News from the Knit Wit

Just a quick peek into the knitting baskets to bring you knitter(s) up to speed. Observe the progress on the nutmeg colored vest. I should finish that before Sunday . There isn't much "finishing that has to be done, except some pocket sewing. ( I love that it has pockets. I have to lug a lot of stuff around.)

The green and white sweater is the Puzzle Project for which I got the pieces. It is mostly sewn together, but I'll have to knit a button band and collar---somehow.

And the red/blue thing is a mitten---the red part is mostly done and I'm adding an alpaca lining so they will be super warm. Once the thumb is done for the inner mitten, it is pretty easily finished.

I'd linger longer, but it's time to walk. I'll need some layers this morning since it's just barely above freezing. BUT the sun is shining and the skies are blue. No snow yet.

The Pain of Fandom

Can you remember early elementary band concerts? It's no place for a music lover to hang out, believe me. And early sports are a little bit like those band concerts, I think.

Tonight I went to a seventh grade post season girls' basketball game. As a parent, I've watched lots and lots of basketball, and I went along with my sister to watch a game.

It amazes me how much kids improve each year, particularly when they are highly motivated and they practice on their own. All these kids pass the ball a lot and want to play way faster than they have the skills for yet, but they will be tons better next year. And we must have a lot of faith in that happening, because we're both talking about getting softer seats to fasten on the bleachers.

Thursday Fragments

I won't be around tomorrow to link up my scattergories to Mrs. 4444's gang of mischief-makers. Nonetheless, I need to post something before I head off into the Land of No Wireless Service.

My two sisters and I have an annual weekend of quilting together, which began when we all went to a retreat conducted by Jane's local quilt shop. It was great fun and we enjoyed that for two years, and then Jane agreed to house and dog sit for the lady who was doing the organizing for the retreat.

Then we had our own Sister's Retreat at her home, with her encouragement and permission.

1. This year Youngest Sister will come when/if she can because of work and family complications.

2. The Fuzzies will have to house sit for me with Good Guy gone to NYC, and

3. Cooper, my dog friend , is recuperating from hip surgery. So dog sitting may be real work.

Life keeps getting complicated, doesn't it?

Our lovely warm fall weather has become more seasonal with wind and rain. It's still above freezing in the mornings but sometimes it isn't warming up to 50 degrees all day. It is entertaining to watch all the leaves blow into the yards of the folks who have cut their trees to avoid having to rake. (Bwa-ha-ha)

I don't think I will haul my quilting project with me to my "Quilter's Retreat". I am on the home stretch of my vest and have some more work to do on the little green and white sweater project. I got the pieces of it, already knitted, and I'm sewing it together-----and maybe adding a front button strip and a collar. I will have to make it up as I go along because I didn't get any pattern with it. Nothing like a good puzzle!

Plus I want to knit some aqua colored warm hats and mitts for Christmas presents. I don't expect to get to that, but you never know! Knitters seem to be incurable optimists in that regard.

Have a great weekend.

Weekend Recap

Appropriately named----for a cabin where our family members gathered for a visit this weekend.

You may recall that my uncle requested that his wife bring his ashes to rest at this bible camp in Iron County.

I want to sing the praises today of family, and the value of gathering together, and of the wonderful facilities and hospitality of the camp staff.

The camp director is a pastor and has some marvelous people skills. He took us out in the pontoon boat on a blustery day so we could complete our mission, and conducted a brief, respectful committal service.

The campground itself has been upgraded to an all season facility, and on this weekend they were conducting an event for grade school kids. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the food was GREAT! They have groups of cross country skiers there during the winter, too.

Our cabin was a three bedroom affair that could house six people, and was equipped with about as many appliances as my home. We had a place to hang out and visit, plus a place for us to stay overnight so we could visit late and not have to drive 50 miles back home late at night. Good Guy stayed home and I visited with my dad's side of the family.

Good Guy is presently on the first leg of his New York City trip. So the Fuzzies and I are "at leisure" until Thursday after weigh-in time. I really have loads to do while he's away, so we aren't really as indolent as I'd like to be.

I am beginning a massive de-junking project while he's away. You heard it here first. Hold me to it, people!!!

Almost Wordless Friday

Please pardon the quality of this picture but obviously I was tippy-toeing around trying to get a picture without scaring them out of the yard.

No fresh venison for supper here. It's more than a month until hunting season----not to mention that nobody here hunts, and only one of us like venison.

Rest easy, Bambi.

Knitting Peek

I am lucky I took a picture quickly of the leaves on the lawn, because The Gardeners have already mowed and mulched them into invisibility! BUT......

Here is a look at the nutmeg colored vest I'm working on. I am doing the two fronts at the same time on a straight needle---which I had to borrow from Saint Bev, because I don't have size 9, straights.

I must have 20 size 8's. What's up with that?

This is an ideal project for football season. I can be a couch potato, yet feel like I'm accomplishing something. Plus it isn't too boring to work on, if I keep switching from back to front.

I'm easily bored and I'm blaming it on hanging around computers. (Even if it isn't their fault.)

I finished Cutting for Stone and I enjoyed it very much---in spite of having to read it off my computer screen. (Insert sad face here.) I loved it for all the grisly medical stuff, so I have to admit it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Good Guy is busy planning for his annual trip to NYC and I have a busy week planned here in his absence. He has a great time, and I enjoy being here and spending a few days with my sisters at a quilting retreat while he's away. When he returns he's such a welcome sight!

