DPNgirl

Boy, that was a REALLY long time to not write

2011-06-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

Dear readers,

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote last. This job is really keeping me busy. Unfortunately, lots of people want a piece of my time and I just don't have much extra left when I'm done with work and outside of work activities. I have found time to do a lot of knitting, though. :)

I will try to keep up better now. Sorry about that.

Really, I'm still alive

2010-11-09T18:01:00.000-06:00

I transferred to a different job in June, therefore I haven't had time to post. Many projects have been knit. Elections have been worked on. My latest finished project is Madli's shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia:

It's made from Suri alpaca lace yarn. So silky and soft!

I am currently working on a pair of black lace socks:

These are the Embossed leaves socks from the Favorite socks book. I'm using Dream in Color Smooshy in the Black parade colorway. I am working on the heel flap for sock #2, so they should be done soon. Goody. I am wearing out some of my handknit socks and need to get knitting more! My next project will also be a pair of socks and also a stealth project for a gift.

Here's what greeted me on the way to my car this morning:

Sorry it's blurry. I was laughing. Our vegetable garden is next to the pussy willow bush in our backyard. the birds had a nest in there that you can now see with the leaves all gone. Some industrious squirrel carried a tomato left in the garden up to the nest, and is storing it there I guess. What will the wildlife in my yard do next?

Long time no talk

2010-07-05T20:28:00.001-05:00

Well, it has been a really long time since I last updated this. Let's see, where were we?

The robin's nest in the back yard is now gone. There were babies:

The mother robin was really mad at me for taking this picture. She chased Paulette all the way up our driveway to the front of the house.

I transferred to a new job. I am now the coordinator of Interlibrary Loan in Polk Library. I worked in Polk for a long time before transferring around at the University. I feel like I am home now. I missed the library.

I went to the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention early in June. Here's me knitting there:

I finished the tank top I was knitting:

It turned out really nice, but it was a very boring knit.

I have started a new shawl:

It's the Crocus Pocus shawl, which has really a lot of beads. I am using Sea silk yarn and size 8 hex beads. I am about 40 percent done right now.

We've really done a lot of work in the yard.

We planted a flowering crab tree to replace the ugly box elder.

Paulette made a hosta garden.

The garden in front of the house is getting really lovely now.

My birthday was last week Tuesday. It was fun. Paulette and I went to Madison shopping and out to lunch. I bought yarn at the Sow's Ear in Verona.

Here are pictures from Independence Day weekend:

Here is my family waiting for the parade in Sheboygan to start.

Here is a picture of me, with my niece and my sister making faces in the background. Gotta love your family.

Here is a nice picture of my sister Lora and my niece Melissa/

Here's me using Scott Walker literature as firestarter:

More firestarter, in the form of a Republican Party sign up form:

Yet more firestarter. This is Tea Party literature:

Paulette burning a marshmallow:

Beth roasting a marshmallow:

S'more made with a strawberry marshmallow and a fudge stripe cookie:

And last, but not least, here's a picture of me and my sweet Churchill:

Peep peep

2010-05-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

May 28, 2010. Robin's nest in the rose bush next to our back door. Guess our back yard is still wild kingdom:

Mrs. Robin flies out of the nest and looks mad every time we go past to get in and out of the door.

Oh joy, it's Harry Potter weekend on Family HD!

Full moon

2010-05-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

May 27, 2010. The full moon this month is called the flower moon.

Bonus round

2010-05-21T09:56:00.002-05:00

My goodness, it's been a week or so since I posted. We have a lot of photos to catch up on!

First, the back of my sweater is finished and perhaps, 1/5th of the front.

I have been knitting on this seemingly forever (yes, I am whining now). I'm sure it will be a nice sweater to wear, but I am ready to knit something else now.

Paulette and I were busy yesterday. We both took vacation (Paulette only in the morning) to protest one of the candidates for governor. He is riding his Harley motorcycle around the state, supposedly to promote tourism. We're not buying that. Anyhow, here are some pictures:

My creation to help protest. The dollar store was my friend for this occasion.

I had a pleasant afternoon yesterday. It was 80 degrees outside, so I sat in one of the adirondack chairs in our yard and knit for about an hour. I also finally put my turtlenecks away and got my summer clothing out. It's about time too, since it's supposed to be 87 degrees on Sunday. Time to crank up the A/C!

I took pictures of the flowers in our yard:

One of the peonies in the front garden.

Iris along the fence.

Anemones along the fence. Please ignore the grass. Yes, we need to weed here. It's a never-ending job.

And, finally we end with a picture of Churchill taking a nap:

Nummy

2010-05-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

May 13, 2010. Pretzel M & Ms. Way. Too. Good.

Pictures

2010-05-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

Gotta get back on track with my picture project.

May 8, 2010. Picture of the lamp in my bedroom that I made from a painted metal vase I found at the South Park art fair in Oshkosh a few years ago. I also hand beaded the shade and took apart a beaded fringe to apply those beads to the edge of the shade.

May 9, 2010. Mary statue at church surrounded by parishioners garden flowers. It smelled really good there because of all the lilacs.

May 10, 2010. Today's entry is a two-fer. This is Missy the cat, taken at my mom's house on Mother's Day.

May 10, 2010. Mona the cat, taken at my mom's house.

And now, back to more knitterly topics

2010-05-03T09:39:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Paulette, Tracy from our knitting group, and I went to Patty from our knitting group's alpaca farm (Apple Orchard alpacas) just outside Oshkosh to help shear the alpacas. It was a fun time. Because I had been there helping last year, I understood more of what they needed help with and what was happening. This weekend, we helped with the white ones. Patty had friends of theirs who came with their suri alpacas to shear them as well. Here are pictures!

View of the farm.

Tracy helping hold down an alpaca's head. You don't really want them moving around while they are being sheared. The animal could get hurt.

Patty's friends shearing one of the suri alpacas.

Tracy and Paulette in the background.

The angora bunny got a haircut as well.

Paulette holding the angora bunny after his haircut.

Nekkid alpaca! I'm always amazed at how small they are once they are sheared.

Patty skirting a fleece. All vegetable and other matter needs to be removed before processing the fleece into batts or roving for spinning.

My jobs during the shearing were to hold the animals heads still and try to keep the animal calm, taking before and after pictures of the animals so that any potential buyer of the animal can see what they look like pre and post shearing, and helping herd some of the animals into a smaller holding pen so that they could be more easily caught to be sheared. They are pretty skittish animals and mostly run away from humans. It was interesting helping herd them. Who knew that they could be controlled by just using a long nylon strap to corral and guide them?

Jeffy's garden

2010-04-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

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

For Vicki

2010-04-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-27T08:49:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-04-25T13:05:00.003-05:00

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

2010-04-23T08:48:00.002-05:00

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

Pictures

2010-04-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-19T09:18:00.000-05:00

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

Congratulations, Melissa!

Relics

2010-04-16T14:20:00.002-05:00

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

New sweater

2010-04-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-04-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

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

Rites of Spring

2010-04-08T08:36:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-04-03T15:41:00.001-05:00

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

2010-04-02T11:23:00.000-05:00

Apr. 2, 2010. Good Friday.

