Emotional Rollercoaster

Today ended a very emotional week. 

I lost my Dad a little over 4 years ago. To make a long story short, he didn't take very good care of himself, and sadly, it ended up killing him. 

I drove the 97 miles to Poplar Hill Cemetery to pick up the pot of flowers at his grave marker this afternoon. I sat, talked to him a little, prayed with God a little, and knit a little. 

For a very short time, I was at peace. 

With myself, and with the world. 

There was no one else there, no one to interfere with my Serenity. 

This is never an easy trip for me emotionally. Memories, good and bad, flood in like mosquitos at dusk, biting and nipping at all my soft bits.

 

I miss my Dad like crazy. He was not a perfect man, and not the perfect father, but HE loved ME and I loved HIM. Sometimes that all that matters. My parents were very different people. My Dad understood me. He knew how to talk to me, and was never afraid to show me that he adored me. I LOVE that about my Dad. Some thought him soft, or weak, but I don't give a shit about that. My Dad knew how smart I was, and trusted I would make the best decisions for myself. My Dad was the one to say, 

"Missy, you just need to do what your heart tells you."

Today, my heart said "Be alone. Find some Peace."

Well I did. ThankYouVeryMuch.

Now, on the needles!

I started this Bubble Cowl with the gradient I dyed for my Knitting Buddy's Christmas Gift. Like I can keep a secret from HER. I might as well just post it.

 While in Madison in March I bough a skein of cashmere yarn to make this pair of Susie's Reading Mitts.

Notice the dreaded aluminum needles. I hate them, but could not get my hands on any US4 DPNs in bamboo without driving about 60 miles. Grrr....

 These are the most awesome socks I've made in a very long time, simply because I love the colors. BigC picked out the Kool Aid 'flavors' (Strawberry, Peach Mango, Pink Lemonade & Orange), and I dyed the yarn. I named it Bahama Mama.

 These Bold Beauties are SO appropriate for her!

We at the Casa are all looking forward to a quick week to pass. We have company coming Friday to join us on our annual trip to The Fair! Hurry Friday!

Later!

M

 

Captain Claire

When she was five, I was a goddess. She wanted to wear my lipstick, high heeled shoes, and my perfume.

A few years ago I became the most ignorant, out of touch, creature she has ever met. We communicate by shouting, crying, hugging, laughing, talking, growling, and sometimes swearing at each other. Every day our relationship is something different. Sometimes fun, playful and loving, other times, angry, loud, and distant.

Hopefully someday soon, perhaps in between her twenties & thirties, she will realize I'm pretty freakin' smart, and that sometimes grown ups make mistakes too. Babies don't come home from the hospital with directions on "how to...".

For now I love her even though every time I say something she bites my head off and stomps away. I adore her from afar because snuggling with your Mom when your 17 is really not so cool. I praise her behind her back because my Mom-Friends understand where our relationship is "at".

This is my daughter, Claire. It was announced at the Senior Volleyball BBQ last night that she is a Captain this season. She seemed rather nonchalant about it, but I could not be more proud. She is my most greatest female accomplishment, and I love her to pieces.

More knitting updates coming Sunday!

Later!

M

Olympic Progress

Our weekend started relatively slow, and with a quick change in the weather, turned into a frenzied DIY project spotted with a small batch of dyeing and some knitting on the side.

I added all my recent dye projects to my stash on Ravelry. 

Link is to the right >>> 

Details are here! 

I miss my DP (dyeing partner) like crazy, so out of the 15 blank skeins I have in inventory, I only dyed four. As I am the Bean Counter and not the Chemist of this pair, I surfed the learning curve all on my own.

First: Our yarn creations are starting to sell! Yay Me & D!

 I dyed this second skein of Jester's Hat for D's friend in LA.  

 In a stroke of genius (or perhaps and actual stroke because of my poor decision making) I dyed this green/brown/orange skein for a pair of TreeBeard socks D wants to make. She absolutely loves it, but I dyed it on the wrong base yarn. Hard to knit a pair of detailed, leafy socks with only 245 yards of sport weight yarn. Duh. So, this one will either be sold ASIS or will be overdyed at a later date.

 This skein of Bearded Iris is also a sport weight wool. 

And finally, my attempt at a gradient. I took another 100g skein of sport weight wool and wound it off into 5, 20g. sections. I filled the crock pot with 12 C water, 1 C vinegar, and Wilton's Blue and Green Frosting tints. After a sequence (or 5) of dunking, removing, adding more dye solution, (lather, rinse, repeat) I found myself with a gorgeous skein of yarn that looked nothing like I had intended it. 

