A Loopy Weekend.....

Well, it is a snowy Monday morning and we are back from St. Louis. We had a GREAT weekend, as I knew we would. I was able to do LOTS of knitting, and , drumroll please, finished my very first sock. (And have the second one cast on....) It was not hard to finish with the enthusiastic support of Sheri, my dear friend, from The Loopy Ewe. Here you see her and I and her knitting daughter hard at work on our projects. (And my first sock conveniently located on my leg for show!!)

This was not, however, where I spent most of my weekend. Here you see me where I 'parked' myself for most of the time. A comfy recliner with Zoe, her Loopy cat, nestled on my lap. I REALLY need to get a cat to keep me company while I knit!! (Sumo and Nikko would LOVE to sit on my lap while I knit, but their size makes it a little uncomfortable!!!!) Too bad Ryan and Kirstin are so alergic to cats or I'd be out looking at kittens instead of writing this blog!

Zoe is in line for my next Kitty Pi bed, which I plan on making with all my leftover felting yarns. I know that she is a little impatient in waiting for me to get it knit, and decided that this purse I made would do just fine in the interim.

The most exciting part of the weekend was being able to see The Loopy room! WOW! Sheri does an amazing job with her business and it was fun to be a part of it for a few days. I got to help pack orders and was even there when a yarn shipment came and got to experience the fun of unpacking all those fun yarns.

I'm still not exactly sure how the guys passed the time (since they are 'muggles' (non-knitters) according to the Yarn Harlot). They are both Mac guys, and did spend some time on their computers as well as at Sheri's WH's shop. My husband had a wonderful weekend despite not knitting.....








On the knitting front, I did start and almost finish the ballband bag for Kirstin. It is huge! I can't wait to felt it. I have 6 or 7 inches left to knit on the handle and it will be ready to felt. I knit it with Paton's wool double stranded on size 15 needles.

















At one of the yarn stores we visited, I came across some Lopi wool that I have been wanting to felt with. Bought a few skeins and made one into a bowl during the drive home. It is ready for a trip to the washing machine!!





The drive home took a little longer with the ice storms that were going through the area, but it was not as bad as we had thought. Not until we got 10 miles from home. Then the snow started and the roads were covered and slippery. We've gotten 6 inches so far, and it keeps coimng.

Ok, NOW it feels like winter has arrived!!













Sumo loves the snow. Loves to eat it and roll in it and run around. When he was younger, we would hook he and Nikko up to a dogsled and they would pull the kids all over. He LOVED it. At 11 years old, he is now retired from the dogsled, and has been replaced by the 4-wheeler. (The kids still enjoy riding on the sled behind the 4-wheeler!!)
















For my last photo, I will return to my finished sock on one of the Loopy Ewe's sock blockers. This sock took me 6 1/2 months to knit. I do hope to speed up the process on my next one. I'll keep you all posted on my progress!!

Until next time.....

Meet Me In St. Louis.....

My bags are packed and I am impatiently awaiting Steve to come home from work so we can head to St. Louis for a fun-filled weekend with dear friends. In fact, we will be visiting the friend who taught me how to knit :-) All us girls plan on doing is knitting. Lots and lots of knitting. So the dilemna today has been what yarn; needles; patterns etc.. to take. It's a fine art: packing knitting supplies for a knitting get-away. You want to pack enough... but not so much that you have no 'need' to visit every LYS that you can find!! I think I finally have the knitting stuff ready

Oh, maybe I should bring some clean clothes as well.......

A SURPRISE package arrived in the mail today. I love surprises and this one was completely unexpected!! Bonnie sent me some of her homemade granola! I LOVE granola! Especially mixed in with some yogurt and fresh fruit. It's a staple around here. I am taking it with us to snack on for the car ride (and because I'm afraid if I leave it here it will get eaten!) Thank you, Bonnie, for this special treat. I am so thankful for the wonderful group of online friends that I have made since I started knitting and blogging last summer!!


Another bowl to show you. I love these quick projects. I have been having a hard time deciding what bag to cast on next, so I just keep making more bowls.....

I've decided to cast on a large ballband bag (like the one I made Mallory) for Kirstin in brown and blue. Will start it this weekend.





