Happy New Year!
It's time to take down the Christmas tree, pack away the old year, and prepare for 2006. This past year has been, umm, challenging, to say the least. There have been some extreme changes for me, career-wise, and not necessarily all good changes, but I have a job, a home, a wonderful husband, a great family, and good health. We've had some great times along with some tough ones. Our refrigerator, while less than eight years old, is showing signs of going to that big freon depository in the sky, and the fan in the computor has been making ugly sounds. It will be interesting to see what the new year brings. All in all, we're very lucky, and have many blessings for which to be thankful.
I am especially thankful for yarn! Our lovely and talented mail carrier delivered two new skeins of beautiful Opal yarn this week. I know, I know, I already have a 'little' Opal (scroll down to see the full extent of my addiction and read my Opal poem), but there was a sale...it was half-price...it's preeeetttttyyyy!

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little poem I wrote many years ago. Hope you enjoy it!

In the stillness after Christmas, in the silence of the snow,
with the singing of the carols and the candles all aglow—
when the gifts have all been opened and the ribbons stored away,
you can feel the joyous tidings of a baby born one day.
In the crush of Christmas shopping, in the dash from store to store,
it becomes so very easy to forget what it’s all for!
But in the stillness after Christmas, when the rushing is all done,
you can take the time to ponder on a special tiny son.
And the miracle of Christmas is remembering that he lay
in an ordinary manger in a stable, far away.
In the stillness after Christmas, you can take the time to know
of the shepherds in a meadow who first saw a new star grow.
And our hearts will still remind us of that baby’s holy glow
in the stillness after Christmas, in the silence of the snow.

Becky Yoder 11-18-1977

In the light of the day of the celebration of the greatest gift ever given, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year

Brainteasers Galore
How much trivia is stored in your brain? Go here: MSN Encarta quiz page to find out. There are quizes for everyone. So far I've done the Famous First Lines, How Bookish Are You? and Harry Potter quizzes. Cheap fun for a cold, cold night.
I cast on a new pair of socks yesterday. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Socknitter's Fall Sunset on two size 0 circs. You can see the yarn here. It's the two balls in the lower right corner of the picture. I'm using the Jaywalker pattern. I've finished the top ribbing and the first row of the pattern.
Did I mention it's COLD here?
And now some comment feedback.
Laura asked: do you own that snow blower thingie??
Why yes, yes we do. Rich bought the tractor and mower deck cheap, cheap, cheap last summer as a fixer-upper, then just got the snow thrower last week. The thrower cost more than the tractor! It's the first time we've ever had anything like that, and it sure is nice. It doesn't look like we have much snow in the pictures, but you can't see the knee-deep drifts that covered our driveway. It's so flat and open around us that the snow just blows on through everywhere except where we have to drive and walk. By the way, a PT Cruiser is crap in the snow. Just sayin'.
Marguerite said: Spring is just around the corner??? Tell me more. I'd love to believe that instead of thinking there are about three more months of this stuff to endure.
Well, yes, it is just around the corner...it's only that the corner is a long, long way off...but just think: we're closer to this spring than we are to last spring! OK, we do what we must here in Michigan to make it through the winter, even if it means complete and utter self-deception.
I did mention that it's cold outside?

Welcome to the Winter Wonderland!
...but Spring is just around the corner!
Merry Christmas to all!

Something Fishy...
My little fishies are done. They measure about 6" long and 4" across. You can find the pattern here: Fish Afghan . Several of us are knitting them, and they'll be sewn together to make a gift for a special someone. I can hardly wait to see the finished blanket!
Now I get to knit something for me. What shall it be? Some of my ever-expanding Opal stash? The yummy alpaca I bought at the alpaca shop? Decisions...decisions... oh, yeah, I still need to knit some little red sweaters for the art installation (see my crappy self-designed button at right).

South Park Me!
This is fun...I found it at Rose-Kim Knits
I'm not a big South Park fan, but I do like the picture. You can make your own South Park character HERE . I may have to change the picture in my profile.

I'm knitting some little fishies from Red Heart Fiesta for a baby blanket -- very cute. Will post a pic when they're done. Only a few more rows to finish them up.

Hi, Kate!
Just checking the comments and found this one from 'Kate'.
Kate F. said...
Just found your blog! I laughed so hard my kids thought I was crying! Those were some funny sites...I especially liked the ebay add --- someone needs to hire that guy! Any chance you'd explain how you did the rolled cuff on your socks? They are beautiful! I want some too! Kate/Massachusetts
Thanks for the kind words, Kate. I'm glad you stopped by. A rolled cuff is easy: you just knit every stitch for as many rounds as you like. The top will automatically roll. Check out the link in the December 1 post to the Sockie and Bob pattern I used as the inspiration for my socks. There are lots of nice patterns there, and Sockie and Bob is very well written, with several variations to choose from.

There has been knitting, but not a lot. I just have a few more rows to finish thesock-of-the-month pattern I've been working on, and it's turning out very well! I need to knit several fish for a baby blanket this week, and want to knit some tiny red sweaters for the art installation (click on the 'red sweaters' button at right to learn more). Then I think I'll knit for me me ME!
Cheers!

