Truffles Boston Cream Pie

Last Sunday's dessert, Truffles Boston Cream Pie

The picture is sadly lacking... cellphone quickie~

 We got the Chocolate Truffles in a Christmas Care package my Sis sent us, they were so decadent! When  it came time to gather up all my ingredients for the Boston Cream Pie, I discovered I forgot the one main ingredient: chocolate chip morsels!!!

 DH suggested I use the Chocolate Truffles, perfecto! The recipe called for 1 ounce chocolate morsels, so I guestimated and added 4, then one more, and finally 6 Chocolate Truffles to the pot, tasting as I added, until the mixture tasted just right.

DH saved the day!

Another Hippy Hat Naming Poll

Boy, talk about messed up day. Last night, I went up to bed at 8:30pm-UN-heard of! I had had enough for one day, felling grumpy and getting snarkier by the minute. I just wanted to get into bed and knit. So, that’s exactly what I did~ turned on the boob toob and watched some TV, got nearly 2/3rds done with the hat! Posting updated project now.

I was sitting in bed and it occurred to me, (call it TBS, Tired Brain Syndrome) that the April Girl's hat I’m working on now, looks like it has flecks of bread crumbs in it. The yarn is Red Heart Black Fleck colorway. SO, I think I’m going to take a poll on this hat’s naming, like I did the last one.


I’m mulling over some ideas like:

• Food Fight Hat
• Chimney Sweep
• Meteorical Shower Cap
• Dome-O'rigato
• Space Rock
• Starry Night Cap (submitted by Jamie)
• Heavenly Fireworks (contributed by KnitsforPreemies)

.......ok, I still have rocks on the brain, what can I say...work with me, babe!


Teh Birthday girl is 16, so think along those lines, and tell me what you think when you see this:

Commence the Comments, suggestions welcome, if you have other names you'd like to toss in the ring!

Nats, modeling the 3rd April Birthday Girl's hat, for those needing inspiration~

Send me your Tired, Worn-out Feet or How to Make Ho Chi Minh Sandals

This is a quick followup on yesterday's Tire Episode.

Our neighbor was over today, and he was telling us about how the Viet Cong would recycle old jeep tires by making sandals out of the tread. They called them "Ho Chi Minh" sandals.

I looked them up on Yahoo search and lo-and-behold, there is a thriving market for these!

A fellow blogger even posted a blurb on how to make them

how to make ho chi minh sandals - Yahoo! Search Results

Nat went back and got her blown tire from Pete's, in case the Rock company wanted proof. They called me today and requested a receipt for the tires, which I gladly emailed to them. We're in hopes they will reimburse us for the one, we'll see.


Here's the Evil Rock of Doom~you can't tell from the picture, but the dimensions are roughly 18"L x 14" W x 10" H and weighted approximately 60 lbs.

I'll post a pic of The Tire later

Bumps in the Road...

Boy, what a day!

Nats had to go in at 7am for a store meeting, lasted an hour. On the way home, a dumptruck deposited a HUGE rock in the middle of the road-and yep, you guessed it-BAM! instant FLAT. It was on a busy highway, no time to swerve and miss it without taking life into one's own hands...so she called, upset-my first thought was OGOD what happened!!!

We hurried up and got over to where she was, arrived 15-20 minutes later-a local police officer had spotted her and had stopped to assist. She said one truck driver saw it happen and stopped to see if she needed help. He even asked if she had a spare, but she didn't know about her donut under the trunk panel and told him , "no?" DOH! So anyway, the officer is there when we arrived, and Nats is shaking like a leaf, nerves shot.

After taking down Nats' information, the officer followed us to gas station 100 yards away,  so we could get safely off the highway and not get killed by passing motorists. Then Harry, the gas station owner, saw us and came running out to help Mike remove the flat and put on the donut...what a guy!

