Saturday Morning...

I really should get out more on Saturday mornings because I just got back from the Farmer's Market on Cherry Street and although I was there for under an hour I had a great time.
A truly lovely morning, the sun is shining, the trees are nearly fully leafed out, flowers are blooming, the grass is very green and it was 66F, so yeah, very pretty.

I have to admit I've not been to the Market in a couple of years but it came up at Knit-night, seems there's a lady from Chelsea, OK, Lisa, raises Llamas and brings in fibre. Some of it hand-spun, some mill-spun, some in roving and some of it just cleaned and carded and yowza, this stuff is soft. She also had some handknit hats, very soft, very nice, very simple and selling them for 40 bucks. She has a website, Country Garden Farm. By the way, she's a really nice lady. Of course I found her and her fibre and yarn!

Lots and lots of goods at the Market, flower plants, herbs, vegetable plants....I was looking for catnip but there was none to be found....perhaps next week.

I did manage to get a couple of bags of goods, the new greens bagged up fresh, a loaf of crusty Ciabatta from Timothy Sean Fitzgerald, a couple of Irish lads.

At one point as I'm lost in looking at some plants I feel a hand on my shoulder and a voice saying "I hope this is Marianne", I turn and find friend Terri and her husband Nigel (yes, he's Brit born and raised and a lovelier man you couldn't ask for) Terri and I usually run into each other at the Wild Oats store and it's always beyond a pleasure to see her. We've worked together in the past...many years ago...on an annual project called "Embellishments" which was a wearable art show. Putting this thing together pretty much drove us all nuts but Terri was (and is) amazing, her organizational skills..simply amazing.. and one year I found out that one of her favourite all time treats was drinking dark Guinness and eating dark chocolate...together. One year after the show I gave her a 6-pack and a huge bar of dark chocolate, she was quite surprised and yes, a little tickled. They have daughters and they live across town and we always mean to get together and...and...and... it's crazy that we have such a hard time doing that.

I gathered up my goodies and headed home. I really need do need to get out more often....as in every Saturday morning to the Farmer's Market.

There's the knitting I've managed this week, seriously, how lame is this...oh yeah, I have been working on a couple of other things...kind of silly and I can't be showing them right now...

I love making these Magic 28 socks! The red ones are knit with Lamb's Pride worsted, the purple (Paton's Classic) with a bit of ho'made hand-painted, Naturespun which by itself is really quite awful looking but it works just fine used in this manner...slip stitching going on.


Remember the sock-felted clog trade off with Dana? Back last Fall when our Blessed Harlot was so busy knitting all those 'step out/up' (?) socks for the Knitty Gritty (which damn, I missed it) and because sometimes if I have the time I read through the comments and there's this comment from some lady named Dana...says she CANNOT understand what the big deal is about knitting socks..etc... and really, this tickled me no end and I left the comment that perhaps someone should knit Dana 'a' sock and send it to her, have her begging for its mate...well evidently she went back through reading comments and saw mine...and wrote me saying that she had a good giggle about my comment...this exchange lead to the idea of trading a pair of socks for a pair of felted clogs and I jumped on it. Well....we both needed to get through the holiday knitting first...then I ordered some Lisa Souza merino for the socks, had to wait for that, it got here and I started the socks...I've got to tell you, those socks took forever and because I screwed up on the first one...AFTER I started the second one, I had to take the first one out and do it over and that yarn, that beautifully soft yarn kept whispering things to me but mainly it was telling me it wanted to be a shawl...I kid you not...heh, I told it to hush, it was getting a lacy bit for the leg and since in the end I knit 3 socks....but I did finally finish the socks and sent them off to Dana with a note explaining the socks desires..and would she kindly lay them across her shoulders every now and then...I had promised the yarn I'd ask....
Here's the socks.




Here's the felted clogs. (Why, yes...we both DO love green!)


I love these clogs. They got here....Thursday...she left them a bit on the large size just to be safe so I tossed them in the washer for more felting, took them out and they're just this side of completely dry and I've got to tell you, they are fabulous. They're thick and oh so incredibly warm! She also sent a lap quilt which is just what I've been needing for those extra chilly nights while knitting. Dana, Thank You! so very much!Oh yeah, Dana 'gets it' about the handknit sock thing now, and will soon be making her very first pair... welcome to the dark side, my dear.


