Happy 87th Birthday Grandma Clara!

We enjoyed a nice outing with dinner at Chili's, then came home for ice cream and cake (homemade German Chocolate cake per Grandma Clara's request!) Her present from the family was a Kodak digital frame that we loaded with over 200 pictures from events over the past five or six years. I think she will enjoy looking at this for hours. Later this week, we have a trip to Michael's Crafts planned. Her baby sister (age 80) and niece will be coming to visit at the end of August. She is really looking forward to that!

Be sure and leave her a Birthday greeting in the comments. She loves getting cards and email.

A Brief Check-In

I've taken the past week off and will have next week off as well in order to catch up on some of the remodel tasks we're doing ourselves, along with a little recreation time.

A few days ago I cleaned out the UFO basket with the motto of "Frog or Finish". Anything that was marginal or had a major error was frogged with glee. As you can see, I often try to color coordinate my projects with the local fauna :) There goes the Roped Shell.


The subfloor in the kitchen and dining room has been rebuilt, the drywall was hung and mudded and textured. On Friday, I primed and on Saturday, the man and I painted. The color is called "Tomato Bisque" and yep, it's a rich creamy red orange. We have enough windows in the dining room and living room to keep it looking light and open. The cabinets will be cherry and the granite countertops will be black and silver with bold waves of rust throughout. The new appliances are GE Profile series in brushed stainless. The lighting will also be brushed stainless.



I keep my knitting close by to decrease the stress of this major (expensive$$$$ which kills me because you KNOW how cheap I am!) remodel. One UFO which I decided to keep was the KPS neck down wrap cardigan I started last August. It was such a boring knit that I only got the front and back and part of one arm started before ditching it. However, I love the color and finished another entire sleeve while waiting for the primer to dry. Looks like I may have the other sleeve and maybe even the belt ties finished before tomorrow.



OK, I know you are just dying to see what's in the box the sweater is resting on. Yep, the cabinets were delivered...they'll be installed Wednesday after the electrician finishes on Tuesday! Here's a little sneaky peak of the gorgeous cherry! I'm getting excited....can you tell! I may even be able to cook in my kitchen by the end of August!


Off to the downstairs little kitchen to bake Grandma Clara a German Chocolate Cake. Today is her 87th birthday. We'll be heading out to dinner later on. I'll post more and pics and all later today or early tomorrow. Until then, knit on!

Camo Streakers Shrug

Hmmmmmmm......I've never worn a 'shrug' before, so I'm not sure if I like this yet.


(or maybe I just don't like how lumpy I look in the picture LOL!)

I really like the way the fabric knitted up. The Manos softened wonderfully with a Eucalon bath and blocking.


Even with abbreviating the sleeve lenth of the pattern...the sleeves are loooong. I also don't care for how the seam runs down the inside of my arm...it kind of bugged me when I wore this for an hour or two. The sleeves also seem to have a tendency to twist around on my arms and I really DON'T like that.

I do like the lacy sleeve pattern. Very gracefuly and pretty.


Verdict's still out. I will reblock it and try to shrink the sleeve length with a blow dryer....I'll give it a chance and try wearing it a couple of times before the final decision.

Now it's back to the February Lady Sweater. She's been sadly neglected the past several days. Knit on.

Good Morning from Bear Mountain.....

Yes, that's really the name of the small mountain I live on. We're on a ridge with great sunlight (uh..yeah..when it's not raining..or overcast..like it's been for the last 2 to 3 months...ugh..) And aptly named. We do have bears strolling the neighborhood and through our yards from time to time. There is a 400+ lb black bear in my neighbors yard even as I type. I'm not going to try to get close enough for pics. I have other pics of other bears in our yard from over the years. We do have a neighborhood telephone alert system which is nice. Lots of kids playing outside, lots of pets, small livestock, etc. I'm hoping he/she rambles on back up the mountain before becoming a threat/nuisance and getting shot. It's kind of like the weather..you live here..you live with the the weather..and the wildlife. But I digress...

