Thursday.........

Shelly, Owner of Twist--we had just received the new Noro sock yarn. Yep, that's sock yarn giddiness you see on her face. It's a good thing I was standing behind the camera or you'd have gotten flashed with a double dose of sock yarn euphoria....
Look at these colorways!
Hmmm...I think I rotated this picture wrong! I can promise I did not take this picture standing on my head... This sock yarn is the yarn for the May sock of the month. If you've ever worked with Noro Kuyreon, this is very similar in texture and feel. It does soften up after washing, so don't be caught off guard by the feel.

Blogger did not want me to post a whole lot of pictures today, so I will post pictures of the Newton Beadery tomorrow.

Kids and Hubby are out the door and tucked away at school and work..I am contemplating what needs to be done today vs. what will actually get done today.

I found a pottery wheel on craigslist. It is an older kickwheel, which would be perfect for the garage. The price is right (not low, but not high either) and we wouldn't need electricity to run it. The only downside is the fact that I will have to drive 4 hours to get it and a wheel is not in the immediate budget...What to do? Realistically I will have to wait since it is REALLY not in the budget. Damn! There's too much temptation out there. We have a van that will be coming out of the shop soon, so no cash.........

I may hit the pottery studio this afternoon so I can do damage control on my bowl that I whacked the side of. I'm feeling a little sick today, so that will depend on how I feel at 1:00. I only have a small window of opportunity to do any corrections before the clay is too hard to be pliable....From now on, once I put something on my shelf, I am NOT going to reach behind, around or near it! I am working on bowls so I can get a stockpile of them for things I have planned and gifts. Every year, one of the charities here in town has a soup dinner where the guest pay and get to keep their bowl. The bowls are made by local artists in town and the proceeds go to the homeless meal programs in town. I have wanted to make bowls for this event for quite some time and I think I'm finally ready. Since the meal is in the Spring, I missed this years. However the up side to that is I will have enough time to amass some to donate in bulk when the next one rolls around.

On the knitting side, I have done VERY well at not adding to the yarn stash. I have decided to stay off Internet yarn stores and the sites of yarn manufacturers...That said, some of the yarn manufacturers, like Classic Elite, have some really neat free patterns on their sites! I found a darling pattern for a baby cardigan made out of Classic Elite Provence Cotton. Cute cute cute...I am going to try to get the Lorna's lace sock I had been working on (and put aside) done this weekend, or at least to a respectable length. This will be a good project to knit in the car on the way to Texas. That would free up some space in the project bag and make room for a second sock to be cast on. I'm loving the magic loop technique, so maybe one like that...So many choices...

Well, I'd better get going. Good coffee and great friends to you and yours.

Tuesday...........

Today was a pretty busy day. I went to Twist to fondle the yarn---oopsie-I MEAN HELP OUT..at least I hope I am helping.

I love being able to play with all the new yarns.

We are trying to watch our spending since the FREAKING high cost of gas is taking a big bite out of the ol' budget. So I am going to try to only buy yarn for projects that I am casting on and working immediately. At this point I have a shop model for The Beadery, a couple socks and a shop model for Twist in various stages of progression..oh, an a completely wonderful sweater out of Rowan Plaid that has been sitting on the needles for too long...so I definitely have a little bit of work in front of me. I am even trying to wait to buy more sock yarn until I have all of the Twist sock of the month and The Beadery's second Saturday socks done....However, I am not even going to pretend I will not falter from time to time. If we get any electric colored sock yarn in, I'm sunk...or any new Baby Alpaca Twist...arggg!!

I went to my pottery class at 2:00 today. Now that I have been working on centering a little more and seem to have conquered that--or at least have made peace with the centering gods--I am really starting to enjoy it. I got 5 pretty good sized bowls thrown today. One of them I was particularly proud of. After setting it on my shelf to dry a bit, I reached for something to the side of it and whacked it. DAMN! I will go to the studio tomorrow to see if I can repair the damage. Eventually I would like to progress to the point where I can churn out a pretty uniform set of bowls for our house and for gifts. I also love hand thrown mugs--big "coffee addict" style--so this is another thing I will work at. I'll try to remember to snap pictures tomorrow when I go for damage control.

My questions for the day are:

1. How much is gas in your area?
It is 3.50 a gallon here in Wichita.

2. Does the high cost of gas affect your lifestyle? If so, what are you doing to offset the high price of gas and keep your budget afloat?
Here at Casa Crazy Life, I am trying to curb my Internet buying clicky finger...especially when it comes to books and other little things. I am cooking more from scratch and staying home more when possible. No more driving around aimlessly. I am trying to get everything I need for food prep at one place or bundling trips.

I would seriously consider taking a bus wherever I needed to go, however the bus does not come to our little town. I can't park and ride since there would be no place to park securely (Grocery store parking is for grocery store customers etc...). Wichita mass transit sucks at this point. It stops running too early, has very limited reach and does not run on Sundays. So as a result, most people who would consider the bus, are not able to do so. So I drive. When I was in Atlanta, I was pretty impressed with the train and bus system. It doesn't run to some of the suburbs, but it does have a pretty comprehensive route. We need that here. I would definitely take the bus to and from Twist on days I'm downtown helping--if that were an option.

This said, I was thinking about how this "recession" we are supposedly in is nothing the U.S. hasn't done before. Anyone remember the gas crisis of the 70's? Humor me if you are too young... The budget crunches now are pretty much the same as we were feeling then. It all runs in cycles. Let's face it, bell bottoms and hip huggers recently came back in, so why should the budget be immune to cycles. Recession, high gas prices are forgivable. HIP HUGGERS AND BELL BOTTOMS ARE NOT.

Final Friday post

On the last Friday of each month, several businesses and galleries exhibit art and have little things going on. I usually miss it each month for one reason or another, but tonight I went to Twist to sit and knit with Cindy for a while. It was a lot of fun. I got to talk to quite a few people interested in knitting and then had a wonderful conversation with a couple - the wife wants to learn to spin. I pulled out my wheel that I keep at the shop and spun for a little while talking with them. I haven't spun in a couple weeks, so it was extremely relaxing.

