Presents from down under

I received my long awaited present package from Sascha my Australian epal. She fought with this pattern till she got it. I'm very VERY happy with them! She also sent the most beautiful pale aqua Samoyed dog hair yarn. If she hadn't told me I would have never guessed.. it looks like mohair.
And, yes Victoria, she sent Magazines. Your gonna love these! I better put my name in them so they don't disappear..lol.. just joking.
She also sent deep purple roving and some of her lavender oil scented wooden balls (I think they're wooden) that smell ..Ahhhhhhhh....wonderful. The kitties will love the felted balls she sent for them too.
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It is also my 34th Wedding Anniversary today. This is what Bill got me.

Merry Christmas again

Merry Christmas Everyone. We had the whole family here. Well, all our kids and their kids and my brother Mike...lol! It was loud and hectic and I loved every second. We teased about sending them home but it was snowing and we worried about them getting home safe.
Here are a few pictures of the day.
#1 ~is the Tree with SOME of the prezzies before the mayhem hit.

#2 ~Trysten, Eryka, Jayda and Bryce. They look so innocent don't they?
Rather like Deer in headlights..lol








#3~ is of Jayda in her baby alpaca tam (wonder if she'll ever wear it correctly) and the sweet little bolero she picked the yarn for and the pattern. Oh and the "dress" she's wearing? Is her Dora Nightgown that I bought her. She tried very hard to wear everything all at once. For awhile she had on all this and pink fairy wings also. Wish we got a pic of that!
Hope you had a wonderful Holiday......Hugs to All......Annie

Oh what a Weekend!

Let me first say... Bless me for I AM DONE SHOPPING!!

Next.. All weekend we've been kept awake by this crunch crunch crunch..gnaw gnaw gnaw in the ceiling of our bedroom. Its been driving us both crazy.
THEN I come down to make coffee Sunday morning and notice alot of bits and pieces of ??? on the counter and on top of the canisters. Oh Geez, what now?? AND..there is a little hole in the ceiling where something has been trying to get in! I look outside puzzling it over and see Squirrels chasing each other around our big maple tree. As I turn to continue making coffee something hits the house with a huge thud and scrabbling up the side of the HOUSE!! WTF was THAT!! I turn to tell my husband about the hole in the ceiling and that I'd just heard the loudest noise.. thinking a squirrel had scaled the wall again (I've seen them do this plenty of times) when what drops down onto the deck but the BIGGEST Raccoon I've ever seen! Now, I don't normally worry about them. They're cute and they don't live in our yard. Its not possible that it was the one gnawing on the ceiling..can't get in there (to fat). Bill points out that Crystal is in the back yard not 6 ft away from the Raccoon. I've heard they will kill cats. Bill takes off out the back door. OH MY GOD.. you should have seen that Raccoon. It wasn't afraid of anything. It stood up on its hind legs with its arms out stretched.. like "Bring it Buddy.. ya want a piece of me?"
I thought we were gonna have an incident but he at the last second it backed down and ran when Bill started yelling and I never saw Crystal run for the house so fast!

As he was searching the garage to see how the "squirrel" was getting into the kitchen ceiling he discovers a broken hot water pipe spraying water all over the wall next to my kiln! Wonder how long thats been going on!

So, I delay my grocery shopping to stay to call the para-medics if Bill falls off the ladder putting up thick metal screens on all the soffits to keep the lil tree rats out. We'll finish the soffits in the spring when its not so windy and wet.
And, It worked like a charm.. slept like babies. The water pipe is fixed and so is the hole in the ceiling. That was more excitement then we usually have around here.

Your on your own.. I'm outa here!!

53%

More Beads beads beads

Since my camera couldn't or wouldn't take decent pictures of my beads. I asked some fellow displayers, Emma and Jen, to try and get decent pictures. These are a few of the ones Emma took! Thanks Emma, they are beautiful!!


Click on Photo to see other Pictures Emma took.

Beads beads beads

I know its a blurry picture but what your looking at is a bunch of shiny new beads. To be sold at the Open house at Village yarn and tea..
Ad below

Holiday Open House

Saturday, December 8, 2007
Doors open at 10:00 AM

Schedule
11:00 - 12:30:	Free Make 'n Take, Session 1
1:00 - 3:00:	Vendor's Corner
3:30 - 5:00:	Free Make 'n Take, Session 2

Our free Make 'n Take project this year is a knitting-themed holiday card sponsored by Close To My Heart. We provide the supplies and inspiration, you supply your enthusiasm and talent!

In Our Vendor's Corner:

Amy Allen, Good to be Girl Stitch Markers and Gifts
Emma Kidd, Dragonfibers Hand-dyed Roving
Anne Turner, Handmade Beads
Terri Shea, Sellbuvoter demonstration and book signing

Live music and a food sampling from Christopher Brooks - holiday puddings and chutneys - round out the day. We hope to see you there!

