More river knitting ~

Here's day two at the river, working on the wedding hat for another Christmas gift. Although this one didn't get finished in one day, the progress was pretty darn great!!!

Stages of the wedding hat ~ here's the ribbing

Lots of knitting while the kids are playing on their tubes....

Lots more knitting while its too hot to stop playing on their tubes!

More knitting on day three at the river.... stay tuned.....

River Knitting ~

Camping on the river is the perfect opportunity for knitting nirvana. Sitting in the cool waters of the river while knitting on Christmas projects....

Here is Jack's Packer Hat...in river stages

This was all knit in one wonderful day!

I love knitting in the river!

See those great Green Bay Packer colors coming alive on the river rocks!!!

Jack's wee hat is done by the time we're getting dinner ready on the campfire!

Wedding hat for Christmas ~

Another Christmas cast on.... less than 5 months until Christmas, have you heard that already? This is a pattern I've wanted to try by the Yarn Girls. I love reading their patterns, as each one has a story about a knitter or designer.. and they are usually quite funny... as I really want to meet Danielle of "Even Danielle can do it" series of patterns. This pattern is the Wedding Hat, a beautiful cabled hat. I've cast on with Jo Sharp Silk Road Ultra, in the color "lake" and it is wonderfully soft yarn to work with.

This yarn is part of the Webs Yarn Parade of early summer!

Emma love ~

There are some times in my life that I can remember in such detail as if I am watching the event unfold on my own personal video stored lovingly in the theater of my mind.. The morning Emma was born is one of those events. She was so ready that she blazed her own trail and didn't wait for anything... no coaching, no pep talks, no pain meds, almost no doctor present... I was lucky to have made it to the hospital room, as Emma was not going to wait for anyone or anything... not even her new mother! What a miracle she continues to be, and such a joy for us.
She is 11 today ~ still blazing her own trail and being a special kiddo....


Happy Birthday to you, my sweetie!

Strawberry hats forever ~

I never get tired of strawberry hats. Every time I see one at a shop or on a wee person, I think, "I should be knitting one of those" and usually I have one on my needles at all times... They are the ultimate cute hat for kids. I've made a blueberry hat too, as a twin for the strawberry hat as gifts for twins (as shown with our dear Cha Cha), but my favorite remains the strawberry.

I love Ann Norling's pattern (she also has a pattern for matching mittens)....and use Cascade Superwash...

The Stitchin' Post always has a display of fruit hats in their knitting section, and I always get excited about knitting more strawberry hats...

gotta love the strawberry....

Horizontal high jinx ~

This is the second time I'm knitting this Horizontal scarf pattern. The first time it was too short and looked like a collar that had fallen off its sweater....so, in an unusual move, I ripped it back and cast on twice as many stitches... and off I go again in a horizontal high jinx. These yarns, and the scarf, are from a class my sister & I took two years ago with Roberta at the Sewing Expo. She was teaching us about all the interesting & creative knitting fibers now available, and gave us samples of each one to practice with in this scarf. Examples of yarn ingredients include corn, milk, soy, metals, crab shells, wood pulp, and some other "hard to believe it can be made into yarn" materials. It was a great class, and a great way to try out these different fibers.

Although, I really should be done knitting this by now!!!!

Casting on Christmas ~

Only 5 months until Christmas....just so you are fully aware....

Although it is 90+ degrees here, I am casting on Christmas knitting. This little piece of knitting goodness will be a Packers' Hat for our smallest family member, yet a Big Green Bay Packers fan... I'm using the very fun hat pattern "That Chocolate's gone straight to your ribs" that I've knit a few times. With the help of my sweetie, I was able to downsize it for a 4 year old.

Jack is just 4 years old, but has received a knit Packers' from me each Christmas.

Lucky guy, eh?

Tofutsie Wave too ~

Note: Have you noticed the rolling "My daughter rocks" that now rolls delightfully across the left column of my blog? Or have you noticed the clever yarn balls & needles that grace a new signature for me, plus all the little segments of my blog? Genius as she is, dear H made these for me, and I love them!!! Check out her own clever blog here.

I am making great progress on the Tofutsie Wave socks! They are looking lovely and I owe it all to the road trip knitting on the way to Oregon last week. I may even have them complete for the August Sock Summit!

Debbie Doo should be so proud of me, as she inspired me to Keep Knitting on these!!!! (Thanks Debbie!)

Scarf redux ~

Here is the Mariposa scarf, ripped back from 20 stitches across to now 12 stitches across so I can still knit the lace pattern. It looks great, and dear H loves it... although she is sleeping in this picture, in a very cool tie-dye T-shirt that dear Anna brought her from Disneyland!

I'm waiting for the next skein of Mariposa yarn to arrive in the mail this week so I can continue knitting.

Lovely yarn ~

Here is more of the sale yarn I found at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters Oregon on our vacation. It is Ella Rae, bamboo and silk, DK weight. At 30% off, plus no sales tax, plus a discount since I was part of the quilting classes, I really couldn't refuse such a sale... The color is deep purple, and it is so very soft. I think I'll be making a Windy City lace hat or two, as my girls both loved the one I made for Anna earlier this year.

