WHAT-apalooza?

WOOL-apalooza, of course! Today is the day reserved by my knitting group for wandering around the fairgrounds, fondling fibers. . .I could not be more excited about anything!

Or could I?

Guess who's coming to dinner after Woolapalooza? Little Miss Peanut will be coming to see Gramma and Grampa tonight! Yay!


Unfortunately, all of that anticipation makes for a boring blog post, but I promise you pictures of babies and fiber-y goodness on Wednesday!


Will I see YOU at the Great Lakes Fiber Show? If you see me, ask me for a card and get a discount on your next order in the Etsy Shop!


Look for me in Wooster, and Knit in Good Health!

Something to look forward to. . .?

Apparently I was chosen for Jury Duty. . .in a big city. . .
If you know me, and my directionally challenged status, you will recognize this as a problem. I got lost going to the bathroom yesterday. Sweetie recognized the problem as soon as he saw the notice. He let me fret for a bit, then he promised to make sure I get there unscathed if-and-when they actually ask me to come to the courthouse in the big-and-scary-city-place. Then, great guy that he is, he reminded me what's coming up this weekend - WOOL-A-PALOOZA 2011!

I love this annual fiber festival! This was me after last year's festival!

I get to see the Peanut tomorrow, that will help too. :o)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!
(I sure hope they allow knitting at jury duty. . .)

The Very Tiny Little Kitchen (and red knitting). . .

Once there was a military family that lived in a little house in a southern state, far from friends and extended family. When the military time was finished, the little family decided to move back north, closer to their friends and extended family. When they got there, the Daddy found a new, non-military job, and the little family bought a little house. In the little house there was a little kitchen. . .a very tiny little kitchen. The very tiny little kitchen looked small from the hallway, and it looked small from the back door. . .there was no denying it - this was one of the smallest, tiniest, littlest kitchens the family had ever known.

(At this point, a good blogger would have dug out a photo of the tiny kitchen from when she moved into this house. . .back when it held a table for four in that corner by the window! Unfortunately, you got me today, so you get photos from this morning. . .)
One day, in the very tiny little kitchen, the BIG refrigerator that came with the tiny house went "ka-puttt"! The very pretty, and very smart, Mommy decided that it was time to put a smaller fridgie into the very tiny little kitchen, so she and the Daddy bought one of these, and it really did make the kitchen seem bigger. (Bonus - a tiny bit more "counter space," too!) But, there was not much room for food, and no freezer for ice. :^(

Of course, there was still a very BIG fridgie in the basement. . .this one they had brought with them when they moved into the tiny kitchen (which already had a BIG fridgie in it), so they put it in the basement for popsicles and fun food for the kids. It was a good plan, except if there was a dinner party and your guests want ice for their drinks, or salad with dressing, or anything cold with their meal.

. . And so, for years and years the family got lots of exercise whenever they went to the BIG fridge for a soda, or ingredients for dinner, or anything cold, and it really was not that bad. Then one day, the very pretty, and very smart, Mommy noticed that the very old, very BIG fridgie in the basement was not working well. . .it looked sick (and so did the wet ice cubes in it's freezer, making all of the frozen foods suspect for spoilage, but the family did not go hungry).

The very handy Daddy (yes, I am the Mommy and Sweetie is the daddy, and you are so clever to figure that out!), the very handy Daddy did his best to repair the Big basement fridgie, but to no avail. . .20 years is a pretty good run for a fridgie, and the newer models are so much more energy efficient, we are laying this one to rest. . .

So today I blog, and I wait for the refrigerator guys to bring us a new fridge. It will be a BIG fridge. It will go into the very tiny little kitchen, because the very pretty, and very smart, Mommy is also very tired of trudging to the basement every time she wants a piece of ice, or a yogurt, or anything cold that is bigger than a button. Until they come, I think the very pretty, and very smart Mommy will knit a bit on something red. . .

Isn't it coming out pretty?!?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Red Knitting takes a break. . .

What does red knitting take a break for? Well. . .

. . .for Indians baseball*. . .