Thankfully, Pete's Tires is another 1/8th mile down the road so Mike and Nats followed me as I hobbled her car over to the Tire place. She was needing new tires this spring anyway, so we had them replace both fronts, they said the 2 backs were still in great shape-no sense hitting her for more bucks at this point...

After installing both tires, they test-dragged her car around the shop a couple times and found out one of the struts didn't have a strut mount in place, bumpitybumpitybumpbumpbump when it hit a bump...no biggie, they said they can fix it later for $189. It's not a major part, just an annoyance and Nats said she actually got used to it, chalked it up as an Older Car thing~

Later when we got home, I got on the phone and called the company.  I got routed to the person in charge, left a very polite if not slightly urgent message on his Voice Mail stating that I was going to be needing to speak with him regarding a "road incident with a dump truck, a rock and a cop..."and would he please return my call as soon as possible.

Then I had Nats go back and get the tire back from Pete's, and she also got a picture of the rock while she was out. The thing must have weighted 60 lbs, the truck driver who stopped had moved it off to the side of the road so nobody else would hit it. Coincidentally, he was hauling a load of rock identical to the one found in the road. He wasn't the driver of the truck in question, but as we were fixing her tire, we watched a similar truck pass the gas station heading north to the Rock company where they dump their loads for grinding. They have been traveling up and down the highway for days, we'll never know which truck lost it's rocks, but we can only surmise it was from the same company. That huge rock didn't fall from the sky....

The front passenger tire was shredded and the hub cap was broken in two. I called the local Junk yard and they might have 4 Cavalier wheel covers that she can use. We're waiting to hear back.

Oyes, I will be contacting the Rock company again tomorrow. I have a shredded tire and pictures.

Despite it all, Nats still loves her cute little zoom car! It's worth it.

Tricoteuse Knits : Ina Goda Da Yarna Hippy Hat

Heydee ho!

Just a quick note-DH informs me since we're done with work, we're shutting down a bit early-he's going to put on some pasta water and then jump in the shower-then cook some pasta and zucchini with a little garlic, and we're going to watch a movie-what a  treat!


Sunday I finished the 3rd of 4 April Birthday Hippy Hats. Natalie models this one:

 

I call this one "Ina Goda Da Yarna"

I started the last April Birthday hat for my oldest granddaughter, Heaven and got it posted in WIP's:

I got the most adorable Scrabble tile pendant from JL Yarnworks the other day! She included a free stitch marker, what a nice surprise :D

This Scrabble Tile Pendant depicts "Tricoteuse" painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1879). I believe Tricoteuse is French for "Knitter"

Gonna work on Hippy Hat while DH showers. I'll update my blog tomorrow and play catch up then~ have a great evening!

Sandra

Hunter and His Gi-Gi's

My DIL posted a picture of my Grandson Hunter with ALL of his Gi-Gi's and I was surprised and delighted to see one my mother made for his daddy too!

This is an excerpt of her post:
Grandma AND Great Grandma Gi-Gi's. The beautiful one covering Hunter was made by Richards mom Sandra and the yellow, green and orange one on the back of the couch was made by Richards Grandma Ranelli. You cant see it in the picture but under the blanket is the other one Grandma Sandra made. He loves them all!!

My mother made each one of her Grandchildren a Ripple Afghan. For that matter, she made every person who knew her, a Ripple Afghan.
When I cleaned out her Sewing Room, I found a trunk full of afghans she had made, and I treasure each and every one of them. She even got me started making them back then. One year, I believe it was 1977, I took orders from various people, and made 4 afghans at $25 each plus materials before Christmas.
That was my first taste of what it would be like to be my own boss, and I spent the next 20 years working to make that dream a reality! I made more than a dozen in the following years, while raising 2 children between 1975-88 and gifted them all. I remember going to Kmart, back when they had a craft section, and I'd buy 12 skeins of coordinating yarns, mostly Sayelle.
I had two more children from 1988-91 and lost interest in ripples for a time.