...and an Angel of the Lord came unto her...
Oh, I forgot to tell about this! Rich's Christmas office party was Wednesday evening. His boss took all the office staff and their spouses/SOs to the Blue Gate Restaurant (voted the third-best restroom in the U.S., I've been told. I find that oddly amusing. I mean, I used them, they're nice enough, but...???) in Shipshewana, Indiana, the town where I work. We had a family-style dinner and then saw a play called "Dove Tale," by Ted and Lee, a contemporary re-telling of the Christmas story. It's very cleverly written, with only three actors, a handful of props, and inventive set and costume changes throughout.
The guy who played Joseph and Zechariah and a shepherd who spoke, rather disconcertingly, with an odd Irish accent, reminded me of Jerry, a good friend of ours who moved to Texas last year, although Jerry doesn't have the accent. The actor who played the archangel Gabriel is very tall and wore the most wonderful bright-yellow canvas high-topped tennis shoes.
So Thursday afternoon I was at work in the shop, and I looked up and there stood Gabriel...well, there stood the guy who portrays Gabriel...and I thought, "Crap! I hope he's not here to tell me I'm pregnant!" (He wasn't, in case you're wondering. He was just looking around.)
There was knitting in the play...well, the "shepherds" brandished knitting needles and yarn and pretended to knit.

A Dollar for Christmas (and Tripping Down Memory Lane with Ghosts of Christmases Past)
I get a weekly newsletter called "NeatNew and exLibris," written by Marylaine Block. I think I've mentioned it here before. Today's issue had a link to this essay: The Present Value of One. Ms. Block has written about the many and varied things we can still buy for kids with one lowly dollar bill. It's worth a read.
Now, I can remember a time when my mom would drive me to the grocery store, hand me a dollar, and send me in for three pounds of hamburger. AND I got change back. I don't know what the minimum wage was forty-odd years ago, but I know those dollars came as a result of many hours of hard work on our farm.
On one memorable occasion, probably in the early-to-mid-1960s, Mom spent, like, $45.00 on groceries. As I recall, the cash register tape was about three or four feet long. Bear in mind that we raised our own beef, had our own dairy herd for milk, and canned or froze a lot of our vegetables and fruits, so this was probably for other stuff, like cleaning supplies and sugar and flour and other staples. Dad hit the roof.
"How did you manage to spend that much money on groceries?" A, umm, "discussion" ensued. I seem to recall that the receipt ended up being taped to the wall beside Dad's chair at the kitchen table, and Mom checked off the items as she used them, until Dad got the message and threw it away.

As a child, one of my favorite Christmas songs was this one, from an album (yes a VINYL ALBUM, jeeze I'm old!) called Christmas is for Children.

I've Got Eighteen Cents
I've got eighteen cents to spend for Christmas:
Don't know what to do.
Must buy gifts for Mom and Dad
And Sister and Teacher and Rover, too.

I'll get Daddy two big books of matches
For when he wants to smoke
Mommy'll get a new ashtray
Just like the one I kinda broke!

A penny for the matches, a nickel for the tray
That leaves twelve whole cents!
And Rover gets a soupbone the butcher gives away
And Teacher gets a ruler to take measurements.

That will leave ten cents to spend for Christmas
Sis gets a candy bar.
Then I'll still have five cents left
To buy our tree a silver star

Sorry, I don't know the artist or composer, and am writing the words from memory. Call me and I'll sing a few bars for you. I guess it's not so PC these days to talk about buying smoking-related gifts for one's parents, but you must know that in those days, even hospitals and bank lobbies had ashtrays. Indoors.
The album also had "The Little Christmas Stocking with the Hole in the Toe" and a song about a place called, I think, "Tinkertown" where the "folks are no different from us, but their voices they can't control. When Tinkertown folks all start to sing, it sounds like they're standing in a hole." Of course a Christmas carol fixed that little problem and there was a happy ending.
That record and Fred Waring (of blender fame) and the Pennsylvanians' Twas the Night Before Christmas ("Rudolph, you crazy, mixed-up reindeer!") were the soundtrack of many childhood Christmases. I know you remember, Cherryl!
So here I sit beside a Christmas tree with lights and a few ornaments on it. Guess I should get away from this keyboard and add a few baubles and bangles. Happy childhood memories, and, 'God bless us, every one.'

My Day Off Was A Bust...but there was laughter!
Not much that I had planned got done today, but I did have a couple of incidents of uncontrollable giggling that I, being the generous chickie that I am, will share with you here.

Check out this wonderful Ebay ad: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8335653541 Don't forget to read the Q & A that follows.

The Yarn Harlot had a bad (but funny) day: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ If you're reading this on a day that is NOT December 6th (or Sunday, read my previous post if you don't already know what that's about), be sure to look for the December 6th post re: goat hair.

And then there's this: http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000300.html which I found through the Ebay ad.

