Hope you are having a very Happy Labor Day!

She is a very cute little chihuahua/Boston Terrier.   

My human sister came for a visit in early August.

   It was nice to see her and have her here.  

Her oldest came a few weeks earlier.

I went on a trip with friends.   Here are two the third was off shopping somewhere.  

We went to Stitches Midwest and saw this in the parking lot.

That shop is in New York.   I wonder what the wind drag was driving that van all the way from New York and the gas mileage? 

We had fun in Chicago.  

I had a birthday in August.   I got flowers.

I have been knitting but I don’t have any pictures to show you right now.   I didn’t do too much damage at Midwest.   But I do have yarn.      Maybe I’ll take pictures later. 

Hope your weekend has been good!   One more week until a three day weekend.   Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a finished object!!   The Firefly Fringed Scarf that I showed a few weeks ago.   I finished knitting two weeks ago but did not have time to block until today. 

It was a bit tedious to block.   The 7 stitches that drop to form fringe were loops.   I threaded the blocking wire through the loops until taut and then pinned.   I was a bit surprised to find the scarf was nearly dry in spots as I was still looping the other side of fringe onto a blocking wire.   lol  Anyway, you can find this project on my Ravelry page.  I will warn you that this is a very poorly written pattern.   I wonder if the editors were running out of space and left some instruction out?   But overall, I love the end product and I will knit another one which should be much easier the second time around.     Oh, almost forgot, knitted out of Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy.   LOVE this yarn.  

I love to listen to books on CD.   I will get them most often from the library and then listen while in the car.   I picked up several books on CD last week.   The one I am listening to now is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.   I do not want to get out of the car.   This book is so very good.   If you only read physical books it is definitely a page turner.   It is set back in the early 60′s in Jackson, Mississippi.   Civil Rights is around the corner.   It’s about two maids who work for families in Jackson and one newly graduated 23 year old aspiring journalist who wants to write their stories.   I won’t say anymore than that.   But I would highly recommend this book.   I wonder if there is a movie in the works?  

Eleven years ago today this is who woke me up meowing her little head off until I went outside and found her:

It was on a Sunday and as you can see I picked her up and brought her inside.   Lexi and I have been a package deal ever since!  

Hope you are staying cool and doing lots of knitting!

Speaking of, this is a small world story.   Callie, correct me if I’m wrong because my brain is like swiss cheese these days.   Awhile back I blogged about this.   And because of this post I received an email from Callie who is a member of the Meeks side of our family.   She is on a different ‘branch’ than I am so I don’t know the exact relationship but my guess is a cousin several times removed?   lol  Ok, we both have the same great great great grandparents.   Does that make us cousins?   Our great great grandfathers were brothers.  All of this to say it is a very small world and I am so glad Callie found me because of family geneology post.  

So what have I been up to the past few months?   Not much.   I did take some time out to find this:

I always name my cars so let me introduce you to Gabrielle.   She is new to me and rides soooooooooo nice!   I can’t believe the difference between my former car, Sydney, the Solara and Gabie.   The Solara was beating me up.  No kidding!   It is unreal the aches and pains that no longer exist since I bought Gabie.  I now sit up higher in traffic and I do like that.   I feel more protected and safe.  

On the knitting front, I am knitting on the Firefly Fringed Scarf by CEY.   I fell in love with the finished product I saw in Tulsa a few weeks ago.   So I bit the bullet and paid $15 for a booklet that only had ONE pattern I liked.   Grrrrrrrrrrr   That hurt in and of itself but then to make matters worse it is one of the most poorly written patterns I have seen.   I had a clue when the lady at the yarn shop told me she would be available for help/questions if I needed help while knitting the scarf.   Then I went on Ravelry to look up the pattern and had my eyes pulled wide open when every single person who posted that item said more or less the same thing:   poorly written pattern!!   Arrrrrgh!   Anyway, I made it through the increase portion no problem.   And just my luck I hit the decrease section on the 4th of July when the yarn shop was closed and everyone was busy with holiday celebrations.   Ugh.   So I sent out a few messages on Rav and put it aside until I got some answers.   As it turns out I was proceeding as I should but because my stitch count was off I was stumped.   Turns out the stitch count is off and you continue on in pattern.   Ok!   I’m on the downhill slide now.   There are seven stitches that will be dropped when finished and those stitches will form a fringe.   I’ve not done this before but I’m excited to see how it unfolds.   Pictures then, I promise! 