One day a next-door neighbor invited me over to sit and visit. While I was there, I noticed a beautiful multi-colored Rose Afghan laid out over the back of her couch. I commented on how lovely it was, the many colored flowers against an off-white border. She surprised me a couple days later by gifting the afghan to me. I was so shocked and happy, I couldn't contain myself. I wanted to make another, but I didn't have a pattern at the time. I got some yarn and sat down to begin counting stitches in a single square, and started making a new one. It wasn't long before I had a whole  new complete blanket put together. I wish I could remember who I gave that one too~
What a wonderful thing, the Internet-I have located the vintage pattern and have saved a copy.

After my divorce, I lost track of that afghan, but I do have another one started and will eventually have to finish it. Maybe soon, I'll pick it back up and get busy. 

Ugh, the scanner does this one no justice-the colors are not at all as drap as it appears...I'll have to wait for a sunny day and get a better pick of the entire works, to-date.

I'll have to think about who will be the owner of this one.

For now, I have a couple knitted projects to complete-I'm on the final rows of Hannah's Ina Goda Da Yarna Hat~my personal tribute to Iron Butterfly~

G'night, Lizzy B~

Hunter Got his Gi-Gi!

I have been crazy busy lately-it is nice to have projects to focus on.

With 2 birthdays in Dec.-1 in Jan, 2 in Feb, 4 in April (not including my own), it seems I will be hopping from about mid-summer to end of April, so we may say, Year-round? LOL!! That’s Ok, I like being busy and doing things for the kids, and grandkids-one can only knit like a selfish pirate only so long, and must spread the wealth.

Hunters Blankie arrived today. His mommy says he calls it his Grandma's Gi-Gi…whatever that is, it's cute! LOL!



I’m off to finish a third hat for one of the April Girls, then making a 4th one afterward. It seems I have more time now, wonder what I’ll do when I’m done with the last one?

START ALL OVER AGAIN with a new list!! YAY!

Baby Turtleback is Done!

Quick Monday update:

I finished Rhonda’s Baby Turtleback last night: (note Mom's Franciscan Apple pattern 3-tier condiments server in background)

Rhonda's Baby Turtleback

Since I don’t have a working model, I have to guess-timate it will fit, based on this picture:

Baby Turtleback

I will post pictures as soon as Mommy sends me some ♥♥♥

I’m getting ready to finish Mary Jane’s Hat #3 and then one more until I am done with April birthdays!!!

Update on neighbor: J. is holding his own, on pain drips, drainage tubes for lungs, and neck in brace. Wings of vertebrae were damaged, but no known nerve damage as of yet. He'll be in hospital for another 2 weeks, at least.

Back to work, blog you later~

Vancouver Olympics 2010 | Tragedy over Triumph

Nodar Kumaritashvili , a Georgian luger, has suffered what sounds like one of the most horrible accidents imaginable just hours before the official start of the Olympics. According to the Associated Press, Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, went over a wall, and slammed into a metal pole. » Full Story on sports.yahoo.com

We watched in awe at the spectacle that was the Vancouver Opening Ceremonies. The show was awesome, digital technology at it's finest. It was a beautiful celebration of the pride of Vancouver and all of Canada. We were captured by the displays; I can only imagine the high that each participant felt at just being there, in the glory of the moment; what a feeling that must have been!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight we got a phone call from one of our neighbors, learning of a near tragic accident that took place in our neck'o the woods last night at approximately 2:00am. I was up and down having a restless night, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Apparently one of our own, the drummer for Carry Nation Band was out on a snowmobile with a group for an evening of snowmobiling around the local area. They had stopped at the Blue Overall for a bit of warming-up and snacks, before heading back out again. As everyone left, Jim headed toward home-just across the highway and through the woods, past Wandawega, and he's there, right? not last night....