I also got to work a little on a shop sock for Twist in Noro sock yarn. I do have to say that when you first touch this yarn it is scratchy and icky feeling--like the Noro Kureyon. However, give it at least an inch of knitting and it will win you over. We are going to wash the shop sock in Eucalaan wash to show everyone the difference after it is washed. I've noticed that knitters either really love or really hate Noro. However, their colorways completely rock! And the yarns do soften with time...Really, they do!

I spent part of the day at the library looking at a stitch pattern book. I ended up checking out the Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1 (knit and purl)...I have a stitch dictionary here at the house, but I have been a little disappointed with it. I may end up getting a copy of the Vogue series. The main reason I am on the great hunt is that I am trying to find a stitch pattern that will compliment the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb yarn that I am working up for the Newton Beadery. I had started one in a cable and lace pattern, but I didn't think it showed off the glimmer of this yarn enough. It is gorgeous!!

I plan to hang around the house for the larger part of this weekend and chill. What are your plans? What is your idea of "the perfect weekend"?

A Few of My Favorite Things

A couple weeks ago, Shelly (owner of Twist) wanted to learn to spin so we sat down and I showed her a little of what I know. She is a NATURAL spinner!! After a couple minutes, she was off and running like she'd been spinning for years! This picture has been hanging out in my camera so I figured I'd better share. JUST LOOK AT THE DETERMINATION ON HER FACE....but then, I MAY have been behind the camera heckling and trying to get her to vogue for the camera, so that may be the look of someone contemplating if there was a hammer within throwing distance...

Hubby is at an engineering conference in Washington D.C until tomorrow. A convention full of engineers--doesn't that sound like unbridled wildness and mayhem? I bet there is nothing in that building that has not been measured or analyzed...I will SOOOO not launch into any discussion on that.

It has felt weird not having him here. On Tuesday night, I suddenly realized I would have to get up and take the boys to school...Crap! Usually hubby does that on his way to work since I am not a morning person (and that is an understated understatement!!). I was so afraid I was going to oversleep that I set the alarm on my cell phone and two other alarms. Had I been able to focus my eyes and the camera that early, I would have shared the really nasty glares the cats gave me as each alarm went off..Cute man is back late tomorrow night--I will be glad.

I have stayed pretty close to home except when I went to The Newton Beadery to help Julie at the shop yesterday. We were having REALLY bad weather and I got a good scare driving back to Wichita in the pounding rain...YIKES. Luckily Newton is only 20 miles from the Wichita city limits....On Tuesdays and Thursday I help out at Twist. On Wednesdays I help out at The Beadery. Actually I HOPE I'm helping...I really feel blessed that I am able to be around both shops!! I will post pictures of all the new stuff at both shops next week. Julie and Shelly are pretty cooperative so there is no competition. I'm so glad since I LOVE both shops! Like I said, I am SO blessed to be able to be at both stores! Julie is going to be selling spinning wheels pretty soon, so spinners in our area will have a great place to look at wheels. Both shops will be carrying fiber for spinning. GOOD STUFF!!!

I am working on a shop model for a shawl that will be at The Beadery soon. You know how completely addicted I am to Lorna's Laces--this is in their Lion and Lamb 50% wool/50% silk yarn. I am absolutely drooling over the glimmer in this yarn and the unbelievable beauty of it! I am looking for a stitch pattern that will highlight this feature. It is worsted (but not much heavier, if at all) weight, so whatever stitch pattern I chose should work up quickly. I had started a cable and lace stitch pattern, but frogged it since I don't think it captured the colorway...I'll post when I get it done and let you know when you can see it in Newton. It will be a shop model so I'll also get a pattern written up for it.


And below is my good/evil snack of the day. What is the best drink to wash down a big honkin' fork full of chocolate hazelnut spread? Well DIET RITE COLA OF COURSE! lol....I didn't have time to properly focus the picture because the camera couldn't keep up with the speed of the fork as it sailed towards my mouth!! YUM!!Trust me, it is good stuff.......Good thing I'm watching what I eat, huh? And for those of you proper people who are disturbed by the fact I used a fork for the jar, I must say in my defense that the garden trowel wouldn't fit in the jar.

Neither would the shovel.

Froggin the day away....

Remember the lace I was whining about? Admit it, you remember "the lace whining" because it made you want to drive all the way to my house to smack me....

Well, I frogged it.

But hold on!

I frogged it today so I can add a carry along yarn of Rowan kid silk haze, which I totally think looks like a dream. Since my original lace yarn was a red--a little more on the blue red than the yellow red side of the spectrum- I was looking for something that would coordinate, but contrast. I found the most wonderful color. It is decadent, sexy and a little slinky...Then I realized. CRAP! I am using the same colors of the RED HAT SOCIETY LADIES...So every time I wear this scarf, everyone will assume I am a Red Hatter...and I am not even at the age they'll let me join yet. I must say though, their colors totally rock, AND I am going to wear the shawl anyway. I'll just have to make sure I behave scandalously so everyone will wonder...RIGHT, LIKE THEY DON'T WONDER ABOUT ME ALREADY!

So I now have two balls of yarn waiting to be wound together at the shop tomorrow. I think it will be easier to work with the yarns already combined. I intend to go up a needle size or two also. One it is done, I am going to add a seed bead border and fringe. It's all about the bling, baby!

No pictures of the yarn combo (sounds like there should be an order of fries included..) so I thought I'd distract you with more flower pictures from Botanica....

A Little Off...

Another picture of the flowers at Botanica.

The boys were out of school on Friday, so today feels like Sunday...I'm having problems remembering the correct day! Since the boys have Monday off too, it is really going to make my week feel odd. Oh well. I do like having them at home. They had friends spend the night last night, so we had 4 teenage boys running amuck in my house. Luckily they are all good kids, so it was more amusing than anything.

Jeremy and I went to pottery this afternoon. I really like working on the wheel.

