wet wet and more wet

We are in SD for a wedding. You can't imagine how much water is still in the fields. How much over the normal banks little streams and lakes we drove by. And today its raining again.

So here we sit in the hotel watching the rain pool up by the base full length window. The kind that looks like a sliding glass door, but isn't. The carpet near the window is damp. There seems to be more then a little miscommunication and few organizational issues. Hopefully, tomorrow for the wedding the sun will shine and order will prevail.

Finished a WIP

I finished the Acadian Shawl.

It's a great pattern and I'd highly recommend it. It was a perfect pattern for a long car ride, for watching tv, and at KNITWITS on Tues. Yep, a little bit of lace pattern but lots of easy stockinette. I know lots of people find stockinette tedious, but I like to have at least one "no brainer" or nearly "no brainer" project on the needles at all times.

Now on to another pair of children's mukluks, a Pure and Simple pattern. I'll be doing a Maile KAL for Bundles of Love in June. And I have a sweater for me in mind.

Still Here

We are still here. We weren't "raptured" on Sat. nor were we blown away by the tornadoes that passed thru our part of the state. And I must say it is good to be here. The worst that happened to us this weekend was losing $30 at bar bingo at the VFW near our cabin. We spent the rainy afternoon eating lunch and playing bingo.

Sunday we went to the new Pirates movie at the little cinema. I like the idea of supporting small business. After the reviews we had low expectations for the movie. It was just what we expected..a light fun movie with lots of action. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Another grey day, but the lawn needs to be mowed.

A major milestone

I am now the proud mother of two college graduates. DD2 graduated on 5/14 from SUNY-Oswego.

DD1 graduated three years ago from REED and is now in grad school.
What a strange feeling to think that I am old enough that both of my children have graduated from college.

Now she begins the tasks of unpacking and looking for something to do. She would like to go to grad school in a year. Listening to other parents and my DD's talk it sounds like there are a lot of graduates who are still looking, still trying to get into grad schools, and working "where ever" while they try to find a job that is relevant to their degree. Frighting times for the graduates and for their parents.

We drove to Oswego NY from MN. Two days on the road, two days there, two days road trip returning. Thank heavens for knitting. Made one sock.

And 1/2 of a really long wrap out of sock yarn, for charity. Love the pattern (Acadian Shawl/scarf by Melisa McCurley), like the feel of the yarn, not sure how I feel about the striping. It doesn't do the pattern justice.

We have a road trip to SD for a Memorial weekend wedding, I hope to finish the wrap then.
Saw this in the parking lot of the hotel we stayed in outside of Chicago.

The first mobile tattoo and piercing vehicle I've seen.

Distractions

I feel like I'm checking things off a list. Finish necessary cleaning and laundry. Get car oil changed and tires rotated. Tuesday Knitting. Volunteer at Feed My Starving Children. Pack the car to go pick up DD2 and bring things to DD1. Work on UFO's

Finished my first Turkish Bed Sock. An interesting knit.

Can't imagine using this Bernat Sox yarn for "real" socks. Its an acrylic/nylon blend..can you say hot feet! Plus you can see how the colors pool. I bought it for a baby sweater. I'll use this first pair of bed socks around the house and for a light travel slipper. The rest of the yarn will become charity baby things.

Made more stitch markers.

Took the dog for a long walk by the place I get the oil changed and tires rotated. So that was good for everyone. Plus as a side benefit we saw several batches of new geese.

Feel good day

I had the opportunity to help package meals for the organization Feed My Starving Children this morning. What an amazing organization! One of the women from the Tues. Charity Knitting group organized a group of 15. So we bagged food in the am, then met for lunch and knitting at the local Culver's. What a great feeling.
I didn't bring my camera since we were working in a "clean room". The gentlemen who orientated us said that since so many of the kids getting the meals have weakened immune systems it was really important to keep the room clean..so hairnets, no gum, etc.

Finished the first of the Turkish Bed socks, like the pattern don't like the yarn...for socks. 100% acrylic sock yarn, talk about hot smelly feet. I'll use the rest of the yarn for a baby sweater.

and now for something completely different.

So here's something completely new and different to me.