Holy Thursday

2010-04-01T08:44:00.002-05:00

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

Waiting

2010-03-31T15:03:00.000-05:00

Mar. 31, 2010. Mr. Bunny waits for Easter:

Also, for those who asked about the pattern name for the lace sweater I am knitting, it is the Gardenia cardigan, which I ordered from Patternworks. I am using Rowan Kidsilk Haze and the recommended needle sizes in the pattern. So far it looks like I'll be using around 5 or so balls of the yarn for a size medium. Your mileage may vary.

Think I'll finish?

2010-03-30T09:23:00.002-05:00

Here's a progress picture on my sweater (also the picture of the day):

I cast on the sleeves last night--I'm knitting them both at the same time. The first 7 rows of the 14 row lace edging pattern is halfway done. Then it's just stockinette from there on. The buttonbands and neckband are only two rows of garter stitch. I'm trying to get it done for Easter. We'll see what happens.

Palm Sunday

2010-03-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Today's picture is of the palms in church:

Photo op

2010-03-23T10:45:00.002-05:00

Mar. 23, 2010. Couldn't resist this photo op at our local Starbucks:

More pictures.....

2010-03-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Got a some yard work done this weekend. No more snow is left in our yard. The pussy willow bush in the backyard is now cut down to size. I also had time to trim down the stuff from last year in the front. Here's a picture for Mar. 18-19 of the daffodils that are starting to bloom:

I am really in pain today because I was out there for 3 hours yesterday cleaning up. And I'm not done yet. We have a lot of gardens.

The picture for Mar 20 is:

My niece, Beth when she was a baby. Happy 25th birthday, Beth!

The picture for yesterday and today is:

Progress on my sweater. Think I'll get it done by Easter?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2010-03-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

I'll start with the picture for today and work my way back:

Help, there's a leprechaun in my dining room!!

The picture for Monday is:

The crocuses are going to bloom soon in our yard.

And, Tuesday's picture is:

St. Francis is back in the yard to watch over the garden I planted in Jeffy's honor. So far I only have tulips and daffodils, etc. there. We will get some perennials when the weather gets warmer. He liked butterflies, so we will be planting stuff that attracts them.

I'm knitting as fast as I can

2010-03-15T09:09:00.002-05:00

I picked up the Rowan Kidsilk Haze yarn I ordered at Iris Fine Yarns on Saturday. It's a pale periwinkle blue color. I had a couple of gift certificates and a store card that was filled and worth $20. In the end, I only had to pay $27.00 for $97.50 worth of yarn and buttons. Woo hoo!

I decided that I would start this sweater for Easter:

Isn't it pretty? The pattern is written for Louet sport weight linen yarn. There is an identical pattern named Valenciennes on Ravelry and in the French magazine "Elle Tricot" that is made with Kidsilk Haze. It's written by the same woman who wrote the Gardenia pattern. I was really excited when I found the pattern in the Patternworks catalog. It was only $2.00, but shipping was $2.50. I didn't care. I wanted that pattern!

Anyhow, Your picture for Mar. 13-14 is the start of the lace bottom border:

In the pattern, they have you putting the reverse side of the lace as the right side. I don't like how that looks. Wish me luck in finishing this on time. I have 3 weeks, right?

It's finally Friday once again

2010-03-12T09:14:00.000-06:00

Yippee, I survived another week! I am loving this warm weather (it's in the 40s here), even though it's been foggy for days. It's nice to not have to wear boots and a heavy down coat. The snow is almost gone in the yard, as the picture of the day from yesterday clearly shows:

I love it that the grass is already getting green. My perennials are all starting to grow. I have plants to divide in the front garden before they get too big. Guess I'll be busy outside soon. Woo hoo!

Here's the picture for today. The pussy willows in the backyard are starting to pop. Hey, Donna, I'll cut you a big bunch this year, I promise!

Churchill says he is officially bored. He can't wait until the windows are open. He's being such a good boy these days.

I finished one of the gloves. It turned out a little big, but others have had the same experience. I washed it in hot water last night, so perhaps it will fit a little better then. We'll see what happens when it's dry.

My next project is a lace sweater made with Kidsilk Haze. I pick up the yarn at Iris tomorrow. It's a periwinkle blue color. Can't wait to start it, but I need to finish the other glove first, or it will never get done. Hmm, maybe I can work on both at the same time.

I still have to do my taxes, which is on the agenda for this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't end up paying. It's happened before. Should I get a refund, I want to use that money to perhaps order a Bohus sweater kit from Sweden.

Well, that's all for now. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Spring is on the way!

2010-03-10T14:39:00.001-06:00

Mar. 10, 2010. Look what I found coming up all over the garden in front of our house--it's daffodils!

2 fingers down....

2010-03-09T11:24:00.000-06:00

Today's picture is of the progress I am making on the Selbu gloves I am knitting:

So pretty. I love the yarn. It's so soft. While it's fun knitting these, they probably won't fit as well in the finger area as the other gloves I have knit. Will I care, though?

Monday once again

2010-03-08T09:21:00.000-06:00

I guess I have some picture catching up to do here.

Last week Wednesday (03/03), I went on a bus down to Madison for our union, AFSCME, lobby day. It's always fun and I get to visit with my friends when I'm there. I never have enough time to see them all. :(

Here are pictures:

Me in front of the State Capital. It was a little chilly and I still had a cold.

As you can see, there was a large crowd! I got lots of bus knitting done.

My next picture is of lilacs I took last year. I love this picture. I am just waiting for spring!

The picture for today is:

I finished the socks I was knitting (they seemed to take forever) and I cast on these gloves Saturday evening. The picture isn't really good with the colors. The background is a pale peachy pink color. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk. I am using size 2 needles.

You are the search engine

2010-03-02T10:52:00.000-06:00

Mar. 2, 2010. Card catalogs made their first appearance in American libraries around 1876. The Music Library still uses one. I still type cards, but not by my own choice. It's tedious work. Some day we will leave the 19th century "technology" behind and join the 21st century.

Unwelcome friends

2010-03-01T16:43:00.000-06:00

Mar. 1, 2010. Here are my friends for the day, whether I want them to be or not:

14

2010-02-28T21:55:00.000-06:00

First, here's my picture from yesterday:

Pancakes for supper. Paulette said I put a syrup tsunami on them.

Today's picture is of Churchill the birthday boy.

He's 14 today. I don't want him to be that old, but I guess you can't stop time from marching on.

Friday

2010-02-26T13:57:00.000-06:00

Here is your picture of the day for yesterday and today:

Icicles on one of our rosebushes.

Yet more catching up to do

2010-02-25T09:23:00.000-06:00

More pictures......

Feb. 22, 2010. Monday. Seriously uninspiring.

Feb. 23, 2010. Ms. Snowman pin. (Or should that be Snowlady?)

Feb. 24, 2010. How did it get to be the end of February already?

Olympic weekend

2010-02-22T09:28:00.000-06:00

I spent most of the weekend knitting and watching the Olympics. I became a big fan of women's curling.

I wish the socks I am knitting were easier to photograph. They are gansey socks, with diamonds and little cables on them.

Leftovers once more

2010-02-19T14:41:00.000-06:00

This is getting ridiculous. I need to start taking some new pictures. I feel uninspired today. Luckily I have lots of pictures that I have previously taken.

Feb. 18, 2010. My BFF.

Feb. 19, 2010. Me in the garden of the Wisconsin Governor's Mansion this past year.

I did finish my mittens. It's amazing what 15 hours of knitting time while you're working at a voting poll will do.

I started a new pair of socks that I am making for our priest, Fr. Jim. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of them yet. The yarn is really dark and it's hard to see the little cables on yarn that dark.