I have 9 pots in various stages on my shelf right now. So far I am doing mainly cylinders, with an occasional rounded pot. I am trying to get more control over the clay which will enable me to bring up larger and taller pots. I want to throw a series of ceramic tumblers or large tall mugs. I think we might start having dinners for our regular dinner group at our house starting in the late summer/early fall and I'd love to make special mugs for each of these events. Usually our dinner group goes to a different restaurant in Wichita every two weeks. I think it would be fun to have an informal potluck in our backyard at least once a month. I have a gazillion cookbooks in our home library, and I need to justify their existence by actually COOKING out of them.

At some point tomorrow I will start my tomato seeds and some watermelon seeds. I want to have a good sized veggie and herb garden this season. I have been thinking of ways to stretch the food budget this season and a home garden will definitely help. I also like the idea that I can grow my food without chemicals. Have you ever considered how many chemical are entering your body through food? I never considered it much in the past, but I have been doing some "green reading" and it is a little scary. I don't think it is practical for my house to go completely green in one swoop, but I am altering my buying and some of my daily habits gradually. Thankfully organic fruits are coming down in price. I loved shopping at Wild Oats in Tulsa when we had our girls weekend. There is a really nice natural foods grocery store on the east side of Wichita called Green Acres, but I'm not always over on that side of town. When I visited Atlanta last year, my friend took me to Whole Foods. We have two little stores here in Wichita called Whole Foods, but they are not part of the chain. If you have an opportunity to visit the chain Whole Food store, you will be absolutely amazed! There is one in Overland Park, Kansas (near Kansas City) that I will be visiting when I go to KC this summer. YEAH!!

Spring!

The weather here in Kansas can't seem to decide what to do. We were supposed to have a killing frost on Sunday night, luckily we did not. So Monday, when I went to the Compeer Volunteer lunch at Botanica with my friend and fellow volunteer, Sue, I had to take a gaggle of pictures to share with you. The weather was gorgeous, the food was good and the companionship was awesome!

BUSY weekend!!

But a great one!

Saturday I took a magic loop class at the Beadery in Newton----it was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!If you are within driving distance of the Beadery, I highly recommend you take a class there. If you aren't able to make it to their scheduled classes, Candice will do one on one knitting classes. I've also taken beading classes from the owner, Julie and I love them!! Beads and knitting--what more can you ask for? I will post a picture of my socks tomorrow. I bought some knitter's crack (aka Lorna's Lace's) for the class, but I frogged it a couple times and decided to use some magic stripes (Lion Brand) for this first pair so I don't fray the heck out of the LL. I will do the next pair in the Lorna's once I get the technique down. I can tell I am going to LOVE magic loop. I had the booklet for quite some time and at the time I got it, it did not make much sense. After Candice's class, I got a grip on it...L-0-V-E!!!

After the Beadery, I went to Stitch and Bitch at Twist. Two yarn shops in one day---it's a good thing!!

Today I helped a friend's father watch three little relatives. We actually went to see the movie "Nim's Island". I really thought it was a good movie for kids. Jodie Foster is always an excellent actress, but then there was Gerald Butler. Holy Smokes! That is one pretty member of the male species!! He was in P.S. I Love You---that's the first time I had seen him in anything...very pretty smile...

Tomorrow (Monday) I have a volunteer lunch at Botanica for Compeer. Compeer (click on the link for more info) is a program that provides a friendship match for consumers of the Mental Health Association of Kansas. I have volunteered with this program for 7 or so years now. One of their caseworkers gave a talk about their program to my abnormal psychology class in college and I signed on as a volunteer. Basically it is a program that matches a volunteer with consumers who have similar interests who have a mental illness. This program is really a wonderful thing. I can honestly say I have gotten a lot from this volunteering program! I love it! If you have a little time to volunteer, I would highly suggest this program.

Next weekend I am going to try to stick close to home and actually get some knitting projects completed. Shelly (Twist) ordered some new books and Cabin Fever patterns for me, so I am gearing up for some serious knitting! I love Cabin Fever patterns. I also love the Knitting Pure and Simple patterns, so I may have to eventually add some of those to my pattern collection. AFTER I get some more of my UFO's finished and my yarn stash in line...Let's see, so far I have a sweater on needles from the Northampton Wools book, 2 pairs of socks, a baby sweater, and a lace wrap. That should keep me busy for most of the month of May and June. Ideally I'd like to make some Christmas gifts in the summer. I always try to do that, but haven't had much luck with that in the past.

What are your UFO's? Do you try to knit Christmas gifts? When do you start on them?

Knitting rubber stamps!!!

I was lurking in Marigold's blog--oh, I mean reading her blog, of course :-) and she made reference to these...you just have to see them! KNITTING RUBBER STAMPS! Too cute. What was that I said about the budget?

I think I just heard something...maybe it's the sound of my credit card...Listen.....Can you hear the sounds of my budget crashing?

A Few of My Favorite Things....

It's 1 a.m and I am having problems drifting off to sleep, so I thought I'd blog a bit....I haven't made too much progress on the lace wrap as you can see in the picture. I am seriously considering frogging it and combining it with a little thicker yarn so the wrap gets finished before I am go blind from having to maneuver around the tiny stitches..... Next to the yarn, there is my favorite mug which is holding my current favorite drink: chai tea. I found some of the chai tea concentrate at Green Acres Natural food store here in Wichita and when combined with milk, it is DIVINE! There is a particular brand of milk that I buy that makes it extra special. This milk comes in glass bottles from a Kansas Dairy, Twig Dairy, and is the best milk I've tasted EVER! They don't use steroids or any other medications on the cattle, so you aren't bulking up on toxins, but what makes it special is there is usually a thin layer if cream in the bottles of whole milk and sometimes the 2%. The only store in Wichita that carries it is ( some of ) the Dillion's grocery stores--unfortunately none close to me so I have to get a couple bottles each time I am at a Dillon's that carries it. The store at 21st and Maize had this brand in cappuccino---I could not even describe how good it was!!!! I recently discovered that that store also has the chai concentrate I usually buy elsewhere. This makes me REALLY happy--I'll be able to satisfy my "addiction" in one stop!!

