Knitting News...

Yes, amongst Squirrel trapping, horse shows and the like, I have been knitting. I have been keeping in line with my restrictions of only 2 pair of socks per month! As of today, I have completed 17 socks. And have found time in between to knit other things too! (or crochet)!

My latest has been having fun knitting the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. One of the ladies in our bunco group is due in the beginning of November. It's so nice to know of a "little" one to knit for! I knit this BSJ and hat set.

Also, back in May, Jackie, a friend I met thru Paige and the horse forum had a baby girl, Annaleigh, and I made these for her!

These are Fleegle's Seamless Saartje Booties:

And I have to post a few socks, now don't I? These are a test knit pattern I did for Linda Welch, called Socks for Christy. I used Sundara Sock yarn in the Jump for Joy color. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this color. These are a toe up sock and it is a great pattern!

These have to be one of my all time favorite color/pattern combinations! The name of this sock is Shur'tugal Socks by by Alice Yu and I used Plymouth Happy Feet in Jade Green (color 14) - they were an incredible easy knit and the pattern just flew by!

And lastly, our knit group held a "Christmas in July" swap to kick off our knitting of Christmas gifts! I am proud to say, I have 2 gifts completed and 1 on needles! But, for the swap, my person is ALWAYS cold, so, I made her the warmest gloves I could think of. These are the My Bagatelle Thrum Mittens. I used Cascade 220 for the glove in a dark plum and the thrums are a roving with glitter (romney) from Esther's Place in big rock - they were a big hit! Fun to make as well! The beauty of warmth in these mittens is that the wool thrums (a piece of roving about 6" long folded in half - think like a Q-tip) - is held together with the yarn when knitting every so many stitches. The ends of the Q-tip piece of roving are on the inside of the mitten and feels like a fleece seat cover, keeping your hands extremely warm.

That's just a mini-recap since my last post back in April! I signed up for this cool internet site tabulator for knitting called "knit meter" - and you enter in your projects and it tracks for a month or year the amount of yardage of yarn you have consumed. Well, year to date, I have consumed 21,715 yards of yarn. How cool is that?

Hit the road Jack and never come back...

Yesterday, we caught rat with a tail number 2. Mr Animal Tracker man was here to collect and I told him when he first arrived that I SWEAR that there were two (including rat no 2) -

I told him that NO ONE believed me in the beginning and that when I heard the playing on Wednesday that there were sounds on both sides of the soffit at one time and I was betting that there were 2 playing...

VINDICATION once again... While he was here removing rat no 2 with a tail, he got to hear yet another one... Ah, being right feels so good (also knowing that I am not NUTS)!

So, here is the 'juvenile' removed yesterday

So now we are on the hunt for rat with a tail number 3 - 'it' was quite active after Mr Animal Tracker left yesterday - totally ticked off I presume...

The other cool thing was that he had located and confiscated a runaway Ball Python - they are smallish - 3 to 4' - Bree got to mess with it - NOT me.... It got loose in an apt when a guy was moving out and they couldn't find it - it was under the burners of the stove (in the ledge that separates the oven) - good thing someone didn't cook on the stove...

He also had a 'dead' brown bat, a couple of possums, and a raccoon in the back of his truck, and his trusty Golden Retriever mix, Max, in the back seat! The next door neighbor boys and Mom came over and the kids got a pretty decent science lesson on the evolution of snakes, the python breed, bats and the like - it was actually pretty neat (why I didn't take pictures is beyond me - I think I was just so happy to capture rat no 2 and know that he heard rat no 3 that I got sidetracked)... They got to see the snakes teeth, the pits in the upper lip that allow it to know where 'heat' is (think thermal imaging and how they find their prey in the dark) and where the feet have evolved off, etc.. Lots of info!

He sat on the lawn and conducted class - it was pretty funny looking back at it.

We seem to have a quiet weekend ahead which is good as I think every other weekend this month is full to the brim.

The wheel on the wheel goes round and round...