And now for a little craziness. Ryan and Mallory decided to have a little photo shoot this past weekend "American Gothic" style. They took this lovely picture and made matching t-shirts which they proudly wore this past weekend in Galena. It was very fun :-) They both have a tremendous sense of humor and love to laugh.

And now they each have another point. Don't say I never did anything for you guys!!!!


Well, Steve should be home soon.


Until next time.....

To Luba With Love.....

Let me introduce Luba. Luba is a woman living in Russia who works with young women ages 14-25 who have found themselves alone and/or orphaned and in difficult living situations. She helps teach them basic living skills as well as helping them obtain good nutrition during the long cold winters. When the young women are starting out on their own, Luba helps purchase clothes and other essential items they will need.

You may wonder why I am introducing Luba. I wanted to be involved in helping Luba in her work. That's when I decided to donate all profit (everything above the yarn cost) from the sale of my purses to Luba and her girls. It has been exciting to hear of coats purchased; hats and warm gloves given; etc.. as the purses have been sold and the money sent.

Just this past week I got the sweetest email from a young girl at my church letting me know that she had finally saved enough money to buy my blue fuzzy purse for Luba and could I bring it to church Sunday. I told her that every penny that she had saved would go to Russia to help Luba!

Now you know where the dozens of purses I have knit have gone. (I know some of you have been wondering!) I am hoping that I can knit dozens more to be sold and sent to Luba with Love...


Until next time.....

The Calm Before....

The Storm!! Yes, there is a storm brewing around here and I have just a few days left before life as I know it changes for 3 months. The storm, of course, is tax season. To add to the craziness of tax season and the long hours that it entails... I took on co-director of the children's Wednesday night program (AWANA) that we are starting at our church in 2 weeks. So, for awhile, my knitting and blogging will be limited, at best. I will get on when I can and hope to sneak some knitting in here and there over lunch breaks. (Oh, wait, I don't get lunch breaks, hmmmmm...) I will figure out something.

Oh, and tomorrow I have to report for Jury Duty. I have heard that it is against the law to bring knitting needles into the courthouse, which really bums me out. Kirstin and I are thinking of ways I could smuggle some in, but I am not sure I want to risk going to jail. I'll just have to bring some exciting reading material with me... like all of the new tax law changes!! (Maybe they will see me reading them AND enjoying it, and think I'm unfit to be a juror.......)



Anyways, precious little knitting to report. I finished another bowl over the weekend. I think this is my favorite one so far. Made with WOTA Bulky varigated. The blues go perfect in the family room; so I think I'll keep it :-)




Also finished a Sebastian Coin purse. I have very little left of spun Sebastian wool... maybe enough for one more of these. I keep my Ipod in the one I have. Works great and is great protection for it when I am carrying it around.








Spent Saturday in Galena with Ryan and Mallory and had a very fun day. We ate lunch at Fried Green Tomatoes... which Galena is famous for. We then walked around all of the shops and headed back to the condo, where we let Ryan beat us at a game of Phase 10!!








Kirstin and Aaron stayed home for the day. Kirstin was up early and volunteered at Habitat for Humanity (which she often does on Saturdays). She sanded mud spots on the ceiling for 3+ hours! Aaron finished packing up and getting ready to head back to ISU. Thought I would include this picture, as I have learned, from a somewhat reliable source, that there is a little point system going on for the number of pictures one gets on my blog. Sigh. It's a mother's never ending job to keep all things equal. Never thought it would make it's way to my blog!!!








Sumo News:

Well, here you see Sumo in his dog house in the garage. But, in reality, he is not the one in the dog house. I am. Yes, me. I took him to the vet last week to have her look at a growth on his gum. (He HATES to go to the vet...) Anyways, they ended up keeping him for the day and removing the growth and 2 teeth!! Needless to say, he was not very happy with me. (I mean, he didn 't get to eat that whole day!!!) Of course, he has already forgiven and forgotten everything and is back to his lovable self, without a bit of a grudge. We can learn alot from our dogs!!



Until next time...

Felting Frenzy.....

Happy New Year!! Can you believe that it is 2007?? I can't! I spent the final weekend of 2006 knitting and felting up a storm! Thought I would share some of what I did with you.




I felted the orange bowl along with 3 others that I knit up over the weekend. They are a quick knit and come out so cute.






