will put a celebratory picture on here when it's finally finished.

Easter and spring stuff

Apr. 4, 2010.  Happy Easter!  Alleluia!

Picture of my church all decorated.  I took this after Easter vigil.

Apr. 5, 2010.  Leaves!!

Finally, we beat the rabbits in the yard and have some forsythia blooming:

Such a pretty yellow.

Here are some random pictures:

Mia, the church dog.

Decorating the church for Easter.

More church decorating--action shot of Tim with a ladder.

Outside of Oaks Candy store.  I love their old fashioned decorations.

And the last picture is of one of the hyacinths in the front garden.

Candy store!

Apr. 3, 2010.  Went to the candy store for Easter candy today.  Only spent $30. 

I thought it would take me longer to get my candy.  I barely picked my number (like in a bakery) and they were calling it already. 

Unfortunately, I am not going to get my sweater done for Easter.     :(      I am up to the elbows on the sleeves.  I have Easter baking to do yet today before I go to Easter vigil mass at 8PM.   But, I'll be able to wear it for my niece Melissa's confirmation. 

Good Friday

Apr. 2, 2010.  Good Friday.

Holy Thursday

Apr. 1, 2010.  Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.