Catching up...
These are ready to be mailed off for their photo op...
Everything's Bigger In TEXAS















KANSAS: Sunflower Ripple


















NORTH CAROLINA: Great Smoky Mountains, reknit in the Muir Woods color....much, much better!





Still on the needles is the second reknit of one of the Indiana socks, in a different colorway, and the reknit of the Alabama sock. There is some serious yum! there.

There was an Auburn car show in the town where I work last Saturday. This was the view from my store's windows:

Beautiful cars!












Let's see, what else has been going on?
The back tire on the BigYellowBike went bad, and a good friend from Florida made us a tremendous deal on the wheel and nearly-new tire he'd taken off his bike when he recently triked it.
I'm sure there's more, but I'll have to save it for another post...

I saw this bumper sticker on the way home from work yesterday:

Stop Sending U.S. Jobs Overseas!

it was on the back of a Toyota Tercel...

Hello, Spring!
The leaves are unfurling and flowers blooming. Spring, at last! It's been a long, long winter, and a tough one. Unemployment is rampant in our area, as it is in most places. We are both still working, but Rich's job is slow. We shall dig in and hang on.

Here is our big, handsome boy!




Some things that have happened: Rich got the bike out and had his first ride of the year in early March. He has been riding quite a bit in this warmer weather, and I have ridden with him a couple of times.

My sister and her husband bought a brand-new GoldWing.












A long-time friend of our family sent me this picture from 1942. That's my mother in the first row, second from the right, and her sister in the second row, third from the left. Pretty cool to have this picture from their Junior High School years!



The marsh marigolds bloomed:
Aren't they beautiful? They line the banks of the stream and are always one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring.
Our grandson loves to go out and look for fishies in our little stream...












And play on Dead Walnut Tree:

That's his daddy there with him. Robby was walking alongside the tree and saw a branch that had fallen to the ground. He said, "That's broken, Daddy." Then he turned away and said, "I don't want to see that." :D

I am woefully behind on my deadlines for the 50States socks...Laura has been very patient, but I think I need to kick it into a much higher gear and get it done. New sock pics coming soon!

Three More States on the Way...
This is North Carolina, in Crystal Palace Maizy.













This is Kansas in Crystal Palace Panda Silk.














This is Texas, in Panda Silk DK.


These yarns all all just yummy! Soft, nice hand, great to work with. NC and KS will be in the mail to ProfLaura in a couple of days, and TX should be done shortly thereafter.

Mmmmmm.....Yarny Goodness!
It's been a sock-yarn bonanza here these past couple of weeks. I bought two grab-bag packages of Opals from one of my online knitting groups, and then the Crystal Palace yarns arrived for my Friendly Socks book samples. Yum! You can see the beginning of one of the samples at the top of the picture...

I didn't do much knitting over the weekend, though. We had guests from Alabama: Mr. William and Ms. Nina came to visit and to see our new house. It was a wonderful weekend! On Saturday we went to Shipshewana to see the building where I work. In the evening, my sister and her husband, and our friend, Michelle, came up for supper.
Neither Wm nor Nina had ever seen the Great Lakes, so on Sunday morning we rode over to Lake Michigan. It was cold, and there were icebergs on the lake. Ms. Nina couldn't believe that a body of water so large would freeze.
They headed for home Sunday afternoon, after a much-too-short visit. We are so blessed with good friends!
Now, back to knitting...

50 Socks from 50 States!

There is knitting news! Over the past few years some online friends and I have compiled Friendly Socks, two self-published books of sock patterns. Dr. Laura has put in countless hours printing and binding the first two books, but now Crystal Palace Yarns has picked up book three, and it will be coming soon on CD! This book will be called 50 Socks-50 States and will have a brand-new sock design inspired by every state in the Union, plus a few more. You can read more about it here at DrLaura's blog.

