Happy New Year

As I reflect back on the year, this time last year seemed awfully bleak for this household. DH lost his job along with thousands of others. With no income and savings disappearing quickly, one wondered what the future would bring. As you turned to others for support you heard over and over again, "well there are lots of folks losing everything". I know they meant well, but that is sort of like your Mom telling you to eat your peas because there are children starving in China. Did that make those peas taste better? I think not.



That's when my Etsy shop came about. Thank you to all that have had a hand in making it a success.



Winter came and went and spring brought a new job, way below the salary level of the last one, but a job none the less. Amazing what one can do without. Makes you wonder, do we really need all those "things" after all.  As long as I have yarn, knitting needles, roving, spinning wheel, and a little bit of dye, I'm good.



Then it was garden season. The weather didn't cooperate and it was a struggle to get our usual yields.

Fall came and it was time to start thinking about Christmas knitting. Last year everyone received sweaters, this year they all got hats. Which I think they were just as happy with. We were all together for Christmas and that is what is most important.



That brings us right back to the New Year. I have a HUGE pot of black-eyed-peas cooking for New Year's Day. I'm not taking any chances.



Happy New Year one and all!

Snow day..........

Everyone knows that you must have a clean house in order for Santa to visit. Here she is busy at work.  Might be a good plug for Dyson. Look, maneuvers so easily your two year can vaccum for you.  Do you think I should ask for royalties?   Anyway, she did a great job.  She actually had fun doing it.  Oh, how quickly that will change.

After our cleaning was finished it was time for playing. And play we did.  Cailin thought it was really great to throw snowballs at Ama.   She also thought it was really fun to go sledding, as long as Ama would pull her.  Otherwise, it was just way too much work.  Up the hill, down hill, down the driveway, up the driveway, and up and down the hill again.  Okay, that's Ama's workout for the day, enough.

As I watched my granddaughter play in the snow and dodging her vast amount of snowballs. I couldn't help but think of playing with my own two small children in the snow.  Then, falling in the snow meant laughs and giggles, now it means aching bones.  Where has the time gone.

Mother Nature...How do you like her now?

Well, as most of you have heard we folks here in Wisconsin got dumped on pretty well last night and today.  We ended up getting about 15 inches of very wet heavy snow.  Anyone who lives in a climate with winters knows that wet heavy snow means power outages.  There were several thousand of people without power today.  Lucky for us, we were not one of them. Along with the heavy snow and blowing winds, we also had snow thunder and lightning last night.   The question comes to mind, "you enjoyed Novemeber?"  Well here you go, how do you like it now?

This picture was taken from the same place I took last weeks shot. A tad bit different I'd say.

This is our clothsline that I was just using two weeks ago.

The fence around the garden.  The garden which it seems we just dug carrots from.

And at last, the lonely gazebo that not so long ago enjoyed  laughter and dinners under its roof.

The Beginning....

What a sad day it was, last Thursday we had our first accumulating snow.  Of course it had be knitting night that it arrived.  I found that there are a few die hard knitting groupies out there. 
It was just one of Mother Natures funny little jokes she plays on us.  She has yet a much larger joke in strore for us tomorrow.  She is going to wave her arms around, blow with all her might and produce 12 plus inches of snow with 40 mph winds.  Ain't she cute?

Tis the Season

Three weeks ago when we hit 70 degree weather we decided that it might not be a bad time to get the Christmas lights hung. We are getting way too old for frozen body parts.  According to Karen's rule, no lights will be lit until after Thanksgiving.  Well, it's after Thanksgiving so here we go, lights are lit.

Sami decided that he needed a "cats eye view". 

Post Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Day started off with the turkey, like most Thanksgivings do.  After all, he is the star of the show.   If you are wondering what is up with my turkey, let me tell you. I have a sister who just happens to be the "queen of kitchen gadgets".  Every once in awhile one finds itself getting mailed here from back east.  This one happens to be a very useful one.  It is a silicon cord on a stainless steel needle. Thread the turkey up, leave it all in there, roast it and let me tell you it isn't coming apart.

We all sat down to a very yummy dinner which consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash au gratin, green bean casserole, gravy, homemade rolls, and  cranberry sauce.

She was just making sure that PaPa was carving the turkey properly.

  

As if that wasn't enough food we had pear pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  A serious food hangover was had by all today..

So, as you can all see I have an awful lot to be thankful for.  The faces around the table say it all.

This and That

I have two "older" sisters who seem to think that all I have to do is write for my blog, well here we go.  This is what has been going on.  Sit back and start reading.