So in love with these

From The Anti-craft
The more I see of this site the more I like it. I started some fingerless mitts in black and green..would look awesome in this pattern!!

Christmas Picture

Left to Right... Eryka, Jyll, Santa, Jayda, Wyatt holding Bryce and Trysten.

Happy Turkey Day

Just a few of the Pictures from Thanksgiving a Jyll and Wyatt's.

#1 Pic is just general Chaos. I'm standing behind Marshall. The Kids are Trysten and Jayda. Rose and Mike standing looking at the food and wayyy in the back is LouAnn..Jyll and Jami's mom.

#2 You see the Lovely Jyll and Jami (with Uncle Mike in the background) .. whos who?

#3Then there is Marshall and Wyatt sitting on the couch.



I will leave you with one more picture. From left to right..Mike,Jami,Jyll,Wyatt,Annie and Jami's x boyfriend.. never can remember his name. Hee hee..Ooo did I say that?

There was alot of talk about knitting. Jyll just finished a beautiful sweater. She's really turning into an expert Knitter. And..she starts CADD at ITT in a couple weeks..good luck!

Ravelry

Finally got my Invitation.....I am hereby known as Pixx.. duh go figure.

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For those of you that care.......Jerico passed his tests for 200 ton masters Lic. He can be a captain of a 100 ton ship or a mate on a 200 ton till he gets more sea time... this is BIG!!

A thought about Birthdays

Well its here at last. I'm Officially 60. I've been telling people all year that I was nearly 60 so I could get used to the idea. Thought it was going to be more tramatic. Had a little Anxiety attack on Sunday but realized what that was right away. Got some hugs from Jerico and Bill and calmed down.
Woke up this morning at my usual 4am even tho Bill is taking the day off to be with me. Nearly ran into a Giant balloon with a floor weight that starting singing "Happy Birthday, From ELMO" Which I grabbed and Jammed in the kitchen so it wouldn't wake up Jerico..lol.. Laughing all the way. There was a teeny box by the weight with a new black hills gold heart in it..YEAH!! My other one broke and I was so upset. And a Card telling me that He loves me.. which he never says in words..but evidently..from the card..tells me in burps and other rude noises..lol!! ~Shakes her head~

I want to thank all of you who remembered my birthday. Well remember isn't probably the word. Being, I said things like "oh thats close to my birthday" and "Did you know its my birthday next week" I'm as subtle as a sledgehammer. Thanks for you gifts. I treasure everyone of them!! Jerico and Mike(my brother) GOOD CHOICE those gift cards from Village Yarn and Tea..such smart guys.

Whats on the Needles

Just started last night. Sivia Hardings ..Follow the leader faroese shawl. Worked neck down. I'm almost to the first zig zag-i-ness.
I'm knitting it out of Emma's Dragon Fibers.. Tide Pool Merino/bamboo that I spun fairly thin. Its a very simple pattern and seems to be going pretty fast.
Finished Jayda's Lavender bolero except for the buttons which I'm researching now. Finished Marshall's Birthday socks which I forgot to give him after all that work!!
On the family new front.. Marshall got his raise!! Jerico started school (10days) to get his 200 ton masters lic. so he can pretty much work anywhere being captain of his own ship! No more cleaning toilets and cleaning up after the capt. He will be able to hire someone to clean up after him..lol
Everyone else seems to be doing great..nothing to new or Earth shattering.
Oh..the NEW project ..the hall linen closet..is well underway with mirrored sliding doors that we had to make Bill his own cloths closet then found out they were to wide. They fit perfect in the hall. Its a bit Alarming to come out of the bathroom to Mirrors showing you all your cellulite and mmm other fat(s) Especially if you're just wrapped in a towel. Shudder
We built this house in our 20-30s. Its been pretty much unfinished, except the bedroom, all this time. Its nice to finally get it done.
Ok.....
I have the nice green bathroom and a Peach/white bedroom that empties out into this hall. I'm trying to figure a color to paint it. The hall empties into the wreck room which has huge half circle windows made of glass blocks that show Green most of the year. What color do you think? I'm playing with the idea of a Cinnimon shade.. on the light side. Not to dark.

Cute or Torture?

http://www.christinelandry.com/

What someone with to much time and to much yarn may do. They are cute but the Cats are not amused. My black cat would poop on my pillow if I did this to her.
Check it out tho......

then look here...Crazy Aunt Pearl is at it again!!

Catching UP

First....HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL
He's a whole 26 today! I can't believe it.. thats my baby!
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Finished Marshalls sockies. Almost done with the bolero for Jayda. Just need to do the collar. YEAH!!

