Road Trip, and Knitting

Since my last post, my BFF and I had a short but fun road trip.  Some of my friends followed the fun on Facebook, where I used a hashtag for the first time.  The #sandyandlindasupnorthadventure tag enabled us to see each other posts as well as anyone who wanted to vicariously join in the fun.

The first day was hot and sunny, but we rode in glorious air conditioned comfort, taking in Sea Shell City, Tahquamenon Falls (learning to spell it along the way) and Whitefish Point, with its Lake Superior shoreline and memorial to the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Falls, were thunderous and wonderous.  And I've never seen the big lake so peaceful.

After a nights sleep we awoke to a drizzly cloudy day.  Our first stop was a bear ranch, that takes in nuisance bears from the DNR, thus saving their lives.  While Sandy had her picture taken with a live cub, I opted for the safer, though fiercer looking fake bear.

Roar!

While heading down to US 2, the main east-west artery, we passed some sand hill cranes, and had to get a picture. 

And then while turning back around, of course we chose to use a cemetery, rather than a parking lot.

What else would you expect from the Cemetery Diva's?   We continued along  to the Lake Michigan shoreline.  It was doing its best to imitate the usual appearance of Lake Superior.

Even with the rain, we still had a good time.  It was down to a sprinkle when we hit the Casino for a bit. Later we returned to the land of the trolls, below "The Bridge", where we played tourist in Mackinaw City, shopping up a storm after a wonderful, if late, lunch. 

I got home after midnight, yet still earlier than I expected.

Whew, I guess I will leave the knitting details for another post.

Movie Time

My favorite old movie channel celebrates a star each month. This month, in addition to their star, Christopher Lee, with all his delightful monstery movies, Turner Classic Movies is also celebrating their monster of the month: Frankenstein.
Every Sunday evening they are presenting a round of Frankenstein movies. Tonight are the original and the early sequels, Bride of and Son of. The rest of the month will have a variety of Frankensteins.
As I watch them, I appreciate Gene Wilder's version, Young Frankenstein, even more. There are many inside jokes I didn't get then that I find hilarious now.
Time to settle in and watch and knit.

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In Memory of Those Who Gave All

In my family tree we have quite a few veterans. Probably even some I have not confirmed as having served. The veterans outnumber the fallen, but on this Memorial Day, when we honor the fallen, I would like to mention a couple from my mothers branch of the family tree who did make the ultimate sacrifice during war.

Although he is listed in the letter above as Paul Gilbert, his name was really Paul Davis. After GGrandma Ada Samis Gilbert died, GGrampa Roy married her sister Delia whose husband had died. Her son Paul enlisted as Gilbert instead of Davis, honoring GGrampa but also causing me great difficulty finding military information on him. As you can read, he died during World War II, on October 18, 1944 in Lorraine, France. He has a grave marker with his brother and parents in Michigan. I believe his body was returned after the war and is indeed buried there. I don't know if he was a part of D Day. But I do remember watching a movie about the landing, or perhaps a documentary. My mother mentioned something about wondering if cousin Paul was there. Either way, he was in the thick of battle. And I salute him.

The other member of my family who fell in battle is Gilbert Samis.

Gilbert Samis is a double cousin. His mother Sadie was my GGrampa Roy's sister and his father Frank was the brother of GGreat Grandma Ada, and Delia of course. According to a news clipping he fought in Mexico during the Spanish American War. He came home to help his father run a restaurant, but enlisted in February 1917 once again. He was wounded in battle at Chateau Thierry, France, recovered and returned to action. Sadly, just over a month before the Armistice, he was wounded again at Arogonne Forest in France and died of his wounds on October 28; just two weeks before the war ended, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I have always been so saddened by those who died within days of the end of war.

So in memory of these two family members as well as all the others who gave their lives, I give a heartfelt, humble thank you.

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Still Here, Still Knitting

Bit of a bump in our New Year's celebration here on the farm. Turns out nice wine comes in bottles with a cork. Not good in a home with no corkscrew. I know we could have poked it through, but I didn't want to deal with cork floaties.

