UFO Envy

I have a strange reaction to posts from people who are concerned about having too many UFOs. While they're seemingly chagrined over their perceived excess, I'm kind of jealous! Polly at All Tangled Up says she has over 50 unfinished projects, and Jenn at Knit n Lit has a picture of three socks that she has going at once. I usually only have one projct going. If I stop working on something, I 'll usually frog it before I'll start working on it again.




Today, I decided to change that. I don't want to have a million projects going at once, but it make sense to have a variety of projects that require different level of skill and focus going at once. I started some socks today from Socks, Socks, Socks They're called "Gull Wings," and they're pretty easy. I have one complaint. How come designers will say to pick up, let's say fifteen stitches fron the sides of the heel when they've only had you knit enough to have maybe ten stitches to actually pick up. I just don't get it.



I have to include a couple more puppy pics. I must, must, must convince Kai that one dog in the family is enough.

Really Random

If I were a kitty looking for a comfortable place to nap away the afternoon, I do not think that I would choose to lie on a knitting book and assorted knitting accoutrements, but I am not a kitty and obviously don't understand kitty psychology. Perhaps Josie is simply trying to point out that it's rude for me to spread my knitting projects all over the couch. I'm almost back to the point I was at previously on my "Trinity" sweater. I'm much happier with it now. I wasn't even doing the right size on my first try.


I'm using up some "Fixation" yarn to make a little sweater dress for a little rabbit that I'm planning to donate for the fundraiser Tracy and
Evelyn are organizing for Krystal Glass, who has breast cancer.



Russ was walking Rowdy a couple of years ago, and this coupe ran out of their house, saying how beautiful he was. They've been our friends ever since, and have "dog sat" Rowdy for us numerous times. Haley, their beagle, had puppies last night, and they are soooo cute....kind of....OK, they are going to be cute eventually. Rowdy preformed his duties without charge because they won't ever take money when they babysit. Is that more information than you needed to know?

More About Yosemite

I can't think of a way of writing about this hike without sounding like a thoughtless complainer, but I still have the need to record it. We hiked for eleven miles and I ended up having to practically carry this twenty-year-old girl from our camping group, who I thought we were only giving a ride up to Tuolumme Meadows (an hour from Yosemite Valley) . A friend from work organizes this trip every year, but we've only gone a couple of years, so we don't know everyone very well. Just as we were about to take off to Tuolumme Meadows, this girl's mother told me, "Brooke has Asperger's Syndrome, (a mild form of autism) but she'll be fine. Blah, blah, blah." I had thought that Brooke seemed a bit odd, but certainly not dysfuctional.

Brooke was not fine. Half-way through the hike, the trail got a little rocky and she wanted me to hold her hand, then she wanted me to support her, then she wanted to go back, which I told her wasn't an option since my daughter was with a group ahead of us, and I wanted to be close to them. It wasn't an awful experinece, but it was annoying. I have some sympathy for Brooke, but I can't believe that her mother just sent her off like that on a huge hike when she's afraid of rocks!! Maybe her mother didn't know, although an aquaintance said that she did the same thiing to someone else on a big hike last year. The teacher in me made me lecture Brooke a little when we were finished, "You shouldn't go on these hikes if you can't do it by yourself, Brooke." My son ended up being quite happy that Brooke was such a pain and slowed us down so much, because we ended up having to cut the hike short. We turned back about a mile before our destination so that the group ahead of us wouldn't have to wait for us forever. Kai took a little nap on a rock before we headed back. What a trooper! Oh...and neither Brooke nor her mother said so much as a thank you.

My friend's wife later told me that it was so nice that I "took care of Brooke," but I told her that it really wasn't because I had complained to some people about it. I think I'm finished complaing. But I can tell you that if Brooke asks for a ride to a trailhead next year, we're all full up!

Dreaming of Yosemite

It was at least 100 degrees today. I don't feel like doing anything when it is so hot outside, so I did pretty much nothing at all, all day long. The highlight of my day was going down to the post office...no wait, the real highlight was going out to the peach tree and picking about ten perfect peaches.

I had thought that I'd spend a bunch of time knitting today, but I didn't. Instead, I frogged all of my niece's sweater. I had several errors that I realize almost no one would ever notice, but I couldn't be happy knowing they were there. Oh well, that's why I love knitting. No great loss, except time. I'll get going again tomorrow.

We went to Yosemite in June, and I thought I'd post these pictures because this time of year, I'm kind of sad to live where we live because it's sooooo blasted hot, but we live pretty close to many beautiful places. The pictures are from our big hike--our eleven mile hike.

