Plugging Away....

I am slowly but surely making progress on my circle tote. I keep it out in the family room and whenever I have a chance, I sit and do a row or two. It is knit on straight needles, which means that every other row is a purl row. I have to tell you, I prefer knitting over purling, but am getting better and faster at it, so it is a good project in that regard. (Plus, I just love how it is turning out).





Here is a better picture that shows how it is coming along. I only have about 20 rows or so left with this first side, and then I'll be able to cast on side two. I can just imagine several color combinations that this would be fun to do in!





Had a relaxing weekend for the most part. First order of business was trying to discourage the robin from hanging out on our window sill. Kirstin took a couple of your suggestions and this is now what my window looks like. A 'scarey' picture of Kirstin hangs in the one pane, and strips of tin foil flap in the breeze on the others. It did help for a bit, but he is back and seems intent on looking in the window. (Plus, I think he's fallen in love with Kirstin.......)







My one project this weekend was to clean up the weed patch that had been my 'garden' last year. (I use the term garden loosely so as not to offend any real gardeners out there.... my gardens are usually mostly weeds!) Anyways, I needed to remove tomato cages and mow down the weeds. As I was pulling up the cages, I noticed several 'volunteer' tomato plants trying hard to grow. (One even had blossoms already!!) I carefully weeded around them and gave them each a tomato cage and am very excited to think I may even have some yummy tomatoes this year after all!








Kirstin has been spending lots of time working with her llama Sebastian. She is going to be marching with him in our town's parade this weekend. She and her llama friends have been in several small town parades in the past, but this is their first time doing one of this size (and where she'll know LOTS of people on the sidelines). Steve has 'volunteered' to march along and carry the pooper scooper. A very humbling job to say the least!



Sumo has his own ideas of what to do with animal droppings. He rolls in it! Yuck! I guess dogs think that rolling in poop disguises their smell and makes them better hunters. In the wild maybe that's a good thing. But when you are a house dog, it is a BAD thing! It means you have to take a bath or two and can't come in until you pass the smell test! Poor Sumo, it's been a long day for him waiting for the 'ok' to come in.




Well, back to my knitting. I'm hoping to finish side 1 of the tote tonight.

Until Next Time.....

CIRCLE TOTE AND ROBIN WOES.....

Well, I have cast on and begun my circle tote. It is quite the challenge for me but I think I am slowly making some progress and catching on to a thing or two. It is a bit cumbersome having all the different yarns dangling from the back, but I LOVE the way it is turning out and hope to be able to master it to some degree so I can do more of these!!

I finished and felted my 2nd Moebius basket.
It is amazing how different yarns knit and felt. These two baskets are exactly the same pattern.. same number of stitches etc.., but very different in final size. The maroon one is made with Reynolds Lopi yarn and is quite hairy! The striped one is with Crystal Palace Fjord.

My Magical Knitting books came yesterday and I am trying to decide what project to start next!





We have a love-sick robin. He pines away at his reflection in our window day in and day out. I am not quite sure what to do! I don't know if he was thwarted in love; lost his mate; is extremely narcisstic or what??











The biggest problem with the robin, is the 'gifts' that he leaves himself on our window sill and the deck and, well, everywhere! Yuck! And now that it's berry season, the 'gifts' are quite colorful!! We have tried several things to discourage our robin. Papers in the windows, picture of another, very ugly, bird etc.. To no avail....











I thought of asking Sumo to do something (like eat) the robin. I mean, he's a big strong lab who is born and bred to hunt, right? Well, I guess he belongs to the local chapter of LACTR. (Labs Against Cruelty To Robins) and was quite offended that I even suggested it. Go figure!


Any ideas or suggestions appreciated.










Until Next Time....

Meet my new friend Pablo....

This is my new friend, Pablo. He came to me from across the seas. Julie, from The Little Cotton Rabbits Shop in the United Kingdom, knits and sells the most amazing toys. You have to be faster than a speeding bullet in order to get one.. and I just happened to luck out the other day when she listed her latest batch!

