Tonka Toy Joy ~

Our front yard has become a place for Tonka Toy fun, except these are bigger than the ones I remember from my childhood. Trucks and a backhoe, lots of dirt and gravel everywhere.

Every guy in the neighborhood drawn like a magnet to the smell of diesel and sound of these engines.

Boys and their toys...


I'm going back to my knitting...

Red Wings advance ~

In game seven, the Red Wings beat Phoenix in high scoring excitement! Now on to San Jose.

Other excitement, I knit a few rows on my Barfly sweater while watching the 3rd period.

Lots of excitement here!

Thank you ~

I received the nicest "thank you" from our friends at:
Packages from Home

1201 South 7th Ave, Ste 50

Phoenix, AZ 85007

They were very grateful for the 6 helmet liners that our Yarn Yoga knitting group sent for our troops. If you've thought about knitting for a good cause, here's one to think about....

Draft and walk the twist ~

click here for more of the Knitting Art (or Yarn Bombing) from yesterday's post. Also check the comments to see the Etsy shops of these creative women ~ Hurrah!
As for my day today, I was practicing more spinning. Right now my technique is, "spin drop spindle" then "stop spindle between my knees" then "draft fiber and walk the twist up to the drafted fiber" and then start again.

My goal for today was to try to "draft and walk the twist" while the spindle was still spinning, but I didn't master that yet. It worked a few times, but I need to draft much thinner to be able to "walk the twist" while the spindle is moving....


but it is a lot of fun trying.... and soon I'll have enough single ply to try plying again....

Knit Art at City Hall ~

Question: What can be greater than a long walk to the library with one's sweet daughter, hearing all her stories of her delightful weekend?




Answer: When the library has been decorated with knitting.....from the parking lot to the community plaza...


Three ladies and a knitting machine....and lots of inspiration....


lots of acrylic, and lots of creativity......


supportive friends and one has a great husband that was taking pictures of us taking pictures of the delightful knitted art....


I do hope City Hall keeps this knitted art here all summer!!


It is so great - knitting even in the parking lots!!!!! Click here for another site to view this fun!

Three is a charm ~

Finally.... I finally cast off on the third Harry Potter scarf....this one is for Emma... and it is finally done....

It looks great, like her sister's version ~ the Harry Potter scarf #2.....


Different than mine, as mine is done in alpaca... and oh so soft.... both of their scarves are in Cascade 220... We can't wait for the movie to come out!

Rookie yarn ~

Wow... it does look like yarn....there are parts of the skein that are even consistently plyed.

There are lots of parts that are thick and thin....

I do love the yellow blending of colors... and the yarn is very soft merino ~ although I found out at the spinning guild that merino is not the best to begin spinning with, but it was so soft that I couldn't resist the roving....


This is my first yarn from my spinning. I'm happy with the experience, and have learned a lot. Plying still mystifies me, so I'll need to try that again....

Wow - real yarn.... I made real yarn....

Hurrah!!!!

Trillium and Whidbey ~

Another beautiful day to knit outside. Our trillium are in bloom in the back yard, so I was inspired to knit on my Whidbey Island scarf in Manos silk/merino.

If this yarn was in worsted weight, I would certainly knit an entire sweater as it had beautiful short color changes and knits oh-so-soft.

I love how this scarf looks, however it is taking a long time on these small needles....I need to learn to knit faster....

Spinning tangles ~

I was doing so well with my spinning, and improving quite a bit. When it was time to ply, I pulled out my book to be sure I was trying to do the right technique. I tried to remember all the advice given to me by the ladies at the guild gathering.

Some of it plyed well.

A lot of it plyed like a tangled mess....but I didn't give up... and I fought the tangle and whipped it into shape...I think.....we'll see.....

Tea with Sedona ~

We are having a beautiful spring day, so I'm outside on our back deck, knitting my Sedona scarf. I'm thinking of our wonderful vacation and those beautiful Red Rocks.

I'm relaxing having tea with my spring Starbucks' mugs ~ they look like Easter eggs to me, all of my favorite colors of mint green and pastel pink and blue.

Perhaps spring is really here....let's hope so!