Somewhere in the darkness, his sled hit (something)a bump in the trail, causing the sudden impact to catapult him over the top of his sled and into a tree. After laying there for 30 minutes or more, he was able to call out for help on his cellphone, and after several failed attempts, was able to reach a neighbor down the street. He said he was in trouble, had wrecked and wasn't doing so well. By the time the neighbors got to the scene, other snowmobilers had arrived and were in rescue mode, covering him to prevent shock. His boots were knocked off his feet during the impact, so they put his boots back on in an attempt to protect his already frozen feet from the cold.

Two people from the rescue party brought him back home on a sled, but by the time they got back, it was evident that he was in worse shape than they first believed, so an ambulance was called for. He was later taken by Lifeline helicopter to Froedert Hospital Milwaukee, where he was placed in CCU. He was conscious and heard to say, "just stupid".

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jim and his family during the days and weeks ahead, and for his swift recovery. We're there for you, dude.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes, and other interesing baking blogs~

I have fond memories of 1963 and Germany, when my dad was stationed in Stuttgart. Mom and I lived on base in some apartments.

Mom and Dad wedding photo, circa 1944



Wisconsin winters remind me of Christmas in Germany. Lot's of snow, and pines that tower above the buildings where we lived for 18 months. On winter days, we kids would build snowmen on the hoods of the tenants' cars parked in the parking lot out front.

In summer Dad would take me walking through the Black Forest which butted up to the apartments, and we'd go on "squirrel hunts". I remember he and I would hunker down (I was tiny at 4) behind a fallen log, and he'd tell me to be very quiet and a squirrel would come out. It wasn't long before we spotted one, most likely checking out the two silly Humans wandering in his neck'o the woods.

Dad  would take me to a Beer Garten somewhere at the end of our walk-we'd cross over a foot bridge that spanned a little pond and creek. I'd watch the swans and geese that inhabited the pond.

On Halloween, us kids would dress up warm and make ready to go Trick-or-Treating in the complex. Mom made me eat a bowl of chili for dinner first, which I wasn't too fond of. She wanted me full so I would be too full to eat candy when I got back.

That Christmas, Santa came through our apartment complex, sitting on the back of a Cadillac convertible. He waved at the kids in the parking lot, and I think he saw me from our upstairs window as I waved at him passing by. I was with a babysitter that day-I don't know where Mom was, but I was in the middle of nap-time when the Babysitter got me up to come to the window to see Santa as he passed by.

On Christmas Eve, it was customary for the children to put a shoe outside their bedroom door. It was our hope that if we were good little boys and girls, Santa would leave us candy in our shoe (ewwwwwwe) and if we were bad, he would leave sticks. I was so happy to find candy in the morning, I was a Good Girl!

I was visiting a blog this evening, and in my search for a reference to Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes, I ran across a recipe for Brotchen (little breads). They are little crusty rolls, which we ate for breakfast, with real churned butter and jelly.
I ended up bouncing from post to post, reeling from my new discovery-recipes for Artisan Crusty bread abound! You absolutely MUST check the brotchen blog at at Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. If you are into real crusty bread like I am, you'll be hooked too!

Note to self: Must find Danish Dough Whisk.

Thanks, Virginia for starting me on a new pathway of  Bread Baking fun and for helping me to revisit some of my fondest childhood memories once again!! :D

In Celebration of our New Ben Franklin Store!

Ina Goda da Yarna Hat

I finally got The H-Kids' box ready to go out, albeit  1week/2 weeks late, consecutively. I'm working on R's Baby Shrug, furiously. I knitted for 7 hours straight last Sunday and got 8 inches accomplished. I thought I'd get further along, not cool....garter stitch is mindless, and goes fast-what is slowing progress here??? IDK. *I Don't Know...
I got a pleasant surprise on Tuesday morning~ I was up early-6:03am, to be exact. What is up with THAT?
I putzed around the house, while watching the snow slowly begin to fall. The weather reports on TV promised a blizzard, so I resigned myself to the fact we'd be in for the  duration. No school closings for our area, no big surprise.

