A parade of FOs

That's Finished Objects for all you muggles out there. And muggles, in this context, means non-knitters. I finished quite a few things here recently. Actually, I don't know that I even mentioned starting any of them.

Yarn: Koigu from this post, no I don't know the colorway, sorry!
Pattern: This great pattern from Wendy
Needles: Knitpicks metal needles in size 0
I love this yarn and I love this pattern. It was magic, it was knitter's crack I tell you. I haven't been the same since. The color is a darker than shown, actually, the color in the linked post is much closer.





Squares for Kay for Oliver's American Blanket with the leftover yarn from the socks. The top left I made stockinette with a garter stitch border, 'cause I just love the way it looks in stockinette, but I wish I hadn't bothered. It still wants to curl, and I think all she is getting is garter stitch squares. What do you think?


Eyelash scarf for Mother in Law
Yarn: 2 balls of Bernat Boa in Blue Bird
Pattern: just garter stitch till I ran out of yarn, I think it was 15 stitches across

She asked for an eyelash scarf like is in all the stores right now and I actually had this yarn in the stash from a swap on craftster. (If you haven't been there before, watch out, it is a time sucker) It wasn't the funnest knit, but I found that I had better luck if I didn't look at it while knitting, couldn't see the correct strand anyway, so touch was a better bet. It was fairly quick though.

Now, on to sewing, and maybe To Much Information for some of you.

Can you tell what this is? How about I fold it up?

I bet now you can guess. I've been using cloth pads for a couple of years now. There are many reasons to use them, environmental(disposable pads sit in landfills just like disposable diapers) , health reasons(I've read different places that say disposables are bad for you, no, I'm not looking them up for you), cost (one cloth pad costs about the same as a box of disposables, they pay for themselves before to long), plus they are quite cute don't you think? But the best reason to use them? They are so much more comfortable! Nice soft flannel instead of plastic, and no glue to somehow get stuck to you! That doesn't just happen to me does it?

Anyway, I've been working on these for a while. Doing a swap with someone on craftster for a couple of stenciled tee shirts. Hopefully she'll be ready to trade soon. I'm going to keep at least one.

One of the duckies, I think, isn't that fabric adorable? There are actually 8 here, I stacked them up.

Sock monkeys on a sock knitting bag! Finally made one after saying I could for so long, plus Ann was telling me I needed to make one. Sometimes I need that. I started and finished it in one day! Hooray! Mark the calendar!


Course, it isn't without mistakes. For some reason the chalk (I've used it before with no problem) I marked the pockets sew line with would not iron out like it is supposed to. So I tried to wash it out, still no luck. Gave up on that and tried to iron it dry....yeah, not a good idea. I never said I was an expert sewer! It scorched the fabric a little. But it is still cute and good enough for me. I need to make one for Ann though, I should ask her what fabric she would like. Star Wars maybe? ;)

I had a good day Sunday, so of course I was punished for it on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday was just awful. Didn't feel up to getting on the computer or knitting. You know it is bad when I can't knit! Just sat and stared at the TV. I know there are a few of you who might not know what I'm talking about, so if you want to hear the saga of my headache, read my first post here.

Well, we will be spending tomorrow with both our families, should be fun. Hope your Thanksgiving will be the same!

Do the Hop!

The Yarn Hop was lots of fun! Two of the ladies couldn't go with us at the last minute, but we had enough enablers anyway. Lots of yarn was bought, and almost every store gave us a little gift for being hoppers too. We managed to hit all but two stores on Saturday, but unfortunately we lost two more ladies on Sunday. Techpriest found the camera after we were already in Wichita, so while I don't have any pictures of the actual Yarn Hop, I can at least show you pictures of all the goodies!

Twist - Wichita
My new tattoo! My mil and nephew were here Sat. and he told me "That's a temporary tattoo you know." I said, "No, really? I have two real ones and didn't figure that out!" sheesh! The picture was taken 4 days after I put it on, so maybe it is more like semi-permanent. They sell them on their online catalog.
Jitterbug, Kingfisher. I tried so hard not to buy anything that Yarns sells, but I started shooting pictures and realized that they do in fact sell Jitterbug. Opps! I don't think they have this colorway, and if they do, please don't tell me about it! The guilt might kill me!
StitchKeepers, size 0-3, 6 in. I really like this. You slip one end over your dpn's (with sock in progress on them) stretch the band to put the other end on. The caps are even purple! I haven't lost a stitch since I started using it!

The gift Twist gave us, little coin purse to put stitch markers, etc in.

Heritage Hut - Wichita
Just some notions, and yes I know that Yarns probably has them too, but I never think of buying them there!