Yesterday I was checking his cell phone, deleting old voice mails, etc. when I came upon a voice message from my Uncle Earl who died in June. I couldn't bear to delete it. He was just "checking up" and I'm happy to listen to it once in a while and think he's still keeping track of me.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with his family this weekend when they come to deposit his ashes where he requested they be placed. There is a bible camp where he was both a camper and a staff member years ago, and I understand that it is also where he learned he was a member of the family---when he was a teenager. (My grandmother died when he was an infant, and my grandfather had his hands full with six older children. So he was adopted by family friends who were childless.)

Anyway, he was a wonderful part of our family, full of fun, loyal, kind, patriotic, conservative, loving and usually pretty healthy. We all miss him and believe him to be in a better place.

In an abrupt segue, I must confess that our amazing warm fall weather has given way to rain. Actually, we are happy to have some because the fire danger was pretty high over the weekend and it was scary when the winds came up, too. But we had a nice rain and it's still cloudy. It isn't cold, though.

I wish you a happy Wednesday.

Local Color

After yesterday's winds the tree is my yard bare and so is the maple tree across the street. But I took these pictures on Thursday morning. A great many leaves are just turning now and there will still be some color for a while. But these colors are among my favorites.

On US2 there is beautiful color each Fall between Crystal Falls and Iron River. And I'm not just saying that because it's my home country. There are a great many maple trees there and some of them turn that pinky-orange color that is so rare and pretty. During the peak of high color there, it looks like the sun is shining---no matter what the weather.

Allow me a paragraph of jubilation here. I'll preface it with the assurance that I have spent a lifetime picking losing contenders. If I bet at the races, you know my nag will bring up the rear.

But, the Tigers, Brewers, Packers, and Lions are all winners. Even Wisconsin and Michigan are doing well. It's a rare treat for me, I'll tell you!

I hope your Saturday in autumn is as beautiful where you are as it is here. We are enjoying the most wonderful weather! Happy Saturday!

Friday Again

Time for the weekly accumulation of bits to be put down in black and white for inspection. Thanks for giving us all a place to gather, Mrs. 4444, at Half Past Kissin' Time.

Weight Watcher progress. (I know this isn't the most fascinating subject----face it, if you wanted fascinating you'd be somewhere else!) I've lost 22 pounds and am in my psychological danger zone where, when my clothing becomes comfortable or too large, I tend to get lazy and quit. I am hoping that being aware will prevent that problem this time.

On the needles: I finished all the caps, mittens, prayer shawls, and socks that were in progress and I cast on a nutmeg colored warm vest for myself in washable wool. It isn't in any shape to take its picture for you, but it'll be great when it's done. I'll take a pic next week when it looks more like a real project.

Good Guy went off on an overnight with Brotherbob to golf and brought me another project to finish. I have five pieces of a child's sweater to assemble into a wearable garment. Plenty of leftover yarn came with it, but no directions. My favorite thing! A puzzle!!! (Wish me luck.)

Reading this week is on my computer. I downloaded Cutting for Stone from the Great Lakes Digital library. I am not that crazy about that mode of reading, however the book fascinates me. I love all that grisly medical stuff and the characters are very interesting. Plus I'm learning about Ethiopia---a previously unknown country.

The older I get, the more I realize that I'm extremely ignorant about a great many subjects. (Head is shaking.)!

The other commodity we have in abundance since Good Guy went off golfing is produce from the farmers market. Peppers! Pears! Cauliflower! No excuse for not getting enough fruit and vegetable helpings in this next week....

That's about all I can think of except I need to bring the cat carrier upstairs and make it an attractive place to play before I make the vet appointments for the Fuzzies. I need to hose it down because it's been a dust collector in the basement for awhile. They are so gullible and will enjoy having a new place to explore, especially if it's liberally laced with catnip for a week or so.

Have a great weekend, and if you're in the UP, or Wisconsin, have a great fish fry tonight for supper. Chow.

Not What You'd Expect

OK, we've established that the reason for our trip to Canada was as theater loving play-goers. Well, cameras aren't allowed in the theaters, of course, which is just as it should be.

We are multi-taskers in the tourist department and Ontario also produces a plethora of pork products. (I apologize!) I should also explain that Good Guy never, hardly ever, met a sausage he didn't love. So we made a pilgrimage to this shop in Shakespeare.

This is entirely unrelated to either the theater or pork, but we are coming up on the anniversary of one of my happiest memories. My oldest child is about to celebrate her birthday and the day she was born was one of my lifetime's happiest days----so far. (I can't count them all, lest you think I'm depressed.)

It was a gorgeous fall day in Chicago, and the air smelled a certain way that you can only smell in the city in the Fall. She was early, it was easy, and she was such a lovely little baby! I was on Cloud Nine! Even now, several years later, I get a chuckle out of remembering. We won't go into how I begged to go home early, and the stitches, and the cracked nipples, and sleep deprivation. I've forgotten all that. She always was a great kid, and she still is a lovely lady.

As a woman of a certain age, I have decided that mothering was the most important job I've done. I'm not claiming any particular distinction at doing it, but they are all paying taxes and nobody's in prison, so I guess we did OK.

Well, my time is up and you have gotten your dose of porkiness for the day. Hope you are enjoying Fall as much as we are. Happy Tuesday!