Lexi is doing well.   She vascilates between laying on me so that I may pet her and going off alone for her beauty sleep.   She is such a sweet and spicey kitty!  

I hope you are filling your days with plenty of knitting!

I forgot to take it with me this past weekend when I took her out for Mother’s Day.  So I dropped it in the mail today.   My regret is I can’t see her reaction when she reads it.   I hope it gives her a good laugh. 

Monday evening was not a fun time here in Central Oklahoma.   I was oblivious to the close proximity of the tornado since my electricity was out.   But listening to the emergency vehicle sirens come and go for over an hour I knew it hit close.   Tonight I came home on Highway 9 and caught a glimpse of part of the damage.   I saw blue roofs and at first glance didn’t realize what it was.   Then I realized those people had their roofs damaged and had thrown blue plastic over their roofs to keep the rain out.   I know that is nothing compared to those who lost their homes.   But it is chilling never the less.  

Not much to report on the knitting front.   I’m still working on the Lacy Baktus.  No it isn’t difficult but I don’t knit every day.   That is something I need to work on.   I did that for 30 straight days awhile back.   It makes me ill to think of all the yarn I have and at the rate I’m knitting….the yarn is nothing but a collection.   lol  

I hope you get more knitting time than I’ve been able to do.   Happy Wednesday!

So most everyone who reads this blog and some who don’t know I profess to collecting yarn.   Well I have another weakness that I probably don’t indulge as often.   I love to buy pretty plates.   Now the lack of storage keeps me from buying these items too often.   I have some every day plates, actually two sets.   One is some dinnerware I bought from Safeway (when we still had those here).   I had coworkers bringing me their stamps so I had quite a collection.   I had another set I bought at Ross or T J Maxx several years ago.   I loved the salad plates but the dinner plates and the bowls were losing their design from normal wear and tear.   I have a set of Fiesta in Black that I bought 20 years ago.   I have a 77 piece set of Noritake Daventry that I bought on eBay several years ago.   It’s a very tradition set and I have all the casseroles, serving bowls etc.   And then I have  66 pieces of my antique set of Universal Pottery that no one seems to know the name of.   I would never eat off these dishes.   I just have them because I think they are pretty.   I’ve managed to collect alot over the years.      So today, I ran into T J Maxx just to kill some time before another store opened at noon.   I ran through the kitchen section and what did I find?   A gorgeous set of dishes that I couldn’t leave in the store!   lol   Here they are:

Aren’t they pretty?   They didn’t have any serving pieces but I have a plan.   I can get Plum Fiesta Ware pieces!   I had to make room in the cabinets for the new dishes.   So I pulled out those dishes from Safeway and the other every day plates and put them in a Goodwill bag.  

Oh, and I almost forgot……about a month ago again while in T J Maxx I found some pretty plates that day too.   There was very little left and I stood and contemplated if I wanted the white, yellow or aqua.   I moved on looking on a few aisles and came back to pick up 4 plates and the aqua was GONE!!!   That’s what I get for hesitating…darn it.   Anyway, part of my hesitation was deciding which color and I was torn about the yellow…and well, that is what I came home with.  

These plates are a bit bigger than a salad plate but not quite as big as a dinner plate.   I love them too.  

I spent the entire afternoon putting up a single curtain rod.  Ugh.  Not my forte.   And then trying to get the wrinkles out of some new curtains I bought.   Got them hung up and they ‘do the job’.   lol   It’s on a west window that really heats the room this time of the year.   I can’t believe I waited all this time to get curtains but I did.   Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be seeking work as a curtain installer.   lol  

Ok, shower time and then I’m going to sit back, relax, watch some tv and knit.   Thanks for listening to my rambles.   Hope your weekend has been filled with good times and a little knitting!

I had the best day yesterday.  A visit to a yarn shop and then the afternoon filled with knitting friends, yarn, great converstion, knitting and finished objects!   The only way that day could have gotten any better was if some magic elves had cleaned my house and did my laundry while I was gone. 