For your own (and your computer's) safety, do not drink while reading these sites. It is my purpose in life to amuse you...sometimes I even do it intentionally!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...
Anyone who knows me well knows that I cannot be trusted with a calendar (or with any sort of hand tool, if you plan on ever finding it again). Yes, Sunday fell on December 4th, not the 6th. I will defend my decision to go ahead with the drawing Monday morning by saying Sunday is Sunday, and since the word 'Sunday' in this case preceeded the phrase 'December 6th,' I stuck with Sunday. I apologize for any confusion or disappointment I caused. :D

That said, Pat's bag is in the mail and on its way to her. Hope you like it, Pat, and thanks again for visiting Sunnybook's Yarns!

This is my day off. I had big plans for it. sigh.

...and we have a winner!
I had four people comment on the blog; two at the site, and two via email. Since I didn't specify that the comments had to be left in the comments spot, and this is an autocracy and not a democracy, I'm not disqualifying any of you. You all have a really, really good chance to win, though!
Soooo, Cherryl, and Fran, and Kathy , and Pat (the librarian in me made me line you up in alphabetical order by first name. sigh), I'm putting names on little slips of paper, folding them neatly...and tossing them into the air.

************************
The one that landed on my lap was Pat Collins from just outside Toledo, Ohio.
Congrats, Pat! As for the rest of you, I'm sorry I couldn't afford to send you all one. Keep checking back. I'll have another drawing one day, and the next time it just might be you!
Pat, email me with your address and I'll mail out your bag tomorrow on my day off work.

Liz and Frankie, finished at last!
I finished these Sunday. They're my adaptation of "Liz and Frankie" in the Sockie and Bob and a Few of Their Friends pattern. It's available from Sunshine Knit Designs and I'd been coveting it, but I got my copy as a gift in my last Bottle Swap -- Thanks again, Tina!. There are several designs in the pattern. This one has a pretty, simple three-stitch twist down the leg.
I made a few changes: 2x2 rib after rolled edge, lengthened leg, skipped some color changes, and Eye of Partridge stitch for the heel flap.
I used Opal Uni-Solid for the cuff and toe, and Cervinia Calzetteria for the leg. The blue is slightly heavier than the Opal and not quite as soft, but very pretty, heathery yarn, and it worked nicely with Opal.
Both socks were knit at one time on 2 size 0 circs, using both ends of the balls of yarn, and I had just a few inches of the blue left over when the socks were finished.

I bought several of these little bags in various fabrics at the shop next to mine this week. They're the perfect sock-knitting project size, have two main compartments big enough for yarn and work-in-progress, plus a place to hold a water bottle, a little pocket on the front for scissors, stitch markers, tape measure, etc., and a small zippered pocket on the back, too. They have a carrying handle on the top and a detachable shoulder strap -- I've detached mine, and now I can't find it, LOL! Very cute bags, and they'll make great gifties. There will be one in my December Bottle Swap package. Would you like one? Leave a comment on my blog between now and, oh, let's say Sunday, December 6th. I'll hold a drawing and someone will get a nifty little bag, my choice of fabric!
Yes, those are Kermit the Frog's toes just visible at the top of the pictures. He lives on my DVD/VHS shelf during the year, but has a place of honor on every Christmas tree. I was a huge fan of the amazingly talented and imaginative Jim Henson. You know, everyone has their impossible fantasy jobs that they know they'll never get, but dream about anyhow? Well, my three fantasy jobs were these: singing backup for James Taylor, going up in the Space Shuttle, and working for Jim Henson. Henson died far too young and I think maybe I'm too old and fat now for NASA, and so I guess that just leaves the singing gig...James? are you out there? I'm willing to travel...
Time to go back to bed and get a few more hours of sleep before I have to get up and go to work. I'm hopeful that I won't have to unload and unbox another truckfull of furniture today...yesterday was enough for this old, fat lady!

Red Sweaters
My friend, Jill sent me a link to this site: RedSweaters . I shall begin knitting tiny red sweaters in honor of our daughter-in-law's brother, who will be going to Iraq soon.

In other news...

I'm off work today. I plan to begin hauling Christmas frippery down from the attic. Hope to get the tree up and at least partially decorated before a very important appointment this afternoon. It might also be a good idea to put away the rest of the camping gear that's still heaped in the dining room from our last campout in early October. No sense rushing into these things.

Big Changes at Sunnybook Yarns!
I was tired of the look of the old blog, too dark, too Victorian, too...not me. So I've changed my template to this brighter, cleaner, roomier one. Hope you like it! I've added a button you can steal if you so desire and have the know-how to do so. I know barely enough to create it and then to get it into the template, so you're on your own!
There has been some knitting. I'm past the gusset decreases on my adapted Liz & Frankie socks, and I'm loving them. Pictures to come.
I am home sick from work today...the Crud of the Week continues. sigh. I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. It's cold and snowy and the roads are slick, nevertheless I must haul myself over to the license branch to renew plates and driver's license, since they expire tomorrow on my birthday. Had planned to do it tonight after work, but might as well get it over with and come home to hunker down against the weather.
Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am truly thankful for all that I have, for my family, friends, and home, and for knitting!

