Category: Blog

Congratulations to the Middleton family! Henry is here! Yay Erin!!! He’s a gorgeous boy!

So to start of the retelling of this past weekend I will recant in chronological order.

Before we left the house Tyler informed me he would not wait any longer for a haircut like Daddy’s. So out came the scissors & clippers.

Now just to refresh your memory here is a picture of Tyler before the haircut (he had his head hanging out the window while we drove home from school so it’s all windswept but look how much there is!)

Now the new & I suppose improved (I am not happy about him not having his ‘surfer dude’ haircut anymore) hair.

And of course Tyler & Daddy together with their matching haircuts!

Now for the pile of hair that came off his head. If you are squeamish at such things scroll down for the fun wedding stuff.

Now onto the fun weekend stuff!!

We arrived at the Anderson house and John, Tracy’s dad, had our beds all set up for us.

Now with our little adjustments, our blankies & pillows. It’s a little creepy that Tracy & I are so much alike that we have the same blankets (little differences in color choices) and the same pillows (hers with extra pillowcase, mine without).

On to the wedding! Yay!

The ceremony itself was the most amazing, perfect, appropriate ceremony I have ever been to. The blending of the two families belief systems was seamless & that is a bit of a feat when you are blending spiritual Californians with Jewish New Jersey-ans. The two families couldn’t be more alike, oddly the Gimpel’s are the east coast version of the Wilfords. I know most of you reading this don’t know Ali or our connection so quickly here it is.

We met in the 7th grade & were instantly attached at the hip. We found it rather perfect that we were opposite in some ways, I had black hair and she has blonde, but we were so the same in most other ways! Our love of what was really ‘wierd’ music such as The Dead Milkmen (a little more on that later) and the love of black clothing. Now, I don’t mind aging myself so I will tell you that this was in 1988 when most people didn’t wear black at all. It is really very sad to me that the only way I have to describe what we looked like is to compare us to ‘goth’ kids. Lots of loud punk rock moments in those years!

Now we are grown adults, boring in all our normalcy.

Back to the wedding & reception. It was held at a gorgeous winery in the the Sierra Foothills about 30 miles east of Sacramento in Shingle Springs, CA. Towering oaks, pines and willows that were blowing in the afternoon breeze in 90 degree weather. It wasn’t too hot and the wind was just cool enough to make it rather comfortable to sit out in it. They were married in a gazebo with the vineyards around and behind for a beautiful view. The farmhouse setting of the reception was perfect with a deck for dancing.

Once inside the farmhouse reception room there were our tables, named after different wines. Ali’s mom, Cindy, made all of the invitations, name cards, wedding programs, centerpieces (olive trees with moss around their bases in pots) and table settings. Absolutely amazing woman!

Alison & Ross both had toasts made to their honor by the closest people to them. Words have such a way of conveying feelings beyond what is being said. This is one occasion that the feelings were overwhelming, love and respect namely. Ross’ brother, the best man, wrote and played a song for them, humorous & loving, while the man of honor held the microphone.

Then the dancing began!!

As a special honor to ‘us’, Ali had the dj play Punk Rock Girl by The Dead Milkmen and we danced together! It’s nice she is so much taller than me, I can twirl under her arms. She is a great dance leader!

It was so hot I had to go barefoot, heels off so I didn’t slip out of them! You do notice, don’t you, that there is noone else dancing?? The ‘floor’ cleared out for us, we were a bit scary I think!

Overall it was a fantastic wedding & I am so VERY glad that we took the time to go! Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Ross and Alison Gimpel!

Tracy, thank you so much for being my date! I am sure there are better pictures of us but here is the one on my camera! I suppose I really should have checked to see if Angel took a decent one! Oh well!

 

Here are the finished socks that I used the handdyed, food colored yarn.

I LOVE THE YARN! It’s Knitpicks merino fingering weight dye your own. There they are on the dashboard of Tracy’s car on the drive home from Cameron Park on Sunday night, 11pm or so.

Here are the eagle’s flight socks that I finished this afternoon.

I cannot make the picture do justice to these socks. I don’t have the patience today so you all will have to just see them in person or wait for me to get my act together & take a better photo.