Here you see Pablo settled in quite nicely with his new guard dog, Sumo.










As for me, I have almost got another Moebius basket ready to felt. I figured I should knit up another one while the technique was fresh in my mind. They don't take too long to make, and I love the way they turn out. I think they would make great gifts. I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of Cat Bordhi's two Magical Knitting books that have many more Moebius patterns in them!



Once this is done, I plan on casting on The Circle Tote by Leigh Radford. I just got the pattern and have the yarn chosen and ready to go. I have never done this type of knitting - should be fun!







Kirstin and I just returned yesterday from her orientation at the university she'll be attending in the Fall. This is the sticker that I had to wear because I had already sent 2 to college. I have to tell you, I was a little uncomfortable with the wording of the sticker. I felt like a hypocrite. (Because I am definitely NOT an expert parent!!) Perhaps 'experienced parent' would have been a better phrase!!!






Summer is starting to heat up around here and I thought I would share one of my favorite summer time treats. These taste so good on a hot day! (They also happen to be part of our family Christmas breakfast as well!!) I keep a good supply in the freezer during the summer.

FROZEN FRUIT CUPS

1 6-ounce can frozen orange juice
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade
1 10-oz pack frozen strawberries
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple
small jar maraschino cherries & juice (diced if desired)
2 1/2 cups water
3-4 bananas, sliced or cubed

1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Freeze in small cups, or in a 9 X 13 pan.
3. Remove from freezer 45 minutes before serving.
4. Cover with club soda or ginger ale when you take it out of freezer.
5. (Small cups can also be microwaved for 20-30 seconds)











Well, I will end with a final picture of Pablo meeting Nikko.
As with most of my knitting/blog materials, Nikko finds Pablo quite boring and is happy to let Sumo be his official guard dog.
(Guarding knit bears is a bit beneath her dignity, I guess!) Pablo doesn't seem to care. He's just happy to be out of his manilla envelope and off that big jet plane he had to ride in.












Until Next Time....

CAN YOU SAY OVERWHELMED???

Yes, that is what I felt most of this past weekend at The National NeedleArts Association Convention in Columbus. WOW! It was just amazing to see all the vendors and the incredible yarns; accessories; books; etc.. that are available for everything from knitting to needlepoint. I met wonderful people and had just a wonderful time. Here are just a few of the highlights:

I took a class on moebius knitting from Cat Bordhi. It was so much fun! I wish I could describe what moebius knitting is, but it would be nearly impossible. She describles/teaches it in her Magical Knitting books.. which, of course, I had to order as soon as I got home. Here is a picture of Cat and I after the class was done.















I finished my moebius basket on the turbulent plane ride home (have I mentioned that I don't care to fly.. and turbulence about does me in???). Anyways, it did help to knit, but I still didn't enjoy the flight very much!! Here is my finished basket... The moebius portion of the basket is the handle.. See how it twists? That's the magical part of moebius....

A fun bonus for this class was that the $25.00 class fee was waived because Skacel Co. had donated Addi Circular needles for all of us and Crystal Palace donated the yarn!

I can't wait to cast on another...














I also met Nicky Epstein and was one of 50 lucky people to get a free autographed copy of her latest book 'Knitting Never Felt Better'. What fun! It is a book I had wanted to get and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Lucky me. I also got a free autographed one of her Nicky Knits bags. Just another one of the many free gifts I received.




In fact, here is a picture of more of my goodies: some yarn from Briggs and Little in Canada (which I have been wanting to try); Mauch Chunky and Naturally Nazareth wool yarn from Kraemer Yarns; a pair of Takumi Velvet bamboo needles from Clover; Samples of wool cleaning product from Unicorn; A whole goodie bag from Nancy's Knit Knacks and another autographed book by Berta Karapetyan..'Runway Knits'.














Another author I enjoyed meeting tremedously was Leigh Radford, author of One Skein. I have loved this book and have made many things from it. She also has pattern for a Wobbles Tote that I am just itching to make. I couldn't take a picture, as I met her in the Great Hall of Vendors where cameras were not allowed. Bummer.

Of course, the biggest highlight was spending the weekend with my good friend Sheri! We laughed; ate (way too much!!); shopped and ate some more!! It was fun to see all of the fun new things she'll be adding to The Loopy Ewe. She also helped me start my dream of someday having a yarn shop of my own. Wouldn't that be the greatest???

I will end with a litle something I learned today about the spiders that I have living in my house. They appear to be very special spiders. Most spiders, as you know, eat insects and other things that get trapped in their webs. My spiders seem to prefer chocolate. Here you see an innocent M&M that has fallen prey. It's a goner! At least it's nice to know my spiders have good taste!!



Until Next Time...

Angora....

Well, I need some suggestions as to what to do with this wonderful 'thing' of Angora yarn... (Not sure what to call this.. it is huge!). Someone had given this to my mom and she brought it to me when they visited last week. I thought it might be fun to try dying some of it. Hmmm.....

I was able to finish another Irishing Hiking Hat. I did a longer rib at the beginning and really like the look. I'm going to try the next one on slightly smaller needles. I am learning that I am a very loose knitter... (Sumo was being rather shy and did not want to wear the hat. Something about the color not being quite right.....)







I also decided it was time to attempt another Irish Hiking Scarf, now that I have done the two hats. I have tried unsuccessfully to knit one in the past. I'm hoping that I'll have better luck this time around. I do love the look of cables and I think this scarf is especially nice. So far it is going pretty well. Ultimately I would love to try a cabled sock pattern....




Well, I will make this a short post as I need to finish packing for my early morning flight to Ohio for the National NeedleArts Association Convention that I will be attending with my friend Sheri from the Loopy Ewe. I am really looking forward to an awesome weekend. Saturday morning I will be taking a class from Cat Bordhi on making a Moebius basket... I'll be sure and take pictures and blog about it next week.



Well, Sumo does want to thank everyone for their kind comments on his post last time. (And kudos to those fellow animal blog stars who played along!!) He is happy to let everyone know that he has now successfully graduated all of his 'kids'! What a great accomplishment! I think he kind of feels he deserves a diploma of his own!!






Until Next Time....

SIMPLY SUMO...

I was tagged by Caroline and Arleta for a Meme where I am to list 7 or 8 random facts about myself. Since I already played along with this a few months back on this post, I thought I would let Sumo list a few random things about himself.

Sumo Says:

Here are random facts about me that you may not know:

1. I was born at the home of my parents, Mocha and Hershey, on March 3rd 1996. My mom was a yellow Labrador Retriever and my dad was a chocolate Labrador Retriever. Here is a picture of my mom and I a few weeks after I was born.




2. My registered name is Prince Sumo of Lantz. A very fancy name, I think. (I guess the house I was born in was on Lantz street..hence that part of my name!).



3. I have lots of siblings! (I can't remember exactly how many.. I've lost track of most of them). My litter had 4 yellows; 2 blacks and 1 chocolate. None of them were as cute as me!! My sister, Nikko, lives with me and is 9 months older.


4. I once took Second Place in a dog show. I was a little disappointed I didn't get First Place. Oh well. After the show, I went to the vet and got tutored. I hoped I would do better after that, but they never entered me in any more shows!! Go figure!


5. I once cut my chest open on barbed wire and my master, Steve, stitched me up all by himself. I kept thinking "but you're just a people doctor" but they couldn't understand. He actually did a very good job and you can't even see the scar!!


6. I was quite the athlete in my day! I could run and swim like a champ! I'm a little more arthritic these days, but still have some spunk in me! Just last night I chased a cat off our property... and I was really moving!!! Here is a picture of me 7 years ago after a long swim in the lake. Boy, I didn't realize how gray I've gotten....






7. I sleep probably 20 hours a day. It's an art! My favorite places to sleep are: on my landing going upstairs; in my doghouse in the garage or on the tile floor by the front door with the rug over my paw. At night I sleep on the floor at the foot of my masters' bed. (unless I snore and they send me to my landing....)


8. I secretly LOVE being the star of this blog and look for opportunities to model any knitting. Just yesterday I was able to model the hat that Janice finished. (She'll tell you more about it in a minute..) I think the color is good on me...


Well, that is all for now. I will tag any animal blog stars that happen to see this... (Zoe, Casey, Tinker Belle, Max... you know who you are!!)

Thanks for reading!!











Well, that is our Sumo. He has been the greatest dog! I was there the night he was born and have loved him ever since.

Now, about the hat. I was reading on Allison's blog about a knitting event that she and her mom are going to do next month and about the opportunity to knit hats for those undergoing chemo treatments. I thought that sounded like a great idea. I've never knit a hat before, but always wanted to try the Irish Hiking Hat. (This takes you to a Google search... I used the 7th link down PDF pattern) I used Paton's Wool Merino on size 7 needles and it was such a fun easy knit! I can see many more of these in my future. In fact, I hope to cast another one on today!!

Tomorrow is our 24th wedding anniversary! Hard to believe. We will be celebrating by going to Kirstin's graduation and to numerous open houses. We have a trip planned for next January to celebrate our 25th which is only a year away!! :-)

Until Next Time....

THE PREP AND THE PARTY......

It is now Tuesday, and the party is several days past. Oh, and what a party it was! We were blessed to have such a wonderful day (warm and plenty of sunshine); as well as plenty of friends and family to come celebrate with us. Thought I would share a few photos of the prep and the party!

First off, for all of my mom's friends back in Minnesota, here are a few photos of her hard at work!! She was the official 'cracker' of the 30 dozen eggs we scrambled on Friday!!

She tried a few times to get 'fired' (you know, egg shells in with the yolks; cracking the egg into the shells etc..) but she couldn't get off that easy!!












She 'graduated' to the cutting of the bacon to top off the egg dish casserole. With 3 large casseroles, double deep in eggs, that was quite a bit of bacon!! I just kept her coffee cup full and she was happy!!

The egg dish was a huge hit at the Open House. I will share the recipe at the end of the post. It's been our Christmas morning egg dish as long as I can remember and is very delicious. Kirstin is still getting comments from her friends at school and work on how much they loved it!!












Ryan and Mallory were up early Saturday and put together trayfuls of yogurt/fruit parfaits. These were a HUGE hit and were totally gone by the end of the open house! They just layered strawberry and vanilla yogurts with Triple Berry Fruit (from Sam's club); bananas and my homemade granola. Yum.







Kirstin decided against using her school colors for our decorating theme, but went with a gerber daisy theme instead. It was very fun. My good friend from Minnesota brought her this fun cookie bouquet from 'Cookies by Design'. It was a great decoration for the serving table and was immediately gobbled up following the open house!!















We also 'imported' the cake from Minnesota from Retha and Sandy's Sweet Shop. It is by far and away the best cake I have ever had. I ordered extra, just because I needed to ensure leftovers!! Here is the small cake we had for display... It was my personal favorite. White cake with strawberry filling. (The sheet cakes were marble with chocolate cream filling). Once again, right after the open house we cut into this cake and it was gone in record time!! (And no, I will not share how many pieces I ate.....)











Just a few fun people shots:

























And finally, a group shot of her friends and cousins who came from out of state to celebrate with her. It is a FUN group and I love them all dearly...







Here is the recipe, as promised. Eggs don't photograph that well.. so I will just say that it basically looks like scrambled eggs.

Christmas Egg Dish
(Egg/cheese)

18 eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Half and Half
3 Tbsp. butter
1 10 1/2- ounce can cream of mushroom soup
6 ounce can mushrooms, drained (optional - I don't use)
5 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese
3 to 4 slices bacon, crisply fried and crumbled (I cheat and used the pre-cooked bacon)

1. Combine eggs and Half and Half. Beat.
2. Scramble lightly in butter in large skillet.
3. Put eggs in large, shallow casserole or pan.
4. Mix soup, mushrooms* and cheese. Pour over eggs.
5. Top with bacon.
6. Bake at 250 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.
(This can be refrigerated before baking. If so, bake 1 1/2 hours.)


Sumo has a surprise for you in my next post, so stay tuned...


Until Next Time.....

Ready to cast on....

I have been adding to my stash in anticipation of some heavy duty knitting time that should be coming my way after this weekend! I can't wait!! This box just came in the mail this week from Little Knits. (They were having a sale.... what can I say??) The book is Ella Rae Bags.. which has 14 bags to knit and felt. Very different styles than what I have done before... I can't wait!! (because as much as I want to branch out in my knitting, I am a bag lady at heart!!)





I also got some Peppermint Mocha Claudia Handpainted from the Loopy Ewe. More socks. I really do need to be a sock lady at heart as well. At this point, I am just a sock lady in my mind.. (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can).. but hopefully it will transfer to the heart!!

















So, what happens this weekend? Well, we are having a graduation Open House for Kirstin. I don't know if Open Houses are big where you live, but around here everyone has them. And it is no little shindig! We will probably have 200-250 people come. So I have been a little busy. I am blessed to have wonderful friends who have come and are still coming to help. In fact, I have several friends from Minnesota and Missouri coming today! I can't wait to have them here! And, my mom and dad are coming from Minnesota as well! Yippee!



I have the house pretty much ready. Have some cooking to do today as well as decorating tables etc.. We are doing a morning open house with breakfast foods. Yum! The main food will be our family egg dish. We'll also have Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagels; frozen fruit cups; yogurt parfaits; juice and coffee; and, of course, imported cake from Minnesota.

Here are just half of the eggs that need to be cracked and scrambled today! What you see is only half of them! (I have over 30 dozen!!)













I have also set up a sort of 'Kirstin Shrine' to display photos; display boards; etc.. My favorite mini-display is this shelf of photos from her modeling days in Japan. (all 3 kids did some modeling when we lived there in the early '90's)
The wedding magazine job was one of the funnest jobs. I can still remember walking back to the train station when we were finished and after every 4-5 steps, Kirstin would stop and ask if the pretty flowers were still in her hair!! (It was quite a ways to the train station.. so it took forever!!) What a dream job for a little girl!!




Well, I better get cracking!! I will leave you with a picture of Sumo guarding my Peppermint Mocha yarn. (I don't know who exactly he is guarding it from... but it is quite sweet of him!).

Until Next Time....

My Life is a Comedy.....

Have you seen the movie "Stranger Than Fiction"? Well, in the movie, the main character is given the assignment of journaling about his life to try and determine if he is living a comedy or a tragedy. Well, based on the events of yesterday, I am definitely living a comedy!!

Yes, that is me. A friend called whose llamas had gotten loose, and after 3 different attempts and 5 1/2 hours, we finally managed to capture them. To give you a little picture of the town I live in, this happened to be the TOP NEWS STORY of our paper today.

Here's a link to the article. Go ahead. Laugh it up. I'd rather be living a comedy than a tragedy.....


Until next time....

Sock Clubs and Such....

My first official Loopy Ewe Sock Club package arrived yesterday! I can't wait to cast them on...and hope to do so right after Kirstin's Open House next weekend. Such a fun package Sheri put together with a fun pattern and the yarn that matches the socks in the pattern!! Chocolate (of course) and a lemon scented sheep and some lemonaide. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this club!!





Getting this fun package in the mail was in addition to the 'Mother's Week' that my hubby has declared. (in lieu of just a 'Mother's Day') Each day he is doing something special for me. Am I a lucky woman, or what??? These flowers arrived one day; lunch out another; a gift bag with a new excercise outfit was on the table one morning and today I opened a beautiful new glass serving tray. (All of my glass serving trays have Christmas Trees on them.... I still use them all year, but it will be nice to have one without a Christmas tree!!)

I wonder what tomorrow will bring????