I started my day early watching the moon set behind the trees.  Although it is a beautiful site nature gives us, I think I like seeing it in pictures better. Pictures, that someone else snaps that is.

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Then I did a little raking with just a ton of help. As you can see, she does love to help Ama.




Of course the boys had to get in on the action too. 

Not sure how much help they were but they did keep a close eye on things.

After we finished raking, we went for a walk on the trail through the woods. I wasn't really clear on the purpose of the stick, but I was told at one time that is was to chase porcupines. Now, has she ever seen a porcupine in the woods?  I'm thinking not, but that is the beauty of how a two year old thinks.

As we all know it is pumpkin season.  This year we relished in the pumpkin theme.

         We "growed up" pumpkins, we danced with pumpkins, we looked for just right pumpkin, and we walked through the pumpkin patch with PaPa.        

 After all that hard work a hot dog was in order.

Well, there you have it. Now you are all caught up on what has been going on here.

All A Glow....

Usually the three maples that we have around the front of our house turn a brilliant red, bright orange, and some yellow.  This year they decided that it was all yellow for them. I don't know why, I'm sure some enviromental guru could probably explain it to me.

 Do you think we might have some raking to do?  Looks like a job for the lawn mower.  I'm all for recycling.

The yellow of the leaves is so vibrant, it looks like the sun is shining constantly.  Which has been a very good thing because we have been socked in with rain for the last week.

When I would look out the window and see the yellow shining in, I couldn't help think of my Grandmother.  She has long passed by now, but I remember her saying when they painted her house a bright yellow that now she would always have sunshine.  Strange how unrelated things bring back memories.  You just never know where you will find them, I suppose.

If you look at this picutre really close you will notice a small rainbow in the upper right hand corner.

I guess the trees are our gold.  Hmmm.....who says your gold has to be monetary.

Are We So Different?

As the leaves turn and the days cool and become shorter , not unlike the bears and all other  hibernating animals, we too as humans go into hibernation mode.



We start slowing down, spending more time indoors, finding ourselves with more time for the knitting needles, and oh yes, eating.  Well, just like the animals we too have to layer up for the winter.  Don't we?

I must think so, because the other day I had the uncontrolable urge to make orange cranberry scones with almond glaze.  After which, my husband and I began the layering process. Hmmm....perhaps winter isn't so bad after all.

Talk,,,,Talk,,,Talk

It just must be something in the genes. One of my two year old granddaughters favorite things to do, is talk to PaPa on the phone on his way home from work.  As you can see by the photo, she feels quite relaxed with the task.

I wish I could still cross my legs like that.  Come to think of it, not sure I ever could.

These photos were not taken but just a couple of weeks ago.  Hard to believe that we had snow showers on Saturday as my husband was mowing the lawn.   There's just something really wrong with that whole scene. 

Peter Would Be Proud

We finished picking the garden last weekend. It was a nice day and we knew cold and rain would be coming our way. About all we had left were peppers and more peppers.

As you can see our peppers did quite well this year.  That's my husband hiding behind that one.  He was a good sport and held it while I snapped a few pics.

What in the world am I going to do with all these peppers?  I decided to freeze the sweet green ones to use later in cooking. That's an easy fix for them. Now on to the sweet red ones and ALL those semi hot ones.  hmmmm... 

How about some pepper jam?  This is the jam I came up with.  I roasted some sweet red and some hot on the grill.  I then peeled and chopped them, added some garlic, onion, fresh basil, vinegar, and sugar and viola' we had pepper jam.

Since everthing sits better on a "ritz" we decided to try some with cream cheese. yum..yum   That ended up being our dinner that night.   What do you think Tracey?  Looks yummy doesn't it?

Lace Project Finished and Dye Job Gone Bad

Whoo...hoooo!  The lace project is finished.  Now I can be in love with it again.  As far as lace projects go it was a fairly easy one and an interesting one to complete. I purchased the yarn at Stitches Midwest in 2008, from Brooks Farm Yarn http://brooksfarmyarn.com/    The yarn is called Acero, it is 60% wool, 20% silk and 20% viscose.  It was fantastic yarn to work with, no fuzz, slight sheen, and an almost heathered color.  The drape is wonderful for this project.  I was looking for a lace project that wasn't too "frilly".  I wanted something that would be a heavier weight.  I came up with "Ene's Scarf" by Nancy Bush.  Wonderful, Wonderful pattern. It is worked by casting on along the lower two sides and then decreased as it is worked up towards the center of the top edge.  The best thing is it keeps getting smaller and smaller, instead of the traditional shawl that just grows and grows.  The shawl pin is a great item  I purchased from http://nicholasandfelice.etsy.com/  It is light weight and still has enough gusto to hold any shawl in its place.  Check out their shop on Etsy.  They have wonderful items.