(ETA: Yes, thank you, I DID just now notice that I hadn't removed the blue masking tape from my bedroom window after the paint job last month. LOL! How tacky! But how so darn typical of me!)

It's a nice morning here. The girl's off to a barrel race playday. She was in another out of town rodeo last weekend and did really well for herself, winning a 3rd and a 1st in 2D competition in the adult divisions. She's really interested in leaving state
with her horse(s)...yep..she bought another horse..3 total now. Name's Nacho...pics to come)and competing against 'real' cowgirls. She'd like a job as a ranchhand next summer in the lower 48. We'll see. Wanna see something cool and inspirational? Link this and play the video clip. A friend sent it to me and I think it kind of helped me understand my horsey girl just a little bit more.

But you're not here for me just going on and on...you want the knitting! The Streaker's Shrug is just almost finished. I shortened the arms due to the natural growth of the Manos and comments from others on Ravelry...and because I HATE sleeves over my hands..and because I knew I was going to be cutting it very close yarnwise.

Here's the almost finished product...



Here's where I ran out of the Manos....15 stitches before the end of the last row..and the bind-off. I used Elann.com's Chunky superwash Peruvian Highland Wool. It was the best match in complementary color/texture of anything in stash.



I decided to use it for the lace sleeves too...pretty. :)


I should finish it today during Grandma Clara's hair appt. Then she and I might head off to the BearPaw Festival in Eagle River. I'll take pics if we go.

Oh, and just a cute shot of how well miss Bella Blue has integrated/ingratiated herself into the fam.....here she is with the ferocious and protective Tucker (DH's Vizsla)..slow supervised integration with the rest of the animals worked so very very well for us.



Lastly, I'll see you out with another garden view. Despite the cool overcast skies, the garden is a blooming riot of color. I must divide lots and lots this fall I think...



I just love Lady's Mantle in the mornings...don't you?



Well, must now get out of jammies and get ready to roll with the grannymeister. Have a great knitterly day!

If I wear this in the woods..can you see me?

The rest of my DC souvenir yarn (purchased at the fabulous Woolwinders Yarn Salon in Rockville!) lay mocking me from my overflowing bedroom desk. It kept saying.."Lisa..Honey...what were you thinking...only 4 skeins...in what was called "Jungle" but in effect looks like Camo".....well, crap. I don't remember what I was thinking, thank you very much. It may have been the merlot. So I decided to stay up late and look through the (disorganized) stash of magazines I've collected (piled up in dangerous stacks around the house) over the years. For some reason, The Streakers Shrug called out to me and in a "woman of action" moment, I cast on. The Manos is not very soft (I'm hopin' it softens with eucalon and blocking) but I enjoy the changing colors and textures of this no-brainer fun knit.



See, I told you...camo!


I'm going to do the lace sleeves in some stashed Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran in a deep olive...I think this will look great over a black tee or turtleneck this fall/winter.

(Hey, it's in the 50's and rainy here.. I can knit with wool...in front of my woodstove even...with a cuppa great tea....because that's what Sundays are for in Alaska!)

Knit On!

Finally, A Finished Object

But it's not what you expected! I started the "Prismatic" Scarf with my DC souvenir yarn, yummy Manos 70% wool, 30% silk juicy colorful goodness. But the pattern seriously ate the yarn up! I would've needed another skein to get a scarf the length I like to wear, and since I only had 2 skeins...I researched a few lace patterns on Ravelry. In the end, I decided on Falling Waters, an easily memorized lace that broke up some of the color pools quite well! I ended up using about 1 and 3/4 skeins and the scarf blocked out to 7" x 76". Soft but with the great drape and sheen of the silk!



Here's a close-up view of the pattern.....

The February Lady Sweater had to be ripped back about 8 rows. I decided I just didn't like the YO increases at all, so am back now to the last row before the first set of increases and will do a standard M1 (KFB) for the garter section. Otherwise, all's happy in knitland.

Knit on!