Hard to keep up....

2010-02-18T08:57:00.000-06:00

Boy, keeping pictures updated for every day is really hard. Here are the entries for Monday through Wednesday.

Monday, Feb. 15, 2010. Oh, snowshoes, how I wish I were with you.:

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010. Here I am, all official-like, ready for my day of working at the voting polls for 15 hours. On the up-side, I did knit almost an entire mitten on Tuesday.

Feb. 17, 2010. Clematis from our garden last summer.

Weekend

2010-02-15T09:19:00.000-06:00

First, a little catching up to do.

Here's my picture from Friday:

It's the quilt in my office. I made up the pattern a few years ago after going on a trip to Colorado. I named it "Mountains in all directions".

We went snowshoeing on Saturday. The weather was absolutely perfect. The snow was perfect. It was just a really enjoyable day all around. Here's a pretty picture from Walla Hi County Park near Kiel:

And, finally, here's one of the finished mittens:

Back of mitten.

Palm of mitten.

I cast on the other mitten yesterday. I have the cuff part done.

All in all, really productive and fun weekend!

Moving along

2010-02-11T21:50:00.000-06:00

Your picture of the day is of the first mitten of the pair--it's moving right along!

Wednesday

2010-02-10T15:04:00.000-06:00

It's Wednesday. Knit night and all that. Yahoo.

Here's my picture of the day from yesterday:

I started that new pair of mittens on Monday. It's going well!

Your picture for today is:

My dad on the beach in Sheboygan. His birthday is today. He would have been 73. I miss him so much. He died 10 years ago this coming May. How can it be 10 years already? No matter what anyone says, the pain of losing someone to death never goes away. You just learn to live with it. Love you always, Daddy.

Churchill sez......

2010-02-08T15:08:00.000-06:00

Feb. 8, 2010. Churchill says, "Mom, get that camera out of my face!"

Leftovers again

2010-02-08T11:09:00.000-06:00

I got lazy this weekend and didn't take any new pictures. Here are a couple that I had on my computer:

Feb. 6, 2010. Here's a picture of Paulette and I snowshoeing at Peninsula State Park in 2007.

Feb, 7, 2010. The Saints win the Superbowl! Here's a picture of New Orleans I took in 2006.

I finished my Hermione scarf yesterday. It's blocking right now. I have moved on to knitting a lining for the Hermione hat that wasn't very warm. When I am done with that, I have yarn that I bought at Iris on Saturday that will be made into Selbu mittens, as pictured below.

I am using oatmeal yarn for the background and teal for the design. I hope to be knitting on these really soon because knitting on the lining of the hat I am doing is just boring.

Big bologna

2010-02-05T09:43:00.000-06:00

After I cut the ring bologna we were having for supper in half last night, the opportunity for a photo op struck me. Paulette and I must have laughed at least a half hour about it. I laughed so hard my stomach started to hurt. Apparently we live really boring lives.

Now that's a big bologna!

Waiting....

2010-02-04T09:24:00.000-06:00

Picture from yesterday:

Anybody wanna sit on this bench right now? It's waiting for spring.

And, the picture for today is for Vicki and Paulette:

Taken last spring. I thought we needed a break from the wintery pictures.

Little birdie

2010-02-02T16:15:00.000-06:00

Here's the picture of the day:

Life is just a bowl of cherries....

2010-02-01T15:53:00.002-06:00

Your picture of the day is the cherries from my lunch:

It's picture-rific!

2010-02-01T08:36:00.001-06:00

I'm behind on my pictures--sorry about that.

Jan. 29, 2010. Here's me on Friday outside the Sow's Ear yarn shop in Verona. I tagged along with Paulette to a meeting in Madison so that we could go here after. Yarn was purchased and fun was had by all.

Jan. 30, 2010. Full moon over our fence. It was huge!

Jan. 31, 2010. My weekend reading. Apparently I like history.

I made good progress on my scarf over the weekend. It's about 65% done now. I think I'll be finished before this coming weekend. I did get some yarn at Iris to line my Hermione hat on the yarn store trip that my niece Beth and I took on Saturday. She found some really pretty Mini Mochi merino sock yarn there.

I'll have the picture for today up here later. Promise.

Time to pay up

2010-01-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

It's time to pay the first installment of our property taxes!

Our share is $1659 and some cents. It just looks really bad to see that you owe that amount to the city written on a piece of paper. That breaks down to about $4.55 per day. Not a bad amount to pay for clean water, sewer services, snow plowing, garbage pickup, educating the kids that are going to have to take care of me when I am old, etc.

Morning

2010-01-27T08:42:00.002-06:00

Picture of the day:

Morning in Menominee Park. I was driving my car around before work to heat it up.

I thought the drive might as well be scenic!

Tuesday

2010-01-26T14:28:00.000-06:00

I got a lot of progress done on my fair isle scarf yesterday, which was a furlough day for us.

The picture really doesn't show the contrast between the brown and the moss green. It's really pretty.

I got to wear my Hermione hat, but found out it's not all that warm because of the holes in it between the cables. I think I'm going to knit a lining into it. Maybe with some cream colored baby cashmerino.

Your picture of the day is leftovers from fall in our garden:

Knitting

2010-01-25T22:17:00.000-06:00

Here is your picture of the day:

Spring in January

2010-01-24T21:54:00.000-06:00

Witness the pansies we have growing outside in January:

New stuff

2010-01-23T23:34:00.000-06:00

I finished the hat I started Thursday evening:

I started the Hermione Fair Isle scarf from the Half Blood Prince movie:

And, finally, the picture of the day is me in my new glasses from the Shopko optical where my niece, Beth, works as an optician:

Ecelctic reading

2010-01-22T16:18:00.000-06:00

Picture of the day:

My gals

2010-01-21T21:30:00.000-06:00

Your picture of the day is my knitting group:

My socks are done now:

Aren't they pretty?

I almost immediately cast on this hat:

It's the Hermione hat from the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie. I am making it with Rowan RYC Soft Lux yarn. I love the gold sparkles!

Reading

2010-01-20T15:01:00.002-06:00

Your picture of the day:

'Nuf said.

Metronome

2010-01-19T13:53:00.000-06:00

Your picture of the day is a metronome in my office:

Time off

2010-01-18T22:03:00.000-06:00

Had the day off today. We went to return the spinning wheel I've had rented since October. I also bought yarn for a fair isle scarf I want to make.

And.......here's your picture of the day!

It's Paulette and Churchill!

Picture of the day

2010-01-17T13:18:00.001-06:00

In the bleak midwinter,

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter,

Long ago.

--Christina Rosetti, 1872

Whew!

2010-01-16T23:07:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy day here. Had a meeting this morning in Fond du Lac. Then I got to stay home the rest of the day--oh joy! I never get to do that these days. I got another skein of Christmas yarn spun for the mittens I want to make later this year. I just want to finish up the roving I have tomorrow so that I can finish that little project.

I also got the first sock of the pair done:

Isn't it pretty?

I got a good start on it's mate as well. Paulette also cast on the same socks and she is just chugging along on them. Yippee! The second sock that I cast on starts with a pink ribbing--they won't match, but that's okay with me.

I better get to bed now. I leave you with the picture of the day:

It's me spinning yarn for Christmas mittens that I want to make later this year.

Good night!