This is too funny, and not for the humor-challenged!
Go to this link to read my blog 'translated' into a Cockney dialect: http://rinkworks.com/dialect/dialectp.cgi?dialect=cockney&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sunnybookyarns.blogspot.com ! It helps to know that some Cockney words are derived from rhyming, so "I 'ave a new Uncle Bob" means "I have a new job" (job rhymes with Bob, you see). Heeheehee!
You can translate into other dialects, too, by going here: http://rinkworks.com/dialect/. Select the dialect you want to try ("Swedish Chef" is funny, too, "Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!"), and type the URL you want to translate into the box.
So, go have some fun!

Oh, and this site is called "Really Bad Jokes"...http://www.rinkworks.com/jokes/ . Don't say I didn't warn you!

Harlot!

So, back in September I was at my knitting guild meeting at the not-so-local yarn shop. Jack, the owner of the shop was telling us about some author who was coming to the store. He asked us if there was anyone we'd like to see there.

Now, we're not a quiet group, and it was an especially noisy meeting, so I called out, "Can you get the Yarn Harlot?"

Jack replied, "I can get anyone I want!" We all scoffed, and that was the end of it...or so we thought.

Next thing I knew, in just a couple of days there was an email to the group from Jack, announcing that the Yarn Harlot would be at his shop in, like, a week and a half! Jack had pulled some strings, ordered a bajillion copies of the bookbookbook, and got Stepanie Pearl-MacPhee to shoehorn in a stop at his shop in between a couple of other appearances.

As luck would have it, we were scheduled to be out of town the day she was at the shop, so I emailed my sister and begged her to go to the Big Event and get a copy of the bookbookbook autographed for me. She is SUCH a good sister!

Steph and Cherryl, hangin' at the shop...

How Cute!
I bought these adorable little sock purses at the shop next to the one where I work. Some will be gifts, but one or two will be for mememe!
Guess which one I picked first?
Notice: NO purple!
I love the little kissing bees. They're attached by a wound-up string. When you pull them apart, they make big smooching sounds and they say, "I LOVE you! I LOVE you!"
Oops! Time for CBS Sunday Morning -- my favorite show of the week! Later...

Your Birthdate: November 24

You understand people well and are a natural born therapist. A peacemaker, people always seem to get along when you are around. You tend to be a father or mother figure to friends, even to those older than you. You enjoy your role, and you find that you are close to many people. Your strength: Your devotion Your weakness: Reliance on others for happiness Your power color: Lilac Your power symbol: Heart Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

My 'power color' is lilac??? Bwahhhhaaahaaaahaahaaa.

Haahaahahaaa. Heeheehee...hah.

Apparently this device does not understand my work-related aversion to anything purple! Everything else is pretty accurate, though. I am a pearl beyond price...heeheehee...

Rich's Boring Navy Blue Opals
They're done! I Kitchenered the toes while watching Everwood last night, washed them today and here they are! Boring, huh? They did turn out well, though, and they fit, and he's wearing them right now. I do love this yarn!
Now on to something more interesting...

Since I had the day off today I decided to run some errands. My birthday is fast approaching, as is the expiration date on my driver's license and the plates on my car. I went to the license branch...closed for Veteran's Day. sigh... Happy day, Veterans, and thank you! You deserve this special day.

Nothing to see here...
Working is cutting seriously into my knitting time, so I have nothing to report but I didn't want the blog to feel neglected. I am just a few rows from beginning the toe decreases on Rich's boring navy blue Opal socks. There's a shop that sells all sorts of alpaca stuff just across the hall from the shop where I've been working. They have YARN! They're talking about expanding into a full-service yarn shop, which would be disastrous to my budget. I picked up a little finger puppet shaped like an alpaca for my Bottle Swap partner and a couple of skeins of yarn in a pretty, dark green to try out.
Upstairs from our store is a wonderful chocolate shop, and a puppet theater/shop. I bought two sheep puppets there, one for me and one for the lucky partner. I hope she likes puppets! I suspect there will be chocolate in the bottle, too...and probably a skein or two of alpaca yarn.
Nothing else to tell right now. I shall go knit, and maybe have something to show next time.

I Belong in Gryffindor!

GRYFFINDOR! You scored 20% Slytherin, 16% Ravenclaw, 56% Gryffindor, and 32% Hufflepuff!

You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart. Gryffindors are known for their courage, audacity, and devotion to what is good and honest.

Link: leeannslytherin on The Sorting Hat Test written by Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Tiny Socks!
These are for my friend, Peggy's, new granddaughter. Quick, easy, and so sweet! I knit them up the other day while midwifing the cat. I used the Basic Sock pattern from Edie Eckman's book, Knit a Dozen Baby Socks. The yarn is, I think, Carnation by LynnH . It was a gift from a friend (Thanks, Laura), and came without a label. That's a quarter there with them, so you can see how tiny they are!

Oh, mama cat and babies are doing well. The midwifing job consists of sitting in the bathroom, and making sure the cat stays in the basket in the closet until the first baby is born, and then just waiting and watching for the rest to come, as she's too busy after that to wander the house. Mama kitty, also known as Callie, the Escape Artist Slutty Cat, is very good at slipping out JUST before each litter of kittens is fully weaned and running off with our wild tomcat. ONE of these days we're going to get her to the vet before she makes her escape. She had four babies this time, two black and two white. She is a very good mommy, though, and always raises beautiful kittens. Anyone looking for a Christmas gift?