Finally, at 10:30 I got ready to take my shower, only to find DH already showered and dressed, telling me to get busy, we had places to go and things to do.

"Where are we going today?", I asked.
"Ben Franklin, in Delavan", he replied! WOOT!

That was the quickest shower I ever took! We headed out at 11:30 and got there ahead of the snow storm. Like a bird dog on a scent, I found their yarn section back in the corner, right away. What is this?:  3 rows of yarn, cotton and crochet thread! I didn't know where to begin, my senses were on overload.
I
had to take a deep breath and tell my self, it's not a dream, and we'll come back again  soon, and began picking what I had to have, just for this trip. I did a quick scan for all things familiar and touch/felt a few products for future reference.

First Assault - My Haul

I got a skein of Red Heart Black tweed and Red Heart Acrylic for a Mary Jane's Hat.  I then chose 2 sets of Clover bamboo #3 circulars for a pair of socks. I like bamboo needles a lot, these were a must-have.
I grabbed 2 more balls of Sugar & Cream Midnight Magic for another hat, and Navy for the brim. Finally I spied a ball of Aunt Lydia's Cotton crochet thread in Bridal Blue, for a doily down the road, and a set of Chibi darning needles, sock sizes. All totaled just under $50, a pretty good deal for the money.
I am already chomping at the bit to go back and get some Camo yarn DH saw, for my Bernat long cable vest pattern.

DH also scoped the yarns and saw some Camo in a blue color...hmmmmm..
I found Ben Franklin on Facebook and got signed up for their newsletter immediately~it was really neat seeing all the photos of the store in progress since Jan. 1, 2010.  Wish I'd been there to help with the festivities~
Now that I've got caught up with the Blog, I'm realizing my nose is C.O.L.D~ OMY the weather bar says -1 outside and the furnace is kicking on. Time to get snuggled in for the night~

TGIF, EVERYONE!
Me~

Did I Say THAT??? LOL 101

Common Internet Knitting Terms

These are terms that are used on internet knitting forums related to knitting.

CAL	Crochet-A-Long. See KAL
FO	Finished Object.
Frog, Frogging	To undo knitting to go back to correct a mistake by removing the needles and ripping the stitches out. From the sound a frog makes – ribbit ribbit sounds like rip it, rip it. See tink.
Frog pond	To remove the needles and undo knitting all the way. To recycle the wool from a half knitted project to use in a different project. eg: I’ve sent the sock that didn’t fit to the frog pond and I’m going to make a scarf from the wool.
Halfpint	Have A Lovely Fantasy Project. I’ve No Time.
KAL	Knit-A-Long. See CAL
LYS	Local Yarn Store.
OTN	On The Needles. A current knitting project.
SSS	Second Sock Syndrome. After having finished one sock it becomes dificult to go on and finish the second one to make a pair.
Tink, Tinking	To undo knitting to go back to correct a mistake stitch by stitch. Tink is knit spelt backwards. See frog.
UFO	UnFinished Object
WIP	Work In Progress

Common Internet Terms

These are terms that are used on internet knitting forums but are not related to knitting. It lets us include family and friends, without divulging personal information that can be used for phishing (see below)

dd, DD18	Dear Daughter, Dear Daughter (age)
dh	Dear Husband
ds	Dear Son
dw	Dear Wife
GIYF	Google Is Your Friend
JFGI	Just F*****g Google It
LOL	Laugh Out Loud
phishing	Pronounced “fishing”. An email that looks like it comes from a reputable company (eg a bank or ebay) that either asks you for your details (eg username and password) or directs you to a link that asks for your deatils. These emails are sent by scammers trying to discover your details. If you are unsure if the email is for real or a phishing scam go to the web page for that company by typing in the real address and checking. Most reputable companies will not ask for you to enter detials from a link in an email as these links can look legitimate but actually redirect you to somewhere else.
ROTFL	Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAO	Rolling On The Floor Laughing My *ss Off
SO	Significant Other. ie Husband, wife or partner
troll	A person who joins a group just to make trouble.

