winter projects

it has been too long since my last post. forgive me....this year however I have taken on a bit of a challenge and I AM WINNING!!! So far this year I have completed a sweater a week....yes you read that right a sweater a week....before you give up on me entirely realize that only one of these is knit the other 3 are crochet.My challenge is to complete 6 sweaters by June and 6 pairs of socks by Christmas. This is all in an effort to destash my cupboards and downsize. The sweaters have made such a dent that I now have all my yarn (except my handspun)in one cupboard. Meanwhile I have also crocheted two baby blankets for the herd of 12 lil girls (and one boy) headed to our extended friends and family between now and August. I will try to get photos posted tomorrow if the weather (-35) permits internet connection. Hope your knitting is going well. Let me know what you have been up too! Oh and to let you all know WH is cancer free!!! whew-who! Thank you for the prayers!!!

when it just wont go anymore

These past few months have been a blur. Still two more weeks before my life returns to normal, or was that abnormal??? I am finishing arms on the gansey, finished the noro couch blanket last night after days of round and round in circles with my lil fingers moving at lightening speed. It inspired me so much that I went through my entire stash yesterday.....YES even the stuff in the cupboards and inside the teacups...lol. I rearranged it according to project. I have a rubbermaid full of sweaters and large projects to finish. One full of sock yarn and a cupboard full of smaller grab and go type of items. Then I have three travel bags, one for the car, one for the truck/roadtrips, and one for my walking. I am taking the gansey with me to New Mexico next week...finished or not!!! I have been asked to do another baby blanket for a relative that is due on Christmas Eve, a stocking hat for a neighbor, and a set of small penguins for WH one for the dash of his truck, one for his keychain, one for his pillow, and one for his cancer surgery this upcoming tuesday! He didn't have a middle name at birth (with 18 other bro & sis I think mama ran out years ago) so our children and the neighbor kids got together and renamed him.....his middle name is Marie, and his nickname taken from the movie Happy Feet is fluffy. Hence the penguins....lol. So keep "fluffy marie" in your prayers Oct. 12 and I will keep you informed on how he is doing. This is his second go round with the beast in 7 years so he tells me not to bury him in a tuxedo....lol. Not sure that would help his dancing ability or not????

mid-week

It has been a wild summer. Too many things have happened to note right now but I will try to have a new post by next week.....stay tuned....

spring gardening and travels

Whoa....its been a long time since I last posted something in here....partly because (insert lame excuses here) while finishing up my current class I was made Director of Missions at our church. Which is a fancy way of saying as pastor put it...." I know its only April but I want a team in the field by July." Nooooo pressure since I was in the middle of my integrative project anyhow!!! (insane laughter goes here)! Recieved a 99/100 on the project by the way! And my future schedule looks like this...(try not to drool on the wool here puullleezz)!
May 23 shearing with DBinlaw, May 24 funeral in Wichita, May 25 make up day at work for coworker who covered yesterdays shift, May 29-31 Navajo reservation trip to Gallup NM and preaching two sermons (for those of you outta the loop that is a 12 hour drive one way), June 3 DSinlaws bday in Virginia with WH's ex (oh joy!!-pray for this one), June 5-6 run TV camera at church for guest speaker, June 10-11 a mad dash road trip from Ashville NC to Gallup NM with donated paint for mission project, June 18th my baby Junebug turns 20, June 19th Our 6th anniversary, June 20th-23 FCF Int'l conference in Tulsa, June 24-25 Mission conference in Speary OK, July 4th neighbors birthday bash (WH is included), June 12th WH bday!, June 16th-24th Missions trip (with unknown head count as of now)to Smith Lake NM, July 26th-August 14th cover for sweet coworker and bosses wife again, August 14th wedding in Estes Park CO, August 17th DSD anniversary and housewarming in Suffolk VA, August 24th Dental appt in KS (pray again), Sept 2-4 several famliy bdays in Wichita area, and finally Sept.12-14th regional Ministerial mtgs in Omaha NE.......all this in and around a part time job.....LOL!!!!! and they wonder why I throw knitting needles!!! Oh yes THE GARDEN....oh look pretty flowers!!! oh what a pleasant surprise....Santa!!! (WH in drag...lol) and he bought another gift for me....Oct 1-Nov 6th teaching Ministerial training in Gallup.....LOL! Excuse me while I check ebay or etsy for extra needle to throw......(sigh!)