I really should be going to my Mother's to work on that jungle back 40....see? (These photos show just small portions of the jungle back 40)





But it's also just full of this....

Lots of it too.






Now I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I should work on this in the winter after all this had died down, what do you think?


Happy Knitting to All and continue to make.good.time.


ps Avery did stop by the blog and read all the comments and thanks each and every one of you who wished him a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, Avery!

My son, Avery Emmett, he's 32 today.

aka...Nonnynoony...Averoony...Mr. Macaroni...'Avery' means ruler of the elves....

I spent most of my pregnancy with Avery in Portland, Oregon...I loved living there, and rainy days don't seem to bother him at all, heh. He was the smallest at birth of my three children, weighing in at 8lbs 10oz, 21 inches long, he was covered in soft red fuzz, he was very pretty in an orangutan kind of way (what with all that red downy hair), but alas, the red down fell out and replaced with platinum blonde. He had blue eyes for the longest time but in keeping with his Mom....they turned green/hazel type, and his hair has gotten much darker. (he really was a beautiful baby)

Fun things to know about Avery....

He didn't start really talking until he was 3, he was far too busy with other activities...like getting his hands on one of those short fat screwdrivers and removing the screws from door hinges...oh yeah, that was fun, fortunately he couldn't get to those top screws.
When he did start talking he had his own language. My Mother was called Granny by the grandchildren...but not Avery, he called her Lala...one day I overheard Aardron and Avery playing in their room and they were talking about their Granny/Lala, Avery was probably 6 at the time, Aardron finally stopped, looked at him and asked him point blank "Why do you call Granny 'Lala'?" Avery looked at him for a few seconds and then said "Granny?", from then on there was no more 'Lala', seriously, my Mother shed a few tears.
Halloween and spooking? nope, Avery was going to go 'smooking'.

I raised all my children on tales of Faeries and Dragons and Elves, the old folk tales, legends, and myths......one night after putting them to bed Avery called me in, it was summer and the windows were open, he pointed outside where we could see a circle of mushrooms, he claimed the Faeries and Elves were having such a great time they were keeping him awake. He was quite serious.
He had the funniest and most contagious giggle and would get tickled about the oddest little things.

Avery is bright, incredibly loveable, he's a avid reader, enjoys cooking and gardening.
He really loves his handknit socks, would like to have a whole drawer-full (who wouldn't?) nearly to the point that he's considered learning how to knit them himself.......we'll see about that.
He loves his Mama and Granny and would do anything for us.
He is a gentleman, (in a somewhat big, burly way).

Avery just recently moved to Virginia Beach, job related move, and although I miss him here, I wish him well, of course.

Tip of the iceberg, folks, just the tip of the iceberg.

Happy Birthday Avery, wishing you a fabulous day and many many more...I love you.


Happy Knitting to All and continue to make.good.time.

What a week, eh?

It feels like forever since I last posted and there's been quite a lot that's taken place in this little neck of the woods. Plenty of 'events' that have taken the time and energy in thoughts and deeds leaving very little to sit down and make post.

We, in Oklahoma, did manage to dodge the weather bullet, what with tornadoes in Texas and snow in Kansas, we managed to get quite a bit rain and chilly temps and believe me, we're quite happy with it. It did, however, negate working on the 'jungle back 40', which is a double-edged sword, you know? It's just getting wilder back there by the day. oh well.


Albert Dorland Harris.........October 8, 1922 - April 13, 2007.

My Uncle Albert, my Mom's oldest brother, just the sweetest natured guy, twinkles in his oh so very blue eyes, ornery, was/is very adept at making.good.times. Uncle Albert walking this earth is greatly missed, and I wish him well on his continuing journey with great love and affection. There's this little story about Albert and my Mom, he's (I have a hard time with 'past-tense',ok?) 10 years older and there were 6 kids in that family, they tended to take care and look out for each other, (my Grandmother being a great mother, had her hands really full with taking care of her family, the cooking and cleaning, but also feeding the farm workers)(it would help you enormously in reading this if you're ADD) ok, back to the little story...one of the things he did was roll my Mom's hair in rags every night, then take them out and comb her curls in the mornings.... and seriously, can you imagine? I love that little story, it speaks volumes to me.