Friday before a three day weekend

2010-01-15T13:51:00.001-06:00

I am so happy it's Friday. I survived working an entire week! The next two weeks won't be full weeks. We have off for Martin Luther King Day on Monday, I have some special election inspector training next week Thursday and the next Monday (Jan. 25) is a furlough day. We were going to go snowshoeing this next Monday, but with the warm weather melting the snow that probably isn't going to happen. Guess I'll have to find some alternate diversion (knitting, perhaps?).

Anyhow, my sock is moving right along. In fact, it's my picture of the day today:

It's turning out really pretty. Unfortunately there's a black section coming up in the Noro yarn. This won't provide any contrast so you won't see the pattern. It's going to be removed when I get to it. There's yellow in the skein after it.

Churchill has the right idea for today--I wish I were home taking a nap with him here:

Have a good weekend everyone!

Blue Ridge

2010-01-14T16:11:00.000-06:00

Today's picture is of some of the Blue Ridge pottery that is on our dining room wall at home.

Todays picture...

2010-01-13T14:37:00.002-06:00

Today's picture is of the dill in the my garden:

Tuesday

2010-01-12T15:15:00.001-06:00

Here's my latest picture of the day:

It's the steeple of the elementary school near the University.

On the sock front, the good news is that I got to the heel flap of the first sock yesterday. The bad news is that I should have followed the instructions and used the needle size they said. So, it's been taken apart and started over. I didn't like the way the colors were turning out anyhow. So, I rewound the ball to turn it basically inside out. I like the sock better now. There are more color changes on this end of the ball. So, I guess my mistake is turning out to be in my favor.

Catching up

2010-01-11T08:56:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted my pictures of the day from the project 365 I am doing. There's a reason...

Jan. 7, 2010. The day our Christmas tree fell over (and partially the reason that my pictures have been delayed). It's a good thing I took this and other pictures with the tree in it the night before. Paulette is also wearing the shawl she knitted from the Pine Tree shawl pattern I designed.

Jan. 8, 2010. Me at AFSCME Headquarters in Madison where I was at a meeting. I am wearing the Penny Straker sweater I finished last year.

Jan. 9, 2010. The Cooper's Hawk that keeps hanging around in our backyard. I don't like it because it keeps killing and eating the little birds in the yard. This morning I saw it eating one on our woodpile.

Jan. 10, 2010. I finally finished the Candy Cane socks and have now moved on to these rainbow socks--the first time I have done stranded color knitting. It's really fun and could be a little addicting!

Jan. 11, 2010. Morning.

The last day

2010-01-06T14:25:00.001-06:00

Today is Epiphany, the last day of the Christmas season. Therefore, I thought the picture of the day should be one of my manger at home:

I also finished spinning one skein of Christmas yarn that I am making last night. I am going to make mittens with it when the skeins are done (well, maybe the knitting will wait until later in the year). I think I can squeak 3 or 4 skeins out of the fiber I have at home. I am spinning it on a Schacht Ladybug with a ratio of 10 1/2:1.

Isn't it pretty? The red and green are wool (don't know what kind) and the white is merino. I am spinning silver tinsel fiber in with the merino. I love the sparkles.

Sunset

2010-01-05T16:10:00.000-06:00

Here is your picture of the day--the sunset yesterday as I left work, taken from the parking lot:

Pictures...

2010-01-04T14:30:00.000-06:00

Here is my picture of the day:

This was a Christmas present from Paulette. He is waiting for more snow.

2010 in pictures

2010-01-03T21:46:00.000-06:00

I decided to take at least one picture every day and post it. I am already behind--forgive me.

Paulette and I started 2010 out by snowshoeing at High Cliff State Park on Jan. 1.

Jan 2, 2010. One year since we had to have our sweet Jeffy put to sleep. We are very sad today.

Jan. 3, 2010. Spent a lot of the day knitting and watching TV. I am trying to get my candy cane socks finished so that I can move on to other non-Christmas projects.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T20:56:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to everyone. May you all have a new year blessed with health, wealth, and happiness.

Shopping trip

2009-12-21T15:06:00.000-06:00

On Friday I took vacation and got up early in the morning to go shopping at the mall. Fox River Mall, to be exact.

Here's me waiting at the light on the exit ramp to turn onto College Avenue in Appleton:

While there were cars, there wasn't as much traffic at 9:45 AM as I expected.

Here it is, the Mall!

I always park near Younkers:

I was there for about 4 hours. I got most of my shopping done, though. I have just a few things left, but they are no big deal. I love the sale racks and tables.

I also stopped at Barnes and Noble for Christmas cards. On the way out of that parking lot, I saw an unusual vehicle:

How often does one go shopping and encounter the Weinermobile?

Here is "a little something extra" (lagniappe in New Orleans) picture of Churchill under the tree:

He's waiting for Santa Cat.

Snow day!

2009-12-10T16:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had a paid snow day. I don't remember this EVER happening in the 24 years I have worked at the University.

So, what did I do with my day? You mean, besides the shoveling of our 105 foot driveway and the front sidewalk?

Well, sit back, get comfy and get some hot chocolate!

View from our living room window

Snow started to cake the windows

The birds found the new cardinal feeder. Hmm, there are no cardinals in this picture. I have seen them there. Oh, and lots of squirrels, too!

I also was on Facebook. A lot.

I baked these Pillsbury cookies, which almost got too dark because I was paying attention to Facebook and not my cookies. They are gone now.

Churchill reaping the rewards. Here he is drinking warm milk leftover from the hot chocolate I made.

The snowman snow measurer is happy. The snow depth there is actually 1 foot--the stick broke off last year.

The beginnings of the snow luge run to the garage.

When we went out to shovel I made sure I brushed the snow from almost all the decorations outside.

Snow sliding off the siding (yes, it does kind of rhyme)

Our tree, all decorated

A special ornament for Jeffy

I made a special arrangement by the fence where some of Jeffy's ashes are

Churchill was tired from the day--and so are his mommies!

I did manage to fit some knitting in there. Unfortunately, I seem to be taking things apart more than I am knitting them these days. My Christmas present will get done, though!

Time to get the tree--and the shovels

2009-12-07T11:30:00.002-06:00

Paulette and I went on our annual pilgrimage to Heritage Christmas Tree Farm last week Friday. It was fun. Robin, the lady who owns the farm, even had chili for us!

Here are pictures:

Paulette and the tree

Me and the tree

Paulette after cutting the tree down

Here's a picture of it with just the lights on:

Here's what Churchill did a lot of the time while we decorated the tree:

The tree farm is near Nordic Mountain Ski Hill. They were making snow (which they won't have to do soon--see below).

Snow making machines at Nordic Mountain

After three solid days of decorating both the tree and the house, I am tired. But, it's all up, inside and out. And not a moment too soon. Here's what the Green Bay National Weather Service has to say about the upcoming weather:

SNOW WILL BEGIN OVERSPREADING THE REGION BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON...BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING...BEFORE DIMINISHING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. SNOWFALL TOTALS COULD RANGE FROM 4 TO 8 INCHES OVER NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN...TO 8 TO 12 INCHES OVER EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW...STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY THE STORM FROM TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THESE STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE SNOW WHICH COULD LIMIT VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN ONE-HALF MILE AT TIMES.

Get your shovels ready!

Pine tree shawl

2009-11-30T20:23:00.002-06:00

Here it is--my Christmas/Holiday gift to all of you! I finished my Pine tree shawl pattern, finally.