So instead, armed with a new corkscrew, we drank out the first day of the new year.

I have been working on my navy tweed vest. Because it is so dark, most of my work has needed to be done earlier in the day. I am just a few rows from the end of waist shaping on the back and then clear sailing to armhole shaping. Still worrying if I have enough yarn, I am seriously considering using a contrast tan or khaki color to match the tweed flecks for the arm, neck and front bands. Then I could perhaps add contrast patch pockets, for a colorblock look.

And did I mention the Hitchhiker scarf/shawl I started. It is so addictive. I am using some natural color millends yarn from Stonehenge Mills. It is DK weight wool and I have 500 yards to work with. All garter stitch makes it easy. I am thinking about making another with the sparkly yarn I bought with my Christmas present purchased yarn. If so I will do the eyelet row option once every repeat.

I have completed 5 more teeth on the far side. That will make one one side edge. The cast off will be the third and shortest side. It will be an asymmetrical triangle as shown, just much bigger.

I may do a picot bind off, when I get that far, just for fun. I always need to make some change to the pattern.

And this coming week will be the end of the 2015 Lions Scoreboard Cowl. Tomorrow is the last game and when I finish knitting this week's score, I can finish up and join the ends.

And see just how huge it actually is.

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Stealthy No More the End

The last of my Christmas knitting did appear in a Fre preliminary pictures. But the pictures in no way resembled the final gift.

There was one picture similar to this:

And later it looked like this:

Yes, that is grafting being done there. I do it with a knitting method, instead of sewing method.

A few more items were needed.

And, after adding a peaked beak, it is nearly recognizable.

You got it. An owl , the big Beige Owl for Lil Farm Gal. The pattern is Big Snowy Owl on Ravelry and was made with Encore Mega, with scraps from the previously shown Mary Janes and Owly Hat.

Rather regal I think.

Originally I had planned other knitting, but in the name of sleep and sanity, I pared the list down. All in all though, not too bad a batch of knitting.

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Stealthy No More #2

Another one of my gift knitting items also made a couple sneak appearances on this blog.

These slippers were from the pattern named Leethal Mary Janes and were made for my daughter-in-law. I made them to more or less fit my feet, but a bit longer. I think they should fit fine since the garter stitch which makes up most of the foot is very stretchy.

They were knit with one strand of Plymouth Encore Mega in a black/gray and two strands of Encore worsted in the same silver that has been appearing in the Scoreboard Cowl.

The strap isn't buttoned, but sewn down with a button merely for decoration. These buttons looked perfect on the card. But next to the yarn they looked more brown so were replaced with plain black buttons.

Notice the large button canister in background. The plastic box on top holds the buttons and other fasteners. You can see I do have a good stash of random buttons to choose from.

Another present that I do want to mention, even though I think I already showed them here are the boot toppers I made for a teenager at church.

More stealth knitting with the last present tomorrow.

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Power!

A rather gusty night we had last night around the old farmstead. At midnight, in the middle of "High Society" that was being dvr'd, our lights went out.

And, even though we heat with wood, we rely on electricity to pump the water through the heat exchanger to heat the house. And pump the water. AND MAKE COFFEE!

And just now 20 hours later, it has come back. Whir of the fridge, whoosh of the furnace blowing sweet heat. Click of television, beeping of microwave. The lights! The satellite! It's back, all back.

I can take a shower, once the water heats, and watch my movies. Bliss.

Before long I can start shedding layers of wool. (There is a long sleeved turtleneck under all that wonderful wool too.)

I mentioned to someone today that I could be perfectly happy without power I'd only I could watch tv. Hey, the simple pleasures of life--wool and television.

And maybe heat.

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Small Steps

One thing I have noticed since Lewie came here to live is that it is really hard to get a good picture of a black cat. Especially when he doesn't cooperate.

But the upside is that as time goes on, the growling and staring (glaring?) by Leo has greatly diminished. I have even seen them both on the bed at the same time. Yes they were at opposite sides of the bed, but they seem to be adapting well.