Lovely needles ~

I'm having such fun knitting with my vintage yellow needles. Finding more of them, with that cool texture and color, is a great endeavour that I am embarking upon... These are happily resting in my Birmingham mug from my home town, graced with the yellow silk (behind the mug) that was a gift from San Francisco from dear friend Lisa.... Can you see the lime green & yellow jitterbug peaking from the side? Patiently waiting for me to knit them!

Vacation knits ~

Remember I mentioned getting some sale yarn at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters Oregon? Well, I cast on a new scarf pattern on the way home ~ so this is 9 hours of knitting a new pattern with new yarn... and then I ran out of yarn....geez.....

so, now I'm looking for more sale yarn....

Birthday girl ~

Happy Birthday to my sister! I hope she is celebrating in a wonderful way! Either beading or quilting or having fun with family & friends on her vacation!

Real art ~

On the way to the Sisters Oregon quilt show, there is an amazing group of art work in a horse pasture, with the three Sisters mountains in the background. They are metal sculptures of a cowboy and cowgirl and cow dog herding horses across the field. It is magnificent, framed with the mountains. We look forward to seeing this each year, and as we neared the corner we realized that there were real horses grazing amongst the statues!

It was even more magnificent! We pulled over so I could take pictures ~ can you tell which are the sculptures and which are the real horses? These guys came up to investigate my picture taking ~ they were so beautiful! (See the cowboy, cowgirl & cow dog in the back?)

Here's a view with the mountains.

Here's a video so you can see the difference between horses and sculpture

Quilt fun ~

There were hundreds of great quilts at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year, as always. We didn't sense a certain theme or pattern to them this year, just a great variety of creative handy work ~ and all of them done! Hundreds and hundreds of finished projects! what a concept~

Here are some fun ones: A rooster, for all of us chicken lovers

A flamingo, for all of us flamingo lovers

Two quilted car covers... I'm not sure why....but it was interesting...?

I'm not sure I understand these... but they are fun!

Yarn and Quilts ~

We had a great time on our Sisters Oregon weekend to see the famous outdoor quilt show. The famous Stitchin' Post also has yarn, as this picture clearly shows the sign above our heads. They had a great selection of yarn this year, and I ended up getting some on sale ~ bamboo and silk, how can one resist a sale on bamboo and silk?

I will post a picture of the new yarn soon....

Harry Potter is here ~

We have all been waiting for the movie, Half Blood Prince for a very long time. We are thrilled that today is the day, and we can finally see the next book on the screen. From a knitting perspective, it is delightful to see the many knitting books and individual patterns dedicated to Harry and his friends, and some of his enemies, too. The books and movies have entertained us, and inspired some great knitting too! In one of the movie pictures, Hermione is wearing a great cabled hat, so if you can find that pattern, please let me know. She's also wearing a Fair Isle scarf....it looks great!

Bravo Harry Potter!

(picture from Yahoo Movies site)

Harry Potter countdown ~

We can hardly wait for the opening of the Harry Potter Half Blood Prince movie tomorrow....in honor of the big day, I'm going to share the only Harry Potter knitting I've done: The Horcrux Socks, and they are lovely.... This picture doesn't show what a clever pattern it is, with the lightning shaped zig zag on the cuff. The pattern's designer is very talented, check out her blog here: Knitting as fast as I can

Clever chicks ~

Ever since Dolley has taught the other chickens how to zig and zag to squirt away when I'm trying to get them back into the coup at night, I've been noticing some strange activities in the yard... they are so clever...... :)


This comic was sent by a dear knitting friend from our Yarn Yoga group, as she knows how clever our chicks are!!

Enjoy (thanks, Sue!!!)

Sisters fun ~

Yes, we are having a blast in Sisters Oregon at the Outdoor Quilt Show weekend. My sister and I are trying to figure out how many years we have been making the trip to Sisters in July, as we know we missed a few years when my kids were wee ones... but not too many years.... In the last 5 years we've been taking a sewing class the Friday before the Outdoor Quilt Show, and that has been a good additional tradition for us.

Here we are during another great sister's tradition ~ an island vacation for relaxing, knitting, sewing, beading and great friends!!!

Do you recognize these hats, from one of my favorite knitting books, Hats On? These were such fun to knit!

Sisters Quilt Show ~

As you read this, I am enjoying the Sisters Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show. It is always the second Saturday in July, and always an amazing display of creativity, inspiration and talent. There are hundreds and hundreds of quilts on display, including every color combination, style, tradition and age. Each year I go with my sister, and we have an amazing time! Here we are, outside the Stitchin' Post, owner Jean Wells, that started the Outdoor Quilt Show 34 years ago with her own quilts. She started an incredible tradition. Check out their website to see pictures of all the quilts displayed along the main street and side streets of Sisters!
P.S. In the last several years, Jean now sells wonderful yarn at the Stitchin' Post! That's where I bought my first Jitterbug yarn!