The other socks I am working on are the tropicana socks from this months magknits. I started them while at Tracy’s parents house Saturday evening while watching Munich. Amazing movie!!

I also started a pair of socks for my sp. I am using a stitch pattern from some book, can’t remember where I found it, probably Stitchionary. The yarn is leftover from a pair of socks I made my sister, twinkletoes yarn from Over the Rainbow Yarns on Ebay, in bluegoose colorway.

They will be shorter socks due to the amount of yarn I have but I think they will be very cute when finished! I think I will leave the pattern running down the instep of the sock.

I have decided this evening that I will get out the Vogue sweater I started & work on it as well as my socks.

 

I have many things to post about but since I am not feeling so hot (George who was home from work yesterday, Tyler who is home sick today & Trevor have all been & still are sick with a yucky throat-y cold thing) I will not do a half assed post when each item needs it’s own special moment. Mostly Ali’s wedding that I attended last Sunday. Suffice it to say that it was by far, hands down, the most perfect wedding I have ever been to. Hands down. I have a few pictures from the reception to share too. I was so paying attention during the ceremony that I didn’t get the camera out to take any pics of them. I loved the setting, Sogno winery in the Sierra foothills. Enough or I will go on & on & without pictures and the story it’s just not right.

I finished a pair of socks on the trip, the simple stockinette socks using my own dyed sock yarn.I have the eagle’s flight socks almost done. I am decreasing the toe on the second sock. If I get in there this afternoon they will be done for my next photo post.

I started the tropicana socks from magknits this month. Using some amazing sock yarn from Over the Rainbow Yarns on Ebay (link on the right bar, over there).

I love how they are turning out! Gorgeous yarn, as always! I love the vibrancy of the colors, I will do my best to do it justice when I show the progress pics.

I also started a pair of socks of my own design using leftover yarn from socks I made for my sister Stacy. I will post more on them also.

That is a lot of stuff to post about! I will do it later this afternoon probably, to escape the after school madness of the kids.

Here is the latest pic of the progress on the tulip socks. I am having fun knitting them and have yet to come up with an opinion on the color combo. I don’t really care actually!

I am not a fan of short row heels. I feel they don’t have the stability & long wear of a flap heel. But I did them anyways, I wanted to at least follow the pattern mostly. I did do wrapped stitches instead of just turning the short rows. I like being able to pick up the wrap with the stitch instead of a bar from the stitch below. Less messy in my eyes. Still not my favorite heel.

Knitting was great fun last night! I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Lots of good ideas, fun seeing new projects & Rachel was there!! Yay! We haven’t seen her for close to 9 months, that is one long time!

Now Erin has told me there is a possibility of me buying a used spinning wheel from a woman in the guild. That has occupied my mind since the moment she told me! What do I need to sell to come up with the extra money for it??? My first born? My last born?? Totally joking, of course!

Tracy & I are going up north (again) this weekend for a wedding on Sunday, my friend Alison & her fiance Ross. It will be at a wonderful winery in the foothills on a fabulous early summer day! Forecast of 90 but that is doable. I will take my camera & see what wonderful shots of the wedding, winery, Tracy & I, I can manage to eek out. I removed the one button I had placed on the short’n’sweet and now there are 2 buttons so it’s  much more form fitting. I promise to post a pic of me wearing it. Not that you are all dying to see it but I thought I would try to impress you with my gorgeousness anyway!

Everyone have a lovely weekend!

I was really wondering if it was just me in a knitting funk/slump but Christine has reminded me I am not alone in my knitting woe’s. I have been knitting, socks. That is it. No sweaters, no beautiful lacy things. And now it is making me a little sad. I would like to whip out a sweater in a few days but with the warmer weather I am finding the thought rather daunting. And what a let down! Finish a gorgeous, wool beauty & can’t wear it for the next 5 months. But there is hope! I went through all of my pattern binders today, there are 8 of them all categorized, reorganizing & putting new patterns in their neat little page protectors. I found a bit of inspiration in those pages! Duh, summer knits! I am not a big fan of holey items. Many magazines & patterns have turned me off due to their nippley effect. I won’t be shy about it, I don’t want mine showin’ all over the place like that! I am also too lazy to sew liners in them, way too lazy. I have 2 tanks from last summer that need liners sewn in them & yet there they sit in the cupboard behind me just waiting. No thanks!