The above charts were borrowed from KnitWiki

Others include:
BFF: Best Friends Forever
DD18: Dear Daughter (insert age)
DSS: Dear Sweet Son
DDIL: Dear Daugher-In-Law
DSIL: Dear Son-In-Law
DMIL, Dear Mother-In-Law

DFIL : Dear Father-In-Law
DSIL: Dear Sis/Son-In-Law

Feel free to add to the list!

TY (Thank You)

Did I Forget to Mention?

DH and I are artists too!

We just don't toot our horn very often. We're kinda private that way. But tonight while visiting some favorite blogs, it occurred to me that I tend to primarily home in on artist's blogs.

I have spent the past 2 years blogging my memoirs, reliving childhood memories, posting knit-WIP's willy-nilly, and favoriting countless knitters' blogs like a virtual library, I completely overlooked posting the one passion that is the core of who I am.

Without further ado, I present, "Kitchen Sculpture of Non-Functional Objects d'art"

I know what you're thinking..."What, that's it?". HA! Gotchya! naaa, that's just the tip of the iceberg. {que Robot, Lost in Space: "Warning! Warning! Danger, danger, Will Robinson!!"}

I'm not very good at ta-da's so here goes.

M. had a photo he took of Red Rock Crossing, AZ, when he was on a business trip back in 1999. We got together one long winter afternoon and set the photo to colored pencil and watercolor pencil. I'm not good at rocks, or sky, so M. took over that part. He also did the water...hmmmm wait, I don't really think I contributed too much to this one. 

After M. finished this one, we set to work on a combined effort. This next picture is done in colored pencil. The dark wolf is M's and the lighter one is mine. I did a few of the blades of grass at the wolfs' feet.

Soul Mates

Regarding to the next picture~

I have always had a special connection to the Canyon de Chelley area of NM. My mother was married in Las Cruces, NM. I wasn't there (obviously) but for reasons I'll save for later, I think I was there. But that is for another blog.

I drew this picture in 2001 (?) and as I said, I'm not good with skies, so I enlisted M.'s help with the sky, which is done in watercolor pencils. The majority of the drawing  is colored pencil.

Pueblo Bonito

This one is still not in a frame.Why, because we're lazy. It's sitting on a table upstairs behind a Rain Stick, a miniature birch canoe model, and a bronze statue of a sitting chief.  We really need to frame that and the Soul Mates, but for now, Soul Mates is tucked safely away between sheets of acid-free paper, waiting their turn.

We're Godzilla fan-atics~ we love all the old Godzilla movies. M. did this one, and again, in colored pencil. It's our medium of choice, when M. isn't on his Wacom tablet.

This is a work in progress, still sitting on the drawing table, it's second winter. Since M. got his Wacom, the pencils have been collecting dust.

M. will probably end up finishing it on his Wacom. He's addicted to it, like his photography, but I can't talk; look at what I'm doing...

That's my story about us, for tonight.

Back to me knit'n~

Hippy Hats R Us

The Hippy Hat is done!

Hayley’s Hippy Hat is  completed! I really like the way this one turned out, the fit is loose and floopy, the way it should be~ I needed a head to model, and since I couldn’t nail DD19 to the floor, I obligingly  did  the photo op.

Mary Jane's Hat

Ocarp, this one matches my Rolling Stones hoodie~ that means I have to make another this color now…
OR….I see a navy blue hat in my future…

hat back view

Floopy side

I can has FloppinHats this way too!

I’ve started on the 3rd of 4 hats:

teaser

I started this one this morning, got the band done in about an hour, and went to work on the body. The name of this colorway is “Midnight Magic”.

Tossing names around:

• Midnight Yarn Art
• Ina goda da yarna
• Butterfly’s Folly

I am taking a poll so leave comments below this post.