spring break

Well this semester will more than likely be my last for a season or two. School is killing my work schedule...lol. A quick overview of the last few weeks is as follows: weekly homework and quizzes -- done, housework -- almost done, dinner ready on time every night -- done, mentor located at the request of our national director -- ummmm well I tried really I did...I scheduled an appointment with our Pastor and went in to see him about getting a mentor set up within our region....30 minutes later I walked out Director of Missions. It is a NEW position in our church....which is a fancy way of saying "I" am building it from the ground up with the hopes of having a team in the field by July 2 and another in the field come December....I don't even finish school till May 9th. In addition to my boss getting a new program system at work that I still need to learn the only good to come out of this so far is lotsa help from some dear friends, good sleep just not enough of it, and a pay raise. No yarn yet....but there is the weekend....LOL! That is just the stash cupboard he knows about....lol.

rough week calls for down time

Lately with school and various jobs stress is an understatement. I went in for my annual mammo at the beginning of the year and they found a few "new" lumps. So yes take it I was considerably stressed to say the least (not to mention sleep deprived). BP was a little high too. (lumps turned out to be benign as all the others). Not to worry I had come in for my annual doctor run...(all the checkups at once.i.e. physical, cardio-stress, echocardiogram, mammo, and pap eyes and teeth). I am an all or nothing kinda girl...lol. So as I sat down to ready myself for my cardio-stress test I out of habit pulled out the needles and yarn. I kid you not it lowered my BP 20 points in 10 minutes. HMMM!!! Who would have thunk it!!! Now if I could just get them to write my stash off as medication I would be set! Here are some pretties I have been working on:

happy happy joy joy

well i will try this one more time....today-ahem! all the fun we endured on vacation is finally settling down...a couple of you already know that before vacation we helped DD get into a car. on day 2 of our beloved kidtrip she calls ....MAAAAA! i am sitting on East Kellogg in Wichita and my car just stopped. mind you we were in the outskirts of santa fe new mexico headed to lalana wools....WH PULLS OVER! (if he wasnt so dang cute it would have been the last thing he ever did--i swear!!) I was sooooo close i could smell the wool fumes rising over taos....DD dropped her transmission thankfully next to a major car dealership. her 30day/100mi warrenty only covered half. so after WH and I walked off our anger and frustration by hiking FIVE national park sites we roll into tucson az only to have willey-our beloved car die....(insert sobbing here....sniffle!). no way in hades was i putting a 5th transmission in willey in 4yrs. needless to say...willey died. (actually he was sent out to pasture at a very nice vw dealership think of it as a hi-dollar retirement home for cars). we took my stash cash (all 3 yrs of it) and spent part of it on a new car a 2010 vw jetta which we affecionatly named abraham - because we found him while wondering around the desert. i was able to snatch up 4 skeins of yarn a kiwi knits in tucson - i told WH half was for my friend mallory...and yes she did get it. after which we promptly drove straight home. an 18 hr drive was made in 15...at night. exhausted and tired we fell into bed. i awoke with a cramping stomach and what i thought was a uti...after throwing up and sitting down in a repeated fashion for 3 hours straight i told WH take me to ER......this is when i heard what should have been his last words....."are you sure you need to go to er???" (okay rough background here for ya all....the only two times i have EVER thrown up in my life were swine flu and pregnancy). he carried me back to bed and waited on me hand and foot for the next 15hrs (trying to make up for something stupid he could have said i am sure)....nothing stayed down for 4 days. at which point weak, in pain and dehydrated i drove myself from work to ER and laid there 9 hours.....all the urine,blood and CT scan revealed was a massive kidney infection, and stomach flu....i drove myself home and i kid you not the first words outta his cute lil mouth were ....maybe you really did need to go to the hospital!!!!!!!
Last night before i went to bed i laid out the car payment and a ransom note from the stash....hope he likes cold tv dinners!!! (note to self : maybe this volcanic crater really was deep enough..hmmm!).

duh!

here ya go! this is off the cover of world visions quarterly magazine - one of 2009's. and since i cant bear to not show you yarn here is a shawl i made out of jknits kansas colorway. one skein, garter st body with M1 increases at each end, crochet shrimp st edge along top and a basic crochet shell along bottom.

spring semester overload

Howdy all - its been a couple of months since my last post....forgive me! I am taking two classes and teaching 3 so my schedule has been a lil hectic. But never fear I have pretties I am working on....lol!
These lovely yarns are going to become a shawl or cowl...I am still undecided on the pattern. I am also proud to say I am on the upper front of my green gansey (from the best of Rowan book - first edition not the reprint) the only other thing I have even attempted to do is a colored pencil portrait for our home. When I figure out how to turn it on its side I will show it too you....lol!!! Well gotta go for now. I hear yarn crying in the next room.

turkeyday is a coming!