On the knitting front, I have finished another birthday present.

Isn't just the cutest thing? I am considering making one in my size. The pattern is sized from baby to adult large, and now that I know how it works, it would be easily adjustable.

That leaves me with some Christmas knitting to do. I have even thought about casting on for another vest for me, this time in garter stitch. As though I don't have a pile of WIPs (Works In Progress) already.

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Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Was it only eight years ago when I began this humble blog? Way back in 2007, after seeing so many of my friends writing blogs about their knitting, I bit the bullet and signed in to blogger and started blogging.

Many of those same blogs I followed then have faded away. Others I have discovered and enjoy continue. I follow blogs of knitters in Scotland and Canada. Blogs of multi-taskers in Oklahoma, a weatherman in Grand Rapids, and a few farmers, scattered from Alberta, Canada to Wisconsin, are among those I still enjoy. Not many of those local friends still blog, at least with any regularity.

I miss those blogs I used to read that are no more. There was a knitter and backyard chicken farmer in Austrailia whose blog I particularly loved to read and miss.

Still, I trudge along with my little blathering here, grateful to whoever happens to read them. My readership has possibly increased with my discovering how to share them on Facebook. Nothing like self promotion, huh?

Sometimes it takes real effort to think of something to write, signified by longish pauses here. Other times I have so many ideas, I could post several times a day if I typed them, instead of just composing them in my head.

Blogging has been a great source of discipline. It keeps me on task with my knitting and writing, even if I sometimes need to be reminded by a friend when it has been a while since a post. I love the challenges I sometimes set, like a poem a day for a month, or just posting daily. (November is a lousy time for National Blogging Daily Month, just saying.) I love having a reason to just write, even if I don't get many readers. Or even any readers.

So, to any of you reading this, thanks for the support. And if you start your own blog, let me know. I'd love to follow it.

 

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A Couple of Day Trippers

It all started with a trip to the former fiber festival at the Castle in Charlevoix. A year ago they changed it to an Artisans Show, with the addition of various crafts in addition to the fibery folks. There were people with handcrafted jewelry, carvings, and hand sewn items as well as the usual yarns and fleeces.

My partner in crime for the day was my former boss and still friend Sandy. We had a wonderful scenic drive up M-37 through Traverse City to Charlevoix. We wandered around and made several purchases.

A gadget box for knitters, a flowered purse type bag (too small for my everyday usage but great for special occasions), and a large tote, as well as some alpaca socks (a gift). I also got some mohair boucle in a chocolate brown, and a smaller size skein in the same color of my late poodle Gilbert. The sweatshirt shown comes later in the story. The pink bag also was purchased there. It holds a watch face. They sold beaded watches with them, but they were all too small for my fat wrist. Sandy and her hubby do bead work, so they will make me a stretchy band for it.

While I had a fun time there, I was dissapointed. The one item I had wanted to purchase wasn't there. I wanted some crazy yarn in natural colors from Stonehedge Fiber Mill. And all they had was multicolored and they had left the natural at the mill. Darn. (One of the gals in their stall gave me a price and a contact to call at the mill to see if I could order some direct.) The other disappointment was that many favorite vendors I looked for were not there. And I really am not a craft show shopper.

I'm not sure if I will return to the show again.

Well. By the time we left there, I needed lunch. So we went in search of a restaurant in Charlevoix. But Charlevoix was hosting another event in downtown. Traffic was crazy. All a sudden, we were no where near the place we wanted to eat and on the other side of Charlevoix, on the way to Petoskey. Once there, Sandy casually mentioned we were only about an hour to The Bridge. (To true Michiganians that means one bridge--Mackinac!) I grinned and said I hadn't been there since '96.

So after we ate, we were heading farther north. And before long.....Mackinaw City!

Want further proof?

 

 

We also got a few souvenirs. The I (heart) Michigan sweatshirt shown above, and I picked up a green Colonial Michilimackinac water bottle. No fudge, no pasties, no visit to the island. But...The Bridge.

And with that we headed back to do some beach combing in Charlevoix and Petoskey stones. After a bit, I sat to dry my feet and sandals. And try to call Hubby, at 8:30.