Whats next? mmmm... Shawl and Fingerless Gloves for some friends. Hopefully, by Christmas
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On the home front.. the Bathroom is done. I went knitting last Saturday and came home to the hall closet upstairs, emptied out into the hall and bedroom. The Bedroom we just dumped out into the hall and cleaned. Poor Hall. I'm almost afraid to go Knitting. I am grateful that these things are getting done. Don't get me wrong. Its just the mess and sorting. I hate change.

I don't believe I missed any of the questions!! But..

Your Vocabulary Score: B+

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

How's Your Vocabulary?

New Project

No Ginger, I did not intend to copy you. Its just that Jyll and lil Jayda came knitting with me at VY&T. To keep Miss Jayda busy I had her look for all the pink yarn in the store..her favorite color. While playing this little game she went OOOOooo ,I like this!! Can I have this? A lovely lavender acrylic/wool blend and while looking threw patterns she jumped on this one. Go figure. So, A Lavender bolero gets started today.
So many patterns .. so much yarn.. so little time. I really am going to have to make some things up on the Bond knitting frame. All the yarn is getting oppresive..pretty soon I won't be able to breath for all the yarn!!

Spinning!

I LOVE my new Woolie Winder!! LOVE LOVE LOVE.. I finished Emma's "Tidepool" Roving. It went so quick and compacted extra lovely.
I started the pale green mohair which the consensus was that it smells like machine oil. Its not yummy wool smell. To bad the outside spinning season is over.. cuz of "rain".
Oh, and I believe our Saturday group will be moving back to Third Place Books. It was hinted that we take up to much space. Regardless of the fact that at least 4 of the people in the group can be considered vendors of this shop. We've been unwelcomed .. sigh!!
On a fun note.. JERICO is making DINNER!! I'm so happy!! BBQ chicken Calzones. yummm yummm!

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival with Friends

Friday morning at 4:30am, about the time my husband gets up to go to work, Ginger taps on my living room window and we're off to OFFF before I have time to register that I'm even awake! Next we pick up Emma. On Gingers site you should see how thrilled and awake we all were. She was snapping pictures all over the place.
Most of the trip was a blurr. It was still dark till we hit the coolest gas station that looked like it belonged on some castles grounds. There besides getting gas we got a great view of Mount St. Helens with the sun behind..just coming up.
We got lucky and got to park inside the first day. At first we thought.. is this all there is??? The Festival actually didn't start till Saturday. We walked around and saw that very few people had set up and this place had the potential of being HUGE! Ginger had a class right after we got there so Emma and I sat and spun for a few hours..moving here and there to either get some sun or avoid it. We all got very burned.
Sometime during that day we hooked up with Betty and her mom Martha and Teresa. Betty has the coolest and most unusual spinning wheel. If you saw it there..you'd remember. LOL!
Well, I won't get into the day by days. Lets just say we all had a wonderful time. Bought way to much!!
I in particular felt horribly guilty about my purchases. It seems I left my glasses somewhere on Friday. The ones my husband had given me so much crap about buying in the first place. I knew I was gonna "get it" when I got home so.. mmmm.. should I buy more and just roll with it.. I mean I'd already be in trouble, right. Or, be more conservative? Really, how often do I get to these things? Like never!! Ginger was surprised to find out that this would be the first time Bill and I had been seperated for more then a day.. ever! I'll get back to the glasses story in a bit.

Ginger, Emma and I shared a room at the Super 8 motel in beautiful Wilsonville. I was a bit worried. After all, I'm nearly twice their age. Not been away from home or family for probably 35 years. Used to Scratching ,belching and farting at will. LOL!! I think we all slept very well except for me on Saturday morning I went to shift/ turn in bed so as not to shove Ginger out and flipped my stupid self outa bed onto the floor on my knees!! OH yes I did too fall outa bed. How embarrassing!

The rest of the weekend was kinda a blurr. I'll try to remember. Saturday I hung out with Martha, Betty's mom, cuz we both move kinda slow. We looked at all the animals.. goats, sheep, yaks, llamas, alpacas and 2 young camels. I bought some beautiful alpaca that was spun by the ladies selling it which was made from a combo of all these ladies alpacas. I also bought some a hank of silk roving and a hank of merino roving in the same colors.. Deep purples. I think I'll spin them seperate and then ply them. I went to wander threw one of the buildings looking for Ginger and came across the wooly winder guy. I don't know why I thought they wouldn't have one that fit my Ashford Traveler but they did. I couldn't buy it fast enough!! It didn't even matter how much it cost. Which leads me back to the glasses............