I have to go get ice cream for my son because he just got his braces on and is miserable. So I will tell the tale of our hike tomorrow. It's a good one!

Thanks for all of the birthday greetings everyone. That was sooooo nice!

Happy Birthday to Me

I turned forty-five today. I was going to use that as an excuse not to run this morning but considering that I didn't run our entire vacation, I thought that maybe I should. So i did--about five miles. The weather report said that it was supposed to be 97 degrees today, but it was overcast all day and even spprinkled on us while we were running. I had a pretty lazy day. Russ made me a couple of presents that I will show off later, and he also bought me A Thousand Splendid Suns. I read the Kite Runner over vacation and loved it. I've already started Splendid Sun and I think I'll like it a lot too.
I knit quite a lot on my niece's sweater today too between taking a couple naps and making some marzipan sweaters with Kai. Paige made me a cheesecake, and Kai and I put our sweaters on it. I think we need a little practice to get as good as Lolo's sweatesr on Vegan Yum Yum.

More About My Trip

There is a bookstore in Lincoln that my husband and I never miss stopping at when we visit. It's called The Bluestem Bookstore, and it has one of the best selections of used books that we know of. We always buy a bunch of books there even though we have to figure out how to get them home on the plane. Recently, the owner began including knitting books in his collection. True to his standards, he has chosen only high quality knitting books. I bought A Treasury of Rowan Books for only $12.95. I love almost every pattern in it and have finally gotten into doing something other than little rabbits that I don't know what to do with. (If anyone is interested, he still had a couple of copies and he sells online.)


I've started knitting "Trinity." It's kind of an aran pattern but not too difficult once I got the stirches counted correctly. I always have to begin several times because I'm in too big of a hurry. I'm planning to knit it for my six-year-old neice and then knit a bunny with a little aran sweater to match for Christmas.

Julie mentioned in her blog that she has joined a Christmas KAL, so I thought I'd follow her example. It's exciting to think about what else I want to do. I have no intention of driving myself crazy, but I should be able to complete quite a few projects before Christmas.

I Love Yarn Shops

I love finding new yarn shops. I can't usually spend much time in them if I am with my family because for some reason they are bored by yarn and feel that I have more than enoughof it. If I ever get a chance to visit Webs or Patternworks I would be very excited, but I prefer smalll shops run by non-pretentious and friendly, but unobtrusive, women. I found one of those in Lincoln, Nebraska and since we were staying at my in-laws, not my favorite place to spend a lot of time, I did some shopping on my own. The shop I discovered is called Threads. It's located in a small mall in southwest Lincoln and used to cater to machine knittrs. I used to go there, but wasn't too inspired by the owner or contents. Threads now has a new owner, and she's changing the shop. She has a fantastic selection of Brown Sheep wool, which a Nebraska knit shop should have, of course. I didn't buy any of it, but I did make a few purchases. I'm still kind of obsessed with making rabbits still, so I bought some beautiful brown alpaca and some Lily Chin merino yarn to make rabbits and some Cherry Hill wool to make Paige some socks.

Does Anyone Want This??

I have mentioned before that I am not particularly scholarly. I haven't ever finished Crime and Punishment or War and Peace as my history-major husband has, but I do like "good" literature. I'm not interested in romance novels, etc., and most knitting novels I have read have had that "romance novel" feel to them. The Friday Night Knitting Club kind of had that feel too. I just read a review that said it had the feel of a first novel. That said, I read it almost straight through. So..I don't exactly recommend it, but it does have a neat cover! If anyone wants it, you can email me your address, and I will send it to you. Julie, I know that you once mentioned that you planned to read Friday Night knitting Club It's all yours, if you want it!

Now That was a Hiatus

So how do you get started blogging after such a long break?? It's funny because I was blogging pretty regularly when I was so busy with school and finishing my paper. I was just too worn out to be very creative for a while

We're just back from two weeks in Nebraska, which I know that some people would not consider a prime vacation spot, but we love it. My husband is from Lincoln, so we spend a lot of time there. We usually spend time visiting college friends too, but this year we didn't get to see too many people BUT my kids were happy because that meant more time with their cousin. I didn't take too many pctures but one day we headed off for an adventure at Mahoney State Park between Lincoln and Omaha. It was nearly 100 degrees and predictably the pool there, which is more like a water park than a pool, was packed, so we headed to the "Walter Scott look-out tower at the park. My sister-in-law pulled into her parking space and discovered....that she had a flat. While she and Russ worked in the infernal heat, I climbed to the top of the tower and enjoyed the view!






I did get a little knitting done too, but I'll have to show that off tomorrow. Lincoln finally has a nice little knitting shop, so i had to spend a little time and money there!