Cast on Ryan's pink and brown clogs and got those off of my 'to knit' list. They actually came out kind of fun!! Here they are pre-felted:










And then after a couple of cycles in my washing machine:

He hasn't tried them on yet because he is still at work. I hope he is still wanting pink and brown clogs......





I gave away my first 'Baby's Got A Brand New Big Bag' to a dear friend for Christmas and decided I wanted one for myself, so I got busy and cast on another. (when you click the link the pattern can be found to the left under bag patterns... having trouble with link)

Here it is pre-felted:







And again after a trip into the washing machine.....

It is large, but makes a GREAT book tote. I know that I am going to love this bag.

I knit it with Paton's wool double stranded on size 15 needles.











Also felted the purple purse using 'Kirstin's Bag' pattern. I found the perfect button at the knitting store in Galena and will put that on later tonight and it will be done. Not sure what to cast on next..... Maybe a hat!












Came home to just a dusting of snow on the ground. Still doesn't seem like January, but it does help a little!







Nikko and Sumo were happy to see us! Sumo agreed to try on Ryan's clogs, but once again, Nikko seems to find my knitting extremely boring???? Whatever.






Until next time....

Post Christmas Post...

Well, Christmas is over and we are ready to welcome in the New Year. With this warm weather and an extreme lack of snow, I am still having a hard time believing it is almost January!

We have had a wonderful 5 days with my parents. How fun to have them with us for Christmas. We had our traditional Christmas breakfast Monday morning of egg dish; fruit cup and Swedish Tea Ring. But then we broke from tradition for our main meal and I tried something new. Prime rib and twice baked potatoes!!




I was so nervous cooking the prime rib (never done it before) but it came out even better than I had hoped!! My hubby was in heaven and could have eaten the whole thing himself!!! He showed some self restraint and we even had enough leftovers for sandwiches the next day!




Sumo stayed very close to the kitchen just waiting for even the tiniest of morsels to fall to the ground! (I did sneak him a few pieces of meat...but Steve is not to know!!!) I mean really now, how can one resist that adorable face???




I did sneak in some knitting and have two things ready to felt when we head to Galena tomorrow. The first is a bowl that I am going to use as a candy dish this year at work. It is a pattern from the One Skein book and is made with Lamb's Pride bulky. I can't wait to felt it and fill it with Dove chocolates. Yum.






The second is another bag using 'Kirstin's Bag' pattern. I love the purples in it and am excited to see it felted.






I put a button on this bag and added a snap and a fabric covered bottom piece and gave this bag to my mom. The button I added is an antique button from the button jar she 'lent' me last summer.




On the cooking front, we made a double batch of Cream Wafers today...a favorite cookie of ours. It was also a special request from Ryan who wanted to send some home with Mallory tomorrow for her family. With lots of help, they are not too bad to make, so we whipped up a double batch.

Cream Wafers

1 cup butter
1/3 cup whipping cream (35% butterfat)
2 cups flour
granulated sugar

1. Mix butter, cream and flour. Chill one hour.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured board.
4. Cut into 1 1/2 inch rounds. (I use a tupperware 'midgit' container)
5. Coat sides with granulated sugar.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Prick each cookie with fork in 4 places
8. Bake 7-9 minutes or until slightly puffy
9. Put two cooled cookies together with creamy filling.

Creamy Filling
1/4 cup soft butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yoke (Optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Mix all ingredients together until smooth.
2. Tint red or green (or any color!) if desired.

I leave you with these adorable smore snowman ornaments that we received from a friend which I guess represent Steve and I (I'm the one with the knitting needles!!!) They go very nicely in my snowman bathroom.


Until next time...

Merry Christmas To All And To All An Orange Roll...

Thought I would share a delicious recipe that my mom brought for Christmas to go with our Swedish Tea Rings. They are Orange Rolls and they are amazing!! They have been Grand Champion ribbon winners at the Big Stone County fair several years running. You KNOW they have to be good!!!