He would never tell people what his middle name was, in fact he'd lie about it, tell them some other name starting with a 'D'....this tickles me.

I love Norma's Cupcake hat, I've been knitting some up for the Dulaan box. I love this hat so much... it even looks good on me, it's a miracle. I'll be making myself one at some point before next winter. She has a pdf for the Cupcake recipe in her sidebar.

See?


That other hat, lined with micro-fleece, is a slip-stitch that I was really just playing around with, the patterning didn't come out perfect but I still love it. I'm quite certain it will help keep someone warmer in Mongolia.


That sock? Not a Magic 28, (yes, go check out the link) rather a Magic 32 and here on Gracie (she's a good sized 4 year old) just a tiny bit long in the toe, a very tiny bit. I need to finish its mate soon. (these socks are destined for the Dulaan box)





I do have one sock finished that's a Magic 28 and hope to finish its mate today.



Now, feast your eyes.





Shetland Shawl design by Evelyn Clark, knit with Sundara Silky Aran DK, colour is Burgundy over Terra Cotta.

This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful hand-knit gift I have ever received, in fact, it's the most beautiful hand-knit I have. It's beyond beautiful. It's so soft and lovely, and it feels so wonderful to have draped across the shoulders, I nearly shed tears for mercy (actually, I did get just a little weepy).


and see this?





I can't take a decent photo of this, I need to ask FSF Jo how she does it, her photos of her hand-spun are incredible.


These two items came to me on Saturday, just when a warm hug was needed most.....from Gretchen. yep. Gretchen knit this shawl for me (I'm thinking that she's thinking this is the only way I'll get a hand-knit shawl)(she could be right on this one) AND she spun this yarn...I love this yarn, it's so very soft and the colours...sigh....soft sunshine yellow with soft spring grass green and blues, those blues you see in the morning glory flowers...the blues of a flax flower, the blues of the chicory flower, and the borage flowers....heavenly blues.

Approximately 200yds Merino superwash, fibre from Spunky Eclectic, "Dandy Lion", tried finding a dandelion in the yarn, this was the only one I could find, huh? what gives? looks like the last bunch have already gone to seed and this one hasn't opened up very much...

Gretchen, THANK YOU so very much, you already know how much these mean to me and how touched I am. Your hand-work is amazing and so very inspiring!

That's it for today, I should be back tomorrow... another family birthday tribute...yep.



Happy Knitting to All and continue to make.good.time.

Dork-head

Alright....I. am. a. dork-head. Tuesday...not "full of woe" (that's Wednesday's)...Tuesday..."full of grace". How nice. For some crazy reason I really thought "full of woe".

Read on...yes it's long, but there's actual blogging material down there.

Full of Woe?........

"Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath Day, Is bonny and blithe and good and gay."

A friend of mine emailed me this birthday calculator link about a month ago, I had a bit of fun with it, checking family birthdays.....and wouldn't you know it...born on a Tuesday...full of woe.

I have to admit, I've never even heard of a "life path' number...oh yeah, and Bobby's LP#? 6.

That 'could' explain a few things...but seriously, if we're not exactly 'compatible' we do usually get along just fine together, there's a very high degree of comfort and acceptance, plus there's that 'other' thing going...we've known each other forever and that's pretty much how it feels. We've got each others back.

Here's what it had to say about my birthday...


12 January 1954Your date of conception was on or about 21 April 1953 which was a Tuesday.
You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Capricorn.
Your Life path number is 5.
Life Path Compatibility:You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 9.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 8.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 6, 11 & 22.
The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2434754.5.
The golden number for 1954 is 17.
The epact number for 1954 is 25.
The year 1954 was not a leap year.
Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/14/1953 and ending 2/2/1954.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Snake.
Your Native American Zodiac sign is Goose; your plant is Bramble.
You were born in the Egyptian month of Famenoth, the third month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).
Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 8 Shevat 5714. (this would be mine)Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 9 Shevat 5714.
The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.0.3.10 which is12 baktun 17 katun 0 tun 3 uinal 10 kin
The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Tuesday, 7 Jumadiyu'l-Avval 1373 (1373-5-7).
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 18 April 1954.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 25 April 1954.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 3 March 1954.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 6 June 1954.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 13 June 1954.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 28 September 1954.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Sunday, 18 April 1954.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 2 March 1954.
As of 4/10/2007 9:48:50 AM EDTYou are 53 years old.
You are 639 months old.
You are 2,778 weeks old.
You are 19,446 days old.
You are 466,713 hours old.
You are 28,002,828 minutes old.
You are 1,680,169,730 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:Andy Lawrence (1988) Melanie Jayne Chisholm (1974) Rob Zombie (1966) Jeff Bezos (1964) Kirstie Alley (1955) Howard Stern (1954) Rush Limbaugh (1951) Joe Frazier (1944) Glenn Yarborough (1930) Ray Price (1926) Luise Rainer (1910) Tex Ritter (1905) Jack London (1876) Charles Perrault (1628)

