Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sock Yarn & KoolAid

"Every artist was first an amateur."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

These socks are very special to me. I dyed the yarn myself. This is the first yarn I have dyed that I am actually turning into something. The big secret? It was dyed with KoolAid!
This KoolAid to be exact. A little strawberry, a little grape, I threw in some cherry and berry and I am thrilled with the outcome. I purchased a couple more blanks because I really think I am starting to get the hang of it.
While I was at Athena Fibers in Sioux Falls picking up my needles for a class on Saturday, I asked about a sweater above the fireplace and came home with the book. It is a wonderful book with more patterns in it than I could ever complete.
But I am adding this one to my list of sweaters I will be knitting.....one day.....
This sweater is the next one, though. They are offering a class starting on the 26th and I may have been the first to sign up for it. It will keep me motivated to finish and the two shop samples are beautiful.
Garage sale finds. My friend, Penny, and I took off during lunch on Friday and found a couple of sales. I got this new leather purse for $3 and the doily it is sitting on for less than a buck. Must have been my lucky day!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

September Socks

"Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours."
Swedish Proverb
Great news...my biopsies are all negative!
My September socks, Lilac Seeds. Made from another beautifully dyed yarn by Qutecowgirl. These took me forever and I even tinked the whole first sock. That means I actually knitted three socks. I changed the band up a little to make it wider.
Milkweed Shawl. I made this while I was down in Florida, it just took me a little time to block it and then to take pictures. Another great Alpaca-Merino blend hand dyed by Qutecowgirl. This was a breeze to knit.
And now....for the unblocked state:
I read something interesting just before I blocked this, tuck the ends in after you block it....I did! I am just thrilled with the way it turned out and how soft it is.
This lovely basket was a thrift find. I prefer to think the animals are not giraffes as my daughter thinks, but llamas or alpacas.
This is replacing the little basket next to my rocker to hold my socks that I work on at home. No way will it replace the cute sock bag my friend made for me that lives in my car for doctor's appointments and just general waiting time anywhere.
Back to my KoolAid dyed yarns. This is another attempt to come up with something I like.
This one is definitely interesting, but I am not sure I will like it as much as I like the ones I get from Qutecowgirl. Maybe I should just leave the dyeing to her.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Let's Roll

Today is a day to remember where we were, what we were doing, how we felt, the absolute horror that shook our foundations.

Today is a day we should never forget but too many have.

Today is a day we honor our fallen and those heroes that came to their aid.

Today is a day to honor our heroes who go forth and do battle. Support our troops, our loved ones and our friends who chose to serve this great Nation under God.


Lest we forget.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Giveaway

T Does Wool is giving away the most delightful hooked bag for HER birthday! Happy birthday!! Good luck.

Smile of the Week

Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo F. Buscaqlia
I saw something great over at A Ball Of Yarn And A Remote Control. She asked a wonderful question....what made you smile this week. A lovely question and I began to think of all the blessings that had been bestowed on me this week. I spoke to my parents on their 62nd wedding anniversary. In a day when nothing lasts, imagine being married for that long. These two people are the glue that holds my sometimes dysfunctional family together. They always make me smile.
I am missing one huge hairy mole on the right side of my chin. Now, I have to tell you, apparently I am the only one that saw it as the largest witch's mole ever. Bruce (I just love this guy) said "What mole?". How awesome is he? That really made me smile.
Look at what I found so unexpectedly in my mailbox from my parents this week. My Mom is the Garage Sale Queen and she knows how much I love teapots. It was accompanied by a beautiful white sweater and and Dad tucked in a box to hold my printer cartridges for the Canon printer. Jackpot! This all made me smile,too.
I found this at my local favorite thrift haunt. It is so cute, my daughter hinted that she wanted it...
On the way back from being surgically separated from my Siamese twin sized witch's mole, I saw a garage sale sign, but drove right on by. I stopped in at work for just a couple of minutes to water plants and told Penny about the sign. It was her lunch hour so off we went in search of treasures. Boy, did the two of us make out. Above are three cones of Hochwertige Qualitat fur hochste Anspruche mohair yarn made in West Germany. My German is just good enough that I know this means it claims to be the highest quality. Each cone has 600 meters. I happily paid a mere $2 a cone. My luck did not end there.
I have no clue what this is, but there has to be enough for a scarf or two. It has the most incredible feel and it was cheaper than the mohair. Add to this a basket full of dishcloth cotton for 50 cents a ball. By this time, I had started a rather large pile, making both the sale owner and myself smile. She had crochet cotton and antique blue glass quart jars with the zinc lids for $1 apiece ( I bought all 11 of them).
I can't wait to see this wool fabric felted....maybe sometime this morning. For $3 for the lot, I got a supreme bargain.
The toille was the icing on the cake. Deb over at Homespun Living makes the neatest bags out of similar finds. Some of that dishcloth cotton yarn I got was red....
The biggest thing that made me smile this week was not material. It was something so priceless. My soon to be 5 years old Granddaughter decided she wanted to sit on my lap and watch her show and she wasn't even sick! I am truly blessed.
So...what made you smile this week?