Pine tree lace shawl

by Sara L. Stichert

________________________________________

This small shawl features Shetland pine trees as a border, with a fir cone pattern for the rest of the shawl. Beads are an optional feature on the edging of the shawl.

________________________________________

Materials needed:

size 4 circular lace needles with a 32 inch cable

459 yds fingering weight yarn

stitch markers (to put between pattern repeats)

darning needle to weave in ends

size 6/0 seed beads (optional for edging)

size 11 steel crochet hook to put beads on edging

The sample shawl was knitted on size 4 circular lace needles with Trekking Hand Art fingering weight yarn in the Tundra colorway. It used about 459 yards of yarn and the shawl blocked out to 27 x 54 inches.

By varying the yarn weight and needle size, you can make this shawl larger or smaller. You can also make it larger by increasing the number of fir cone pattern repeats by two pattern repeats before you move on to the pine tree border pattern. Please note that you will need more yarn if you vary the pattern by increasing repeats.

A note on charts….

This pattern uses charted design. The odd rows of the charts are usually the right side of your knitting, the even rows the wrong side. Begin reading the charts on row 1 (and all odd rows) by starting at the right side of the chart, reading the pattern right to left. For row 2 (and all even rows), read the chart from left to right.

Abbreviations used in this pattern are:

K or k = knit

P or p = purl

k2tog = knit two stitches together

p2tog = purl two stitches together

M1 = make one stitch by picking up the thread between two stitches, twisting it and then knitting this stitch

yo = yarnover

psso = pass slipped stitch(es) over knitted or purled stitch

SSP = slip one stitch as if to knit, slip another stitch as if to knit, transfer these stitches back to left needle, then purl together through the back loops.

SSK = slip one stitch as if to knit, slip another as if to knit, knit stitches together through the back loops

Sl1 = slip one stitch as if to purl

WS = wrong side

RS = right side

Beading instructions for edging

This shawl also has optional beads in the edging. The placement of beads is indicated in the edging chart with a B. To place the bead on a stitch, first knit the stitch. You will then pick up one bead on the size 11 crochet hook. Slide the stitch you just knitted onto the crochet hook and slide the bead down over the stitch. Replace the stitch on the right needle.

Finishing instructions

Bind off using stretchy bind off: k1, *k1, transfer two stitches back to left needle, k2 tog through back loops*. Repeat between * across until all stitches are bound off. Weave in ends and block severely. Trim ends after blocking to avoid ends popping out during the blocking process.

Cast on instructions and first 9 rows

Begin the shawl by casting on 3 stitches. Knit 6 rows in garter stitch, slipping the first stitch of each row. Pick up 3 stitches along the garter stitch edge, and then pick up 3 stitches from the cast on edge. You will now have 9 stitches on your needle.

Setup rows for chart 1:

Row 1 (WS): Sl1, k2, p to last 3 stitches, k3.

Row 2 (RS): Sl1, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k3.

Row 3 (WS): Sl1, k2, p to last 3 st., k3

Row 4 (RS): Sl1, k2, yo, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3,yo, k3

Row 5 (WS): Sl1, k2, p to last 3 st., k3

Row 6 (RS): Sl1, k2, yo, k5, yo, k1, yo, k5,yo, k3

Row 7 (WS): Sl1, k2, p to last 3 st, k3

Row 8 (RS): Sl1, k2, yo, k7, yo, k1, yo, k7, yo, k3

Row 9 (WS): Sl1, k2, p to last 3 st., k3

You will now have 25 stitches on your needle.

You can now proceed to chart 1.

Click on the following images to make them bigger. If you want a pretty copy of my pattern, email me at saraleestichert@aol.com

Image of chart 1 (not very good, though):

Here's chart 2 for the fir cone pattern:

Here's chart 3 for the Shetland pine tree border:

And, here's the final chart for the edging.

Happy knitting and Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, etc.

Sometimes you pick the project, sometimes it picks you

2009-11-11T15:46:00.000-06:00

I apologize that I haven't posted in a while. I am still sick. My cold morphed into a lovely ear infection. I am hoping that it feels better by Thanksgiving. I am tired of being sick.

A lot has happened since I posted last.

I finished my Little Pumpkins socks and now I started a new shawl. The shawl pattern is sort of a Franken-pattern. I am using part of a shawl pattern for a fir cone section of the triangular shawl and a modified version of a Shetland pine trees pattern. Haven't decided totally on the edging yet, but I am leaning towards the one that Evelyn Clark used on her Swallowtail Shawl because it sort of has a pine tree shape. If I have the time I'll write it up and put it on my blog as a Christmas gift to you guys.

Here's what the beginning looks like:

The yarn is Trekking Handpaints. Isn't it pretty? I thought the yarn was far too pretty to be made into socks. Perhaps I'll put some beads in the edging.

Our garage door broke on November 1. One of the springs broke and lodged itself in the wall of the garage. Thankfully, it wasn't me or my car that it landed on. Unfortunately for us, the door and the springs were old (probably 1970's vintage) and it would have costed nearly as much to fix as replacing it. So, we chose replacement. The new door is lovely--$980 worth of loveliness. Now we just need to work on the re-siding and roof. It's always something.

Isn't it lovely?

This past Sunday evening the kids in the house next door had company. Their friends backed right into our picket fence when they were leaving. Of course, they didn't tell us about it and we didn't notice the damage. Their mother owns the house and lives downstairs. She told Paulette that she would pay for the fixing on Monday evening when she saw her. The mom was upset about it because she noticed it on her birthday.

Here's the damage:

Perhaps they need backing lessons? I am annoyed for many reasons. I had plans for Saturday. Now I won't be doing that because we need to fix the fence then. If this were summer, it would be fixed already. Unfortunately it gets dark really early now. I work until 4:30PM. The fence is set into our lot by nearly 2 feet. One has to wonder where they would have ended up if the fence wasn't there to stop them. I suspect alcohol was involved. The fence posts won't have to be replaced. They are lucky because they would have been the ones doing the digging for that since it was so much fun the first time around.

Well, time to go now. Hope it isn't so long before I post next time.

Now with more whine

2009-10-29T10:23:00.001-05:00

First, let me apologize for not posting. I have been sick since last week Tuesday with what I think is just a cold, but who knows. I am exhausted. I stayed home from work most of last week, and a few hours this week, but there is work to be done, since it is mid term exam time here. My schedule beyond work is just plain crazy making. Last week, besides being sick, I had a spinning class Tuesday evening in Neenah at Yarns by Design, Knit Night on Wednesday, and a hair appointment Thursday evening. I could have gone to a dinner on Sunday evening, but didn't because I was too tired and I didn't think people would have appreciated me breathing on them. This week I had the second of two spinning classes on Tuesday, Knit Night Wednesday, rehearsal for our church's Hallowed House this evening, the first night of the Hallowed House tomorrow evening and the last night of the Hallowed House Sunday evening. All I want to do is stay home--no one wants me to.

I'll start with my spinning class and work on from there.

Here we see the Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel I am renting from the yarn store all ready for it's trip to my second class:

The class was fun and really helpful, even though I wanted nothing better than to be at home in my recliner while I was there. Here's a picture of my first skein of yarn:

It ended up on the super bulky side--all 29 yards of it. If I can reproduce the weight, I'll be making a hat with this. It's really squooshy yarn, made with Northern Lights 100% wool pencil roving in the Forest Glade colorway. I'm still working on the laceweight stuff on my spindle. It's a long work in progress, but it is going to be really pretty yarn. I did have a smackdown spindle spinning challenge from the woman who was teaching the spinning class which I declined. I was too sick to enjoy it.