This week has been a hectic one. Several funerals including an infant and a couple of relatives. Finally got DD a used car and the house cleaned. This weekend will be interesting to say the least, we are packing for AZ. Gonna be on the road for about 10 days. Lots of yarn shops and sites on the way! Planning to hit Santa Fe and Tucson and Taos (time and weather permitting). Any other recommendations are appreciated! My goal is two shops in each town and at least two hours on the plaza. Other than two specific diners for WH and a National Park stop we should be good if the storms wait until December. What are you knitting for the holidays? Ours is going to be a "homemade" Christmas this year due to several inlaws being out of work this year. I am working on aprons and potholders and maybe even tea towels and lots of cooking--mostly breads. My roadtrip project will be either a new sweater or baby shower items...decisions decisions. Photos to follow as the trip progresses!--Happy turkey day to all!!!!

knit one for me....

What a long, tiresome, adventuresome weekend it was. The car is all-better!(the mechanic said "trust me".) Just a very expensive air filter housing, (slammed the vacation yarn budget). DD is recovering from the flu, and her mama (that would be me misses her). WH is battling clinical depression episode (wifely vigilance keeps me up at night). One of my favorite great uncle's passed away this past week and his funeral is tomorrow.(he was the first to notice and encourage my gift of writing). Six years ago this week I lost my mother-in-law (part of WH issues???) and 10 years ago today I buried what should have been my second husband (pancreatic cancer). On top of all of this wonderful news I attended KIG (knit in Gove day!!!--whew who!)on Saturday and loved it. (Thank you Brad and Sherri for letting me ride along!!! I owe you one, ummm or is that two?). My WH picked me up on the road and we went to the Wallace county German festival (dinner actually-- which after he worked a 8 hr shift i can see why he left my part of the meal laying on the counter at home by accident). My brother in law was expecting 30ish in attendance....we wound up with 100ish (just shy of having to wash silverware...lol). After driving home from Sharon Springs (back to Ellis--around 3hrs give or take a time zone) we fell into bed exhausted at 11pm on Saturday (we had gotten up at 4 am). Sunday after WH worked toddler nursery at church and I was unexpectedly called on to run TV camera(on my week off) we had a nice dinner and headed home for our naps (which really means we worked around the house cleaning rabbit pens, doing dishes, laundry, and clearing off the garden until we dropped off into bed at 10:30pm). Having been through all of that my alarm failed to go off this morning and I woke up when I should have been leaving the house. No breakfast, disarrayed and very exhausted I did manage to grab my knitting bag on the way out the door. In order to lower my blood pressure I began a new vest out of cheap hand me down very soft gray acrylic (yes i said it...sigh!). I just got a phone call that WH is contemplating quitting his job of 38yrs because he needs to be home more, (having lived in campgrounds and motels 5 days a week for all of that time i agree). We are soooooo close to having everything paid for (according to budget it will be Christmas of 2010). I am hesitant to let him (pray harder on this one ya'll). Other than that I did become an official Reverend over the weekend which means I can drown you and bury you (baptisms and funerals) but i cant marry you not for at least two more years...lol!(school has paid off!!!). So in rememberance of my uncle, and the acheivement of my career please knit one row for me today! (its cheaper than alcohol and mall therapy and saves the rest of the holiday yarn fundage). And while your at it knit one row just because!!!! It will do you good! Trust me!!

snow day!!!

Tomorrow they are calling for nearly 4 inches of the fluffy stuff in my part of the state. Good thing I have the day off, bad thing is I am hunting for DD a new (used) car, and the really bad news is as of a mishap on my way to lunch I am looking for ME a new car now too....bankers love me!!! The only thing this really means is during our upcoming trip to Arizona to see the youngest DSS I will have to behave with the fiber fundage. Gotta luv WH!!! Since all of that was the bad news here is the best news yet...I have been making my YO backward for years. NOW that I know better I have started 4 lace projects...LOL!!! It's a good thing something in life is going right for me otherwise I have asked the bosses permission to line my desktop with a collection of lil bottles of alcohol from the liquor store next door. HEY....it was either that or pin his remote to the far wall of the office with a #11 knitting needle. The choice was his...LOL!!!

WH needs to come home!!

