Honest Scrap Award

Honest Scrap Award

Sandra has honored me with this award and as honoree I am supposed to tell readers ten things they may not know about me. Relatively easy (maybe) . . . and then I have to tag 10 other people with this award, let them know they have received it, and then let Sandra of Thistle Cove Farm know I'm on board. I say relatively above because Sandra has an adventurous streak in her!

OK - 10 things you may not know about me -

1. I was born in Kansas - Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in fact. For most folks, when they hear Fort Leavenworth or Leavenworth - they immediately think of the federal prison...

NO, I was not born in prison (despite my sister's assertions that I was)! Fort Leavenworth is the location of an Army college. My father was a student and since they have family quarters on post, my mother (me in utero) and sister had accompanied him to school.

In order to put my being born in our nation's heartland into focus, I have to mention that my sister just happened to be born in Paris, France, which naturally brings to mind haute couture, divine food and champagne.


2. I love yellows and oranges -- they make me happy. I can't wear them, but I love them... so I have a yellow and white kitchen!

3. Joe, my dachshund, is my I-have-wanted-a-dachshund-all-my-life-dog. He has filled in those shoes wonderfully, too. He is a darling little guy.

4. I threw myself a 40th birthday party a few (ahem, be nice) years ago.

5. I worked in NYC for 2 years after college and lived upstate on the Hudson River in Ossining and Peekskill, New York. Each day I commuted in on the Metro North train. I loved learning about the area and riding the train to work remains the best way to go! The Hudson River in the morning is one of the most beautiful sights ever.

6. While I lived in close proximity, I never got to visit the Statue of Liberty. I did go up in the World Trade Center (don't remember which Tower). A friend, Avril, was a clerk typist for a law firm and she took me and another friend up to their offices to see the incredible views up there. It was quite a magnificent view of the Statue.

7. Speaking of New York, almost four years ago (September 30, 2009) I had the pleasure of accompanying three good friends to see Paul McCartney live at Madison Square Gardens. It remains the best show I have ever seen, even topping the thrill of seeing Yule Brenner in The King and I on Broadway.

On that same trip to NYC, we visited the 9/11 site. This collage hung in the little church adjacent to the site:
8. The house I live in now is the place I have been the longest ever... since dad was in the Army, we did not settle anywhere. I have lived in this house for 15 years, for me a world record.

9. I love leather furniture but not leather upholstry in cars...

10. I'm engaged.

I don't want to tag anyone or put anyone on the spot, but I'd love some of my fellow bloggers to do this too... how about it, Robin C., Chan, Roseann, CJ, Alice, KSee, Jane, Christina, Beth, Robin H. if you have time... and anyone else too, please!

Happy Birthday to TOM

My son is 17 today... wow. Seems like it was just the other day he was running around elementary school wrecking havoc and drawing up a storm! Whew.

I love you, bud, and I am proud of you.

Honk !! Chan is 40 ...

What better place to announce a friend's entry into real-live-adulthood than on the world wide web ... I mean, what are friends for?

And I'm too far away to honk in person so.... without further adooo...


I know she knows they put me up to it... (they being S and G)

DOT - Tico - cutie pie, speed enforcer, general nuisance

This is Tico ... you may have met him before ... I don't remember if I have posted about him lately.... Tico is a sato - a Puerto Rican stray - who we adopted in 2004. He's sweet, loving and a good kisser when he is in the house!

He is also the neighborhood's general nuisance number 1... when Tico escapes (b/c there is NO other word for it) he chases cars (speeding cars, that is - the county should put a radar gun and ticket book on him), barks incessantly and won't come to anyone ... he'll run toward you only to slow down and then dart off to the left or right... ARGHHHH

When he gets hungry enough or thirsty enough, he will deign to come in the house and risk incarceration. He eats, slurps gallons of water then sleeps for a day or two ...

Then we have to patrol the doors again in an effort to keep the little darling from escaping yet again!

If you live near me - I apologize for him. If you don't, then go ahead and enjoy his tale!

Coming along

Progress marches slowly on.

Remembering Nate

A year ago today, we lost our Nathan.

Talented, funny, annoying, handsome, sweet and sour all rolled up into one.

We miss you, we love you, we will never ever forget you.


Facebook page.

Clapping et cetera

My clapotis is coming along - it's all I have been working on - it is semi-mindless knitting and sometimes that's what you need.