Before long we reluctantly turned south, entered "home" in the GPS and were on our way.

A great and unexpected day. Anytime you can touch the water of the Straits is a good day. Or two. It was 2am Sunday before I got home and to bed.

 

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Stealth Project #1

Finished and delivered.

When I decided to make an owl for my owly friend, I searched and even purchased several patterns. But this one, available on both Craftsy and Ravelry as The Guardian Owl, was hands down the winning pattern. It last was seen here on the blog looking rather like a mysterious hat-like mound of wool. Or rather alpaca. It is knit from a bulky rose gray alpaca yarn I had ferreted out of the stash. And to make it even more personal, it is stuffed with roving from the llamas once owned by the recipient.

This is the pattern I mentioned I wanted to knit using the magic loop technique of knitting. After wrapping my brain around the concept, I think I may be using it often for sleeves as well as for socks. Especially when traveling with sock projects. It certainly eliminates the possibility of dropping a needle on the go.

Best of all with this little owly, I think it is well liked. I love knitting for someone who really appreciates the effort that is part of the gift. (Pictured here with recipient and friend, instead of Lizzy, for scale.)

 

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The Small Things in Life

It has been a great birthday, although nothing special was done. Laundry, split wood with Hubby, reading, old movies, and of course, playing with yarn. But the part I liked best was when Younger Son decided to take a vacation day because his machine at work has been torn down since Saturday. No need to take him to work since Hubby is at the auction tonight. And best of all, no morning run to pick him up from work at 6am.

Life is good.

Birthday Poem: It's the Small Things

My favorite present has to be

That Younger Son is taking a vacation day.

What a feeling it is to me

Knowing tomorrow morning, in bed I can stay.

No wake up calls at 5 o'clock.

A birthday gift received with delight

As the alarm I can block

And cling a bit longer to sleep tonight.

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Poetry Month, Day 5. ALLELUIA!

I found this listed as in the public domain.  It is one of my favorite  Easter hymns that we unfortunately didn't sing today.   And it is lovely poetry.  Enjoy these extra verses that usually don't make it into the hymnals.

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today

1. Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

2. Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun's eclipse is o'er, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!

3. Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

4. Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

5. Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

6. Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

7. King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

8. Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

9. But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He's King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

10.Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Words: Stanzas 1-7, Charles Wesley, 1739. Stanzas 8-10, 14th Century; translated in Lyra Davidica.
Music: 'Llanfair' Robert Williams, 1817.
Setting: John Roberts, 1837.
copyright: public domain.

Poetry Month, Day 4

Good thing I didn't promise a poem every day. I missed yesterday. But I will see what manner of drivel I can come up with today. Here goes.

Geese honking in fields,

Frogs chirping in the pastures.

Spring? Could it be here?

Happy Easter. A day early.

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Ode to Tractor Day

It's the day to drive your tractor to school.

The day when being a farm kid is cool.

There are tractors red and tractors green.

Even orange and blue are there to be seen.

Cheers to the students in ag studies and FFA

For sharing their passion in the farming way.

For eleven straight years they celebrate spring

When to high school or middle school their tractors they bring.

And to parents, teachers, and ag business I say:

Thanks for supporting "Drive Your Tractor to School Day!"

 

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Christmas Knitting--Check!

I sat down this evening, after not even touching yarn yesterday (yes, shocking isn't it?) and knocked off the thrummed mittens.

Shown here with the usual small fat dog included for scale, they should keep Lil' Farm Gal's hands warm and toasty. You can see how fat and stuffed the mittens are. Remember they are filled with the wool thrums.

They won't be quite so plump once all that wooly goodness felts down. They are snug on me, but should fit her wonderfully.

Here is a better picture of them.

Now back to the Green Flowy Cardigan. Once the back is finished, I plan to seam my Blue Blood Red Cardi so I can add the front and neck bands. And then wear it!

And maybe swatch something new. A Custom Fit vest I think is next in queue. And maybe another sweater for my Little Farmer.

 

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