I finished another project the other day.   I recently purchased some hand carders. I had some roving from a day that the dye session had gone terribly wrong.  I thought, "hey, I might as well try them on something that really doesn't matter a whole lot".  Well, all you fiber freaks out there know that every piece of fiber can be saved one way or another.  After I had all my little rolags I spun it and went back to the dye pot.

As you can see, not a good mixture.  I got the idea to over dye it with blue, thinking that the green would turn maybe an aqua of some sort, the pink a purple of some sort and the white or cream would be blue.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Here it is now.  Much better I think.

WI Sheep and Wool Festival

We went to the WI Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend located at the Jefferson County Fair Grounds.  Kudos to the festival team for yet another great show. It is just a flurry of activies for groups of all ages.  Herding competitions, sheep judging, sheep shearing, fleece sales, classes, food, displays. and of course all the wonderful goodies for a fiber freak like myself to purchase.
Although I have a very hard time justifing buying anymore yarn or roving, I could not pass up at least one skein of sock yarn.
I purchased this skein from Happy Hands Hand Dyed Yarns, http://happyhandsyarn.com/  it was just irrestiable. Her colors are just fantastic, so vibrant and alive. She also has samples knitted for you see what the yarn will look like when knitted. When you walk into her booth you are greeted with friendliness and enthusiasm.

How could anyone restist that face?  Not sure that she is real happy being here. She's probably thinking, "haven't you ever seen a sheep before." 

 I turned my attention to the many, many sheep that were to be sheared that day.
When I looked over at the herd all I saw was skein after skein of yarn.  I found myself wondering how many skeins were there.

hmmmm.....I wonder if thearpy would help.  There has to be a twelve step program, don't you think?

Okay, tell me you don't see them too. 

Signs

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin' out the scenery breakin' my mind....

The lyrics to that song came to mind the other day when I was sitting on a bench waiting for my husband to retrive me from the local grocery store.  I had already done the horrible job of buying groceries and had settled on the bench by the door, took out my knitting and was enjoying the time I had to add a few more rows to my sock. As you may, or may not know, I ALWAYS have a project bag with a sock in progress with me.  Anyway, back on track.  I happened to look up to take stock of  my surroundings. As I did, I noticed all the signs the store had posted all around, some printed, some handwritten. As the song goes, "do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign".....I was amazed at how we as a society depend on all those signs.

The one that I found most astounding was the sign that had been carefully handwritten and placed directly on the top of the ATM machine reading, "Please don't forget to take your money".  hmmmm......the sole purpose for going to the ATM machine is to obtain money.  Have we become so hurried that we need all these signs to remind us?  Perhaps it's time to step back, slow down and learn to enjoy the simple things. 

How about a wonderful sunrise with the sun turning the top of trees golden, or the simple task of collecting eggs in the late afternoon sun.

New Hat

I needed a smaller project to temporarily take me away from the lace project I am currently working on. You know how those can be. One tends to develop a love, hate relationship with lace projects. The love comes when you choose the wonderful yarn and the gorgeous pattern, that you are certain will look magnificent. The hate comes when you are about half finished and if you do one more yarn over, and SSK you are going to stab the knitting needle in your eye. That brings us to the smaller project.

I made this hat from yarn dyed by http://stonebarnfibers.com/. It was the first time I had used yarn from them and it was very nice. Very soft and great color saturation. I didn't use a pattern just sort of made it up as I went. Came out good. She thinks it did. The hat is certainly off season for the sundress, but she didn't seem to care.

Oh to be young and not care.

Harvest Day

Today was harvest day, we pulled onion and beets and dug potatoes. Due to the wacky weather we have had, and the lack of care our garden received this year harvest wasn't as good as we would have liked. However, we did manage to get enough onions, potatoes and beets.

I had a little help with the onion harvest. She decided that the sun was just much too bright and thought that Ama's garden hat would be a great solution to the problem.

Sami the cat thought maybe beets would be okay...but then again maybe not.

As I was making pickled beets, and they were staining my hands a wonderful dark pink color, I couldn't help but think what a wonderful color that would be for dyeing some roving.

Ah...perhaps another day.