Ok, so I changed the words to this kiddie song a little bit, but, it is true... The wheel on my spinning wheel goes round and round. I know I've said it before, but, I just so enjoy spinning! It is therapeutic in its own way, different from knitting, but so relaxing all the same.

I also think it is contagious and Kate took some spinning lessons and is building her addiction and Rachel caught the bug and has even purchased a wheel which should be arriving in the very near future! I think that makes four of us now that have wheels - I forsee one of our 'knit nights' turning into a spinning night!

To get caught up from my last post back in April (I know, bad me) - here's what I've accomplished! I have even actually SOLD some of my handspun - how cool is that!!!

I just realized that the last one I posted was handspun number four and I am now on Handspun number 17 - So, I won't post them all - just a few of my favorites!

This is a nice, soft green Merino/Silk (80/20) that I spun for our Christmas in July swap for my person. It was so easy to work with and is soft, soft, soft!

The next one was my 12th handspun, it is a SW Merino by Julie Spins which would be great for mittens, hat, something along those lines as it is a washable wool! I love the 'woodsey' color!

The last for now is a neat turquoisey blue with a touch of black. It is a Rambouillet roving by Julie Spins called 'Stormy' and I never realized that Rambouillet spins up so soft - I thought it was a shade coarser, and I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely purchase more of this wool! The color is rich and it is easy to spin! This yarn was used for a scarf for my Mom - It's a perfect color for her and it is nice to know that it was handmade from start to finish!


There are many more photos and spinning finished objects - you can see them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14597896@N02/sets/72157615046367463 - (why I cannot get links to work in my blog is beyond me)

Oh, and I purchased a SECOND wheel in June... The Lendrum DT! So, now I have 2 projects on wheels at once which is so fun... I just have to figure out how to 'power' them both at the same time. Kind of like riding 2 bicycles or 2 horses at the same time - yeup.. gonna figure it out!

Bree's Successful Sunday!

As if our weekend wasn't busy enough, Bree ran in a speed horse show on Sunday - and run she did!

This was her first show of the year and first since July 3rd of last year! Bree and her horse, Tess, have been working very hard to polish their skills!

She ran in 6 classes:

Trot poles: (kind of a warm-up class) her time was 39.51 (seconds - LOL) and she placed first



Then she ran in the "Novice Rider" poles and finished first in that class with a 25.52.

That class led into the Youth (13 and under) poles which she also won with a 24.43.


She also ran in the open which is all age kids, adults, professionals, trainers, etc.. She held her own placing 7th with a 25.02

We all ate lunch then after lunch, barrels started:

She seemed kind of sluggish in the Novice barrels and placed 3rd with a 20.94, but came back in the youth barrels running 2.2 seconds faster with at 18.74 and placed first - This is my most favorite picture, both Bree and Tess are so focused!


She also ran in the 3-D race - this is an intersting race - and runs much like a NBHA (National Barrel Horse Assoc class works). Everyone (all kids, adults, pro's and trainers) run and the times are recorded. The fastest time is called the 1-D time and wins 'first' in that class and the next 4 fastest times place 2nd-5th. The fastest time was 17.34.

Next, they add one second to that time so now it is 18.34 and the person with the closest time (over that number) places first in the 2-D. And the next 3 fastest times take 2nd thru 4th in the 2D

Finally they add two seconds to the fastest time making it 19.34 and the person with the closest time (over that number) places first in the 3-D. The next 2 fastest times take 2nd and 3rd in the 3-D.

Bree ran a 18.93 and missed 4th place in the 2-D by 2 tenths of a second! All in all it was a great day, they learned alot, know what they have to continue to work on and are chomping at the bit to attend the next show (mid-September).

"Baggo" was a blast!

No, and I don't mean "Blaggo" our celebrity, impreached joke of a Govenor...

I mean BAGGO...

Bill and I were invited to a couples party for "Baggo" on Saturday evening. Neither of us had ever played. There were 14 couples - (big group!!!).