Moving right along, here are some scenes from last night's Knit Night:

Here's Vicki hiding behind a wheel of unspun roving that she is making a gorgeous sweater out of. (You can see it on her lap)

Here's a really good shot of Vicki's Lloie cardigan. It's so pretty.

Margaret brought festive Halloween decorations with her!

Our discussion was interesting last night at Knit Night. It included tales of a Hanukkah driedel drinking game.

I finished my shawl last week:

I need to take a better picture of this. It did turn out pretty. I will admit that I was tired of it by the end.

I have moved on to socks now.

These are pumpkin socks. The pattern is Little Pumpkins socks.

The pattern is pretty cute. Paulette and I are having an unintentional knit along on this pattern. We didn't plan it, honest.

I leave you now with a pretty picture of our dogwood bush in the backyard in all it's fall finery:

How much can you cram into a weekend?

2009-10-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a busy one. The day dawned early on Saturday, with Churchill playing with a jingly toy in the living room. I guess it was time for me to get up, at least in his eyes.

Paulette and I went to be nosy at the TEA party that was being held at the courthouse at 10AM on Saturday in Oshkosh. The Oshkosh Northwestern estimated the crowd at hundreds. Our estimate was closer to 150-200. They weren't very enthusiastic. It was ironic that they were holding an anti-tax tally outside of the courthouse, which the last time I checked is a taxpayer-supported institution. Whatever. Mother Nature provided a nice touch by trying to freeze them out and snowing on them. I saw Michelle Litjens, former Winnebago County Republican Party chair there. She thought it was really funny that I was looking for our members (both union and Democratic Party) there. I gotta do what I gotta do. We could only stand the BS for about 10 minutes. When we left, we had to walk past the generator that was providing the power for their microphones. It was sputtering. Paulette thought that was real funny.

Our next stop on Saturday was the Little Farmer Apple Orchard on Hwy 151 on the other side of Lake Winnebago outside of Fond du Lac. When we were leaving Oshkosh on Hwy 45, it started to snow fairly hard. Weird weather for October 10. Paulette wondered out loud if there would be less crowds at the apple orchard because it was snowing. Not a chance. It was still a zoo there. This place reminds me of the pumpkin farm on the TLC tv show, Little People, Big World. It was still snowing when we got there. Fortunately they have an indoor marketplace where you can buy already picked apples and all sorts of other fall-y stuff. I bought: apples for my sister Donna (I'll get them to you on Sunday!), a pumpkin cream cheese muffin that was to become my lunch, roasted pumpkin seeds and black popcorn. The lines were still pretty long to both get baked goods and pay for your your purchases. The lines kind of remind me of the lines to pay when you shop on Black Friday after Thanksgiving. We ate our muffins in the car and then we were off to our next destination. By the time we left, the sun was out. It was still really cold.

We chose to drive up the Hwy 151 side of Lake Winnebago to see the fall colors on our way up to Neenah, where I had to pay the fee for the spinning class I am taking later this month. It was a beautiful drive. Yes, there's road construction, and they were working in some spots, but I could stay on 151 the whole time, until I had to take the fork in the road to Hwy 55. I bought some lovely orange yarn to make a fall scarf at Yarns by Design:

We then proceeded onto our next destination, Fox River Mall, where I needed toner from the Clinique counter. I also wanted to look around at the stuff at Bath and Body Works and Yankee Candle. We looked at the clothing and stuff at Younkers to scope out what we wanted to buy on sale later in the week. Woo hoo, shopping!

We had grocery store stuff to do when we got back home, and of course, Starbucks.

Our last destination for the day was a house warming party at fellow knit night knitter, Jodi's house. Paulette works with her husband in Polk Library. It was nice.

I finally got to knit in the evening.

On Sunday, we went to church and then the pumpkin farm! We bought many pumpkins and cornstalks.

Here is Churchill checking out the pumpkin bounty:

He was hard to take a picture of because he kept running around on the table.

We then had the cleaning inside the house to do and Paulette wanted to cut the grass. I did manage to get a little knitting done in the evening. Maybe more can be accomplished this evening.

Win some, lose some

2009-10-06T09:18:00.010-05:00

Unfortunately, our Green Bay Packers lost to the Vikings last night. Sigh. It was a good game, though. And they didn't get wiped all over the field like some probably thought would happen. Take that, Brent Favre.

Here's a YouTube video on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAE_Xup_OY

On the knitting front, I got my socks all done:

I also sold three copies of the pattern to Phyllis at Iris Fine Yarns. Yay!

I now am knitting another shawl, the Diamond Fantasy shawl by Sivia Harding.

Here's how far I am:

I'm adding beads in the middle of each diamond, which is not really visible in the picture. It's really pretty in person.

I do feel sweater knitting coming on this winter, though.....stay tuned.

Presenting....

2009-09-30T14:11:00.004-05:00

Here are pictures of my newly finished Lace Circle Sweater:

Isn't it beautiful? It's nice and warm, too. You wouldn't think so, being that it is so see through. But it is.

One down, one to go

2009-09-29T11:36:00.003-05:00

One sock of the pair is done:

Only one more to go! Perhaps it will go quicker now that I am not trying to knit and write down the pattern at the same time. Hopefully they will be done so that I can enter them into the Socktober competition at Iris Fine Yarns. Hey, I've got a day and a half!

Busy, busy, busy

2009-09-28T15:33:00.008-05:00

Last week was a humdinger of a busy week. First, I had to work all week. Monday night was ok--I could stay home after work. Then I was busy with something every other night of the week until Sunday. Ugh. Thankfully this week is really quiet. For the most part.

I did manage to finish my pink sweater in the midst of all the goings-on.

Here it is blocking. It's now resting comfortably in my dresser drawer with all my shawls and summer sweaters. It's debut will be on Wednesday, for Knit Night, naturally. Of course, there are always those who want to disrupt my enjoyment of Knit Night by holding other events then. Shame on them! So, the sweater and I have to make an appearance at a meeting and then leave. ASAP!

I also started a pair of socks that are supposed to be for Socktober at Iris Fine Yarns. If I were just knitting them from an already done pattern, they would be on the downslope of done-ness. Unfortunately, I got it in my head to design a pattern to enter. So, I am still on sock number 1. But, I'm on the foot part!

See?

This is a better picture of the patterning. I decided to knit the foot part that goes in your shoes plain because all those nupps didn't seem like they would be comfortable in one's shoes. I have the pattern written down if anyone has a hankering to make these. The name of the pattern is Convallaria Majalis. It is the Latin name of lilies of the valley.

On the home front, Churchill has been out of sorts because Mommy has been gone at stuff for so many evenings in a row. Poor baby. Unfortunately for him Mommy still is going to knit while she's home. Sorry Billy. You could sit next to me like a good boy. I think he gets lonely now. When he's home alone, he really is alone.

A perfect day

2009-09-16T13:52:00.013-05:00

Yesterday was Paulette's birthday. We both took a furlough day from work. She wanted to spend time on the beach. Fortunately, the weather cooperated. It was perfect weather. She wanted to go to Sheboygan to sit on the Northside beach. So, off we went! (We also managed to fit some shopping and going out to lunch in there).