While I didn't make the mug that holds my chai, I did throw the two containers in the background. I really like the blue green one and plan on doing quite a few more in that color. I threw 9 more pots this week on the wheel, so I'll definitely have more of this color on some of those. The brown one turned out pretty also. I'll definitely do more in that color too. I am using most of the containers I've thrown so far as knitting needle holders. I photographed these in incandescent lighting, so please excuse the yellow cast. I'll get some more pictures later in sunlight...

My goal this week is to walk into Twist and abstain from whipping out my checkbook! I bought the top down book from Cabin Fever (I LOVE this company!!!) and Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I've never played with an EZ pattern so I figured I'd try. This book has a lot of stories in it so I found it entertaining. I REALLY need to quit buying books and yarn--at least until I get my three UFO's finished!! You can laugh now at the ridiculous nature of that last statement and the possibility that :

(A:) I am going to quit buying yarn and books until (B:) I finish all my UFO's.

.....Optimism...foolhardy optimism....and when I wake up, I shall remember none of this....

Full of HOT AIR

Friday evening I was on my way to our dinner group and this caught my attention...Hot Air Balloons in the field behind the bus barn here in Haysville. The one in the picture above was preparing to take off as I passed, so even though I was running late, I HAD to turn around and watch. The one below was having problems, so I didn't see him take off in the 20 minutes I sat mesmerized....They were so gorgeous!!

As I waited, this balloon circled the field and came right over top of me and my camera---And suddenly I got the notion that I want to ride in a hot air balloon. Did I ever mention I am afraid of heights? And fire? So I have no idea where the urge to "rise several hundred feet in the ground while standing in a gondola attached by ropes and standing next to an engine that is shooting hot air/FIRE into a fabric container" came from. I'm still in awe of these. I actually got the name of the guy in this balloon from a lady in the group, so I am going to be giving him a call. I THINK....


And what is a post without a cute animal picture?

Speckles takes full advantage of the warming properties of the patio windows. Don't let the sweet and innocent look fool you. Although she has been declawed, she can chomp down on you so fast you won't even know what hit (bit) you!

We've had awfully weird weather around here this month. So far this season it has hailed twice. The last hail storm left half dollar sized hail pummeling the cars. I have hail dings on my new car--DARN IT. I am pretty darn motivated to get the garage cleaned out this summer!!

Cute man and I spent part of Sunday planting rose bushes all over the back yard. I am going to buy 5 more tomorrow for the front yard. I found them at Big Lots (the store) for $2.50!! At that price, I may pick up 10....Most of the ones we planted Sunday were climbing roses. The ones I plant out front will be bush roses. Our contractor should be starting on our back deck soon, so I don't want to plant too much near that area yet. Once they are done, I am going to go nuts with my gardens! We still have to find a pear tree for Mark. Jeremy planted a cherry tree last year when we moved in.

I guess I'd better sign off, it is storming again..like I said, we are having really strange weather this season....

Updates galore

No pictures from my girls weekend in Tulsa--one of us forgot to change the batteries in the camera and didn't discover this until they were going to take a picture....yep, that'd be forgetful ol' me..........It was nice to hang out with Chris and Lisa though. We really need to do that more often. I love going back to Tulsa, it really is a pretty city.

On the knitting side, I got a wild hair this afternoon while at the yarn shop and for some odd reason got the notion that I must knit myself a rectangular shawl. Out of really tiny lace weight yarn....WHAT IN THE HEL* WAS I THINKING?! I cast on multiples of nine for what seemed to be an hour--then lost count and had to start over. The animals learned several new word combinations today, none of which can be said within a mile radius of any church!! I am determined to stick this out but I can tell already I am going to be on this one for quite a while. Next time I try lace, I will look for something thicker than this yarn --it is thinner than some of the threads I sew with! I'm glad the pattern I picked from my stitch dictionary is not too complicated. I can see this is going to be a project that I do when there is really good lighting and I am the only one home! However, it will be gorgeous when I do get it done--it is a beautiful shade of red. I'll post pictures soon--once I get enough completed that will actually photograph....Don't wait up for me ya'll.....

Busy Day

I spent most of the day at Twist helping "man" the store for Shelly, the owner. Since I had never run the register before, I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful that Jen was there to open/close the shop and take the bigger piece of that pie. I probably need to make sure I get more experience on the register so I'm not so afraid of messing up. I wasn't feeling too well today so I am hoping I wasn't driving Jen nuts with my sniffling. It was one of those things where I was achy, sniffling and just feeling yucky. And guess what---I renewed my complete distaste for the taste of NyQuil....Some things just CAN'T be made less offensive. Kinda like ex-husbands. However, it was made easier by the fact that I was surrounded by a whole store full of luscious yarn...The new cotton blends are just incredible!

Yesterday I went to the studio (The Secret Gallery) to throw some pots on the wheel. I had not thrown pottery in quite some time prior to signing up for classes last month. Right now I am playing with throwing cylinders. I have 8 cylinders in the kiln right now with various glazes on them, so I should have a ton of potential vases as my garden blooms. I am taking my time with this phase so I can build up my control and ability to center increasingly larger amounts of clay. I was warned that most people get bored with throwing cylinders after a couple weeks, but so far I have stayed really interested in the process and getting a little more skill under my belt. Eventually I want to throw some tall and wide cylinders to hold my knitting needles attractively. I'll post pictures of the new batch, but remember I am a novice at the glazing part. It'll be interesting to see if any of them turned out. Luckily Jill can coach me if they don't turn out well. She did show me some really neat things that can be fashioned from the cylinder shape with just a little collaring and manipulating the form. I can't wait to make some of these forms...you'll just have to wait to see. A teaser for now.

The buildings have eyes.....

Ever have one of those days when you just felt like someone was watching you---If you are walking by the Sedgwick County Historical Museum and don't see a soul around, look up. These fine fellows are spying on you!

Cool, huh? But somebody needs to give the guy in the first picture a Kleenex....Oh, well, it's not like he can wipe it on his ARMS......