I had some acquistions a couple of weekends ago but it got lost in the weekend of Lexi’s emergency vet visit.  (She’s MUCH better btw.)  A couple of us made the last minute decision to run down to the DFW Fiber Festival.  It was the first time I’ve attended that festival.   It was small but had enough that I’d go again.   The main draw for me was Madeline Tosh.   Brooks Farm was also in attendance and The Shabby Sheep had a booth so packed full it was difficult to maneuver!   lol   I also caught a peek at Franklin Habit.   He was walking by while I was sitting on a bench waiting for the others.   He’s a very cute man!   Anyway, this is what I bought at the Festival:

Two skeins of Madeline Tosh Sport weight in the Baltic colorway.   I really really wanted some Sock but there was none to be had on Saturday.   All of it had sold out on Friday.      I also bought some colorful stitch markers but that was it for my festival purchases.   We went to the Woolie Ewe later.   And this is where I acquired this yarn:

Three skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the Bittersweet colorway.   Yeah, I know…it has PINK in it but ever since I saw this colorway used in the model Clapotis on Knitty I’ve loved it.   So I now have some!  Yay!

I also bought this:

This is two skeins of Ella Rae Lace in a near solid WARM red!   While I am always attracted to variegated I don’t always like the ‘busy’ pattern it makes.   Solids are almost too boring while knitting even if I do love the end result.   A near solid, well it gives enough interest while knitting that I keep on just to see the shade differences and I always LOVE the result.  

Yesterday Marjie and I made a trip to GY and I picked up this yarn:

Three skeins of Malabrigo Worsted weight in the Lettuce colorway.   My plan is to knit a wrap version of Anne Hanson’s Totally Autumn Afghan.  

I also saw the Ababa Scarf on Ravelry and had to run buy a skein of this:

It’s going to be exciting watching that ball of yarn become a scarf.

So what am I working on now?   A Lacy Baktus with Madeline Tosh Sock I picked up in Tulsa last month:

Not too far yet, as I mentioned awhile back I lost my mojo for a week or so.   I finally have this pattern committed to memory so hopefully it will sail along now.  

I’ve been sewing the past couple of weekends and needless to say this house is not clean.   I took a break to write this post and now the house is calling to me again.   Oh well, I will make sure to get some knitting time this afternoon.   I hope everyone has a great weekend with this gorgeous weather and that you manage to have some peaceful knitting time too!

Ok, it has rained and rained and I didn’t think I’d complain but I prefer my rainy days during the week and not over the weekend.  

In spite of the rain, I enjoyed a great day yesterday shopping and knitting with a couple of friends.   Somehow I manage to obtain yarn without stepping foot in a shop or clicking online.   Yesterday I ‘obtained’ from Ellen some gorgeous yarn from Crown Mountain Farms.   That also included a partially completed scarf, Ulmus.   It is so warm and soft!  

It’s 60 inches and I think I’ll  add just a few more inches and then start the edging.   Thanks Ellen!

I’ve found a new show I love to watch, Undercover Boss.  I love how a person at the top realizes he/she has lost touch with the employees who make the company.   Most of these episodes are very heart warming.   I can recall two in which there was one shop/store that has an overwhelming business, much more than the average store.   The reason why?   In both of these instances there was one single employee that made that difference.   That employee was the face the customer saw each time they came in.   It amazes me and makes me feel good to see this CEO realize that single person is what makes that location do so well.   Anyway, if you haven’t watched yet, do so.   It is on Sunday evenings on CBS and you can catch up on the website.   I love that show!

Thanks to all who posted care and concern over Lexi.   It took a few days but she seemed to turn a corner on Wednesday.   She is now back to her feisty self to the point of fighting me when it comes pill time.   lol    I’ll take feisty over sick any day of the week.  

Hope your week is filled with lots of knitting!

ETA:  Added these pictures.  Lexi is feeling much better this afternoon.

I met Marjie at Borders today to knit.   Miss Karen decided she had better things to do.     It was all last minute anyway…..the knitting time flew by.   We went to Outback to eat and I was shocked at how few people were there.  

I cast on and started my Lacy Baktus.  I’m using Madeline Tosh Sock in the Grasshopper colorway.   It is almost neon in color but I love my green!  

Not much to talk about today.   Hope you’ve had a good day filled with family, friends and lots of knitting.