Top songs of 1954Sh-Boom by Crew-Cuts Little Things Mean a Lot by Kitty Kallen Oh! My Papa by Eddie Fisher Wanted by Perry Como Mr. Sandman by Chordettes Make Love to Me by Jo Stafford Hey There by Rosemary Clooney Secret Love by Doris Day This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney I Need You Now by Eddie Fisher

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 7.61095890410959 years old. (You old hound dog, you!)

There are 277 days till your next birthdayon which your cake will have 54 candles.
Those 54 candles produce 54 BTUs,or 13,608 calories of heat (that's only 13.6080 food Calories!) .You can boil 6.17 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1954 there were approximately 3.6 million births in the US.
In 1954 the US population was approximately 150,697,361 people, 50.7 persons per square mile.
In 1954 in the US there were approximately 1,667,231 marriages (11.1%) and 385,144 divorces (2.6%)
In 1954 in the US there were approximately 1,452,000 deaths (9.6 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1954 the population of Australia was approximately 9,089,936.
In 1954 there were approximately 202,256 births in Australia.
In 1954 in Australia there were approximately 71,229 marriages and 6,457 divorces
.In 1954 in Australia there were approximately 81,805 deaths.

Your birthstone is Garnet
The Mystical properties of Garnet
Garnet is used as a power stoneSome lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Emerald, Rose Quartz

Your birth tree is
Elm Tree, the noble-mindedness
Pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.

There are 259 days till Christmas 2007!
There are 272 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was in its first quarter.
Anyone care to have a bit of fun with this?

Try it...Birthday Calculator


Knitnight at the library Tuesday night was great, we had a full house...except Fannie Pie...she's out of town and we always miss her when she's not there. I forgot to take my camera, it would've been a great night to catch everyone. No kidding, it was one of the very best, it's a great group.


Wednesday I finally got to my Mom's house, I was thinking I could weed-eat that 'back 40', mercy, again I should've taken the camera, but since I'll be going back soon...Friday maybe...I'll try and remember to take it so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. In 1997 I took over the yard work at my Mom's, the back 40 has always been a bit wild but at that point you could still get back there and make sense of it, seriously, it was beautiful. I kept at it until around 2003 at which time the job I had was taking up more time and energy than I barely had, and although I kept up with the regular part of the yard...the back 40 got wilder and wilder until it completely overwhelmed me. I got there a bit after 10am and had to stop at 2:45 in that what I was doing consisted mostly of hauling huge to humongous tree limbs and putting them in a pile then mowing an area...which revealed the branches hiding out in the weeds. more hauling. more mowing. more hauling...you get the picture. My body started protesting. What I find so strange...and not necessarily to my liking is the fact that just 3 years ago I would've kept on going. I would've stuck it out for a good 8 hours. Sure, I would've felt hammered the next day, a bit, but then ready to have another go at it. Not so much now. I'm learning to pace myself, I'm not in my 40s...hell, 3 years ago I was 50, so no, I'm not 50 anymore. I'm finding there's a limit to what I 'should' do. I could've stayed out there for 8 hours but I'm thinking it would've taken several days to recover, this way I'll be ready to go back on Friday for a few more hours. Eventually....it'll get cleaned up.