A little sightseeing

Over Spring Break, one of the kids had a scavenger hunt assignment where we had to locate several examples of Greek influence on architecture. I misunderstood and thought they all had to be from buildings here in Wichita. It turns out that he could have found example from the Internet, but pictures of the Wichita building actually counted as more points than just examples from the Internet. We actually had a lot of fun looking at the buildings and discovered that Wichita has some REALLY interesting details on a lot of their buildings. Here are just a few examples. Above is the frieze on the clock tower in the Delano traffic round about. As you can see, it appears that vandals decided to leave their mark on it, but thankfully had enough "respect" for the art itself to leave it alone.
This is the mosaic tile entrance to Twist Yarn store. Very pretty.
This is an example of a cornice and pediment from the Old station beside the Cox communication building.
More pretty details from a downtown building.
I love the detailing on these massive columns from the Cox communication building. This building used to be a railway station if I remember right.

I have several more pictures of the beautiful details on some of the Wichita buildings. I enjoyed looking at the art so much that I am going to highlight some more of it in the upcoming months. While we were looking for the different assigned details, we kept finding other buildings that we thought were soooooo pretty. Funny, I had seen some of the building and thought "Pretty", but hadn't really looked at the detailing until this assignment. Isn't it amazing how we can be in the middle of beauty and not notice?

Happy Easter!

When the going gets tough, the tough slide under the kids bed for a nap...Buddie was firmly wedged under there. Notice the "you don't see me, I'm invisible" look on his face? That would almost work if he didn't snore so loud he makes the bed shake!


We went to Stillwater for Easter to spend time with my side of the family. It has been a REALLY long time (shamefully long, I hate to say) since the boys and their cousins had a chance to get together. I have decided we have to make more of an effort to make sure they see each other at least once a month. They really had a good time.

Above are my nieces Amber (in yellow stripes), Heather (in pink stripes) and their cousin Sadie.
We are missing one boy in the above picture but it was a challenge to get them to even stand still for this long without breaking into a wrestling fest!

There was a little Easter egg hunt and as you can tell, Aurelius has figured out the basket game. He is my great nephew and cute as a button!

It was so nice to get back to Oklahoma, even if for a day. I am going to Tulsa next weekend for a girls weekend, so I will have to check out the yarn stores there. Cute hubby drove to Stillwater today so I had time to work on a baby sweater that I am trying out. We recently got lucky enough to have a new Wichita transplant find the yarn shop (Twist) after moving from Mississippi and over the course of 4 days, she knit the most amazing baby sweater from Baby Twist alpaca yarn! 4 days!!!! Holy ever lovin' smokes! She told me how much to cast on and gave me the basic instructions so I can test the pattern out. She is making up instructions for us in the shop since it is sure to get lots of requests! It is knit in the round, which I have never done, so once I get the required length on the body and both arms, she will show me the next step. This girl is an amazing knitter!! I'll post pictures of what I have done so far in the morning. I have been going into Twist on Tuesdays and Thusdays (and whenever else I'm needed) to help out with stocking, pricing and anything else Shelly needs. It lets me play with yarn and I can honestly say I've learned a LOT. For example, did you know that if you are not paying attention while winding a ball of yarn on the ball winder, you can launch it off the winder and a pretty good distance? Yep, ask me how I know that one.

The kids go back to school tomorrow. It has actually been really nice to have them at home. We didn't do to much for Spring break, but sometimes that is nice.

Tomorrow I am going to plant some rose bushes that I bought at Big Lots for $2.50! I bought several of them at that price. Most of them are climbing roses that I am going to plant along our back fences. It has been so warm and beautiful lately that I am getting really excited about getting gardens in order and planted.

Slobber!

They were having the KAWS fiber gathering at CityArts today and unfortunately I was unable to attend due to a schedule conflict (I was having my jewelry class). However I did get to see a couple of the vendors. The Yarn Barn (Lawrence, Kansas) was there with a couple wheel you could try out. One was a ladybug...OMG!!! I am completely in love with this little portable jewel! I can REALLY see adding one of these to my other wheels so I can have one that transports easily. It treadle like it was floating on air! If their other models treadle like that, I'm in BIG ($$$) trouble...

I did pick up some really neat dyed roving while there. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

After chainmaille class at CityArts, I went over to Twist to hang out and help a little. Shelly, the owner, has a wheel and is in the process of learning to spin. I taught her some of the basics and she caught on immediately. You should see her spin! She's a natural!!I've got a couple pictures of her spinning but I'll wait until I ask her if it OK to post them on my blog--I completely forgot to ask! I am seriously considering taking the spinning class offered at The Beadery this month in Newton. I love taking classes from as many instructors as possible. You learn something new each time. Never quit learning!!

YUIM!!!

Look what came in the mail today! KUMQUATS! They are approximately quarter to half dollar sized and I got 10 pounds of them to make jams and chutney. We may lose about a third of them to just plain munching. They are sooo good! You slice them in half to get the seeds out, then pop them in your mouth skin and all. Actually it is REALLY important to eat the skin too since the kumquat is really shockingly tart, then you get the really sweet flavor of the skin to soften it. I can tell you, they are addictive straight out of the box!!!

I will get all my canning supplies together tomorrow and spend Friday making jams. I might even have to order another box of these if the jams turn out well. The season ends April 15th, so I do have a little time. Ten pounds of kumquats sounds like a lot, but you use a lot of fruit when you are canning since the fruit tends to cook down....Holy smokes these little things are good. The link to the kumquat growers association is in one of my last posts....I'll post it again later...

It was such a beautiful day today! I went to Twist and took my spinning wheel so Shelly could have a try. She is a natural spinner! She is also starting to carry some roving from a Mulvane, Kansas sheep person. It really felt nice! If Shelly starts selling chocolate, it'll be a one stop addiction shop!

I'm legal!

I went to the tag office today to get my car inspected and get the new tag. It was actually not crowded and things went really fast. Both the inspecting officer and the clerk at the tag office itself were really nice. I was able to get the tag for the whole year instead of having to come back in April, so that was a relief. Actually they gave me the option of just getting the tag until the end of the month or doing it for the whole year. Just going ahead and doing the whole year seemed easier.