Dash and Hershey

Hershey is one of Callie's babies from a previous litter, and Dash (the white one) is Hershey's great-uncle (and the new babies' as well).

The first day at the new job went well, I think. The store is going to be very nice, and will open soon. The owners have a suite of shops, all connected, at the newly rebuilt Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana, Indiana. My shop is called "Back Home Again." Stop in and say hello when you're in town!

As promised...new stash!
These are my new goodies from the retreat. Oops! more Opals!
The Opal on the left is, I think, an old, nameless colorway, and is much more of a rich golden yellow than it appears here. The center Opal is the new Tiger, and the one on the right is from the Elemente collection.
The wound-up balls are Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. On the left is Oceanside, on the right is Socknitter's Fall Sunset, one of the colors from a special dyeset done just for The Fifth Stitch.


These are Cherryl's new beauties. As you can see, she has considerably more self-control than I do! Her wound-up balls are LL, too, but I don't know what the color name is. The ball on the left was wound on Lorie's nostepinde.

Cherryl's Opal is Rainforest Fish.

I think I need to knit some socks just for me and just for the fun of it. This past year I've spent most of my knitting time developing my designs for a couple of online groups, testing patterns for other designers, or knitting socks and things as gifts for other people. I'm becoming frustrated, and need to use up some of the beautiful yarn I've acquired.
Rich's boring navy blue Opals are past the heel and maybe a third of the way down the foot. Liz and Frankie are stalled, as are the Spiderman socks. Ducky Dew will be making another kit appearance, this time as the December kit for a Yahoo! group.

The new job starts tomorrow. Wish me luck! These first weeks will be spent setting the store up and getting it ready to open. What an adventure!

Knitting Retreat 10/05
My sister and I went to the knitting retreat at The Fifth Stitch in Defiance, Ohio yesterday. Ellen Upp is the owner of the store. She carries an astonishing assortment of all sorts of yarn, patterns and knitting notions, but her sock yarn display is beyond belief. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the sock yarn! Guess I was too busy trying to buy it all...

Cherryl outside the store, waiting for Ellen to open up


There's no set schedule for Ellen's retreats, but there's always someone there who can teach various knitting techniques. While we were there, knitters were learning the magic loop technique, knitting two socks at one time on two circular needles, and using a nostepinde.

Cherryl learns to wind a center-pull ball with Lorie's nostepinde

This is the sockline. We bring one sock from every pair we've completed since our last visit to the store and hang them up here. These are mostly Cherryl's and mine.

This was Cherryl's first visit to the shop, but I attended my first retreat here in the spring of 2003, just after I'd learned to knit socks. Lorie taught me the 2 socks/2 circs technique during my first visit. It was also my first visit to a 'real' yarn shop, and I was completely overwhelmed. It was fun to see the same response on Cherryl's face yesterday! It was great, too, to see so many familiar faces there, and to meet a nice bunch of new folks, too. The owner of Catalina Alpaca yarns was there and told us all about his yarn. There were lots of yummy goodies baked by George. His wife, Doris, is one of the Fifth Stitch Sockers.

Tomorrow: new stash acquisitions!

I Have A Job!
Beginning this coming Monday I will be gainfully employed once more! After three-and-a-half months of reading the classifieds, and mailing resumes, and fruitless interviews (although I DID see a vegetable or two...), and working as a substitute teacher's aide for minimum wage, and asking everyone I met if they knew anyone that was hiring, I had two, count 'em, TWO job offers to choose from.
I will be working at a store in Shipshewana, Indiana. My employers own several shops, and I'm not entirely sure which one I'll be in. They think they want me in their home decor shop in the Davis Mercantile. I'll be meeting with them later today to tour their stores and see which will be the best 'fit.' This feels 'right' to me. I haven't had a job feel right since I started at the elementary school library twelve years ago. Wish me luck!

Spiderman Socks
These are fun! I found the idea and the chart HERE at Stephanie Pearl McPhee's site (The Yarn Harlot). Steph knitted mittens for her nephew, but I'm adapting her chart for a pair of socks.

Another Test (these are silly, fun, and sometimes even a little accurate!)
I found it here: Knitting It All Together

Your Element is Earth

Your power color: yellow Your energy: balancing Your season: changing of seasons Dedicated and responsible, you are a rock to your friends. You are skilled at working out even the most difficult problems. Low key and calm, you are happiest when you are around loved ones. Ambitious and goal oriented, you have long term plans to be successful.

What Element Are You?

I am a rock! Friends: bear this in mind! Do Not Mock Me!
You may one day require my skill at working out your most difficult problems!
The yellow power-color part may not suprise anyone. Since we bought the BigYellowBike I find myself oddly drawn to anything yellow, and have even found myself with enough yellow clothing to make up an entire wash load. Perhaps the bike released something in me??? Sometimes I'm tempted to buy things for which I have no conceivable use, just because they're the 'right' color of yellow. A sickness? A compulsion? I prefer to think of it as exquisite taste.