1 1/4 cup Water
3 Cups Bread Flour
1 TBSP Orange Peel
2 TBSP Dry Milk
3 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp Salt
3 TBSP Softened Butter
3 tsp active dry Yeast

Put ingredients in order given into bread machine. Remove dough after the dough and first rise cycles are complete and place onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 12 portions and form into balls. For coating:
1/2 cup softened butter
3 TBSP Orange Rind
1 Cup Sugar

Coat each dough ball with softened butter. Mix sugar and orange rind and roll the buttered rolls in the mixture. Place in greased 9x13 pan and let rise until dough doubles...about one hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes; until just golden brown. Yum Yum!!





On the knitting front; I finished the One Row Scarf from the Yarn Harlots blog. It was a quick pattern to memorize and I love the look of it. I made it for a friend to give her daughter. (It actually matches a purse that I had made for her earlier in the year!!)










Had several groups of friends in last night, which is always fun. The first group came to help throw a small surprise birthday party for Aliya. It is her birthday today!!








The second group that came (much later in the evening as they are all college students and their nights seem to START at my bedtime.....) is a pyramid of Ryan's friends. This is the first time that they've all been together for a couple of years. Lots of laughter. They are a great group of kids.










All of this company wears out poor Sumo who couldn't even lift his head to take his daily medication. He had to eat it on his side! Once he lays down on his landing, he is down for the count!!





And now we are waiting the arrival of my parents who are coming to celebrate the Christmas Holidays with us. It will be wonderful to have them around. There will be lots of games; laughter and eating to be sure. I'll post again after Christmas. Until then, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and praying that the Joy of Christ will fill your Hearts this Holiday Season!!!

Tag...I'm it!

I have been 'tagged' by my blog friends, Deb and Shelley:

"The Rules: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you have been tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

Six weird things about me:

1. I cannot stand when my gas tank gets below 1/4 of a tank. I kind of panic until I can get to a gas station. I also keep an eye on gas tank levels of cars I am riding in and calmly point out when it dips below 1/4 of a tank. (Of course I am married to someone who loves the 'thrill' of seeing how far below 'E' he can go!!!)

2. I microwave my M&M's. They are so yummy when they are melty. If I am traveling I have alternative ways to heat them.... On the dash on a sunny day; in my pocket; on a heat vent; etc...

3. I can remember my phone number from when I was little, as well as the phone numbers of all my friends. I can even remember the license plate number from our good old station wagon! (LE 5278) I just can't remember where I put my keys last...

4. I still like to hold my breath when I go through a tunnel. But I am happy to say that I no longer flap my arms when I go over a bridge!!!

5. I hate the whole i before e thing except after C. Doesn't that make 'weird' weird????(Oh, and I did look up 'weird' in the dictionary as I was writing this...just to make sure!)

6. I look up the recipe for mashed potatoes and hard boiled eggs in my Betty Crocker cookbook EVERYTIME I make them.

But as Popeye use to say: "I yam what I yam"!

Now for who to tag. I am going to tag Sheri at the Loopy Ewe; Bonnie; Allison; TeAntae; Heidi; and JKnits.

Those who leave comments are free to share funny weird things about yourselves as well. Those closest to me MAY share additional weird things about me...but do beware!!!! ;-)




Until next time.....

Ballband; Bingo; and More.....

Well, I am scurrying around trying to get the last minute knitting done before Christmas. I have a few 'special orders' from friends that I would like to have done by Friday. In between stitches, I am trying to get the shopping done; baking done; and spend some fun time enjoying having the kids home and their friends as well. Here's a bit of a glimpse:

First off, Sumo continues to be a huge help in the knitting department. He faithfully sits at my feet and keeps me company at any time of the day... whether it is 3:00 am and I can't sleep or 2:00 in the afternoon, right in the middle of HIS prime nap time. (Well, in reality, all day is his prime nap time!!) When I need to get up for a minute, he watches over both my knitting and my coffee. Haven't quite trusted him with my chocolate yet....

Here he is with my latest 'Kirstin Bag' I'm working on... (and my Iced Latte....)






Now, I know that some of you may be feeling sorry for Nikko, that she doesn't quite get the same blog time that Sumo does, but to be honest.. she finds my knitting boring, and lets me know!! I tried to get her to watch over this 'One Row Scarf' I am working on and she let me know what she thought of it! And then she got up and dragged the ball of yarn across the room, almost taking out a few row of stitching at the same time. That's ok. She has a right to her opinion! But a bad attitude is not blog-friendly!