Am I the only one having problems adjusting to the lost hour of daylight savings? The change has really messed with my moods and my ability to keep my schedule straight! Usually time changes don't affect me, but this time I am acting like a ditz and just not pulling it together.

It is looking like it will be quite a beautiful day today--I may have to pull a chair outside to knit before I have to leave for my pottery class.

And a Happy Monday to you...

We got a new car today, but since it is dark outside, I'll wait to post pictures until tomorrow.

It is actually a used car, but new to us. It's a cute little red 2001 Dodge Neon. We were looking for something a little easier on gas since the car hubby has been driving sucks gas down like I suck down coffee in the morning: fast..and in great quantities. I drove to Enid to pick the car up, got all the way back to Kansas and realized they had forgotten to put the 30 day tag on. DAMN. The tag on the car had expired in January. So now I have to get up in the morning and go to the insurance agent to get a copy of the insurance for this car, then drive downtown to sit and get a tag. Hopefully I don't get stopped--they are really strict in my little town about things like that. I have my bill of sale, so that will show that I haven't been just driving around for the heck of it on an expired tag, but I am one of those people who are REALLY paranoid about breaking any laws.
And no, I do not speed. I am too paranoid about that too. The law of averages is just not stacked in my favor, so why push it?

The kicker is that the month our car tags are due is April (Car tags are done by the letter of your last name and assigned a month accordingly. Ours happens to be April). I will not be able to get April's tag until March 15th....it is the 11th tomorrow. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I will only be able to get a tag that expires in 15 days--then I will have to do the whole damn thing over again in April. ARGGGGGG! But then I guess I have to be there in April for the tag on the other vehicles, so WHATEVER...I'm just being cranky. It would have been so much easier to have had the 30 day tag...I didn't even think to look, so a smack to me too I guess.

One bright spot of the day is that I did get to hang out with my friend Lisa and eat at my favorite local restaurant, Next Door. They have a mushroom cheeseburger that will bring tears to your eyes! Forget chain restaurants, this local place is sooo much better than anything else in town. I go there every time I'm in Enid. Next Door has been around since my first visit to Enid with my boyfriend "at the time". Even funnier story is that I met Lisa accidentally because it turns out that BOTH of us were dating this guy at the same time. Since I was from another city, he figured we would never find out about each other. Guess what? We did. And we had a mutual friend that got a dialog going between us and we found out we had a lot more in common than the boyfriend. The boyfriend didn't work out, but we have been friends since 1983 because of him. Actually the boyfriend made a much better friend than boyfriend, so even that worked out in a way...Isn't it funny how things turn out? Lisa's family runs a couple auto related businesses there in Enid and Lisa can do just about anything auto related. Me? Not so much. Actually I didn't know how to put gas in a car until Lisa taught me. Lisa is also the one who taught me how to drive a standard. That alone is an endeavor worthy of sainthood. I know her dad, step-dad and brother just shake their head and wonder exactly what my purpose is--I can't change the oil in a car, bleed brakes, change out a fuel pump or anything like that.....But I adore them all. They have come to my rescue for more than one car related emergency. Enid is close to my heart, I wish I had the time to get back there more often.

Can you?

Hated the pattern, but I am completely in love with the Lorna's Laces yarn..I will definitely be going to The Beadery in Newton for more....It should be called knitter's crack...One skein and you are totally hooked and searching for ways to get more......The colorways are so pretty and the yarn works up really well (with the right pattern...say no more...). Unfortunately I have to miss the sock of the month class (it is a toe up sock)tomorrow, which makes me sad, but Candice will do one on one classes, so I'll be going in for some therapy--I mean a class---to learn this technique. Is that not GORGEOUS or what!!!!
Above is the beginning of the March sock at Twist (Peak Experience by Fiber Trends). I think I'm going to like this pattern a lot. It has a stitch I haven't used before, so I will be learning something new, but I don't think it will be anything that I can't handle. I'm using one of the Zircus colorways by Opal. I've never played with Opal yarn before but it seems really nice. My friend Cindy is probably really tired of the colorway though. Let me tell you a little story....

Not having a ball winder (YET!), I figured I could just improvise and use a size 13 needle and use it like a nostper....whatever that Scandinavian center pull ball making stick thingy is...so I start unwinding the skein around the needle..And winding...and winding....400+ yards doesn't seem like a very big wad of string--UNTIL YOU ARE WINDING IT AROUND A SIZE 13 NEEDLE WITH NO END IN SIGHT...

To make a looooooooooong story short, learn from me. It doesn't turn out good...When Cindy came over to sit and knit, she got to hold that @#$* needle so I could finish winding it onto the needle only to turn around and roll it into a ball--all 400+ ....If I could have picked up my camera and got a picture of Cindy's face without having to give serious consideration as to how to hold a camera and deflect a size 13 knitting needle that is being hurled towards my personal space, I would have captured the look on Cindy's face....priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard--which is exactly what I will be using to get me a %$@* ball winder this week!!!

What's a post without a gratuitous cute animal picture. AWWWWWWW...

I should probably step away from the computer. I just ordered 10 pounds of kumquats to make jams and jellies...yes--10 POUNDS....I certainly better find a darn good canning recipe between now and the time they arrive! Actually I was just going to order 5 pounds, but for only a little more, I got the full 1/4 bushel...It's a good thing I LOVE to make jams and jellies. I had better get all my canning supplies ready so I can spend an entire day getting these puppies processed. Can you guess what everyone is going to get as part of their Easter goodies (except anyone allergic to citrus of course --- you can breathe easy Cindy. We love you so no kumquats for you....I'm definitely not going to knock off someone who puts up with all my "quirks").

Oh well! Good coffee and great friends to you and yours!

DUHHHHHHHHH

When the lightning strike of wisdom hits me, sometimes the flash blinds me....