Chickens and knitting ~

In my story yesterday of the five chickens that would not be caught, I forgot to mention that I was out there knitting while watching them take their dust baths. The scarf is knit horizontally, with pieces of yarn made from unusual fibers, like bamboo, tencel, corn, and others that we learned about 2 years ago at the Sewing Expo with Roberta. I knit this scarf once, and it was too short, so I ripped it back and cast one twice as many stitches this time... so knitting one row takes a long time!

See how my knitting interests Hillary! She was paying close attention to me & my yarn!

But it is mindless knitting, just right while watching the chickens and making sure the neighborhood raccoons don't get them...

Chicken run ~

"Chicken Run" not in the movie with the darling chickens, some that even knit... no, these are my chickens running.... Remember the other evening when I let the wee ones out to stretch their legs and take dust baths to get rid of the mites & bugs of the hot weather (since their cage has straw on the floor, and no dust to roll in) and they all went back into the coup at dusk, easy as can be... (video one: major dust bath by the 3 wyandottes)

except Dolley, the skittish one...... well, Dolley has been telling tales to the others, and guess what..... five of the seven would not be caught...they had listened to Dolly's tale of high jinx and adventure, and around the coup they would go.... with me just inches out of reach.... around and around we would go... I tried to catch one with my sweatshirt (sort of like a net) but they are too fast..... (video two: the two brown chicks, Dolley & Aretha, and you can see all the dust coming from the "out of the picture" major dust bath by the 3 wyandottes)

in desperation (and chuckling to myself that I am being bested by 5 chickens!) I walked over to the neighbors where I saw Sam watering the garden, and asked if he would run interference for me.... as we walked back across the street, the two does came bounding into Sam's front yard, and then into ours...perhaps to see if we would be able to catch 5 chickens.... It was much easier with Sam, and we did a lot of laughing at how darn fast they move! We did get them all, with Dolley last... and I think they all "high fived" when she came into the coup!

Life is good ~

I am making great progress on my Tidal Wave tofutsies socks. During the holiday weekend I was able to sit & knit on the back deck, trying to stay cool in the shade. Sipping ice tea, knitting, on vacation and being surrounded by my lovely tower gardens. Life is good!

Who let the chickens out?

Well, I did.... I let the young chicks out so they could stretch their legs, and I hoped that I'd be able to catch them all once dusk fell. I had to pull them out of their little coup one at a time, as they weren't sure they wanted to come out. The last to pull out, and the most skittish was Dolley, one of the brown chickens. They all bee-lined for the place where they could take dust baths, as they can't do that in their coup... so I watched them and took pictures for about an hour ...

Getting near dusk, I thought it was time to get them back inside. As you can imagine, Dolley was the last to be caught, and hardest to catch. I had deja vu of Rocky in his first movie, chasing chickens in the pen to help his reflexes....I'm not sure if Rocky would have done much better with Dolley... I followed her around the coup, trying to sneak up on her, trying not to startle her into moving too fast... and around we would walk again, and I'd make grabs for her and she'd squirt away, and around the coup we would walk again, and I'd try to corner her and she'd zig & zag, and around the coup we would walk again.....she was one quick chick!

First Harvest ~

Before sitting down to knit tonight, in the cool breeze of dusk, I made myself a spinach salad with the first spinach harvest of the year!

Salad includes our spinach, and store bought tomatoes, avocado & Gouda cheese..... yum!

As I was eating, I was treated to a visit by our resident button buck..... so beautiful, and I think he wanted to try some of my spinach salad!!!

Such a beautiful visitor!

America's Birthday Holiday ~

There are so many ways to celebrate the 4th of July, America's Birthday. One of the many blessings of being in America is the abundance of yarn stores (except in Washington D.C., but I'm told the President is working on that) and our ability to choose from so many wonderful fibers in our land.

Not so in Scotland, according to dear L who visited Scotland last month and asked the tour guides and all the Scots, "Where can I get yarn from your beautiful sheep?" (perhaps not a direct quote, but close) and no one knew ~ there was no wool to be found on her week+ adventure in Scotland. However, she did bring back this great coaster for me, which appears to show that the Scots recognize that wool needs to be hand washed (if you can find some wool yarn in Scotland to wash....). Isn't it the cutest!!! Some of my very favorite things: chickens, wool and a clothes line!

So, I celebrate America's Birthday by being very thankful for all my yarn and my friends and my family, and the day off so I can really celebrate thoroughly!!!!

Perfect way to celebrate ~

Today is a special day in the United States, as Americans celebrate our independence day. This calls for many traditions, such as picnics, barbecues and fireworks.... I'm invited to a barbecue in our neighborhood, with the instruction to bring something to share. Not being a great cook, or even an inspired cook, I was trying to think of what I could make that would not require an oven or stove (as it has been in the 80's this week), something that would honor the tradition of the day, and that I would enjoy making.

I remembered how fun it used to be making home made ice cream, and off I went.... and had perfect success in making raspberry ice cream!

(Can you tell what it is decorated as?)