 I will need to decide who will be crowned the winner of this one ~

Back to work, knitknitknit…

Hats and Tatts

Hayley's Wisconsin Sunsets Hat is coming along as planned, I'm right on schedule. 
I'm about 3 rows away from changing the color on top to match the band rows, then another 6 rows to BO. That's Bind-Off to those who don't know knit-lingo.
Total top-to-bottom, 10" or whatever, until I run out of ombre. The floppier, the better.

Hayley's Wisconsin Sunsets Hat, nearing completion

The name of the hat occurred to me last night when we got back from Winterfest at Lake Geneva.  While watching a gorgeous sunset over the lake,  I remarked to DH how the colors went from pinks, to purples before the sun finally dropped below the trees, to turn the sky a golden orange. But that's not important-it's her Hippy Hat and that's just fi-yi-ine~

Wisconsin sunsets are like no other, pure MAGIC~

Sunset over WI, June '03

Highlight of the evening: Nats got her Star Wars tattoo at Fink Ink. Jim did a nice job of the shading, but Nats drew the picture herself.

Nat's Tatt : Darth Maul

The whole tatt took a little under 2 hours and she had to sit in that position, leg cocked side-angle for the duration. She only kicked Jim in the chest once. He said it wasn't the first time~
There was no color enhancement, just the black and gray shading. The red is her leg freshly irritated. She didn't flinch once.

I didn't expect her to get this particular one. She used to be into dragons for a long time. But I began to suspect as much when she began talking of getting one a few months back.  After her bills were all paid up,  she was on a mission,  got her sketch book out and got busy.

How do I feel about my Baby Girl permanently marking her body? What can I say…she’s 19, who am I to judge? Like mother, like daughter.

That said, I better get busy myself. I have a hat to complete~

Winterfest 2010 in Wisconsin

Lake Geneva, WI is where it’s happening right now!

They’re bringing snow in for the annual Winterfest Snow Sculpture and we were there to see them kick off the event! Teams are already in place and beginning to map out their grids.

snow carving at Lake Geneva, WI 2010

Chunks of packed snow are marked “reserved” in black spray paint. Some have a flag stuck in their tops, like a star on top of an undecorated Christmas tree. You can feel the excitement in the air. And the chill.  At a bit above 10°F, the wind off the lake was tolerable.

We had dinner with the neighbors at Popeye’s on Lake Geneva, with a window seat to watch the festivities. The food was excellent, I had a couple chocolate martinis,  just the ticket after a hectic holiday season. We got there just as the sun was setting, and the sky turned a brilliant lavender pink over the trees.  Lake Geneva is truly a wonderland, and it captures your heart.
All is good in one small part of the world tonight.

We came back to a very warm welcome from our buddy, Igor.  We settled in for a quiet evening of reflection, and promised to do it again soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I started another Mary Jane’s Hat for Hayley-her birthday is fast-approaching, and I hope to get it done by tomorrow night so I can get the Hunter/Hayley Birthday Box in the mail by Monday.

Hayley's Wisconsin Sunsets Hat

This one promises to be more colorful than the first and now that I have the pattern memorized, it is going a lot faster. It should look great against her red hair~I’ll have to bug her mom for a model shot

Gotta get to me knitt’n,  we have a deadline here, people~

New Knit Project : Baby Turtleback

Baby Turtleback

Baby Turtleback

Technique – Knitting

This e-pattern was originally published in Easy Turtleback Jackets.
Size: Includes newborn through 24 months. Made with light weight yarn and sizes 7 (4.5mm) and 10 1/2 (6.5mm) 24″ circular needles.

I’m using Bernat Baby Coordinates in Icey Mint Green.

Bernat Baby Coordinates Icey Mint

Since I won’t have a working model when it’s completed, I’m going to make it for Rhonda’s birthday, and then bug Baby-Momma until we get a picture of  her wearing it!

Back to work; updates  to follow~