Also on the knitting front, I have been gathering 'stuff' for my other hobby swap partner on Ravelry. It is a secret swap so none of us know who will be sending us goodies. I bought some wonderful handspun my friend Patsy made as well as some fabric and other sewing goodies since my pal is a seamstress , sewer (?). We are to send out our packages no later than the 20th, but no earlier than today.... With my procrastination skills, you can bet mine won't go out this week (sorry secret pal).

Chris's mom is doing well; thank you for all the well-wishes and prayers - keep 'em coming though because there's a good deal of recovery yet to come. Today is a week since the surgery, and she is doing laps around the ward where her room is (in the brand-new Critical Care Hospital at VCU Health Center). Yes - well, ok - a lap each time she is up - but I was amazed at how quickly they get the patients up post-surgery. Her cheeks are pink and she is getting a little grumpy - both good signs!

This is the last week of school for Chesterfield County and I think my son T is looking forward to not having to get up early every day - he works evenings - making pizza and taking orders at a local Papa John's. I am looking forward to not having to wake him up early every day! The kid is a bear in the morning!

Clap, clap, clap-o-teee

Clapotis
- it does not look like an easy word to pronounce, but go ahead and pronounce it like it appears in my title (without the first 2 'clap's though) and you've got it. Try it, it's kinda fun to roll it around in your mouth.

What is it? Knitters know, don't you? For non-knitters everywhere, it is a wrap, a shawl-type garment that is wider than a scarf, but definitely not a coat or cape. Here's a photo from Knitty when the pattern premiered:

After a couple of false starts, I decided to used a different yarn than what I'd originally started with. I am using The Shearer's Yarn in Turquoise. The wonderfully talented and prolific but unfortunately blogless Issy brought her second clap to TNK last night and I examined it (b/c mine looked odd to me). She advised me that once I start dropping stitches, it will look more like it should and that also, once I was done and had conditioned it and blocked it, it would look better to me. Whew! because I love the color of this yarn and I hope, hope she's right (no pressure Is! lol)




Today, right now actually, my dear Chris's mom is undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous growth from her stomach.... please keep them in your prayers, ok? Thank you.
(10 pm update: the surgery went well; the docs think they got all the cancer, but they also got all her stomach. Everyone is optimistic. Again, thanks for good wishes.)

Wool - a gift from the East

My cousin recently spent three months working in Baku, Azerbaijan. Each time someone in the family goes any where cool, I ask them to bring me some yarn, if they go anywhere yarn / wool / cotton / etc. is processed or sold (which, as any knitter knows, is basically everywhere in the world - but not everyone is game to seek out such a prize).

During her time there, K went to an area of the country where Persian rugs are made by hand. While there, she toured a studio (?) and bought me some beautiful wool! This link shows the types of wool and rugs produced where she visited. I don't know if this is the exact place she toured, but it is very similar from what my aunt and uncle described to me. K and I talked via email and she added this about the tour: "... The area is famous for both Persian and Caucasian rugs (very similar in quality, just design is different). The workshop I went to was definitely geared towards Caucasian-designed rugs but did use Persian methods of hand-dying the wool..."

I haven't seen K yet, but when I stopped by to visit her folks over the weekend, they had the yarn for me! What a treat. My wool looks a lot like the below photo (which shows yarn that has been spun but not dyed) except one ball is a lovely pale green and one ball is a rosey pink. Take a look at the link above, and I'll update you guys as I explore what I will make with the wool, etc.

People

As many of you know, if you need something and I have extra, you're welcome to it, whatever it is. If I don't have it, I offer what I do have: sometimes an ear, sometimes a shoulder, sometimes just a cup of coffee or chocolate kiss.

If you know me, you know then that I like to suggest things to do, ideas to talk about or places to go. No one needs to run anything; no one needs to lead. If you want to do, talk or go -- you do; if you don't, then you don't. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I change my mind or something comes up, I go my own way and I expect others to behave in a like manner. Sounds like adult behavior, eh?

I am sorry for the rant, guys, but my feelings got hurt and sometimes I get FED UP. I often take crap [for lack of a better word] from people to avoid a confrontation or because it's just not worth arguing over. BUT I HAVE HAD ENOUGH this week.

You get to work late. You misplace your keys. Kids get in trouble. Strangers screw up your stuff - why? because they can. The roof leaks. The toilet is broken. People get sick. Cars break down. Spouses cheat. Pets die. Taxes come due. Life happens.

So,

take a breath. look outside. regain perspective, girl.

I welcome, love and cherish my friends; but, I will wave goodbye to anyone who does not want to be my friend or behave like a friend. I have done it before, and I can do it again. Sometimes life makes me sad, but that's the way it works.