The pictures above are two of my designs for the new book-on-CD. They are the Indiana socks, called "Leta's Amish Quilt" and "Susannah's Amish Quilt" in memory of my mother-in-law Lydia (Leta) Yoder and my husband's Aunt Susan, and in honor of their Amish background. The samples were knit by a wondrous knitter named Samantha F. I've designed the pattern to be knit in fingering or DK weight yarns, in bright colors set against a black background in the style of traditional Amish quilts.

My other designs in the book will be "Gulf Shores" for Alabama, "Great Smokey Mountains" for North Carolina, "Sunflower Ripples" for Kansas, and "Everything's Bigger" for Texas, a Christmas stocking. All of the designs in the book will be knit from Crystal Palace yarns. Watch here for pictures and more info.

In other news, winter drags on, and I have a bad case of PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome). We got several inches of new snow over the weekend, and riding season seems to be years away. I know, though, that every day brings us one day closer to spring and time to ride out on the BigYellowBike to meet up with our motorcycling friends. It has been a tough couple of years, including the building of our new home, our son's divorce and long layoff, and my husband's reduced work schedule, but at least we are all still working. We have been through some tough times over the years and this may yet prove to be among the toughest, but we will hang on and get through it.

A dear friend and fellow chatter wrote a post on our Internet motorcycle forum that helps me remember why we ride. You can read it here: All My Heroes Ride Wings. Thank you, John. I hope we'll see you soon!

Wow, I'm such a slacker!

It's been a long time since my last post. We had our first snow...

That was a couple of months ago. We've had lots more since then.

I went to Atlanta for a few days to buy merchandise for the store where I work. I finished a pair of socks for myself while there, and worked on another pair, for Rich this time. Pictures to come, eventually.

Robby has grown so much, and is more fun every day!

It's Fall!
I do love this time of year...the colors this year have been spectacular, and are lasting a very long time. We've had wonderful weather throughout the summer and fall, with the exception of the hurricane-fed rain in September. Maybe it's a reward for the very long and snowy winter we had last year.

There's been little knitting...I hope to get back into the swing of things soon.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Guess who's TWO!

Happy Birthday, Robby!

A Visit from Friends

Dear friends came from Ohio to spend a weekend with us and see our new house... For some of them, it was their first visit to Michigan. For some, it was their first time visiting us. For all, it was their first visit to our new home.

They travelled first-class in this HUGE motor home.

We took them to visit the Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana, where I work.



We rode the carousel on the third floor of the Mercantile.

We took a ride in a horse-drawn buggy.

We had a picnic at Bonneyville Mill County Park...

We had a wonderful time! Talking, laughing, playing, sitting around the bonfire and making S'mores, "Star-tipping"...(don't ask...). There's nothing to beat a weekend with friends.

Then they loaded the crew back into the motor home and headed back to Ohio...(sigh). It was so good to see you all. I can hardly wait for our next visit!

Harrison-Bound
Good times, good friends, great riding!



It was that time of year again...time to load up the BigYellowBike and head off to the GL1800riders.com gathering in Harrison, Arkansas. This is my favorite bike event of the entire year. Harrison is where I get to see most of my chat-room friends and enjoy some great mountain riding in beautiful country. Last year when we came home from Arkansas, we put the bike away and I never got another chance to ride until winter was over and April here.

Day One, Wednesday, October 1st, Michigan to Indiana:
We'd packed our bags the night before, and loaded up the bike and trailer as soon as I came home from work. I put on layers and layers of clothes (we really need to get some heated riding gear!) and we headed out for our friend Ross's house to spend the night. Ross was our first friend from the Wing forum. He has become a dear friend and treasured riding companion. After supper with Ross (5Ross) and his wife, Joyce, we went to bed early to rest up for the following day's ride. This was what I wore to keep warm: wool socks, long underwear pants and shirt, jeans, riding pants, turtleneck dickey, long-sleeved T-shirt, light sweater, riding jacket, rain suit to keep out the wind, leather gloves, boots and helmet (of course).
Day Two, Thursday, October 2nd, Indiana to Missouri:
Up early, coffee, and pile on the layers again to head on down the road. Ross told me I should have started MUCH earlier getting dressed, but we made it on the road just ten minutes behind schedule! It was a brisk 39-41 degrees when we started our morning ride, and warmed steadily as we headed south. We stopped a bit down the road for a hot breakfast, then continued toward Kentucky, peeling off layers as we rode. Early in the afternoon, we hit Owensboro, Kentucky to meet Steve (Polecat) for lunch at Moonlight BBQ. Another dear friend from the forum, Steve spent two weeks with us last spring, helping with the building of our new house.