MYSTERY: How is it that my family cannot seem to get their dishes INTO the dishwasher?? More often than not, I come downstairs to this familiar picture:

That's right. The dirty cereal bowl sitting RIGHT ON TOP of the dishwasher! What is so difficult about opening the door and placing the bowl INSIDE??

Sample Answers:

"I thought the dishwasher was clean"

"Well, if I put it here it 'magically' disappears"

"Love you, mom"

Hmmm... Guess I should stop working my magic!!






And, as a matter of fact, I came down the very next day and caught Kirstin in the act of putting her bowl IN the dishwasher. Yippee!! I was finally getting through!!




But, alas, this very morning there was her bowl once again on the counter. I know, I know, next year I am really going to miss that bowl on the counter after she goes to college. In fact, I'll probably shed a tear or two missing that bowl so much. So, I worked my 'magic' again today and put the bowl away.






Here is a quick and easy pasta salad recipe. It is by far my favorite. The picture isn't that great.. but it is very tasty!

Pasta Salad with Orange Peppers

16 oz spiral noodles
2 orange peppers
1 cucumber, peeled, sliced and seeds removed
A bunch of fresh spinach, well washed
1 tomato, ( or 10 cherry/grape tomatoes)
8 oz. Feta cheese
8 oz. Italian dressing (I like Wishbone Zesty Fat Free)


1. Boil noodles according to package directions.
2. Add cut up pepper and cucumber.
3. Tear spinach and add to noodles.
4. Crumble feta cheese into noodles.
5. Mix refrigerated dressing into noodles shortly before serving.
6. Top with tomatoes.



Well, it is a beautiful day here today. Lots of sunshine and warmth. A perfect day to get a lot accomplished.

Until Next Time....

The Dishcloth Contest...

When I was reading blogs the other day, I ran across a contest on Carrie's blog that I thought would be fun to enter. Here it is:

"So the contest will go along with spring, and starting new things. I'd like everyone who wants to participate to cast on a washcloth - a wild one. One that you feel joyous doing, and in colors that don't match your kitchen. Make it fun!"

I thought.. I can do this. This will be fun. So I chose some fun, bright yarn I had in my stash (that totally does not match my kitchen) and a new pattern (Diamond Drop Lace) I had gotten from the dishcloth KAL that I am a member of, and cast on.

Well, I should have known that my life has been a little TOO stressful lately to try a new pattern that requires concentration and learning new stitches. I cast this dishcloth on not once, not twice but three times. And by the time I starting ripping it out for the third time, I was no longer feeling very joyous!!

So I grabbed another fun yarn that matched and decided to do a ballband dishcloth. But it too had to be ripped out after my first attempt. I perservered, however and cast on once again, determined to succeed!! And so far, so good.







Here is what I have up to this point:

















In other news, Kirstin got a job at Panera. She is pretty excited. She trained in last night making the Crispani's. She said that her years of rolling out Lefse really helped in rolling out the Crispani dough. Best of all, she gets to wear a cool cap...

I'm a little afraid she'll start bringing home samples... I love their baked goods but can't indulge too often!!















I'll close with a couple of fun photos that Kirstin took at the San Diego zoo when they were there a couple of weeks ago. My favorite one is of the baby giraffe. Doesn't it look like he is just puckering up for a kiss??? And the polar bear is just kind of fun.

Until Next Time....

BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT A MOTHER DOES....

Well, today I picked my son up at college. Of course, with his bad back after his 2 surgeries, he was unable to help carry anything down to the car. So I did it. But that's ok. That's what a mother does. Oh, did I mention it was raining at the time? I got soaked. But that's ok. That's what a mother does. To check out of his room, my son was assigned cleaning the toilet of the suite he shared with 3 other guys (A toilet that hadn't been cleaned all year!). But his back...... So I cleaned the toilet. (Which the word gross doesn't even begin to describe....) But that's ok. That's what a mother does. Then we drove home. And as we ate dinner, together again as a family, I smiled. So blessed to be a mom! And the boxes and the rain and the toilet bowl cleaner was all worth the laughter and the love around the table.

Until next time...