I have six, count 'em, SIX different pair of socks on the needles: boring navy socks for Rich, Liz & Frankie for me, Cathy H's Reindeer socks, and Spiderman socks for the little boy I'm working with at the school. It's insane, INSANE, I tell you!
The Spidey socks are based on a mitten pattern I found at the Yarn Harlot's site. Right now they are just a bit of ribbing followed by a short span of red-and-black spiderweb and a massive tangle of black yarn tails. They're going to be cool, though!

Cherryl and I are going to a knitting retreat at The Fifth Stitch
this weekend. The retreat is all weekend, but we're just going for one day. This is the place where I REALLY learned to knit socks...and to hoard sock yarn. This will be my sister's first visit there...Bwah-hah-hah-hah...! We may have to rent a U-Haul to get all the yarn home.

Hands...
I went to my knitting guild meeting yesterday and I was thinking about something that touched me.

The little shop where the group meets just opened in August. There was a Grand Opening Day, and a crew from a local television station came with a camera to do a 'color' piece. A bunch of us from Stranded in Michiana, our knitting guild, showed up to congratulate the new owners and get them off to a good start. I was working on a pair of socks, either the duckies or Cathy's reindeer pattern test and not really paying much attention to the news crew.

A few days later, my daughter-in-law told me, she was at home and my son was in the living room watching TV. She said all of a sudden Nick was shouting, "Nici! Come here! My mom's on TV!"

She ran in to the room, but all she saw was a pair of hands, knitting. My son recognized me solely from seeing my hands. I was not working on anything he should have recognized, and was not wearing anything especially distinctive that he would have seen in the background. He just knew my hands when he saw them.

This touches me beyond words. My hands held him when he was a baby, soothed him when he cried, sewed his little shirts and then buttoned them when he couldn't do it for himself. They cooked his food and wiped his face (and the other end, too), tied his shoes and wrote notes to his teachers. They spanked him when he was naughty.

He and I have had some difficult days...ok, years! There were far too many times that my hands were clenched in anger and far too few when they patted him on the back. There were times when they wanted to reach out to him and pull him through, but I knew he had to do it on his own so I kept them in my pockets. My hands held him when his grandmothers died, and then our friend, Dan, too.

Over the years I've watched as my hands change into my mothers hands. The shape and the size are the same. The same fingers are beginning to twist in the early stages of arthritis. I looked at my sister a few months ago and was startled to see MY hands at the ends of HER arms! Our hands are the same shape as our brothers' hands, too.

There is an old song that was sung by Bill Withers back in the seventies, called
"Grandma's Hands."
Grandma's hands
Clapped in church on Sunday morning
Grandma's hands
Played a tambourine so well
Grandma's hands
Used to issue out a warning
She'd say, "Billy don't you run so fast
Might fall on a piece of glass
"Might be snakes there in that grass"
Grandma's hands
Grandma's hands
Soothed a local unwed mother
Grandma's hands
Used to ache sometimes and swell
Grandma's hands
Used to lift her face and tell her,
"Baby, Grandma understands
That you really love that man
Put yourself in Jesus hands"
Grandma's hands
Grandma's hands
Used to hand me piece of candy
Grandma's hands
Picked me up each time I fell
Grandma's hands
Boy, they really came in handy
She'd say, "Matty don' you whip that boy
What you want to spank him for?
He didn' drop no apple core"
But I don't have Grandma anymore
If I get to Heaven I'll look for Grandma's hands

My daughter-in-law has beautiful and expressive hands, but I hope one day I'll look at one of her children and see my mother's hands again.

Last Camping Pictures

Rich is closing up the camper, and Cherryl and I have torn down her tent.








Bill, Ross, and Dan with Ross's bike and trailer.

Sure wish the whole weekend could have been as nice as it was on Sunday!

Broken Arrow Campout October, '05
Ross, also known as 5Ross, is a very nice man we know from a Goldwing board where I spend a lot of time, GoldWing Riders. We met him in person at the WOTS rally in North Carolina. He posted a note to the board inviting anyone who was interested to come camping at Broken Arrow Campground in Winamac, Indiana, this past weekend. Ross, Rich and I, and Ross's son and daughter-in-law were the only ones from the board to show up, but several of Ross's GWTA friends came.
We invited my sister, Cherryl to come along, and she followed the BYB and camper in her Jeep with camping gear we provided and our dog, Claudia. It was cold! I rode the bike as far as I could stand it, then abandoned Rich to the elements and rode in the car the rest of the way (wuss). It was Cherryl's first time camping, and she got her trial by ice. It got down to the thirties on Saturday night, but with the help of a little electric heater and a warm dog to sleep with, she had a great time, and is now talking about buying her own gear and starting to camp out more in the future!

the intrepid (I think that's a fancy word for 'really cold') campers around the campfire. From left: Bill, Rich, Mikey, Jeff, Ross and Dan.

We had four tents and three pop-up campers (see ours in previous posts). Saturday morning we went into town for breakfast, then most of the campers bundled up and went for a ride on the bikes. Cherryl rode with Rich, while I stayed behind to start supper and have a lovely conversation about books and history with Bill, who is retired from the National Parks system.

Cleaning up after Saturday night's supper: Becky, Ross, Tami...well, Ross said he was helping with the dishes, but it looks like coffee-time to me! Ross's wife, daugher, son-in-law and grandson came out to join us for supper, but did not stay the night.

