Dang, I missed August.

OK, so it is only September 1 so I didn't miss it by much.  I have been trying to have one post a month & have done pretty well.

I just had a great opportunity for a wonderful life lesson in knitting.  Our excellent & awesome pal, Dave H., is a peach of a fellow, a friend whom I inherited via my relationship with Sweet J.  He is a BIG gaming & sci-fi fan & a biggie fan of "Firefly."  I made an offer to knit him a Jayne hat & the length of time that has gone by is cringe-worthy.  (steeling myself for the typing of the date.) This was right about now in 2009.  Crikey.

Our pals, Purlewe & her wife Sue advised me early on re the colors I chose so that was done.  And for about 4 years, so was much of the hat.  I began to work toward completion & all except for the pom-pom, it is done.  We saw him at Folk Song Week-end this past week-end, he tried it on & it fit, he was thrilled & there was not a single "Jeez, what took you so long!" uttered by anyone but me!  He was thrilled to pieces & will be even more after I learn how to knit the pom-pom, put it on the hat & mail it to him.  (Somehow I tho't I could skate through my knitting life without making one but nooooo, that is not to be.  Dave is worth it!)

My take-aways from this are
++  complete gifts sooner.
++  keep picking people like Dave who are joyful & terrific & sweet.
++  while making lists, think about priorities & keep your friends & loved ones right at the top!
++  as a giver of this hat, I feel like I am receiving the gifts & that is a beautiful thing.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!  Happy day of sweetness to you!!

February 14th has been a day to celebrate sweetness - we can be sweet to folks just because it is a beautiful thing.  I disagree with those folks who feel that 2.14 is a holiday invented to sell cards.  I like a day dedicated to sweetness as it is something to appreciate in others.

Knitting is sweet & while I have been thinking about it a lot, reviewing patterns, figuring out what is in the queue & what yarns to mull over, I have done very little knitting  : (  My hands have been a bit sore & am glad to have ideas about the causes & the solutions.  As a part of my job, I use two hand-held scanners for ordering.  They are held in my left hand.  With one of them, I use a styllus to indicate some of the parts of the order.  The other one is an iPhone & it is almost all done w/ my left hand. I am trying to do more hand stretches while working & to be more relaxed as I hold them.

One other thing that may be causing this is something I rarely do: all my knitting has been done on one project.  It is a superwash yarn that I am using for a shawl.  The needles are bugging the dickens out of me & I will pass them on when I am done w/this shawl.  Generally I alternate projects but not so much recently.  My focus has been too long on this project as I am eager to be done w/it.  I need to step away from it for a while & get back to it later on.  Whoa, I have just given myself permission to start a new project - woo hoo!

      

And your week ...

... how was it?

Mine had some bright spots, the main one being Knit Nite last night at Hidden River Yarns.  Lisa is fabulous & she figured out my boo boo so now I can get back to my cowl project which is knit with yarn I bought from her.  Lucky me, the switch flipped finally that has me on the side of loving my FOs vs being too daydreany over the process of knitting.  Halloo, brother & sisters.  Praise the almighty & pass the beer nuts!   
On Goodreads, I was perusing the friends who are participating in the 2014 Reading Challenge.  That made me seek out my 2013 reading list & it needs some pumping up.  I read 11 novels, 2 short story collections & 7 nonfiction books.  My audio selection was comprised of 9 novels & 2 memoirs.  Seems like a piddly quantity - that 31 title amount - & I am looking forward to seeing what goal I set.  I do love reading!

It's mid-November already?!

Holy cow, where the hell did the fall go? When looking at my few recent posts, I marveled at what I had written & how I continue to pursue my goals. Life is ever-changing & when we are lucky, ever growing. I just attended the marvelous Knitter's Review Retreat & my "Sally Field Oscar speech" self continues to marvel that my good peeps there like me, they really like me. My heart had a much-needed B-12 shot of an energy boost as did my joy, laugh muscles & knitting mojo. We are in the midst of house work & by that, I mean work on the house. Bob recently finished tiling (vinyl tile - wish we could afford ceramic tile) the kitchen & pantry. We love Bob & we love the job he did. Next Monday Eric the Brush (the best painting company!) & his excellent crew start work to paint the living & dining rooms, the trim in the 1st floor bathroom, the windows & doors in the family room, a coat closet & our 2nd floor hall & the woodwork & doors there. Bob will, after T'giving, tile the family room & 1st floor bathroom. There will be more clean-up & lots of stuff to give away as we lighten up. I am in a give-away, let someone else share what we have had mood & hope to bring my sweetie & her daughter along on that ride. Happy T'giving to you & your loved ones - may yours be a healthy, creative & bountiful celebration.