I can finally show you the bag that I knit for Ryan to give to his girlfriend, Mallory. (He is giving it to her tonight...so I think I am safe!) It was such a fun bag to knit. I know I will make more in the future. Brown and pink is her favorite color combo..so I went with that. I double stranded Lamb's Pride wool, which produced a VERY STURDY bag... A few more rows of pink, and it would have been perfect for a laptop!! I think it will make a great book bag.







Now, on to Bingo! A group of the kids' friends came over for an impromtu game of Bingo.. including some AMAZING prizes!! Steve was the Bingo caller and did a great job! It could be a good retirement job for him when the time comes :-)!!










Here are a few of the Bingo gang:











And some of the AMAZING prizes:






Mallory got a 'Shana Original'... a Very Hungry Catepillar hand sculpted masterpiece. It was 'stolen' back later when Shana's mom got a 'Bingo'.












Aliya got this adorable pink and purple duck.
















I hit the 'jackpot' with all of these fun prizes.....















I will leave you today with a quick picture of the pies that we had at the Lockwood Christmas; courtesy of my oldest brother Greg, who is one of the best pie makers I know. And, although we are usallly all so very full by pie time, these always taste amazing!!!

They are pumpkin; pecan/cheesecake; and apple. And yes, I had a sample of all 3 :-)





Until next time.....

Lockwood Christmas....

We are back from our weekend and had a WONDERFUL time! I ate WAY too much.. but that is always the way it goes! I have to tell you, my family has some interesting traditions that we get very excited about at our get-together! Thought I would share a few with you:

The first is the JOB JAR. What is a job jar?? Well.... it all started years ago when yours truly was hating the whole 'girls do all the dishes..guys go watch football' thing. I mean, growing up the only girl with 4 brothers kept me striving for life to be 'fair'. (Or, at least unfair in my favor!) To this end, I suggested a 'job jar' where we would put all the jobs of the day into a jar and everyone would draw one. This way, the work was evenly distributed and you knew what you had to help with and then you were off the hook for the rest of the day. We throw in a few 'loafs' just to make it fun. (The first several years, in fact, I got a loaf and felt somewhat vindicated!) Here is the master list that we post where you fill in your name across from the job you drew...




Of course, the DREADED jobs are the washing and drying of the dinner dishes. The anticipation in the room can be felt as we all hold our breath when we draw our job..... will WE have to do the dinner dishes???? This year, my dear hubby got 'Wash Dinner Dishes' and my niece got 'Dry Dinner Dishes'. Poor things. We have tried to soften the blow by giving them the honor of signing the honorary aprons for those who pass this test. Here they are after they have successfully washed and dried all of the dinner dishes and signed their names on the aprons. (As you can see, last year I had to dry dinner dishes......)


It may all seem silly, but it is a fun way to spread the work of the day and have a little fun with it at the same time!!







This year the host and hostess were my younger brother Gary and his wife Colleen.... Thanks for having us all 26 of us in! A true act of love :-)









After the job jar, we all gather to open stocking stuffers. (Instead of exchanging gifts..we buy stocking stuffers for everyone.) This is followed by the first meal of the day; our traditional Christmas breakfast of Egg Dish; Frozen Fruit cup; Swedish Tea Ring and Ham.

We then fast for about an hour and put out the snacks.



After about 5 hours of snacking, we have our main meal of meatballs, lefse, potatoes, torsk, corn, etc.. etc..We sit down for the feast! (This is just 1 of three tables!)









We know where to sit by the cute little reindeer nametags...












My niece opened her gift which contained the Kitty Pi bed. We did get a few pictures of Cougar in it... mostly in attack mode! (I think he was trying to kill the fringe!!) I'm hoping he will someday realize that it is already dead and enjoy curling up in it for a nap!



Gave my mom her birthday clutch that I had made quite some time ago for her to take to her Red Hat Society meetings....

It is the pattern "The Clutch You'll Never Give Up' from the book One Skein. I used WOTA and Paton's Red.






Well, may share more in a further post. A Fun Fun Day. But always good to come home as well.


Oh, and Sumo was very happy to see us! (He had stayed home guarding the house!!) Brave dog!







Until Next Time....