All packed up and ready to go home: Ross, Dan, Bill, Jeff, Tami, and Cherryl

We came to the consensus that keeping a petting zoo at a campground is not the best idea, especially if you throw in a few free-range chickens (hi, Michelle, lol). The roosters were, ummm, 'insistent' that 4:00 a.m. is truly the most optimal time to get up. As I left our camper at daybreak on Sunday morning, I heard several loud shots in the not-so-distant distance, and thought, "Yeah! No more roosters!", but, alas, it was not to be.

Note to folks who plan to share a campground with others: if your taste in music runs to compositions featuring lots of drums, base, and, apparently, tribal chants, and played very, very loudly, it's polite to turn the music off some time before 2:30 a.m.

(that's 3:30 a.m., Michigan time!)

I'm just saying...

Sorry there aren't more pictures: we were just having too much fun to take any!

Knitting: Cherryl and I both took our socks-in-progress along, but she got a lot more knitting done than I did. I did get three-quarters of the way through my new Yarn Harlot book

(see note above regarding very loud music which made sleeping difficult).

Here's a test:
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can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
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What Kind of Knitter Are You?
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This is funny:

40 Things That Only Happen In Movies
Or, as I often say while watching a movie, "NOOOO, young soldier, please DON'T show us a picture of your sweetheart back home!"
It comes from this library newsletter:

NeatNew and Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other
Information Junkies
Sign up for the newsletter to have informative stuff delivered to your mailbox each week. There's something interesting in every issue.

There's a Contest at Quiddity. It's called, "Show Me Your Socks." Here they are, at least the ones I haven't given away.

It's Fall, otherwise known as "The season we're given so that we can be numbed by its beauty, thus lulling us into complacency about The Season That Comes Next." Here's a sign. When we left for North Carolina this was the view from the sidewalk in front of our house :

When we came home, this was what we saw :


It's hard to tell the difference without enlarging the shots, but in the first photo there's corn in the field. In the second, there's none. They picked it while we were away. Next the leaves will be changing, then falling, then there will be snow. Sigh. We are one day closer to spring.

An Ode to Opal Yarn
The Opal Chatters Yahoo! group has "Topic Tuesday" each week. The moderators pick a topic for everyone to discuss during the coming week. This week's topic was to write a poem about Opal. Here's mine.



Feet Dream of Opal

My feet tread, blessed in socks of Opal,
past the stash in dreams of hope: al-
though steel needles all are filled
with socks for Jen and Nick and Bill,
my lovesick arches long to feel
sweet stitches warm of Crocodil
or Lollipop, Handpaint, Brasil.

So, ever yearning, near they pause, it
seems, to tarry near dark closet
where, in deep, deep slumber rest
the plump, soft skeins, the very best
of Soxie's gleanings. Line my nest
with Opal: there I'll end my quest.

writ by me this 4th day of October, 2005

Disclaimer: I'm not actually knitting socks for anyone named Bill (or Jen or Nick either, sorry guys!), but it rhymes... Oh, I found 2 more skeins of Opal after taking this picture, and I know there's another one around here somewhere. SABLE.

More North Carolina pictures

This is what we saw Sunday on the Blue Ridge Parkway...;~D Pea-soup fog for miles, and miles, and miles...When we finally got out of the fog we met a nice couple on a BMW and chatted for a while with them, then rode on through the back roads of western North Carolina. We stopped for lunch in Loafer's Glory, North Carolina, and I had a wonderful barbecue sandwich the southern way -- with slaw on it. No pictures of the rest of our ride, though. The camera battery died. It was beautiful, and I'm sorry you missed it!

We spent this past weekend in Hubbard, Ohio, with our friends. Wonderful time, as always! Pictures in the next post.

BBQ at HDL
Here's the group from GL1800Riders.com at the barbecue Hal threw for us in Hendersonville. It was great to meet some of the folks I've been talking to online and put names and faces together.

The BYB takes a break along the BRP.

This is at Looking Glass Falls, along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just a little while before this, a young man though he could climb the rocks and jump into the waterfall pool without a thought for the depth of the water, I guess. He broke his leg badly. We decided not to try it this trip. Maybe next time!

It just doesn't get any prettier than this...more pictures tomorrow.

We're back!
We got home from North Carolina yesterday after a beautiful trip. The knitting had a good time, too. Wednesday we spent eight hours on the bike getting to Portsmouth, Ohio, where we were to meet friends for the rest of our trip to the Wings Over the Smokies Goldwing motorcycle rally.


Portsmouth Ohio, the Seawall Murals

Portsmouth is a town on the Ohio River. There are 2000 feet of hand-painted murals on the inside of the seawall, depicting Portsmouth, its history, industry, and residents. Here I'm knitting in front of one of the panels. Yeah, I know it's shoelaces, but it was the closest thing they had to anything textile-related! I love this picture beyond all reason -- look how thin I appear to be! Who could ever have suspected that my tiny knitting bag could possibly hide my huge, rounded, umm, posterior! I look fifty pounds thinner, which is probably about what the aforementioned posterior weighs! This is how I look in my mind's eye -- and then my physical eye catches a glimpse of the truth in a mirror. sigh.