Sunday morning, I check with lost and found for the umteenth time and still no glasses. Sigh!! I wandered threw one of the buildings with Ginger and Emma for awhile and run into Sam and Jen at Sheila's booth glassnut booth, afterwards, I decided to go outside to sit. So, I sat at the same table I'd been sitting at on Friday. All day Saturday a group called PDX bloggers had been sitting and knitting/spinning. I'd given up finding the glasses ever. I turn to look at the booths and there in the middle of the table are "MY GLASSES.. WTF!!!" Some guy sitting near started laughing(I'd said it rather loudly) and told me that things happen for a reason which I took to mean I needed to BUY MORE!! But, since I found some of the members of the afore mentioned group to thank them for my glasses maybe I was supposed to make new friends? Who knows!! After that I relaxed a TON and bought some more.. lol

Here you see most of "the Spoils". On the bottom is a brushed Alpaca shawl from Peru..left to right.. very pale green (kid mohair) roving (1.1lb) the purples I mentioned above. Some Aqua squeeshy stuff (1lb) that I had to have. A PINK drive band for Beatrice (my wheel) and a Woolie winder also for Beatrice. the black and white is a little over a lb of Jacobs fleece (like the sheep on the left) from a 5 mo. old sheep named "Thistle" I had to buy it. NOTE: One of my favorite Vases ,that I made years ago is called "Amy and Thistle" the painting is of a young girl with a Fairy sitting in her palm. The girl is the picture is a remake of a drawing my mother made of me when I was 14. The Fairy was just for giggles. Anyway.. I had to have Thistles fleece. The gentleman that sold it to me told me her brothers name is "Thorn" and her mama "Bramble" I love that little touch of history.
Here are Emma,Ginger and I after buying our fleeces.

September Update

Ok.. here are some pictures of the new bathroom. Its slowly coming together. I will be doing a painting across those doors of a branch and cherry blossoms. Just waiting for Bill to quit messing with it. See the cute Frog door pulls he found? Awesome!!
All Wood surfaces are a rich Mahogany. The colors here are washed out by the flash.

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Countdown.. 2 days till Oregon Flock and Fiber. Looks like its Ginger (driving) Emma, Jane and I. Hope we all snore. Cuz, I do. I'm so nervous..and excited!! I don't have a decent camera anymore so hope someone brings a digital.

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Jerico gave up on buying a Sailboat. He went out yesterday and Paid cash for a Landrover!! WHITE! It was noted that if I traded my Bronco out for the Lil Mercedes around the corner ( that I LOVE and is for sale ) that we'd all have WHITE cars!! Is that a bad thing?

Its September

Time is moving way to fast! Where did the summer go? I think I only saw a few days that were actually hot! Sigh... I hate being cold!
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The bathroom remodel is coming along slowly. At least the shower is done..so we're clean. Now, we are working on a Linen closet. I painted and primed the shelves that are now a lovely Aloe green same as the walls around the shower.

Next come the doors. Bill has been working on them for weeks. Seems an Old neighbor gave him just the perfect doors, when they moved away.. 10 years ago. They were so perfect he had to add wood at the bottom and add a piece of mahogany to the inside edge. OH, and so things don't get damp he fashioned a dealie to make round holes the size of CDs in the top and bottom of each door. He spent all day yesterday making mahogany slats to fit in the holes. One little strip at a time.. amazing. I will be painting the doors today. With the slats they should have an Oriental feel. I have planned a simple mural across them with minimal branches and leaves and a few red berries. Its a theme I use on alot of my art projects. I may have to put a light spray of a willow yellow where the mural is going because I think the green will wash out the leaves. I can maybe use the airbrush for that. Haven't used it in years. Thinking with my fingers again..lol
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On the Knitting scene......working on socks for Marshall out of Dalegran Falk in a not to annoying charcoal color on size 5's. Going really fast.

Bought (I know I said I wouldn't buy anymore yarn, so I lied) some mushroom zephyr to make the lily of the valley shawl out of. Can't wait to start it but need to finish Marsh's socks first.
Jyll came knitting,at Village Yarn and Tea, Saturday. It was wonderful. I miss having my daughter inlaw close by. She made me (pfffft) buy pale green tofutsie sock yarn.

Got to play with the grandkids when we went home. Always amazes me to see them. They grow to fast!! My middle son is 31 now..to me he's still that dreamy looking 17 yr. old. He used to have lustrous waist length hair that I would braid and run my fingers threw while he sat at the computer. He's buzz cut it all off.. can't get used to that.
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Ginger and Emma tell me I'm going to Oregon Flock and Fiber with them in a couple weeks. I haven't gone anywhere without Bill in so long....will be really wierd. I'll try to have a good time tho. I'll have to buy yarn.. or roving.. its like a rule.. isn't it? Oh my goodness.. sigh.. whatever shall I do!!