It's the start of a "Turkish Bed Sock", a pattern from Churchmouse Classics. It's new to me first because its a really short sock, no cuff at all. And because it starts out as a flat knit. Yep, you cast on 42 stitches and knit flat. It has a kind of origami look to it. The picture on the pattern is clearly labeled with each segment of the sock. It's interesting, it doesn't take much yarn, so seems like a nice to have for when you don't want to wear tall socks or when you have a small amount of great yarn.

BTW that's not the case with this yarn, I have 2 skeins. I bought it to knit a baby sweater for charity. I am confident that even after knitting the socks I will have enough for a newborn sweater.

All about the bling

When I was looking at shawl patterns I realized I didn't have nearly enough stitch markers. Over the years I've accumulated beading materials. I'm not really a "beader", but I love adding bling to my knitting projects via beaded stitch markers. Plus it gives you the means to make different sizes. Today I made markers for needles sized 7 and under, mostly small for sock knitting.

I started another Pure and Simple Hooded Baby Cardigan for the charity Bundles of Love.

It's raining so a great day to watch some tv and knit without feeling like I should be out doing yard work.

A full day of fiber

What a great day..nice weather and a full day of fibery goodness at Shepard's Harvest. I didn't take any pic's but there were sheep, bunnies, yarn, roving and oodles of other fiber related stuff.

I finished the Fortissimo kids socks.

Tonight I've been trying to get a road trip project started. We're driving out to NY to pick up DD2. After starting and frogging 3 different shawl patterns and 3 different needle sizes I'll be knitting the Acadian Shawl.

I'm using Serenity Garden Yarn on size 5's. The yarn is from stash. The Acadian has a 15 row lace repeat along the bottom. It's knit end to end with a lot of stockingette. I think it will be a good car project, interesting but not too complex for travel.

Motherbear

Today I had the opportunity to drop off bears from the FL Mother bear knitters and sew hearts on bears. If you're not familiar with it check out their website Motherbear.org. It is an amazing organization. Here Amy, the founder, is with some of the bears from FL.

Here is Hazel

who knits bears on 2 circs with a jumbo lighted magnifying glass on her head. She took it off for the picture with the Chewbaca bear. She is really inspirational. I believe she's 95, I only hope I can be like her when I reach that age.




Here I am, in one of those shots that makes you look like you have a dozen chins, holding the adorable Sound of Music bears. Look for individual pictures of them on Ravelry.

The bears come from all over, and this group meets monthly to sew hearts on them.

And finally, sure signs of spring.

Footwear

I finished the Pure and Simple Baby Childrens Mukluk's. They were an easy fast knit and I'd recommend them.

I started a pair of felted indoor slippers.

To really get a perspective on size here is the to be felted slipper next to the large child's sock. The slipper is on size 10 1/2 needles, the sock on 1's.

The slippers are part of my effort to knit thru stash. I bought this Lionbrand Landscape when I first started knitting. I had visions of knitting a wardrobe of felted purses. I knit one and decided they really weren't the accessory for me. I've given some of this yarn away, I've knit felted mittens, I'm hoping that these slippers will be the end of this yarn.

Headline News

Wow! What a headline this morning. Bin Laden Dead.

I'm not going to ruminate on what that means to me or the world at large. We didn't have the television on last night to hear the announcement or the subsequent analysis. So it really was a huge surprise when I picked up the paper this morning.

Instead of watching tv, I was plowing thru my MN stored stash. I pulled together a bag of wool for a friend to use for mittens and felted slippers.

I pulled together a bag for my local charity knitters.

And several bags for DD1 who has started weaving. I even found that I had some weaving yarn that someone had dropped off at the charity knitters, and no one else adopted last year. Must have been fate that it ended up in my stash so I could pass it on to her.

For my something new, I started a pair of children's mukluks for charity. It is a Pure & Simple pattern with a different construction method. Well at least it is different for me.

When the world seems so full of crazy and bad things it feels good to carve a little bit of order in my own life. That is why I'll finish the second slipper today and make sure the yarn gets dropped off tomorrow.

finishitis

Finished a short row scarf I started last fall. Had a skein left so made a hat. no yarn left! I also finished a baby hat that was buried in my basket. Hurray, projects completed for drop off at my knitting group on Tues.

I bought the new Pure and Simple Children's Mukluk pattern today. It is so cute. I'm expecting this will be a good stash busting charity knit.

Now back to my second sock.