Then I remembered I have 2 projects on needles that are summery, colorful & things I would actually like to wear this summer. The sweater from Spring/Summer Vogue knits

My color choice is not so tulip-y though. I am using some Palette yarn I had on hand. I am not caring that they are not even close the the suggested colorway, I like the oddball colors. You know, the usual Chauntel thing. I am about halfway through the leg chart and wondering just how ugly they really will be

I guess they are fun enough. They are really fun to knit so the color choices are fine either way!

I am a cheap gardener. I hate to pay for plants when you can divide, take cuttings & conquer! Geraniums are ridiculously easy to take cuttings & root in water. Then when they are a bit more woody looking than the one in the glass on the right, you stick it in the dirt! Around here they can go straight into the ground, you don’t have to pot them first if you don’t want to. They take very little water & love the full sun we get! I have been known to grab a handful of geraniums out of containers around town & stick them in a glass in my car while I am out & about town. Hello?!!? Free plants!!!

I had high hopes for this holiday weekend being a fantastic one. Alas, I am too lazy & way too frustrated with people to venture out with the whole family to a suburbanized campground & just be grumpy.

We have had fun though, knitting, crocheting, bbq’ing, dinner out on the pier, Michaels 50% off coupons, church, Sunday drive, RELAXING, playing games, family movies, marathons on tv. See?? I put it all out there like that & I had a busy weekend!

Speaking of half off coupons, Tracy & I used ours at Michaels today. I love my Good to Go knit tote that I use for all my sock knitting. SO I thought my pal might enjoy one also. I also got 20 cloissone beads & lobster clasps to make her some stitch markers & row markers. For a shawl/lace knitter, which she is, there can be nothing better than receiving 20 stitch markers!!

Hers is all wrapped in the box on the left, I have mine out to show the size & shape of the bag.

I also finished one of the Eagle’s Flight socks that I am making. I do love this pattern. I am using Trekking XXL in color 101 on size 1 dpn’s. Here is a closeup of the stitch detail.

With how perfect the fit is I don’t think I will block these socks. I couldn’t get a good picture of them on, I hate the way the camera angles are all screwed up. So you will just have to wait to see them as a pair!

I didn’t get the SP package sent out because of Memorial Day weekend but I am now rethinking what I am sending. I may send her the knit bag in this package first. She has a trip coming up & I think she could possibly use it! Must repack the box, good thing I ran out of packing tape & didn’t get it sealed shut!

 

My sp sent me the cutest card! I love knit cards, especially when they say that there will be a package of goodies in the future!

On the other side of sp8 I have a package all ready to send, I just have to get my sorry ass to the post office to send it! That is one of my major faults, not sending things in a timely manner. If it needs a stamp, I got you covered! But don’t ask me to go out of the house to mail something. I hate it. But I will happily do it for my secret pal!!!

It will be called the sunflower package. She loves sunflowers! I made her a really fun kitchen scrubby & am sending the pattern with the yarns & an extra scrubby for her to make one on her own if she wishes. Plus a ton of fun sunflower stationary accoutrements, so cute!

It’s the last Thursday of the month & that means I don’t get to go to knitting this week. sigh. How depressing! But I am glad that George & his guys get together for their thing so I really won’t complain!

I started a sock out of the pink/orange/rust/wannabe-brown yarn last night. I think it needs a name. Let’s call it salmon copper or some such name. How about you leave a comment with a name suggestion if you think of one! It’ll be fun, come on!

Starting toe up I will consider using a fun stitch pattern on this sock. I am thinking of maybe a palm leaf pattern out of the Stitchionary1 book. But until I get the foot increases done I won’t start it anyways.

I keep looking at the Patagonia cotton I bought & want so badly to make something using it but I can’t seem to make my mind up. I am thinking a fitted kimono type sweater. 3/4 sleeves & crossover front. We’ll see. I have no desire to make a sweater right now anyway so that is just fine if I take my time.

I am so happy we get to see the sun! It makes for gorgeous May days!