The heel is turned...It took me a while to actually work through the instructions that said:

row 1: sl1 k17 sts, ssk, k1 turn

row 2: sl1, p5sts, p2tog, p1 turn

row 3: sl1, k6 sts, ssk, k1 turn

row 4: sl1, p7sts, p2tog, p1 turn

Continue in this manner until all stitches are consumed...

In my literal thinking, I was trying to do rows 1 through 4 over and over again (in this manner)...guess what? That was not even close...for those of you laughing your heads off, please remember some of us are literalistic...after frogging twice, I think my guardian angel finally had enough, because suddenly a blinding flash hit....after row 4, you :

sl 1, k8, ssk, k1 turn

sl 1, p9, p2tog, p1 turn

sl1, k10, ssl, k1 turn....and so on UNTIL ALL STITCHES ARE CONSUMED..

GEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!

Busy-ness

This is a painting I am in the process of working on. The saying states "The love we give away is the only love we keep"--as you can see, it is only halfway done, but I wanted to share with you...

I realized it has been a while since I posted. Not that I have been idle, mind you, I just never seem to have the gumption to go and retrieve my camera and download the pictures of my endeavors when I am actually sitting at the computer...is THAT lazy or what...So you are getting a madcap windup of some of my projects. Below is a closeup of a portion of the painting I am working on. It is far from being finished though.
This weekend a friend and I went to CityArts for our chainmaille jewelry class. It is supposed to start at 10:30 a.m. By 10:20 the doors to the class were not opened and we were the only ones there, so Sue went down to have them open the door. Guess what? The teacher had the flu and we were the only ones whose phone # they could not find. Could they not have CALLED the instructor--he has all our phone numbers. I know he has mine, I gave it to him so his girlfriend could call me --I am teaching her how to knit. ARGGGG. At any rate, Sue and I went to Twist instead where I picked up some goodies. They had marked some Swallow casein needles down 40% and there was a magazine I had been eyeing also marked down 40%. Yep, SNAG!!! I had been at Twist yesterday to pick up my sock yarn for the February sock of the month (hell yes I'm 30 days behind...you expected less?)...Since the pattern and yarn for the March sock was announced Saturday, I picked up both the pattern and yarn. I am completely in love with the Opal Zircus yarn I picked up! Being a little OCD--even though Shelly said I should be able to get a pair from 1 ball, I got two. Half of the reason was I was afraid of running out and also since I had already slobbered on the two balls of the particular colorway I was grasping in my hands, I figured I should take it home. Maybe Shelly should have a sign that says "YOU SLOBBER ON IT, YOU BUY IT"...... I'd probably just have to give myself to her as an indentured servant if she does that though...
Above is a bad picture of a good haul.....and below is the sweater from the Northampton Knits book that I am working on in Rowan Plaid. I love this pattern and the yarn!!!
I am also working on a sock in Lorna's lace Shepherd Sport (Mixed Berries colorway), which I love--their sock pattern, not so much. I am at the heel turning and it says to do the first four rows, then repeat these until there are no stitches. I need to see if there is an errata for this pattern. After you do the first four rows (I'm doing the largest size), you go back to row 1. I finish knitting 17 stitches then there is enough to ssk but that is the end of the row--no room to k1 then turn....maybe it's just me...I have a sock pattern for the beginner sock in sport weight from Knitting Pure and Simple--I LOVE their patterns and I may have to follow it to get the heel turned.....
Other than that, I have been baking up a storm. I made English muffin bread this afternoon from a recipe in my Better Homes and Garden cookbook--and it turned out beautifully. I like to make the boys home style "Egg McMuffins" in the morning, but I hate the cost of store bought English muffins. I found this recipe and thought "why not"...It is soooooo easy and very foolproof! I have the recipe and pictures posted on my other blog, Animalhaus. I am going to start posting cooking and other stuff over there since I set up the second blog for that reason and then promptly ignored it...This blog will remain knitting, art and general craftiness (and animal antics of course..) but the other will have cooking and food related stuff.....I'll have the English muffin recipe posted by this afternoon over there...

Black Spaghetti and .....

The boys had a friend spend the night a little while back, so to freak them out, I served black spaghetti. Yep--when it cooks it looks like worms. Their friend was so amused by it, he had to take pictures of his plate (with his cell phone camera...) to show HIS friends since nobody was going to believe there is such a thing as black spaghetti....I found it at SuperTarget (in their grocery section). It is colored with squid or octopus ink, but that also give it a faint fishy smell, so we may not be serving it again--but it was fun for one time. I could see serving this with Alfredo sauce and shrimp though--unfortunately my kids won't eat that...picky eaters....
I looked in my Better Homes and Gardens pink cookbook and found the absolute best recipe for both pizza crust and cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were REALLY good! Since I used my dough hook on my KitchenAide mixer, it all went together quickly. YUM! I was in a baking mood this week....
I had to post this one! I came upstairs and there was Charlie cat lovin' up on Cute Man. It looked like bedtime story time --except cute man was reading some engineering text about compressible fluid flow...yep--that would put me to sleep too. However, I had to grab my camera and as soon as Charlie cat saw THAT THING, I got THIS face.....
So of course I HAD to take the picture. If the cat had any pride left, it's shredded.....At the other end of the bed was Socks and Smokey. Socks is getting faster at getting the heck out of Dodge when he sees me with a camera--But he's not fast enough!! HaH!

Other than baking and harassing my animals, it has been a reasonably slow week. I'll post knitting pictures and some pictures of a painting I'm working on tomorrow. I'm trying to "make art" every day--one way or another. Some people make art on paper, some people make art through cooking ... it's all good!

One good spot: We got a call from an elderly couple about half a mile away --Cute man's flight bag had been stuffed in their bushes. The headsets were gone, but all the flight manuals and important papers were all there. I guess they didn't know what to do with them--so I am thankful they didn't just scatter them to the wind or throw them away. Those are pretty hard to replace. We did file a police report and were told there were 6 other people on our street that had reported something missing. Car doors stay locked....and outside lights stay on all night....

Good friends and great coffee to you and yours!

Rough beginning to the week

It has been a rough beginning to the week at Casa Davis.