Here's me getting unexpectedly splashed. I didn't think to bring my swimming suit. I would have gone swimming if I had it along, because the water was really warm. Not like it usually is, where your feet go numb from the cold.

Paulette in the water.

One of the old jettys.

Paulette knitting.

Close up of my knitting.

The body of my sweater is all finished!

You can almost hear the waves.

The sand was as hot as I remembered it from when I was a little girl. It felt good.

I miss being able to come down to the lakefront whenever I want. Lake Winnebago is not the same.

Here's a leftover from our weekend excursion to Stitches Midwest:

It's Lyra! I was very excited to find this pattern. I had found the other Herbert Niebling pattern books, (I didn't buy them) which were $45 each.

Anyhow, yesterday's weather was a great gift. After the cool summer we had it was nice to be able to finally do what I had wanted to do all summer--sit on the beach. I even got a little sunburned. I never even thought to bring along sunscreen, because it's September now. I hope I soaked up enough warmth to last me until next summer. My lovely hometown lakefront, I promise to try and not be such a stranger in the future.

Monday is a day of rest

2009-09-14T08:50:00.019-05:00

Friday and Saturday were days I have been waiting all year for. It was fiber festival weekend!!

On Friday (a day of vacation), Paulette, her sister Cheryl and I went down to Jefferson, WI for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. Oh mama, it didn't disappoint! Here are my purchases in no particular order:

Here we have (for the non-spinners amongst you) a wraps per inch gauge. Useful for determining what gauge yarn you have. It has one inch and one-half inch openings.

This is a spinner's control card. You use it to determine the weight of yarn you are spinning by comparing the "single" or ply you are spinning to the marks on the card.

These are one of the things I went to find at Sheep and Wool. They are Louet Mini Cotton Cards. Of course, I had to try them out. They make the locks of the the alpaca I have washed into nice fluffy fiber for spinning. I am very clumsy with them yet. I managed to card one of my little fingers, which bled profusely. I have about a quarter of a shoebox carded into "rolags" of fluffy baby alpaca fiber.

This is sparkly fiber that you can incorporate into the wool, alpaca, etc. fiber when you are carding it. I did put some of the white into one of the rolags I carded to see what it looks like. It's pretty!

Patty had a booth there with her alpaca farm stuff. She brought the rest of Diamond Rio's fiber (after Vicki and I had taken what we wanted from it) and also other fiber (including some from my favorite alpaca, Silver Bells). Diamond Rio and Silver Bell's fiber sold very quickly.

We also saw Vicki from our knitting group there. She was with her mom.

On Saturday we got up early to drive to Schaumburg, IL to Stitches Midwest. More money was spent. Here's the loot:

These are really expensive stainless steel Signature double pointed needles in size 0. I saw Paulette snap a wooden size 0 in half last week, while she was knitting with it. I didn't want to suffer the same fate. She bought some of these, too.

Aren't these pretty? I am going to make the smaller ones into pins. They are just on floral wire right now.

This is a really expensive, but really pretty, shawl stick. You use it to keep your shawl on by sticking it through the lacy fabric, kind of like a big stick pin.

Finally, I found yarn for the Peacock Feathers shawl I want to make. And it was inexpensive as well, ringing in at $7.50 per skein. I bought 4 skeins.

Here's a picture of the shawl:

Isn't it lovely?

I also bought this lovely pima cotton yarn from the Windy Valley Muskox booth. I bought 9 balls of it, enough to make a tank top. I also bought another ball of the Quiviut blend in aqua. I now have enough of that to make the Swallowtail shawl.

Yesterday, I was inspired during church. I know, I know, I should be paying attention. I was, but all of a sudden it came to me how I could make my own shawl sticks. I went up to Appleton for supplies. Here are the finished products:

I will be making a lot more of these. Perhaps I'll look into selling them somehow.

I did manage to get in some knitting time, since I didn't drive for most of Friday and Saturday. I am currently binding off the body of the Lace Circle Sweater, aka The Pink Blob. Next move with it is to cast on sleeve one. I normally knit two sleeves at a time, but these are knit in the round on circular needles. So, it's one at a time.

Tomorrow is Paulette's birthday. I am taking a furlough day. Don't know what she wants to do yet. If you all recall, I went to Door County on my birthday.

I survived!

2009-09-08T15:57:00.006-05:00

I survived the torment of serving food at the Labor Day picnic yesterday. I did manage to injure myself, though. I accidentally sliced my hand while slicing a brat bun. Thankfully it's only about 3/4 of an inch long. And it doesn't impare my knitting ability! I am currently sporting a lovely aqua bandaid on the palm side of my hand under my little finger.

Speaking of knitting, I am knitting on another pink blob:

Here's a closer look:

The yarn I am using, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, is really thin silk with fluffy mohair. This sweater is going to be light as air (but warm) when I am finished. I have 9 rounds to knit before I start the armhole rows. It's moving right along!

Endings and beginnings

2009-09-04T14:32:00.008-05:00

Wow. It's September. How did that happen?

Our garden is finally producing:

I finished my Norwegian Woods shawl:

I started a fluffy pink sweater:

Paulette bought a St. Francis statue to put in the memorial garden that I am going to make for our deceased furry friends:

Someone finally bought the house next door that has been for sale for at least 1 year. Yippee, it's going to be owner-occupied. No more renters on that side of the house. The lady who bought it is really nice. She wants to plant flowers and a garden. Her kids are going to live upstairs from her. The kids have two orange kittens. I hope we get to see the kittens.

I am looking forward to a nice quiet weekend. Monday is the Labor Day picnic. I will be an indentured servant for the day for our labor council, serving food and doing who knows what else. It makes me not look forward to Labor Day. Isn't Labor Day supposed to be a day to rest from your labors? Instead I am serving food to sometimes rude people. I just hate it. I always hope for rain so that the crowds won't be that big.

My payback is that I am taking next week Friday off and Paulette and I are going to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. We are also going to Stitches Midwest next week Saturday. At least I have something to look forward to.

The randomness of Wednesday

2009-08-26T16:20:00.006-05:00

Wild kingdom regins supreme in our backyard.

Here's a shot of a squirrel thinking he hit the jackpot in the newly installed cardinal feeder:

Here's a shot of one of the many bumblebees in our yard:

Churchill is a lucky boy. Mommy couldn't find him a suitably large cat harness at the store. Dog harnesses don't fit him right. So, I crocheted him one on Sunday.

He hasn't tried it out yet.

Perpetual Saturday

2009-08-25T08:54:00.013-05:00

I was on vacation Thursday through yesterday. We never did get to Door County, but that's okay since I was just there in June.

My vacation was like a perpetual Saturday. On Thursday Paulette, my niece Beth and I went up to Iris Fine Yarns and also to Yarns by Design. I bought this at Iris:

Such a pretty color. I am going to make a sweater with it.

I bought more shawl patterns at Yarns by Design.

Beth won out on the deal--I bought her sock yarn and size 2 DPNs. She wants to make lace socks next. Here she is with her nearly finished socks (they are done now!):

Her first socks!

On Friday, Paulette and I went to Fond du Lac to The Knitting Room and also to Woolgatherers. Both are on Main Street, nearly across the street from one another. I bought some black sock yarn at The Knitting Room to make rainbow socks with. I am going to use it with my Noro sock yarn. I bought fiber dye at Woolgatherers.

