Month: May 2012

We're back from another trip, this time to Logan, Utah.  Hubby's brother recently got a new job at Logan State University and had been encouraging us to come down and visit them.  It was a fairly quick road trip – two days down, two days there, and two days back, with a side trip to the Spokane area to visit his other brother.  Logan is a beautiful area!  One day we took a side trip to Bear Lake and on the way passed a little cave that Bill and his brother remember visiting in 1966.

We drove up to Tony's Grove and found a beautiful lake still partly covered by ice:

And there was knitting!  Debbie is a wonderful knitter and we visited her LYS for some fiber therapy. Of course, there was yarn as souvenirs:

There was a close out sale on some merino laceweight and these two skeins jumped right into my bag!  And we decided to start a sister-in-law knit-a-long and bought the same yarn to make Wingspan:

I seem to have misplaced the ball band, so I can't remember what yarn it is – I believe it's a new Regia sock yarn, but don't quote me on that.  I don't know if I'm going to have enough to do the full 8 repeats.  It's getting close and I'm knitting faster in the hope that the faster I knit, the farther my yarn will go.

To make the hours go quicker on the road, hubby and I listened to an audio book.  We chose 11-22-63 by Stephen King.  This is definitely one of his best!  Of course, with King, you do have to accept that there will be  some language, but he has kept the violence to a minimum.  And did I say it's long??  We didn't finish it on the trip, so have been listening to it in the evenings instead of watching TV.  I can see that the book wouldn't be of as much interest to the younger set, but for those of us who lived through Kennedy's assassination, it's fascinating to think about going back in time to try and stop it.

Lately I've been revisiting one of my long time loves – quilting.  Never fear that I'll give up knitting, but a recent visit to a quilt show and the exhibit of my good friend JoAnne and her gorgeous applique quilts has gotten me thinking about getting back to hand applique:

I have taken a leap off the deep end and have joined a Block of the Month to make this quilt:

I have always wanted to make a Baltimore Album quilt, but just didn't know where to even start.  I'm hoping by doing it this way I will get over my hesitation.  Yeah, I know I'm crazy!  I have no doubt that I will be unable to keep up on a monthly basis, but I hope to keep plodding away and eventually get it done.  In the meantime, I'm honing my skills on a much simpler block:

There are still leaves to be added.  This does mean that I will be starting fewer knitting projects, however, I did finish the 2011 KALendar shawl:

It just needs blocking, but I'm sure I'll procrastinate because blocking that puppy is going to be an all day affair!  In fact, I'm not sure I have enough T-pins.  This shawl just about did me in!  At the end I think I had over 1600 stitches on the needle.  I think the results are probably worth it, but any shawls I'll be doing for a while will be smaller.  I am joining the Ravelympics team for the Knit Companion group and will probablyl do Haruni.  The goal will be to cast on during the opening ceremonies and finish by the closing ceremonies.

In closing, I leave with this picture of Maggie.  As those who love Corgis know, they are able to defy the law of physics and shed more hair than they actually have!  It cracks me up that she is a black dog, but the undercoat that she loses in the spring is a light grey.  I know it's possible to spin dog hair, but I think hers is too short stapled.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments regarding my wrist.  It is doing a lot better.  A combination of the splint, icing and a little knitting vacation seemed to do the trick.  The knitting hiatus came about because of a real vacation – we flew back to Missouri for a family reunion.  There was lots of visiting (and eating!), but very little knitting.

As those of you who have followed my blog might remember, my home town is a tiny little town in Missouri.  The population varies somewhat, but as far as anyone can tell, it's less than 100.  My parents have lived in the same cute little stone house for over 30 years:

We even got to visit the actual house I was born in.  I was a little disappointed that the owner wasn't home, so we didn't get to go inside.

This visit was especially memorable, because all of the siblings were together for the first time in almost 10 years!

Aren't we a cute bunch?  We also got to meet my brother Pat's wife for the first time.

They are an absolutely darling couple.  This picture was taken in front of the house that Rose Wilder Lane built for her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We also visited the house that Almanzo built for her:

I have to admit that I never did read the Little House books growing up.  But I bought one for the granddaughters and I think we will read them together.

Immediately upon returning, we had birthdays to celebrate.  Isobel and Grandpa celebrated their birthdays with a joint party – they are only one day (and 56 years!) apart.

Abby and I took a chance and bought Isobel an American Girl Doll.  When Ivy got hers, Isobel insisted that she didn't "need" a doll because she is not a "girly-girl".  But whenever they passed the American Girl Doll place in Alderwood Mall, she would look wistfully in the window.  We thought that perhaps she would be won over if the doll suited her.  So we picked out a doll that looked like her and I made a Gi with a yellow belt because Isobel just earned her first yellow belt in Karate.  The effort was a resounding success!  One of the first things Isobel said was, "She looks just like me!"

She promptly named her doll Amelia, after Amelia Earhart. And there was more than enough dolly love to go around!

We're off on other adventures soon, but I'll post after we get back.  I'm a little cautious any more about advertising that we'll be gone, even though we have a house/dog sitter.  I'll be visiting a favorite sister-in-law, who just happens to be a knitter.  Good times!