Rich and the BYB in front of a mural of the Portsmouth Motorcycle Club. The photo at the top of today's entry is a detail of this panel. You can see it in the picture to the left, just behind Rich and the bike.



This panel honors our armed forces.






Here is the knitting, touring the Great Smoky Mountains. This is a hat for the kids at the South Bend domestic assault shelter. Rich gets poked a lot with the needles, but he doesn't complain...much! I use circular needles and they're not as poky as regular ones would be.

That's David (Bash) and Julie ahead of us on their bike. We met them through the bike forum I read, and they set up the ride from southern Ohio to North Carolina. Great people, and terrific travelling companions!

More pictures tomorrow, if there's time.

We're off...
Well, some would say I'm a bit off all the time, but you know what I mean. Rich & I will be out on the BigYellowBike for a few days.
So I sat down to pack up my knitting for the trip. I'm trying very hard not to Pack More Than I Can Possibly Knit. Very hard, especially as luggage space on a motorcycle is, umm, "limited" so I have to decide what to leave behind.
What do you think -- do we really need an atlas?
I think one change of underwear might last me a week, right?
Hmmm. Maybe if I wear all of my clothes instead of packing some?....
Hey Cherryl, thanks for spending the weekend with the cats. Would you mind terribly doing the nasty litter-box thing some time Sunday? Oh, and Friday, too, if the kids have forgotten to do it. I'll make it up to you, I promise. You are a pearl beyond price. If I get any small packages while I'm gone, you're welcome to open them. Feel free to be envious! ;~D

Here are the BYB and Mini-Me, my little Honda Rebel. Mini-Me is not accompanying us on this trip. This picture makes me laugh -- I always forget how HUGE the BigYellowBike is!

I just learned at the Yarn Harlot's blog that it's "Talk Like a Pirate Day." In honor of this festive event, here be a little storrrry...arrrgh!

A pirate with a steering wheel protruding from his fly walked into a bar and ordered a tot of rum. The bartender tried to ignore the steering wheel and served the pirate's drink...but curiosity got the better of him.
"Excuse me," said the bartender, "but I can't help but notice that there's a steering wheel in your fly...?"
"Ayyyyy," said the pirate, "it drives me nuts!"

Well, I didn't say it was funny, now did I? Arrrgh! At least I didn't say 'arse'. oops.

Donations for The Restash Network (click for more information)
My knitting guild, Stranded in Michiana buried me with donations for the Restash Network yesterday! My car was so full it took Rich and me five trips to bring it all into the house. Here are a few pictures of the loot they sent home with me:
I hope you can get some idea of how much yarn there is here. I have a large kitchen table, and it was completely covered with every imaginable color of acrylic worsted-weight yarn.
A lot of this will go to Paulette in Texas, who is teaching kids in shelters how to knit.

Here are books, needles, hooks, and notions. and one of the members went to Target and bought everything to make up several kits. Most of the needles will go to Paulette for her kids, too.

There is wonderful stuff in this pile -- sorry about the crazy angle!
There's Misti Alpaca laceweight, two big hanks of rayon chenille, a HUGE hank of fine cotton in charcoal gray, some vintage Bear Brand wool, two full cones and several balls of kitchen cotton, a ziploc bag full of tiny balls of mohair.
The pale green yarn in the background is some kind of wool from France that looks like there might be some mohair in it. There must be a dozen balls of that.

One of the guild members gave me a check for $25.00 to help cover postage -- thanks, Elizabeth, and thank you everyone for your generosity! I still have two boxes and three large shopping bags full of yarn to be sorted and shipped.

Try, try again... The closed-camper picture tells me it is very sorry for causing trouble, so it's getting another chance.
This side would be the back of the camper when it's set up. The racky-thingy on the top rests on the ground when the camper is opened, and allows for storage of our chairs and other stuff when closed. You undo some latchy-thingies on the left and the top just flips over, pulling the canvas tent and support poles with it. If we were unlucky enough to be setting up in the rain, we could, literally, be inside and dry in seconds...SECONDS, I tell you! Well, ok, maybe minutes. Slick.

Another shot of the loverly Aussie yarn, here tamed and wound into balls. Mmmmmmm...yarrrrrnnnn. TWO pairs of socks-worth, or maybe one lovely shawl...socks or shawl...socks or shawl...socks or shawl....

A Gift from Down Under!

So, I got this wonderful yarn from Kathryn in Australia today. It took only 6 days to go all that way...it often takes 8 days for a letter to go 11 miles from our bank to our house!
230 grams of fingering-weight 100% merino wool. Hand-dyed. Did you notice it came from Australia? Kathryn dyed it herself, using powdered food color, apparently the counterpart of the Wilton paste food colors we use here.
It's beautiful. It makes me wish I were more poetic. It looks like a bowl of fresh summer berries. It was in a horrible tangle when it arrived, and took 6 1/2 hours to unsnarl and wind into two wonderful, plump, center-pull balls. Worth. Every. Minute.
Now...socks or shawl? socks or shawl? socks or shawl?