We also went to Patty's alpaca farm so that I could get some alpaca fiber. I bought some of Diamond Rio's baby alpaca fiber. He is a very dirty little alpaca. I picked about 100 grams (about 3.5 oz) of the fiber clean on Sunday afternoon. I washed it and it is now drying on a screen in our porch. Here are pictures:

Into the bath!

Nearly dry now

On Sunday we had an adventure that I would rather not repeat. We needed to get a new kitchen faucet. The old, probably cheapo one wouldn't shut off. And of course, that water appliance was the only one in the house with no shut off valves near the sink. It was running so much that we ended up having to turn the water supply to the house off overnight. When Paulette went to see if she could change the faucet herself, lo and behold, someone had soldered the faucet directly into the water lines. Sigh. We ended up calling our friend Kyle who came over and changed it for us. We now have a lovely Price Pfister faucet in the Savannah model from Menards.

It sure makes the whole kitchen look better. I hated the old faucet. It was ugly. It's exciting to have a sprayer that actually works! We also have shutoff valve for that faucet now. And, the best part is the faucet was on sale for $73 with a $20 merchandise rebate. $53 for this faucet wasn't bad!

Yesterday we just hung around the house. It was nice. Churchill liked it. I got lots of knitting done on my shawl--after I started it over because I didn't like how it was coming out on the size 3 needles I was using. It's now being knit on 2's. Much better.

Beginnings

2009-08-19T14:38:00.005-05:00

Here I am at the beginning of another shawl for the year--I think that makes 6 so far.

Speaking of beginnings, I am off on vacation for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Don't know what I'll be doing. Door County may be in the plans.

Embracing my inner librarian

2009-08-18T09:35:00.009-05:00

I bought new reading glasses over the weekend. Yeah, geekiness abounds here.

Shhhh-it's a library!

The retro look is in! These remind me of the blue glasses I had in grade school. Except mine in grade school didn't have the rhinestones, which I would have really liked then.

Here are pictures of me at work:

A little light reading.

Love the Library of Congress Subject Headings!

Paulette and I also went to the summer sale at Iris Fine Yarns on Saturday. I was looking for yarn for a summer sweater. Iris didn't dissapoint me.

I got 9 skeins of this Sublime Organic Cotton DK to make this sweater, the Surplice Lace top, by Gale Bunn. Probably won't be done this year any more. I am now knitting another shawl--the Norwegian Woods shawl and scarf, by Sivia Harding with Misti Alpaca Lace yarn in pale blue. It's going to have silver crystal beads along the edge. I feel the need to knit in color, since the last two things I knit were all cream color!

Well, time to go now. Love your local library!

Finally...

2009-08-14T14:35:00.004-05:00

Friday. Finally.

I finished my sweater last week:

The sweater is pretty. I am not. This picture affirms that I need to start walking again and go back on a strict diet. Sigh.

Of course, others like to sabotage one's diet plans all the time. It's irritating and folks seem to take it personally that you want to watch what you eat. Why is that?

Well, that's all I've got. It's been a slow week.

Ghosts of the sewing past

2009-08-11T16:04:00.006-05:00

While looking in the basement for crocheting patterns (yes, I am also a "hooker"), I came across some sewing patterns I had forgotten about. They also are flood survivors--they want to live!

This one is a pattern from 1994. I wonder why I never made this. It's a lovely pattern.

This one is from 1993.

The one thing that bothers me about sewing patterns is that the sizing never seems true to my size. If I bought clothing in the same size that I have to buy sewing patterns in at Younkers or Macys, the manufactured clothing would be enormous on me.

Another thing that has kept me from sewing is the lack of fabric stores in Oshkosh. Also, fabric is really expensive to buy. It is much cheaper to buy clothing on sale. Sigh. But then we all look alike.

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-08-07T15:37:00.021-05:00

First, before I start, I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my sister Donna! Hope you're having a good day!

It has been a really busy week. I have had to go to something every evening after work this week. Ugh. I am excited that I get to stay home this evening! Billy will be extra excited. He gets lonely by himself, poor little guy.

Monday it was setting up the county fair booth for our Labor Council:

Pictured from left to right: Paulette (treasurer), me (secretary), Joan Kaeding (vice president), Larry Lautenschlager (president).

Tuesday evening it was the Worship Committee meeting at church.

Wednesday evening it was a United Way Board of Directors meeting and then Knit Night.

Picture from last week's Knit Night of Mandi Isaacson with the bunny baby blanket she made for a gift.

Thursday it was a Labor Picnic at the state Governor's Mansion:

Here's Paulette in front of the Mansion.

Here's me standing under the "Forward" garden arch.

View of the side.

View of the back (taken from the gardens), where the picnic was being held.

Aren't they pretty?

Public dining room.

Formal sitting room.

Sunporch.

View of the State Capitol from the shoreline.

The Governor's fire pit. Okay, there's a story here. As we were walking up the driveway to the house, I wondered out loud if the Governor had a fire pit like a lot of us do in our backyard. Paulette wondered that if he did, would it be a metal tire rim like in the state parks. Well, this wasn't visible until I went down a stairway to the shoreline. I started laughing because I didn't expect that I would see this. Some of my friends wanted to put a match in it, since the wood is already laid out for a fire.

The Mansion's grounds were smaller than what I thought they would be. I don't know what I was expecting. The gardens are off to the left when you come up the driveway, which is an ellipse like the White House.

I leave you with something totally unrelated to all of the above. Ever in search of new laundry aids, I found this in the grocery store:

I had seen it in a magazine ad. This works really great, better than OxyClean! The drawback is that there are only 10 little pillows per package.

Have a good weekend, and happy stain removal!

Happy blogiversary to me!

2009-07-29T14:08:00.010-05:00

Two years. What a long time for me to blather on and on. For those of you who are reading, thanks for sticking with me.

And, so that you're not disappointed--here's more blather!

I am almost halfway on my newest sweater which I started over last Wednesday evening because the needles I was using were too big:

The pattern is #11 Lace tank from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2007. Not an easy pattern to find when you didn't buy the magazine. Gotta love the county library system.

I got a lot of knitting time in on it during our union convention this weekend (for the curious, AFSCME Council 24) in La Crosse. Churchill was my passenger for the car ride. I am proud of him for being such a good rider for the 3 hour drive there and back. He doesn't mind hotel rooms, but he was really glad to get home.

I won a prize in our retiree raffle (thanks for the tickets, Julie!). Here it is in it's new home in the Hoosier cabinet in our kitchen:

The appliance pictured is a Cuisinart blender/food processor. I was excited to win it. Apparently I appeared so excited to win it that my union brothers started calling me "blender girl". It is replacing two separate appliances--and this one has bigger capacity than the ones it is replacing.

I have broken in both the blender jar and the food processor jar. It makes nummy raspberry sherbet shakes. Mmmmmmmm.It also made short work of grating pecorino romano cheese for the four cheese ravioli in olive oil for supper last night.

Ah, this week is EAA week in Oshkosh. It takes a day or so to get used to the increased noise level of all the planes. I'm not complaining--I was an EAA member for a lot of years and have been to the convention too many times to count. Tonight at Knit Night we are expecting an EAA knitter. It should be interesting. I need to get there early to secure chairs for us, before the air show lets out. It's kind of hard to knit standing up.

Hope you all stick around to see what happens in the next year for the 3rd anniversary of my blog. Have a good day!