If I had a bucket list ... I never would have tho't that the following items would have been on it. ++ Sweet jean & I went to see an Elvis Impersonator. Yes, your eyes & brain are working & you correctly read that. Her church had a professional Elvis impersonator as a fundraiser. Ya gotta love Jean - she invited a ton of folks: three came, one had something come up that was on her bucket list, one was ill, a number of folks said "no thanks. This guy was really good & I clapped along like everyone else there. The crowd was so large that it was actually held in the church. Those crazy Episcopalians. ++ I temporarily broke the change counting machine at our credit union. Jeez. Our credit union has a fabulous machine that counts the change we save from our wallets & pockets at the end of the day. When I take it to the bank, I place the coins in a plastic bag. The last time, I apparently grabbed a bag that had schumutz in it. Rut row. After I poured our precious pennies in the machine, it began to count & then DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER, a green slip came out of the machine, telling me to get someone to attend to the machine. The teller worked on it, vacuumed it out, handed me a slip & then placed a "temporary out of order" sign on it. She was lovely & did not say something like "You stupid woman, what else was in that bag?". Next time, I promise to be more careful. Knitting wise, I am working on a sweet shawl (maybe a gift for our pal Andrea or for Jean or for me) & hope to pick up my Gatsby yarn V-neck pullover project soon. It's chilly here & we have a promise of rain tomorrow. I'll volunteer at the Library in the AM & when I am back home,I plan to watch movies, knit & stay warm. How is your week-end shaping up?

Priorites ...

What a great month September is - while I knit all year 'round, this month & the coolish days & nights we have been having, led me to get out ALL my knitting bags, pull out ALL the projects & rank them. How lovely to have some projects quite close to completion.

There are a few of those "almost done" ones, some in the middle range, some in the seriosuly small amount of knitting done stage, some that wil still wait for a while. When I looked at all I had on the needles, I felt glad & eager to finish some of them off.

It was like a B12 injection of energy to see all my WIPs & I feel invorigated. Horray.

13 books

AS THEY WERE by M.F.K. Fisher is tho't, by some, to contain some of her best writing & her best essays. She seemed to savor every detail & nuance of the meals & trips she describes, of the wine & other drinks, of the atmosphere, of the settings of these places. Her evocative "reports," as she called them, are filled with the reflections of a wonderful writer.

If you are interested in some good ol' fashioned writing that is meant to show off food, foreign locales, people, scenes along the way, try M.F.K. Fisher & then let me know what you feel & think.

WIPs

Wow, I have a lot of WIPs & wow, I want to start more! What's up with that?

I have had good ideas, good taste with what I have started, good stash diving, a good stash of needles to support myself with so many projects. And I like everything that I am working on - that's a beautiful thing.

A couple of projects are good for car rides - the scarves, the laptop case. Some are good for TV & movie watching - the easier shawl, the Knitting Pure & Simple sweater, the Twisty Tube Toe-up socks.

A couple are in the home stretch - SJ's 2nd sock, the 2nd fuzzy feet slipper.

Some day soon I hope to have help to learn how to load my photos to here so you can see what I have written about!

Dona Dalton, Artist

Do check out Dona Dalton - she is a fabulous artist. Her site lists this statement about her craft.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I call my work Toys as Sculpture because they are not for throwing around or into the toy box. They encourage the imagination and relationship which I felt towards my playthings. My intention is to capture gesture, personality, and something of the spirit, especially as it exists in relationship. A Kingfisher at your workplace, or a cat in a boat can be the best of companions.

I use a bandsaw, a sander, a rotary carver, a drill, poplar and pine to make my pieces. Like icing on a cake, coloring the wood carvings with layers of acrylics, metallic leaf or powders brings each piece to life.

Isn't she terrific?!

Reading

Lately I have felt like a squirrel hoarding nuts for a cold winter day. Now I grant you, we had what seemed like all the world's snow fall on our city in February - doesn't 56" seem like a lot? In this case, size matters ^ .. ^ I have a stack of books I want to read that would take me many days to plow through - it's wonderful!

It's a beautiful thing for me that I continue to volunteer at my "old" Library branch, having done this since the mid-90s, & still maintain the used books that are sold to benefit the Library branch. Thus I am in the branch on average three times a week. We raise from $80. to $100. a month w/ these books & the dough goes to the Friends group which does mighty good things w/it - i.e. the purchase of books, DVDs & CDs, maintaining the garden at the front corner, fees for speakers for community events, repairs to the building (it's an old Carnegie Library) that the City does not do, etc.