The way the game is played is: there are tables of 4 people, you have a partner (sitting across from you). There are cards of 2 thru queen face up for each person. and a pair of dice. You roll the dice and turn the number on the dice that matches your card over. So, you roll a total of 6 on the dice, you turn over the card with the 6. Once you have ALL your cards turned over, then you can roll for your partner and help them. If you roll the number of a card you already have turned over - you don't do anything.

The first team (out of ALL teams) that gets all their cards turned over calls Baggo. The other tables then just count the number of cards still left face up and the team with the lowest number is the winner - if there is a tie - you do a roll off and the first team that flips one card over is the winner of that table.

The funniest part is what happens when you win (or lose as the case may be) -

Each person brings with them in a bag (thus 'baggo') 3 "good" items (1-$10 item and 2-$5 items) and then 3 "gag" gifts which could be ANYTHING... Literally.

You as the winner, get to 'pick' from the person on your right a 'good' prize and then YOU as the winner choose a 'gag' gift from your stuff and give it to the loser.

The winners then move on to the next table, losers stay and EVERYONE changes partners which is fun and helps to get know other people at the party.

Well, if you win alot (like ME!!!) you could end up with lots of 'good' prizes or such - and if you lose alot (like Bill) you could end up with lots of 'gag' prizes. Or end up somewhere in between!

Everyone brought appetizers or deserts and there was lots of imbibing which is fun to watch the outcome of that with some folks!

We had a great time, great people, fun game and hope to do it again!

Still waiting on No 2 to get into the trap!

Well, rat with a tail no 2 - seems to be a 'wascally wabbit' - um.. oops - wrong cartoon.

We are still waiting. NOT patiently I might add. I still hear 'it' and it still wakes me up. I'm getting to be a very cranky person. (so, what's new, I know)!

we spoke to the Mr Animal Tracker - and if by the end of the weekend, we still have not caught 'it' - then we will switch to a walnut in the trap - we've been told that they cannot pass up a walnut - must be like a catnip thing. I don't care if we have to put filet mignon in the trap. I want to sleep past 5am. Really I do.

I've been knitting and spinning as usual, trying to get into some semblance of a routine now that Bree is back in school. She just finished the first full week. She's gotten into the groove and is just cruising along.

Next week it is my turn to get into a groove! We've got some fun things happening this weekend, so hopefully by Monday, I'll have some pics to share! (if not pics, then good and also funny stories!)

It's been forever... and then some!

Bree went back to school last Thursday, big change for her starting middle school having to get up at least an hour earlier, with taking the bus, changing classrooms, a real hot lunch program, band everyday, etc.. She seems to be adjusting well though.

We had a good summer (if you can call it that) - it never really did feel like summer as the weather was nothing like the past typical summers. I hope that does not indicate the type of winter we are going to be having...

Now the big challenge to get back into a routine. One good part about her going to middle school is that it has increased my day by about an hour and a half... Instead of leaving to take her to school at 8:50am, she leaves to catch the bus at 7:25am - I also don't have to go get into the car line at 3pm - she arrives home off the bus at 3:20pm. I know it doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it is amazing how much more time that it feels like I have.

I have missed her the past few days - I'm so used to her being around, seems eerily quiet - however, I'm sure I'll get over that pretty quickly - hahah - as I get into a routine myself!

We're in the great squirrel battle right now. I have been saying for months and months and months (longer than I can recall) that I thought we had squirrels living in the attic, but nope, no one believed me. Well, we do. One has been caught (I refer to him as rat no 1 with a tail - Bill calls him "Bastardo") - and this morning I had visual confirmation of rat no 2 with a tail chatting with rat no 1 with a tail while trapped - Here's a pic of Bastardo...
I think he has anger issues, don't you? LOL! (I had anger issues the past week as they got REALLY noisy and were waking me up at 5am - not a smart move)

Anyway, one of my new routines is to blog more often. I figure between Bastardo no's 1 and 2 and recapping some of the summer and then with new things happening this school year, I should be able to have some interesting things (at least to me) to post.

Time for my no 2 cup of coffee!