. . .and dollar dogs (that DO have milk products in them, apparently - ugh! But they were good goin' down!). . .

. . .and darkness for that superior homer that won the game in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. . .Thank you, Travis Hafner!

. . .and fun times with family (am I imagining it, or does Dollface look a little like her beautiful mom?). . .

. . .and (of course) red knitting takes a break for FIREWORKS!

GO TRIBE!!!

I didn't break out the knitting at all at this game, but I will be back to the knitting knews for the next blog, by golly!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

*This blog post brought to you by a Cleveland dream team, the 2011 Indians! What a great game it was on Friday, May 13, 2011!

Something in Red (part 1)

She wants to wear something in red,
Like the red of the roses she'll hold.
She wants to wear something in red,
Like the red of her cheeks in the cold.
She wants to wear something in red,
As she promises to have and to hold. . .

I don't normally think of red as a wedding color. Hmmm, that's not entirely true. . .let me try again. Ahem!

I don't normally think of red as a color a Bride would wear on her wedding day. I think of white, and silver, and perhaps a blush pink or something blue, but never red.

Red on the bridesmaids? Absolutely stunning!

Red on the flower girl? Sure! Just look at this bolero I knit for a very special young lady to wear as she scatters petals before the bride's walk down the aisle!

But on the bride? Hmmm. That truly stretches me. Of course, it is not my wedding, and I am not the bride, and it will not be my day. Therefore, I am going to knit her something in Red, and I hope that she will like it. But for right now, in this quiet of the day, I am going to sit in a big comfy place. . .

. . .and simply contemplate something in red. . .on the bride. . .on her wedding day. . .and I will try not to freak out. It is a stretch for me, but then, I hear stretching is good for you. :o)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health (in any color you please)!

Sunshine and Shadows. . .and stuff

If "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy. . .," then what does sunshine in my shoes do? I mean, like when I have a very favorite pair of hand-knit socks, in a yarn I loved knitting, in colors that lift my spirits. . .what does that do for me? Well, you probably know that sunshine in my shoes can make me smile! Except. . .this past Saturday, when I went to get my favorite socks out of the wash, I found this:
Oh, s. . . well, nevermind! I thought about darning it, as a matter of fact, I had very recently darned it's mate, when I saw signs of wear on the heel. . .but this one? I deemed this one just too far gone. . .sigh! Soooo, I cut off the bind off (this had been a toe-up dealio). . .

. . .and I frogged the whole pair. Ugh!

On the brighter side, I plan to make some fingerless mitts out of this yarn, so at least I will still get to see it. . .in the fall, I suppose. Also on the brighter side of things, here is a little bit of sunshine and Sweetie from last Saturday for me to share with you!:

Yup. . .another walk in the park for us. . .and this time Dollface came along, too! It was such a sunny day, that even the shadows were fun! There we all are. . .Dollface on the right, and Sweetie in the middle, and me (arm raised, camera-phone poised to capture the shadow) on the left!

Saturday was a day of sunshine, and shadows, and you know what else? A snake!

Awwwww! Isn't he (or she - can you tell? Yeah, me neither. . .) cute?!? I like little garter snakes. . .the kind that you can call cute without ever worrying if they will sneakuponyou and strangle the living breath right out of you, or bite you on the you-know-what! One of the Snakes I know and love best is Dollface's Snake, so I have been working on socks (almost plain vanilla, in DK yarn) for him:

. . .and I have also been working on socks for me! The lace on the sides is from Fool's Rush, but the tops are just simple 2x2 rib.Ahhh, there is nothing better than a sunny Saturday (and Sunday) to work on socks and see some fun shadows! Oh, the other thing I have been doing since Saturday is totally turning a blind eye to the dying of that gorgeous capelet. . .I can't bring myself to do it! I even went ahead and bought some red yarn (to match the flower girl's sweater) to re-knit the thing. . .yep, the dying has me scared to death! lol!

So off I go, to work and to knit, and to work on some other stuff too. Thanks for stopping by. I hope that your days are filled with sunshine (literal and figurative)!

