June? Where did you go??

June has disappeared. It has passed in a blur for me, some good times and some stressful times.

Good times - Niagara Falls! Husband and I went there for our anniversary, appealing to my nature thing and to his touristy thing. It was absolutely stunning. It was my first time there.

Horseshoe Falls


American Falls


While browsing a Maple Farm nearby, I picked up a small pack of Ice Wine Tea. Oh my, this stuff is wonderful! I now regret that I didn't try Ice Wine while I was there.

Bad times - my brother was in an accident while visiting the parents. He will be ok, but it was a tough week. He was biking on a trail and missed a stop sign and was hit by a car. He is now back home in Montana with a very positive attitude and is expected to make a full recovery. He may recover from this before my parents do. They were quite distraught and they don't bounce back from things very well anymore.

Good times - I went zip lining! It was great and I can't wait to go back.


Throughout all of this, there was very little knitting accomplished. I need to finish up a few things before I get into other projects. I've had to revise my goals of getting things done around the house....original plans were to start the first of May, now, hopefully I can get going the first part of July. My brother was in top physical condition at the time of his accident, and that has a lot to do with the fact that he will not spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. I need to get into better shape and to stop putting it off too.

What's with all of the yellow?

I used leftover stash to make this market bag. That explains the yellow that doesn't quite go with the rest of the colors, but I made this to see how I like the pattern. It doesn't stretch as much as I expected it to.


The placemats are now on the table. I'm working on another one just because I have the yarn. While the pattern in general looks much better with higher contrasting colors, these match the walls, so I like the colors ok. The kitchen, that's not showing, has yellow walls.



The lace valance is now up in the kitchen window.


The Wednesday night knitting group has changed venue and everyone seems to be happier with the new location. Here is a pic of us our first time there. New people have been coming each week.

Happy Anniversary to Hesira!

This is a day late, which has been my speed lately, but I want to wish Hesira and her hubby and belated Happy Anniversary! She is awesome and if you haven't checked out her blog yet, you should do so.

I also want to thank you all for your kind comments about our losing Katy. It means a lot. Thank goodness we have Lucy to lavish with attention. I think she's getting used to that.

Long time no post.

Last week I had to have my beloved Katy put down. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It helped that I have a vet that I trust completely and he cried right along with me. We are still slowly adjusting to life without that lovable little baby and she is going to be missed for a very long time. Lucy is now getting double the attention and I think she's taking on some of Katy's traits. She misses her too.

Today is my son's birthday. When he was young, it was so much fun to play up the St. Patrick's Day part of it, then he got to a point where he avoided the whole idea. Last night we took him to dinner and he said he planned to wear green today. That made me happy, though I don't know why it should matter to me.

I actually finished a few of my projects by the end of February even though I didn't post about it at the time.

The baby blanket. It was well received by Baby B, who carried it around with her when I gave it to her.


The blocked lace valance, waiting for spring before it will be put up.


Market Bag #1


Shedir - a stash busting project. (finished in March)


A progress pic of Market Bag #2 (another stash busting project). I think I like the pattern of #1 better, but I'll wait until I use them to decide for sure.

Finish things? Me?

It never fails. The best of intentions to get things finished end up being sidetracked, with rationalizations of course :P I have finished a few of the things, but have also started 3 other things and I am itching to start another project. The dress for Baby B may not get finished this month. It makes sense to save that for warmer weather. See my procrastination skills at work.

The rationalizations went like this. Ok, I need something portable to take to knitting night at the coffee shop so I'll start Shedir hat from Knitty. I got it going with a dark yarn and then realized it wouldn't be much fun if the lights weren't bright enough because I'm still waiting on new glasses. Ok, so I'll go ahead and start another market bag - I want to compare patterns and yarns to see which I'd like to make more of. So I started that. Then I went to see Baby B and found out she has no hat! Gasp! A hat was started right away without even looking for a pattern, and there should be more hats to follow.

The one I am itching to start is another tam. The idea for it formed in my head about a year ago, but I kept putting it off. Lately, it has come back to the forefront of my brain and I want to make it. Then I saw this hat which has only fueled my desire to get started. My hat will different but some of the same ideas apply. Seeing Katherine's hat has now sparked an interest in argyle.....and so it goes.

February - The FO Month

Ok, now that I have declared Feb as my FO month, I better stick to it or I will be annoyed with myself. I won't finish the wool sweater on the needles, but I do plan to finish these items.

The baby blanket. It needs to be blocked and then a duplicate stitch flower put on. Simple? I thought so until I tried duplicate stitching on something else yesterday. My eyes only saw the stitches upside down. I had a heck of a time with that and took it all out. But the knitting and crocheting the edges are all done.


The lace valance. It needs to be blocked. Notice a theme? :) I have brand new foam blocks to use (thanks DH!) and I have a nice table upstairs to use to place the blocks to keep things safe from pupper paws. The obstacle? Clearing off the table.


The dress for Baby B. Yikes. It needs to be stitched up. I was trying the duplicate stitch on the pockets I made for the front. Oh, then stitching on the pockets. Then crocheting around the edges.
I know all of these things are not complicated. I'm just not that great at it and I want this to look really nice.


The market bag. I don't think I will have any issues finishing this. This was my airport/airplane project. I didn't want to risk my Options being considered a lethal weapon and I didn't want to knit with anything else, so I found a crochet project.


Daughter's scarf. I cheated and counted it as an FO on Ravelry, but it's so simple there would be nothing to add when it was done. Only it isn't getting done. When daughter saw it, her face looked less than thrilled even though she was polite. She chose the colors but I guess she had something else in mind. Anyway, I need to get it off of the needles, so it's on this list.


By the time I finish all of this, I hope it's still cold enough (did I just say that????) to continue working on the Big Wool Sweater.


My plan to quit my job in January has been change to in "about 3 months". It looks like if I stick it out for 3 months, I can keep the part of the job I like and not have to do the part I don't. We'll see how that works out.

An embarrassing moment that almost was.

I've been really bad about remember song titles and artists for several years now. Occasionally, I will write down the name of a song when I hear one I like. Lucky for me, XM displays this info.

When I'm working, I sometimes leave my card in peoples' doors, so they can contact me at their convenience if they prefer. Today I stopped by a house, after an 8 month break from going there. This is the home of a 40 something single guy. Last time I was there it was spring and he was outside working on his motorcycle. I think my eyes must have lit up at the sight of a bike because then he seemed just a tiny bit wary, like I might as for a ride or something, but maybe not.

Today I was leaving my card in his door and a bit of writing caught my eye as I was doing so. On the back of this card I had written a couple of song titles. They were:

Where'd You Go?
I Want To Love You.

Can you imagine if I hadn't caught that??? Oh geez.

Speaking of songs, this is my latest that I put on repeat more than a person should. My DIL showed me this version and I just really like the way all of the different sounds work together. They lyrics have no significance.

French Bread

For xmas, I gave Husband a French Bread Pan. I can be clever - heh. Today he tried it out.



It was very good!