After lots of rinsing.

 

It is something I don't think I will ever be able to duplicate, but I love it, love it, love it!

So the DIY project of the weekend is a major repair to our lawn sprinkler system. Last summer a sewer and water project along one side of our corner lot left us with an entire zone of sprinkler lines buried, never to be found again. There was a miscommunication with the subcontractor and we came home from work one night late in the project to find all the sprinkler lines in our side yard buried, the dirt rolled & compacted, and the curb poured. This weekend was about digging a 75-80 foot trench, laying new water line, and installing new heads. V & LittleC were able to accomplish this and save us well over $1000. For the mere cost of $16 in parts and a couple of pizzas for labor, we will have our cushy lawn back for BigC's graduation party next June. 

Here is a picture mid-project from this morning. I have been summoned outside to help fill the trench and call in the pizza order!

 
Later!
M

We've had a busy but amazingly fun weekend. My cousin P, his wife Desiree and their son N visited for the weekend.

V and N spent a lot of time together. This was documentation of the use of a purple back rubbing thing-y and a wrestling match with Mr. Tough Guy.

Dee and I have turned out to be great friends AND she is my uber favorite knitting buddy. While the boys golfed, BigC took N to the zoo, D and I dyed 10 skeins of yarn.

Three crock pot dyed with Kool Aid.

  Re-skeining for self striping socks.

Three crock pot method, 1 salsa bowl method, three ice cube method (2 were over-dyed).

 Self striping: black, teal, violet, yellow & white.

Self Striping: violet, yellow, teal, rose.

We had cake to celebrate D's Birthday.

And had some serious snuggle time with the NoNo Bear.

They are leaving tomorrow morning and my heart aches already.

Happy Knitting!

Melissa

Wow. Back from a week away and we dive head first back into the Mach 2 speed of our lives. Sheesh!

We are relaxing at home today, recovering from a huge family wedding yesterday. Congrats and much love to K & D!

A couple of moments documented over the course of the week:

This snappy dude walked right down the sidewalk late Saturday afternoon. He stopped long enough for some pix, looked right at me as i lipped off to him, then made a quick exit into the lake.

We had our first of two fish fries on Sunday night. Mmmm...

 The first of two completed projects on Tuesday. A Summer Flies shawl out of my own crock pot dyed colorway which I call Painters Pants. I will post blocked photos soon. I need to order some blocking wires.

 Always a comfort to knit by the lake in your own hand knit socks! These are South Fork Socks I made with a Madelinetosh 1-ply.

A little light reading was also on my to-do list.

 Also on LittleC's....

 We monitored daily a pile of millings we think was being accumulated by carpenter ants in the walls of the cabin.

Sometimes fishing is a lot of work and naps happen in the most unusual of positions. Even while wearing rain gear with a Turtle Race hat on your belly.

I finished a second project that I cannot post as it is a gift for a special someone.

New on my the needles are a Little Shells shawl in another hand dyed colorway called Cotton Candy, and an Azzu's Shawl in Grape Popcicle. More pics to come!

Our third day on vacation. I now come to realize I forgot the card reader I need in order to post photos from our vacation. So those of you waiting with baited breath will have to wait until Saturday/Sunday for them to appear.

Our days are filled with fishing, chatting by the fire, swimming, etc. My little extras are reading, knitting, and blogging. (Well, blogging without photos.)  I have completed my version of Holly & Ella's Summer Flies, and finished a book, Sheepish, by Catherine Friende.

I found both to be quite satisfying. The book was hilarious, and the shawl a happy, quick knit. I recommend the both!


I will leave you with some pics from last year's trip.

Later! M.

 No matter how tired he is, V must fish the instant we are settled into the cabin. The day I too this pic, the heat index was hovering around 105, and the deer flies were ravenous.

 A few days later this unhappy creature thought it was a good idea to hang out by the resort's swim dock. Mr. Snappy was promptly "relocated".

 Sometimes a growing young man just needs a nap. The bottle on the forehead trick was just a bonus.

T just about peed his pants when this dragon fly landed in his hands. He made replica fly fishing lures with my pictures and has fished with them several days already this week.

We are packing up for a week with friends in Northern MN. I am feeling melancholy this morning because once again BigC will not be going with us. She loves to fish, hang out, sit by the fire, and just BE. That's our favorite part of vacation. She will, for the fourth year in a row be with her volleyball team mates at camp. We will miss her, but hoping she will show her colors at camp. She is turning out to be quite a leader of this gaggle of teenage girls, and we are so very proud of her. Yo te amo mucho chica!