Knit in Good Health!

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "s" and the number infinity. . .how can I possibly have so many things to talk about? lol

Around, Around, Around, Around. . .

. . .Over, Under, Through!

But enough about Grover. Today, I think I will focus on the around. . .like concentric circles in the lawn from when Sweetie last cut the grass. . .Yay! The grass (and flowers and trees and spring babies) is growing! And super yay that I have a Sweetie to cut the grass!!! The mower and I do not get along so well. . .
And thinking about circles makes me think of life. . .the circle of life brought 5 tiny goslings to the pond this year! Awww! So cute. . .and not big enough yet to be a nuisance. . .that will come later. . .adolescent geese are not nearly as cute. The big ones, well with all the "waste" they produce, they are pretty obnoxious. And then they produce more geese to be more obnoxious next year. . .but for now, cute little babies. . .Awwwww!

And then yesterday I noticed for the first time this really cool sculpture in front of the place where I buy my bagels and coffee. Perhaps I am simply amused easily, but I was taken with the three cans for cans, paper and plastic, painted brightly and placed around what was once just a simple planter. Now the whole piece is transformed into art, and it's captivating. I have never been much of a recycler. . .just too lazy I guess. . .I mean, I'm not against recycling, I think it's a good idea and all, I just don't seem to be that motivated to do it all the time. This sculpture makes me think more about it, and it makes me want to come here with all my paper, plastic and cans!

Hmmm, that's probably not gonna happen. . .it's probably not very earth-friendly to drive 25 minutes to recycle. . .

Well, at least I'm a good knitter. And you know what? I enjoy knitting in the round! Socks, sweaters, sleeves, i-cord. . .yep, that brings us "full circle" (ba-dum-bump! ching!) and back to the knitting!

Whew! I wondered for a moment if I would make it! But here we are! Sorry there are no knitting pictures. . .and no, I have not yet dyed the shawl. . .yep, I am a little chicken to dive into that one. How'd you guess? Maybe today is the day?

In any case, off I go to knit on some socks, and maybe a sweater, and perhaps work on some things for the approaching nuptials of Snake and Dollface. . .around, and around, and around she goes. . .

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Dyeing to get married!

No, not me. I am already married. . .have been for quite some time now. . .Happily, too! Dollface? Yes, she is quite anxious, to say the least. . .but that's not really what this post is about. Remember this?

Remember how I bragged last week about it being done? Since I wrote that, it's actually been blocked too. I'd like to brag about that a little and then sit back on my knitting caboose and relax, but you know what? That shawl is very natural in it's color. . .and she let me know that her dress is very, very WHITE. . .and furthermore, she let me know that the two do not match. Could I dye that beautiful shawl RED, you know, to match the bridesmaids' dresses? Because it's such a pretty shawl. . .and she really, really likes it. . .but it just doesn't match anything. . ."can you, Mommmm?!?"

Well, I have dyed a few things here and there, so I am gonna give it a shot. gulp! If you are the praying kind, hold me up this week, because if this doesn't go well. . .well, I'll be knitting another one. . .which isn't so bad, until those last 3594 stitches. . .so I started experimenting with color last night. . .
Nooo, those aren't Easter eggs. . .that was last week, Silly! Look at them again, in the rinse water this time. . .little "mini skeins" of the yarn I knit that shawl in. . .
I did some mixing, then used the blue and orange as my "control" colors, so that I could monitor the intensity of the dyes. . .and you know what? I think that one in the middle mightjustbe what I am looking for! I know! I can barely believe it myself, but that very deep, more-blue-red-than-orange-red color is just about the same as the girls' dresses! Bonus! - I wrote down the recipe for that color as I went (because I am so smart like that. . .occasionally anyway)!
I guess I won't know for sure until the samples dry so that I can actually place them against a dress to see, and check in with Dollface to see if she also thinks it matches. It is her wedding, after all. . .well hers and Snake's! Don't they make the cutest couple? "Mo-ommm! You're embarrassing me!"
Uh-huh. That's what I'm here for.
Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!