I finished the knitting on my first Dulaan hat, I just kind of winged it with the design, a bit of slipped stitchedness going on...to be lined with some fleece, a little tutorial on that over at Norma's, check her sidebar for it. Norma is an amazing woman, some kind of knitting fiend, fast knitter...she's all the time cracking me up too. I've started another hat, Norma's design...the Dulaan Cupcake Hat, it's in the sidebar also...I'm using some bulky Lopi with a strand of vintage chocolate brown mohair...so does that make it a 'marble cupcake'? I'll have photos soon.


Happy Knitting to All, and continue to make.good.time.

PS...the news this evening...the weather? rain on Friday...and for Saturday? rain and slight chance of SNOW!!!!! Granted it won't be much if it even happens....wacky.

True Confessions.......

Argh. I wrote this whole post out in my compose... which is what I do...then copy and paste into my blog, then add photos and play with placement...but somehow I pulled a 'dork-head' when I was copying, and lost half of it, tried to retrieve.... let's just all hang our heads and shake them slowly...well, you don't have to but that's what I'm doing.

It's been a whole week since I've last posted, it's been very busy in our little neck of woods. What with the yard work....entertaining a friend from Mass., more yard work, Gracie days, it goes on and on.

The confession? I have never, ever knit a blankie square, ever. I made these for Julie's Comfort Blanket for her friend Betty. Since they're the first ones I've ever made...I decided to make two and hopefully at least one and at best both will pass 'muster' and make it into the blanket.

This one is knit with Classic Elite Beatrice. I found the ball in the discount bin and loved the colours. Brings to my mind woodland violets. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this yarn in this colourway, it's impossibly soft and lovely to knit with. I would love to have a cardi's worth of it in my stash, but sadly I don't. I may have to check around and see if I can find some.



This one is knit with Ultra Alpaca so we know how soft it is. No, it's NOT a 'warshrag' but I do love that pattern and I think it makes a lovely square,eh?


They've both been bathed and blocked and will get to the post this morning. I'd also like to thank the good people who responded to my last post and joined in on the project.. Amy (here in Tulsa), Dana and Dianne (Virginia), Charity (Canada), Marianne (UK) and Jason (California). Big Thank You! and Thank You, Julie, for giving me this opportunity to spread the love in a knitterly fashion. (if I've missed anyone, please sing out in the comments)

I did finish Mom's socks,

and YES, they are a bit big on my feet, her feet are a bit larger than mine but they fit her perfectly and she's beyond happy with them. These are knit with Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream, colour is Seashell. It's a very nice and substantial fingering weight, and very much a dream to knit with but.....after I bathed them and lay them out to dry...upon drying? mercy, this yarn is divine...again with the incredible softness, and it's silky soft. I will keep my eye out for more of this I'm thinking perhaps I should have a pair of socks made with it. I got it in the great yarn trade out with the wonderful anniversary gift from Bobby.

After I finished mowing and trimming our yard on Monday the maple trees decided to take that opportunity to throw down a couple million seeds (I do love those helicopters!) Here's what it looked like.


It HAD been solid green for all of 5, maybe 10 minutes.

Wednesday was spent at my Mom's, cleaning, raking, mowing, repeat 10 times....we're talking nearly 6 hours of decent hard work. There's more to do, the lot in back which we all refer to as the 'north 40' needs some serious weed wacking, Aardron has offered to help out, possibly this afternoon depending on how his day goes.

Bleeding Heart in the back yard. I dearly love these plants.

My favourite little old fella,

he's been with me for a long time, and hey, he's got quite a few divots on his forehead, and I really do try and keep him in the shade...... I've watched the squirrels play with him, do little dances on his head, I kid you not, and I never have a camera in hand when any of that is going on.

I can't remember what else I may have written about so until next time....

Happy Knitting to all and continue to make.good.time.

A bit of spare time, anyone?

Does anyone out there have a bit of spare time, and a bit of yarn to contribute to a good cause? Really, just an 8" square, worsted weight (the only real requirements are the 8" square, worsted weight and soft yarn).

If so, please, go here....and read. Think about it. Then perhaps you'd care to join us? Just give Julie the heads up in her comments, she'll take it from there.

Thank you to all who feel moved to help out.

We've been busy here, and now that the rains have passed for a few days.....I have lots of yard work to keep me busy this week. Our yard and my Mom's...hers is huge...with leaves...and very high grass....

I'll get back here ASAP.


Happy Knitting to all, and continue to make.good.time.