Yarn - Hutchinson




Knitty Bits Sock Yarn from Two Windows Dye Co. Local dyer, loved her colors! Ann says I stole this skein from her, don't listen! I picked it up first and clung to it like a baby clings to its momma! It is mine, I tell you! The second picture is much truer to the color.

Yarn actually gave us the best gift, look at all this stuff! Upper left is their newsletter, right of that is a very nice pencil bag, lower left the back of their business card(it is a little graph to keep track of the needle sizes you have!) a measuring tape, sample of soak, little scratch pad and a stitch marker.

Close up of the scratch pad and stitch marker. The pad says, doing my part to keep the yarn industry rolling. Aren't they are both cute?

The Shivering Sheep - Abilene



Fleece Artist, Origin. I love that splash of purple in between the brown and sunflower yellow!

Brown Sheep wool wash, 2 oz, was the gift from the Shivering Sheep(don't you love that name?)

Yarns: Sold and Told - Salina, my LYS



J. Knits, Pueblo. I really wouldn't have named this Pueblo, pueblos are sandy colored, aren't they? I bought this colorway half because it was so different than the other skeins I had bought. Though I still love the colors, I just am pulled more to the dark blues, greens and of course purple! So this is a nice change.

The gift from Yarns, measuring tape that is also a keychain.

The Newton Beadery - Newton



The gift from the Beadery. A 20% discount coupon good till the end of the year, but not during the Yarn Hop. Clever of them, wasn't it? And a sample of soak and a sample of foot cream.


So, now I think I have plenty of wool wash and measuring tapes! But still not enough sock yarn, no matter what Techpriest says! :)

Hopping with Anticipation!!!

The Yarn Hop is tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'll leave McPherson at 7:15 am(about where the 135 sign is)to make sure I reach Yarns in Salina[the second star to the north(well, it is a magical place!)] at 8:00. Karla is opening at 8 just for us, so we can get our passports and some muffins and coffee! Then the 7 of us will HOP (hehe) into Ann's car and head all the way down to Wichita. The rest of the day we will head north as we feel like it.

With a few well placed hints(they were subtle,really! Quit laughing!), I received my birthday money early from two different sources. So I have more money in my purse than I have in a long time, and I don't have to feel guilty for spending it! Techpriest can't believe I'm going to spend it all on yarn. And I might not, but am considering buying yarn for Rogue. But if I want to spend all of it, I can!! Very exciting.

Hopefully DH and I can find the camera tonight. We have just been so busy we haven't had any time to look.

Hope you have as yarny a Saturday as I will!

Cheers!

I've had pictures uploaded for about a week for a big long post, but I just haven't managed anything more. I keep coming up with other stuff I want to talk about though, so I finally gave up on getting that other post done first. Here is a bunch of random junk.


1. NAIS
National Animal Identification System Plenty of bloggers(at least on my bloglines) have already talked about this and if I try I know I'll never get this post finished either. So, short and sweet, the government is trying to pass a law that will require every farm animal(down to pet rabbits) to have a id tag(which is cost prohibitive). The cost of tags and other equipment will probably put most small farms out of business. If the neighbors animals get sick they can not only seize your neighbors animals, but yours too. That is the basics, if you are interested here are some sites. Hopefully it is enough to get you started.
Small Meadow Farm
Homesteading Neophyte In her sidebar she has a list of NAIS sites.
NONAIS A very big site
Prairie Dreams

2. Oliver's Fund
Oliver is a handicapped child that needs a new wheelchair. They are asking for afghan squares(yes, I plan on knitting some) then they will raffle off the afghan. I have read Emma's(his mom) blog for a while now and really enjoy. I can't link directly to the post so here is her blog and it is the Nov 1 post. This just in, Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting is going to be a clearing house for all of the squares in the USA. Nov 7 post

3. Fuller Family Farms
I don't think I've mentioned the Fullers yet. They are a single mom with 6 kids providing wonderful milk, butter, eggs, bread, soap, lip balm and all kinds of great stuff. All farm fresh and free range! I love all of their products I've tried. We have eaten much better since I met Chris.
Here is her online store and blog.

4. You Make Me Smile Award
Holly gave me this award, wasn't that nice of her?

The designer of this award gave it out to 10 people with this in mind: “I wanted to create something special for the top ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.”

Ok, now I'm supposed to pick ten people huh?

• Florence Knitingale
• Marianne's Knotminding
• Celtic Memory Yarns I love her stories and her pictures of Ireland
• Sugar Bunny Boulevard
• Prairie Gumbo
• Prairie Dreams
• Blue Ridge Knittery
• Knitting in the North
• Stumbling Over Chaos
  
• Sheepish Annie
  

Sorry no descriptions, it just isn't gonna happen.


5. Any Firefly fans out there? Check out this wonderful fan video!
Alright just go check out this guy's whole site, if you like sci fi stuff. Great song about Heroes and Dr. Who and Star Wars and, and all kinds of great stuff! Here is his list of videos.

6. While Techpriest's Dad and nephew from New Jersey were here the whole family went down to Wichita and ate at Kobe's a Japanese steakhouse, you know, where they cook the food right at the table and make a show out of it? Great food. Most of us stayed outside during the wait and found a place the kids could play ball. Techpriest finally comes outside and we all get excited 'cause it is time to eat, right? Nope, he came outside to tell us Kirstie Alley is in the waiting area!
Yeah, that Kirstie Alley! He had seen her come in and thought it looked like her but couldn't be sure. Then he heard her talking and thought it really sounded like her. Finally, someone brought their kids up to meet her and he knew it actually was her. She did grow up in Wichita, so it isn't totally unbelievable. We didn't disturb her in anyway, well, 'cept for staring at her out of the corner of our eyes. Though it was really close with DH's mom. She hauled the kids over to look at the fishes which was real close to Kirstie Alley. "No, really, you want to see the fishes!" I did think about hauling out the camera to prove to you all that I did actually see her, but we all figured she wanted a quite night out with family.

I think that is it, since Techpriest can't remember where he put the camera. When he does, I have something to show you!

Pumpkin Patch

Alright, here is the promised pictures of the pumpkin patch we went to on Saturday before heading on to Greensburg.
The Punkinator: an air pressured cannon on a decommissioned fire truck, will launch a 10 lb. pumpkin a 1/2 mile. Very impressive, you can barely see the pumpkins, just little black dots in the sky.

Mini version, Corn Cannon. DH's Dad and youngest nephew getting ready to shoot. The 4 yr old hit two targets while the 12 yr old missed totally, I find it funny and tease the 12 yr old about it!

See the scarecrow on the windmill and hanging out of the barn window?

Different barn, more scarecrows.

The 4 yr old couldn't reach the pedals, so Techpriest helped. Can't really see it, but these trike bikes have a third wheel in back. You steer by one person pedaling more than the other. As you can imagine, these things are dangerous. You never knew when you would have to jump out of the way of them! I took my life in my hands being this close to them, though I was safer directly in front of them than off to the side!

Even a scarecrow needs to get her hair done. In the building behind her they actually had scarecrow kits, make your own scarecrow!

Barrel ride, you had to watch out for this one too.

The actual pumpkin patch, fairly depopulated.

Techpriest's Mom, Dad, youngest nephew hiding behind him, 12 yr old, and Techpriest on the hay wagon ride.

Aren't we a cute couple? :)


They had some many other things too. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the animals though, guess I was to busy petting them! Pigs, bunnies(so soft!!), cows, I actually forget what else! We all had a good time, about froze for while though!

Time Out

It looks so innocent, just lying there. Pretty even. But I'm here to tell you that this sock is evil, evil I say! This is the Damn sock, otherwise known as Miranda's socks. I finished the heel, thought it looked funny so tried it on. No go. So, I'm gonna put it in time out till after Christmas.
Miranda, you are NOT getting this for Christmas, at least not this year. Maybe next year if you are lucky.

See? That heel looks funny, doesn't it? Pattern is a modified version of the Monkey socks from Knitting Sutra.



Zoey loves the reflections on Star Wars poster. Isn't the new afghan pretty? It is smaller than the first one so it went together very quickly!

"What does this square smell like?" Seemed like she smelled each and every one.

Just had to take a picture of this pose. And here is a fun little video of Zoey and me playing.

Greensburg

Techpriest, his Dad & Mom (divorced years ago), his two nephews (one with each of his parents) and I headed out Saturday into the Kansas wilds(west and south). First we hit Turon's Pumpkin Patch had lots of fun, I'll try to post some pictures later. After we wore ourselves out we headed to Pratt to eat lunch. My mother went through nursing school at the community college here and my brother attended for a while too. Mom and I had a lot of fun playing in the Wizard of Oz at the college. She, of course, was one of the wicked witches. :) I was just one of the soldiers of the Emerald City. The adults ate at a Chinese place, the kids had to eat at McDonald's, which took 35 minutes. Then, Techpriest's Mom was in a fender bender, someone pulled out in front of her. We finally managed to get out of Pratt and head on out to Greensburg.

I had left a comment on Prairie Dreams that I would be there Mon. and wondered if Anita could get together. Well, by the time we got to Nickerson to met up with everyone else, the plans had changed and we were going yesterday. Anita was nice enough to go along with the change. Heading into town from the east as we were, at first you don't see the damage. Then, all of a sudden, hardly anything is standing. It was quite dramatic. We met Anita, conned her into driving around with us, and let Techpriest take the kids to the park. It is on the northeast side of town, so was untouched, but it will be torn down along with the swimming pool so the highway can go to four lane.

No pictures this post, it didn't really seem right, kinda rude, ya know? Didn't want to take pictures of someone's heartache. I actually didn't think about it either, to busy absorbing it all. It is totally different seeing it for yourself. Except for a few buildings, the whole town is gone. The kwik shop survived, one brick shop building downtown of a row of shops was still up, a condemned house made it through. The bar and liquor store survived, yet none of the churches did. The courthouse looked alright, but the roof had gotten torn off and set right back down again, exactly where it was. So water had gotten in and caused a lot of damage. Probably be a year before it is up and running again. I saw a house missing, but the garage just a few feet away still standing. By the lake was a car upside down in the trees. We kept asking her "This was all houses?" because it was hard to tell until you got close enough to see the holes of basements and the foundations lying there. Sometimes there were flowers still growing in the flowerbeds. A few houses made it through, and there is some new construction. It was odd, a new house right next to a gaping hole where a house used to be. There was still rumble in lots of places. Some of the street signs were pieces of plywood with the street names spray painted on, some of those had nicer signs stapled to them. A lot of the street signs had been replaced though. It seemed like those street signs said a lot. Anita was raised in Greensburg, yet she said she had to count blocks to know where she was after the tornado. All the landmarks that used to be there are gone. I bet they really needed those spray painted signs. I wonder how difficult it was to figure out which street was which in the beginning. There were things spray painted on the house left too, made by rescuers to know which houses had been searched. Some of these little things hit me more than the big stuff.

I really don't know what else to say, but if you want to get an idea of the devastation here is Anita's list of photo galleries to look at.

MSNBC.com
Wichita Eagle
1133 photos
Ultimate Chase
New York Daily News
National Geographic

Though I haven't looked through all these pictures, I know they don't tell the whole story. They don't show you what it looks like now. Though the majority of the rumble is cleaned up, there is still so much left to do, so much left to rebuild. And it will never be the town Anita remembers from her childhood.

Thank you so much for sharing with us Anita!

What a week

• The Harmony needles showed up, they are pretty. But one of the #5's must have a crack at the tip, wool keeps getting caught in it.
  

• Prairie Gumbo is playing Pay it Forward and I thought it was a great idea too! This is the "Pay It Forward" exchange, based on the concept of the movie where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return...just passing it on, with the hope that the recipients of your kind acts will pass it along to someone else. Here's how it works: I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what the gift will be yet, and it won't be sent this month and maybe not next month either, but it will be sent within 6 months and that's a promise! What you have to do in return then is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. Sound like fun? I might knit something or sew or I might even break out the polymer clay!
  
• Last Saturday I met up with Laura at the Newton Beadery to switch my completed afghan for another packet. Very nice store with a very nice lady that talked to us for quite awhile, even told us her name, too. Unfortantly though, I have a mind like a steel sieve instead a steel trap. Laura being the good blogger she is, remembered to bring her camera. Me, I didn't even think to look halfway decent, let alone bring the camera. I should have remembered what the Yarn Harlot said, bloggers are dangerous, they always have their cameras.
  
• I have already finished the second afghan, but no pictures yet. Hopefully soon.
• Tuesday I had an eye app. and had my eyes dilated plus wore contacts for the first time in years. Not good. Besides having an awful time driving the two blocks home my headache jumped way up there to an 8. I didn't even feel up to knitting while I watched tv. The next day got it back down to a 5, but Friday I went and ordered my glasses(that's another story) and wore contacts again to be able to pick out a frame. Went to the monthly knit in that night but had to leave early I was hurting so much. Not long after I got home it went up to a 9. Today it is firmly hovering around a 6. Pretty sucky week.
  

• Techpriest's Dad and nephew are coming for a visit next Thursday, I hope I'm up to it.

That is all I remember that I wanted to tell you, but remember that steel sieve....

Why yes, we did buy a new camera.

Why do you ask?
Here is the afghan, Zoey thinks it is comfy.


So pretty!


It is kinda hard to see the basketweave, but it sure is pretty, though the 8 ends I had to weave in sure wasn't!


Love this one too.


Zoey was holding the afghan down for me, she is such a helper!


The back side, you can clearly see the whip stitch.


Front side, doesn't look to bad I think.


Weasley sweater ornaments, this one is for Dad. I plan on making 20 of the little suckers, good thing they are so quick!


Mom's ornament.


Left to right: my brother(Nathan's Daddy), our Dad, our Mom, and she is holding Nathan of course.


Mom and Nathan. Miranda had a party for her mother's 50th birthday. We all had lots of fun and chocolate cake.





Chewing on the camera strap.


Techpriest found a cat website, that is a little bat flying around.


Who threw out a perfectly good kitty?