Red Wings and Phoenix ~

We watched one of the best Red Wings' games that I've ever seen last Friday.

High scoring and lots of great skating.

Plus the Red Wings won...and Zetterberg had his first hat trick in the playoffs ~ all good!

Spinning Guild ~

I met up with our local spinning guild today, at our local Starbucks. It was a small group at first, and it was very comfortable to be a new spinner with just a few very experienced spinners. They were friendly and helpful, and I was glad that I was there. Many more arrived about an hour later, all with spinning wheels and fiber. Very inspiring and I heard lots of stories of fiber adventures and techniques.

I spun a full spindle of my merino.

I think I'm ready to ply.... not exactly sure how, but I'll read the directions and wing it.....

Spinning again ~

I have been thinking about my drop spindle and beautiful roving from our Whidbey vacation for several days now, and have committed to go to a local spinning guild meeting this weekend to learn more about better techniques for drop spinning. Tonight I tried spinning again, on my wonderful spindle from the Sock Summit.

You can see that I'm spinning thinner than my spinning (the ball on the left) I did on our Whidbey vacation...

Hurrah! I'm improving!!!!

Chicks are here ~

Last Wednesday, April 7, we picked up the next generation of hens. There are 8 little cuties and they are all extremely cute. The theme for names this generation is great cities. The breeds are some favorites and some new ones. There are two Sicilian buttercups (named Paris and Victoria), two Black Australops (Oslo and Quinta), two Rhode Island Reds (named Betty Crocker and....not sure of the other name....sorry....) and two Americauna (named Sedona and....oh dear....I've forgotten another one....whoops!).

They are all cute.....very sweet, indeed....

we are having a lot of fun with them all....

Aren't they cute?!!!

Farewell Dear Julia ~

Our dear Julia Child, Rhode Island Red, from our original flock of chickens died this week. As you may recall, our theme for names of our original flock was "authors" and my husband named her Julia Child, as he likes her books.... it seemed wrong, to me, to name a chicken after a famous chef, but Julia wore the name with almost as much personality as the original Julia Child. She was a darling chicken and such a sweet personality ~ one of our dear favorites. Here we are knitting together... well, I'm knitting and she's keeping track of the rows...

She was such a sweet little friend to have...


She laid the biggest eggs and was a very prolific egg layer too.

We will miss her terribly...

Sundays at Starbucks ~

My oldest daughter goes to church youth group for Sunday dinner. Since the locations change with each week for a different youth group family, I'm driving to lots of new places each Sunday night, and finally had to buy a GPS so that I would not get lost so much. My GPS happens to have an Australian accent, and is named Mic. I have a lot of fun taking directions from Mic, as he has not been wrong yet, and is very patient when I miss a turn.... anyway, these last few Sundays, I've been stopping at the local Starbucks for an hour and a half of knitting, instead of driving all the way home, and then driving back again. Sometimes I can even cajole my Emma to come with me and have a treat...

This week's treats are a dark cherry chocolate latte and my Sedona scarf....

Both are very yummy, indeed!!

Harry Potter in Spring ~

I'm making progress in my Harry Potter scarf number 3 for Emma. We're getting closer and closer to finishing this one....

but not quite finished yet....

still looks lovely with the spring flowers, and it will be done by the movie premier in the fall...

Sedona Silk ~

I am extending our vacation by knitting on my Sedona scarf. It is a lacy one, and the yarn is smooth ribbon and knitting up nicely.

Pictures taken in our back yard with our trillium in bloom...

So beautiful ~ the flower and the scarf....

I love vacation yarn.....

Spring Break #13 ~

Waiting for the plane in Las Vegas... and able to do some knitting on the Whidbey scarf while waiting...

With the flashing and bing, ding, ching of the slot machines in the background. The sad part of waiting at the airport was watching Michigan State lose to Butler in the last second of the Final Four game... I love vacation....

Spring Break #12 ~

Our last day of vacation was spent exploring Lake Mead Recreation Area.... beautiful hot and sunny day.... Emma was brave and waded into the lake.... and then asked Dad to pull her out so her feet wouldn't get dirty...

What a great view - this is a beautiful place!

I love vacation...