From Kentucky, we twisted and twined about, riding the back roads, crossing and recrossing the Ohio River by bridge and ferry. Steve planned our route, and he did a great job. We saw some glorious country and spent a wonderful afternoon with good friends. We rode in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and ended up for the night in Charleston, Missouri.















Day Three, Friday, October 3, Missouri to Harrison, AR:
We loaded up and all the bikes got their tires checked and air pressure adjusted, and we were off again. More great roads, another ferry ride at Bull Shoals. We met up with a group of Texans from the forum at the ferry, but the boat was full and they waited for the next trip. We arrived in Harrison to find that the GPS coordinates for our motel led us to a semi parking lot, but after a bit of scouting found the Days Inn and checked into our rooms. As the afternoon passed, more of the group arrived and the hugs, laughter and fun began.


Day Four, Saturday, October 4th, Riding in the Mountains:

We awoke to leaden skies and rain, and passed the morning catching up and trading stories. When the rain stopped, fourteen bikes headed out, led by Rickey and Denise, to ride the twisties. Rickey knows the roads in these parts like the back of his hand, and made sure we had enough hills and curves to keep things interesting all day. We took on Push Mountain Road, passed the FrigNditch (no one fell in on this ride, John!), stopped for lunch at JoJo's, rode some more, then headed back to the motel to kick tires and eat pizza. We had visitors from the main gathering at the Holiday Inn Express and some of the group rode over there for a bit, but most of us never left the Days Inn except to ride.








Day Five, Sunday, October 5th, Fond Farewells and Northward-Bound:


It's always hard to part with friends, but all good things must end, and so did the Harrison Gathering for 2008. Snoopy and Boyd were the first to leave before the sun was up, followed by JP, William, and Michael. Before long it was our turn to go. With hugs all around and more than a couple of tears (on my part), we headed toward home.

Some years back, my family spent some time in Branson, MO, working a quilt show for a shop where I worked. We had a wonderful time there, and Rich and I decided to take a cruise up Hwy. 76, Branson's main street, to see how the place had changed. We were relieved to see a lot of familiar sights amongst all the changes. We travelled along the Mississippi River to Hannibal, where we'd spent a lovely couple of days with our son in his younger years. A short walk through the shops, a quick visit to the Mark Twain Book Store to pick up a gift, and back on the road again.

We made it to St. Charles, MO, before stopping for the day.

Day Six, Monday, October 6th, Missouri to Illinois:

I called a friend of mine from the forum who lives in St. Charles. Sheila and her grandson, Jude, met us for breakfast, then led us to her house for a quick tour. Sheila brightens the dreariest day with her smile and wit, and it's always a pleasure to spend time with her.

From there, it was an uneventful day of riding...until we lost a front brake pad on the BigYellowBike. Rich was able to guide us safely into a gas-station parking lot, where he inspected the damage. Two men, Harley riders, stopped to offer help. They drove Rich to a Honda dealership, waited for him to buy the needed parts, then brought him back to the gas station where I was waiting with the bike and trailer. A quick fix, and then back on the road again, but we had lost too much time to make it all the way home to Michigan, so checked into a motel for the night in Gilman, Illinois.

Day Seven, Tuesday, October 7th, Home, Home Again:

We arrived back home in Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, tired but happy that we got to spend time with good friends in beautiful surroundings. Here's to our next Gathering...all of you, ride safe! and keep the shiny side up. I hope the winter will pass quickly and we will see you again in the spring.

Pictures from our ride: