Month: March 2007

Our tea party was a resounding success. We had 18 ladies here and we ate and talked and drank tea and talked some more. There were hats:

There were friends and relatives (well, the relatives were friends too – that’s me with Jan, my best friend sitting next to me and my sister-in-law, Beth, who did me the great favor of introducing me to her brother):

Even the dogs got in on the act:

We had scones with Devonshire cream, lemon curd and strawberry jam, lemon squares, little tea sandwiches and four different kinds of tea, and chocolate dipped strawberries. And not a thing was low fat!! Well, except maybe the tea. These are the napkins I made for the tea:

Next year I hope to make tablecloths to match. Yes, we all agreed there would be a next year. On the knitting front, I’ve accomplished quite a bit this week, but not very interesting blog fodder. Both the Forest Path Stole and the baby’s afghan have gotten longer, but otherwise look pretty much the same. Bill and I drove down to the Seattle area today and I knitted on the baby afghan most of the way. On the way home we stopped at a garage sale and for a moment I thought I had made a really big score. The couple is moving into a small condo because the wife has progressive dementia. She was a weaver and I found a huge garbage bag with skeins and skeins of what looked like fingering weight wool. We’re talking huge hanks of probably four or five thousand yards each. Unfortunately they weren’t labelled. This would be enough yarn to keep me in CIC knitting for at least 10 years! Rather than take a chance, I pulled off a strand and took it outside and lit a match to it. Sigh! It curled up and melted – yup, pure acrylic. I guess it was not to be. Maybe it’s just as well – I’d have been winding it into balls for years!

I’ve got to get busy this week and finish off this section of my class. My essays are done – now I just have to read and comment on the other student’s essays. Some are pretty good, but there are a fair amount that are just dreadful! At least I only have to read a couple. Pity the poor teacher who has to read them all!! And at least try to be kind.

A very busy week here at Missouri Star and the rest of the month proposes to be even busier. I can’t even promise I will be blogging for a couple of weeks, but we’ll have to see. Of course, there’s work and school, but also some fun goings on. Next Friday my Round Robin group meets here at the house to begin our Mystery Quilt Project. And on Saturday a couple of my friends and I are hosting our First Annual Spring Tea, again here at the house. It should be fun and I’ll take lots of pictures.

In knitting news, some specs on the cashmere shawl. The pattern is Alberta by Myrna Stahman. Can I say again how much I love her book? The yarn is China Cashmere DK, the needles Knit Picks Options, size 7. Here is a close up:

I’ll try to get a model shot sometime this week. I’ve also been working on the Forest Path Stole, but have stumbled a bit. I have to say it’s getting a bit monotonous, but that breeds inattention, which breeds – you guessed it – Frogging!! I sat down to work on it one night this week and kept dropping stitches, miscounting, you name it, and ended up frogging about as much as I knitted. But I just started Tier 10, which is exciting because I am nearing the halfway point!

Most of my knitting time this week has been taken up with the new baby’s afghan:

The observant among you may have noticed that this is not the pattern I started with. I just wasn’t feeling the love on the other one. After one full pattern repeat, it became apparent that with the yarn I had, the afghan was going to be very short and wide – all out of proportion. To make it proportionally pleasing I would have had to make it humongously long or rework the pattern. I remembered my favorite Leisure Arts baby book and pulled it out and found this one. This is comfort knitting at its finest. There’s a wonderful rhythm to the pattern – perfect for watching TV or chatting with hubby. And perfect car knitting!

This weekend I’m off for fun and games. I’m going down to my sister’s later today. Tomorrow we will go to a teddy bear show in Puyallup. I am kind of toying with the idea of making teddy bears as a little cottage industry when I retire. I have no idea if it’s feasible or even profitable, but am going to explore the idea. Several years ago I made this little guy:

I’m thinking it would be cute to make personalized bears to commerate special occasions. Baby bears for births, bride and groom bears, bridesmaid bears to give as the bridesmaid’s gift. I certainly don’t expect to make a living out of it – just something to do that’s fun and helps fund my hobbies. My husband has found a great hobby – building model airplaines out of recycled aluminum cans. His business has taken off and he’s having a great time. You can visit his site here.

Two sure cures for the winter blahs! Number one – an FO! I’ve been so close, yet so far away on this one. You may remember the cashmere Faorese shawl I was working on. About one repeat short I ran out of yarn. So, I ordered another skein, but only one because it was so expensive. Imagine my heartbreak when I came this close and ran out again:

I just couldn’t see ordering another full skein when I only needed a few yards. So I emailed Laurel at handknitting.com and explained my dilemma. She offered to send me a few yards for just a small shipping and handling charge. When it arrived, I was overjoyed to find she had sent 10 yards! And I’m ever so glad she did, because I finished with barely a yard to spare: Behold:

Before:

After:

It’s not as wonky as it looks – I was trying to take a picture and get everything in without falling off the bed! Bill pointed out that this is probably the most expensive garment I own. He’s probably right! But I hope this will be handed down as an heirloom with stories of how great grandpa bought the yarn as a gift of love to great grandma, who made it with her own hands.

The other cure for winter blahs? Baby knitting:

Sorry for the truly horrible picture. The yarn is the most beautiful seafoam color. I’m using Encore – my favorite really washable worsted weight yarn for babies. The yarn shop has some beautiful baby yarn in a coordinating seafoam and yellow that I think I will get for the sweater set. Yes, I know a baby in Orlando may not need many sweaters, but this little guy/gal needs a set of his/her own to pass down.

And, oh yes – a third cure for the winter blahs – perfect scores on my last two essays for Psychology of Women and an invitation to join the newly established honor society for non-traditional students at Washington State University. Definitely an incentive to keep on keeping on.

I have the blogging blahs. Actually, I have the blahs in general. Don’t get me wrong, life is good. Maybe it’s the time of year, maybe it’s just the little frustrations. Work has been frustrating. For the fourth time in two years, I’ve hired a great employee, only to have her leave after two months for greener pastures. I understand each person has to look out for herself, etc., but a litte more sticking power would be nice. Fortunately I’ve been able to hire a provisional dental assistant to get us through a scheduled employee leave, but I’m a little concerned about her too. She’s coming from a huge dental practice in Eastern Washington and I’m a little nervous that she’s going to come prepared to teach us country hicks just how a dental office should be run. Hmmm – I sound a little cynical, don’t I?

Perhaps it’s my college class, the Psychology of Women. There are a lot of interesting points in this class, but I’m tired of hearing how everything is a conspiracy by a patriarchal society to keep women beaten down and powerless. Personally, I always considered it a privilege to stay home when my baby was born and kind of felt sorry for my husband that he had to go out and make a living for us. And grateful too – thanks honey!! And I like pink and playing with dolls – so what if that makes me a pawn of a sexist male dominated society?

Ok, enough whining. Wanna see what I did today?

Another cute little Izzy dress. It looks huge to me, but it’s the same size as the last one, which fits her well enough to wear now, but with room to grow. I also decided to embellish the quilt I showed you several weeks ago:

I think the butterflies really add some pizzazz! Tomorrow I’m off to Bellingham for another class – but I called ahead and confirmed this time! Word has it that we’re doing a cute tote bag. A girl can never have too many cute tote bags! Egads! I’d be drummed out of my Psychology of Women class for that quote. However, being named to the President’s Honor Roll for fall quarter will take the sting out of that!

Still working on the Forest Path Stole, but to tell the truth, picutres from here on out will just be more of the same, so don’t know if it’s worth posting every time. Instead, I will leave you with this – can you believe how grown up she looks? Very big sisterish!