WH seriously needs to come home and clean the furnace.....I was good last week when it froze the garden out on Oct.1 but when I had to scrap ice this morning it was not as pretty. I told him I was gonna light the pilot light on the furnace and turn it on and he replied...."noooo gurl, let me clean it out first, i wanna vacuum it out" (aaarrgghhhh!!!). If he wasnt so dang cute in a do-rag and overalls!!! Oh well, in order to complain about this in here i told myself it would have to include yarn, does the twelve bags of roving and fiber I tucked in the bed with me to make a nest last night count???? if he doesnt make it home tonight all bets with the plastic and LYS are off!!! (evil laughter goes here!!!!).oy!

long holiday

Well today I am playing catch up. Mostly catch up on laundry, dishes, gardening, and mail. I have a church retreat this weekend so I thought I would take a few things along. Maybe my lace stole, or the new rovings I dyed up this morning, but in all honesty I will more than likely take the new roving I just bought from my friend the treasure goddess (formerly knitting virgin). I just love the way it spins,(merino is my friend..lol). Here is the stocking hat I have just finished, yeah its sock yarn on a size 5 (wth was I thinking?).The roving may not make it to the weekend - kind of like american honey wild turkey, its too smooth -oy its gonna be a long night...lol!

more please!!!

I have been frantically trying to keep up with the two variety of squash, carrots, tomatoes, and peppers with very little success. Even less in the knitting department. Began working on a stocking hat last week but progress is very slow, I have a rib outta place and a dislocated shoulder that WB (wonder boss the chiropractor) just can't seem to keep in. I am almost sure he thinks I am doing something kinky at night or on my days off to have it go out so often...lol. No such luck, it is making spinning extremely difficult but since when has that stopped me??? I am still learning how to upload pictures from my new camera so be patient with me, I will have a oodles of them up before long. I do have roving and yarn for sale at Great Plains Artistians and The Shepherd's Mill in Philipsburg please check it out if you happen to find yourself in western Kansas. Sally would apprciate the business as much as I would. Take care--L

got lost

I have been rearranging my house and fell into the stash. I have to come up for air so I thought I would type a new post. I have been sketching and working on some portraits (colored pencil) for the house. Other than that I have been attempting to keep up with the garden: zuchinni, cucumbers, carrots, onions, potatoes, radishes, butternut squash, cabbage, horseradish, several peppers and two tomato plants. Can we say "pickles"? The zuchinni bread doesnt hang around that long...lol. I have two months to finish knitting up my sweaters and one more sock. I love my two brother in laws who shear but I must admit its a long drive to the Colorado border to visit my favorite one who just started dating -- get this -- a lady who owns alpacas, sheep and llamas!!!!! I love my relatives! 'nuff for now, back to the stash (er i mean house)!

brain fart

sorry but here are some update photos of my little stash cupboard and the singles I have spun up in the past week and a half and some of my handspuns. (it takes so little..oy!)

summer fun--sort of

There is nothing like working with wool in the heat...lol. I began working on my fall wardrobe this past week. One new green gansey out of cascade heather 220 in a dark forest green (love this one--must be the irish side of me) and one bohus style pullover in the green meadow pattern from the book "Poems of color" -- I am using the colorway shown in the book. Other than that I have inherited a new wardrobe from the local thriftshop--knitted alterations applied as needed. Apparently one of the local high schoolers in my size (itty bitty should say it all here folks) apparently is getting new clothes or has found herself -- like 4% of the local HS'ers how do I say this umm.....knocked up. There is nothing wrong with any of these clothes but I have made them mine with a few decorative trims or touches here and there. WOW! now to remember how to shave my legs on a daily basis...LOL! OHHHHHHH!!! got a new camera too so more photos are to follow....(squeals with glee)! Do you have any BIG plans for the summer?

beautiful day to destash

Today I decided to clean out my stash. Which in turn resulted in me cleaning half the house and running all over town to drop off recycling, and thrift shop items. Afterword I gathered all my batts, roving, and yarn to run up to Philipsburg on Thursday so Sally can haul it to the show in Denver the first weekend of May. This evening I sat down and knit more on my skirt/sweater???? -- haven't decided on exactly what it will be yet. EZ is wonderful. Pictures of all the things on their way to Denver for the sale will be up within the week. (hopefully!!!).

catch up

Today is a day that the housework will be done...dishes washed, laundry folded, budget laidout, filing done, floors mopped, or vacuumed, old sermons that were missed are being listened too, batts made, spinning of the alpaca roving named "dr.pepper" shall be done as well. It is a beautiful gray with black flecks and I am attempting to spinning a superfine lace weight! (yes this may be the final straw on the psych eval). Especially since WH and I are considering a mission trip to Haiti this summer and one to Africa next spring....LOL!!! But seriously the dusting will NOT get done today. (I can't justify spinning while fiber is flying afterword). Dust bunnies rule!!!!