Onward and upward to all. And to all a good night.

Guild, Birthday and Ripped

Last Saturday we had a really nice guild meeting - several members worked with other members to teach / learn crochet basics. Having learned to crochet as a child, I thought, No problem - I'll sit in with the group learning to read a crochet chart...

... HA!

Boy was I wrong - I just could not get it, despite Linda D's best efforts.

I passed a knitting milestone this week, though. I knit Chris, my DearManFriend (DMF for short) a pair of socks. Yes, 2 socks, an entire pair! I was so thrilled as I completed sock number two that I almost missed that I had
knit
the
toe
wrong.

Yes, you read that correctly! I had to frog the toe portion of sock number two and re-knit it! I learned a lot (how to correctly rip out a toe and how to figure out where I went wrong so I could do it right) - so I guess it is still a good thing.

Today is his birthday. I left the toes un-woven-in so that if the socks are too short, I can rip the toes out again and make the socks longer!

Tune in tomorrow for another episode of ...

how the heal turns
or
how to deal with a frogged sock...!
(not!)

Wooly & Wet Weekend Weport ...

Friday we drove up to Maryland and had dinner at a cute little place called Stella Notte.

MS&W was good; overnight Friday/Saturday it rained, so Saturday dawned wet and puddly. About an hour into the festival (around 10 am) the skies opened up and poured for a while, but fortunately we were indoors in the main building shopping and visiting & visiting and looking.

Handknitted item worn: Stained Glass 'Anne' Shoulder Shawlette.



Friends found in Main Building: Mary (who reported Robin H & Bess sightings - I only saw Robin for a quick second, and Bess not at all), Cathy & Richard L (Cathy is the other Cathy at my Tuesday knitting group), and Lawre of Lawre's Laine (wonderful bags and pouches, oh my!), who is Jane's sister.

We got a little damp leaving there so we headed for the building where Boy Scouts (and the American Lamb group of some sort) were selling food and drink. Chris got some coffee and I sipped water, all while sitting down for a little while.

While resting and refreshing, a lady from Illinois (I think) came up to me and asked for the name of my shawl pattern. I told her and indicated it was in Ravelry. Ravelry? she asked. Yes, I responded. Are you on Ravelry yet? No, I have heard several people talk about it though. I offered to send her the pattern if she gave me her email address. She gave me her husband's address, so I'll be forwarding my typed notes along to her. We are so computer-oriented now that I forget that many, many people (probably older people?) still are not tied to technology. Unimaginable, I know, but they're out there.

Friends found post-morning-rain: River City Knitters Guild buds!



Back to the Day: Chris and I viewed and visited Buildings 2 and 3 as well as several animal barns - I have some great photos of goats and sheep, only a few of whom are photographed here.


Getting tired out again (remember, my back is still messed up, not even to mention the recently healed sprained ankle), we headed for the car to have a little lunch (Panera bagels, cream cheese, cookies and water).

Carrie calls on the cellie and drops by the car on her way back into the festival from her noon break. She and I leave Chris to doze and head off for some more adventure. We find that lots more folks have arrived and proceeded to clog up all the open spaces! We wiggled our way through several more buildings, then headed over to the Wild Fibers booth to work on the Worlds Longest Scarf Project. If you are unfamiliar with this effort to benefit Heifer International, please go to either website and find out more. While knitting I meet fellow Raveler PixiePam (pictured below in pink MSW ball cap - she'd been volunteering at the Merchandise booth all morning and was so happy to sit and knit for a little while. She reported that it was a blast working the booth and that she'd be willing to do it again next year (note to self: why not?).

We also ran into Barb #2 (TNKer, waving below), Linda (standing with Chris) and Isobel. None of these three folks are bloggers, but they should be posting their photos ... at least two of them I know are good photographers...

Blue Moon and Sox that Rock are on the agenda (talk about a traffic jam!). Carrie somehow managed to actually get in to touch the yarn (see head in below photo with visor? that's Carrie) - I admired it from afar since I was not buying at this point.

Next, on to the Merchandise area

- where Carrie bought something I can't remember and I bought a MSWF euro-style sticker. I had previously purchased a yellow 2009 festival t-shirt at the T-shirt Express Tent the organizers had intelligently placed at the entrance to the fair this year, so I was not in the market for any more schtuff.

Fiber report: My only yarn goodies were purchased in the first half of the day ... a 30% discounted hank of Twist from Dancing Leaf Farms and 3 skeins of a new yarn from Autumn House Farm (one of my new favorite places to get yarn fix).