On Sunday, our 17 year old dog, Kaysha died. One of the the boys is taking it pretty hard. They are 14 and have never known life when Kaysha wasn't there, so it will be hard. Hubby and I have had Kaysha since she was 6 weeks old....Jeremy was actually "sick" this morning. I figured he was still upset over Kaysha, plus he was running a slight fever, so I called him out sick from school this morning. It didn't help that he got up this morning and went to get Kaysha to carry her outside for her morning "duties". And there is really nothing I can say to make it hurt less, which is not a good feeling...

On Monday night, apparently someone decided to help themselves to our cars and took my husband's flight headsets. Two pairs. That'll be $200+ (luckily they were the pairs needing replacement, but still...). Crap! We had been pretty naive since we have never had anything stolen the entire time we have lived in this town. I guess it's the sign of the times. I hope whoever decided to steal them has nothing but misfortune from here on out. They are now cursed. Whatever happened to the rule of "If it's not yours, don't touch it?!"

Lesson learned on that one.

Damn it has been a bad week already. Please tell me it only goes up from here.....

Afterthought Saturday....

My friend Cindy and I decided to take advantage of the sock of the month class at the Newton Beadery on Saturday. As you can see, my the flash on my camera decided to put out more than it's fair share of effort--I'm sure the girls are still seeing spots! I REALLY need to remember to turn off the flash when there are light walls to bounce off of. Did I mention that it is usually painful driving past me at night for the same reason---gotta love them bright lights.....
I found some really addictive Lorna's Lace to knit with--I really like the colorway. I'm not really feeling the love for the afterthought heel, but I am not completely jumping ship on the idea yet. I actually will make this sock with a standard heel and a pretty easy pattern then go back and get some worsted weight yarn to make the first pair of afterthought --and in a light color so I can actually see what I am doing. Why did I pick a dark color when I knew I would be picking up stitches (which I am not too experienced with..) and doing a provisional stitch with waste yarn? I have no defense--I think I partied with the STUPID monster the night before--because I was feeling pretty dense as I was trying to figure out if this was a "live" stitch or not...

Here is but a small selection of the yarn Julie has at the shop. If I had turned around, there was a whole other wall of yarn--but as you can see--even my camera was having focus issues after I played with the waste yarn and tried to pick up stitches. I did discover that I am a compassionate knitter--I tried to bring every dead stitch within a mile radius of my needle to life and I stuggled to only pick up the "live stitches"....

Julie is having all kinds of really neat classes in the coming months, so it is definitely worth checking out the shop blog and signing up. She will be at the Wichita Women's fair, as will Shelly from Twist, so check them both out.

After Cindy and I took the class, we headed to Enid, Oklahoma to take my van to a friend's brother's shop...(try saying that three times)..Remember the van that seems to want to just shuck off parts at the drop of the hat? Well, I had taken it to the mechanic here in town and they were going to do the sway bar, front left axil, and the water pump (when this car decides it wants to go to the shop, it REALLY makes it worth it...) to the tune of $900. That crunch you just heard was our budget going off the cliff...Thursday the mechanic calls me to tell me he can't replace the water pump without replacing the timing cover it is attached to. Go figure, it has a crack in it...and you have to lift the engine to do the replacement...Did someone take my van out to a party without me knowing?!!

Wanna know how much the grand total was going to be? Go ahead--ASK. You know you want to.....

$1900.00 +

Are you breathing yet...that was my same response...So I freaked and called my friend Lisa in Enid. Her brother (he is a mechanic) said he'd do it for quite a bit less so Cindy and I took it to him Saturday. And yes, when I count blessing, I include my friend Lisa and her family. They have been our car angels for more times then they probably want to remember...I did let the garage here in town do the sway bar and axil, since that seemed important to have those cooperate when I'm barreling down the road at 70 m.p.h. but the rest is getting done in Enid.

It was really nice to visit Enid--even if we did get there late. Next time I am hoping to go up earlier in the day so I can show Cindy around. I don't think they have any yarn shops in Enid. Darn.

Alls well that ends well. and excuse any mispelled words, spell check is not working on blogger today... again.

What a difference a day makes....

The sweet face you see above is what I woke up to yesterday after the kids and cute man went off to school/work. Yep, that's hubby's pillow she has her head on. She was sooooo darn cute. I think she knew that though.....
It was 65 degrees yesterday! It was unbelievable. However, instead of playing outside, I felt the strong urge to make homemade bread. Since I have a 525 watt Kitchen aide (thanks to my wonderful mom in law who spoils me) it was a really easy task. I really like the recipe I found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook for white bread. I used local honey from a guy down the street instead of sugar and really thought that highlighted the taste. It was fabulous! I am going to have to do this more often. The bread was firm and very tasty with an excellent crust. I put real butter on the top to keep the crust soft as it was cooling down........
And since I was still in the baking mood--I made chocolate chip cookies from the recipe off the Gold Medal Organic flour bag. Holy smokes they were GOOD. It wasn't all baking yesterday. I did get in some knitting. I have been working slowly on this Noro Kuyreon scarf for quite some time and thought it was high time to make some progress. I am not feeling the love for the yarn yet, but everyone tells me it softens up after handwashing, so I'm taking the leap of faith.

What a difference a day makes....Yesterday it was 65* and sunny. This morning at 4:30, I awoke to the sounds of our roof getting pelted with this........

HAIL! This picture was taken at 7:30 so a lot of it had gone away, but there was quite a hail storm last night. Being in Kansas, I associate hail with TORNADOES, so I didn't get to go back to sleep for the rest of the morning. Thankfully this is as big as the hail got and no tornado....something tells me this is going to be a rough spring as far as weather goes. It is 35*F right now--that's quite a drop from yesterday....

At any rate, I am hoping to get to my pottery class this afternoon. I have decided I have been away from pottery long enough. I used to do hand building and worked on the wheel a long time ago, so I am looking forward to getting back on the wheel. Once you get centering the ball of clay on the wheel mastered, it becomes quite calming.

Well. I hope the weather is cooperating in your corner of the world.

Good coffee and great friends to you and yours!