Lately lots of excellent books have been donated for us to sell & I am jones-ing to read-read-read. The stash I put aside for me yesterday included
TRUTH AND BEAUTY: A FRIENDSHIP by Ann Patchett
LUCID STARS by Andrea Barrett (if you don't know her wonderful books, please do check her out - she is a fabulous writer! SHIP FEVER is a good place to start.)
JANE AUSTEN A LIFE by Claire Tomalin
a "how to organize" your office
a Mary Oliver poetry collection
CHRONIC CITY by Jonathan Lethem
a gardening how-to for cooks.

Calgon, take me away.

What reading is on your bedside table?

We're busy - December is a big month for my job & I feel behind because I am behind. No knitting to speak of - I need to find more ways to work it into my everyday routines. I am jones-ing to work on my KR Retreat New Beginnings Project sweater - have the swatch done & blocked! I will be using some lovely Briar Rose yarn that is yummy to the max.

We had a delightful holiday potluck last evening & folks were happy to be there, brought wonderful food & drink, ate lots of food & had some drink. Lotsa of beautiful compliments about the house which we loved hearing, truth to tell. "Looks like you're moved in" more than one person said. "D'oh" said SJ. "Don't you think we own books & artwork? Where are they? In the garage & closets & our friend C's 3rd floor guest room (my artwork from the old house, that is)." Some of the neighbors came: SJ, in a brilliant & tho't move, placed invitations in a number of mailboxes - the folks across the street, the folks on both sides of us. We loved the turnout & were sorry to miss the folks who could not be there. So many holiday events were happening. M was away in NC at a soccer tournament. M was a fabulous hostess, asking folks to sign the guest book & taking coats to M's room.

We cleaned like crazy before the party & painted 2 of the walls of the family room. Since one wall is paneling w/ a door & shelving areas, we have only one more wall to paint in that room. Because Bob the painter did most of the walls in most of the rooms, we have only the living & dining room area to do & then it's the woodwork in the hallway, the living room/dining room area & the family room. We're in the home stretch. There are many, many boxes still left to be culled & items will be ready to be put away. The two pallets we began for future yard sale items are getting more crowded as we look toward selling the multiples we have - you know what that is like, the couple of colanders, glasses & mugs, bowls, etc.

Recently we met w/ a local landscape designer/gardener who will be assisting us w/ a plan to turn our yard into a wonderful, blooming, inviting-to-the-birds-&-butterflies yard. The seven trees we have in the the front, side & back yards need care & we have a terrific arborist on board to do that work. He trimmed trees at my old homestead & he does excellent work. We have the insultation to place in the attic - it's the type that comes in a big roll & it will go in between the rafters. As Jean says, this will be our coldest winter we'll ever have at the house as we make it more resisiatnt to the cold air & wind. What we are doing will also help us in the summer as there is central AC too. The HVAC guy was there last week to tune up the furnace. He calibrated the thermostat which was low by, on average, 6 degrees: we had been cold, chilly in fact, & the two thermometers we checked it against were coming up w/ low readings. The duct cleaning company comes this Thursday to clean out all the duct work - a forced air furnace can be such fun.

SJ & I have both been pushing ourselves at work & at home. I think everyone does when they move! Need a chiropractor adjustment in the worst way. Had a rolfing session a few weeks ago & also saw the accupuncturist who did some trigger point work in the region of the cervical neck & upper shoulders. The care helped a lot. I do need more of both & will see them again in a couple of weeks.

It's nice to have the moves behind us - could you hear my exhale?

What a month July was!

While it seemed like it flew by, it also felt so FULL of events, experiences & things to review, ponder, process, decide upon/about & then act on, that it seemed like a long month.

And here it is, August 2.

We got a new-to-us car & used to the rest of the world: a 2002 Honda Civic, almost 62,000 miles. Our ace mechanic gave it his OK.

The house was bid upon by 3 folks, we accepted one bid & the house was inspected & reported about to us. Her idea of what she should be paid did not jive w/ anyone else, we declined & countered. She said no. We went back to square one. A nice amount of folks have come by - let's say that good luck charm again & cross those fingers & thumbs.

We have a bid on a house & are negotiating.

Natalie & Jeremy had their health/vet check-ups. Both are well! I had a physical - ditto for me!

Whoa & yiyiyi, it's going to be some August!

Dad is doing well. We speak twice a day & whenever possible, SJ talks w/him. He thinks SJ is perfect - you gotta love this guy for his good taste ^ .. ^

Knitting whenever possible. I am spurred on by the need to chill, to be ready for the NY Sheep & Wool Festival & to be ready as well for the Knitter's Review Retreat. Ahhh, October & November are two fav months as I am able to see my sweet pals. To be around them is how part of my heaven here on earth looks.

Woo hoo ^ .. ^

House news: A DRUM ROLL PLEASE - we had 3 bids/offers on the house after only 4 days of showing it! Wild! The realtors began showing it last Sunday, 7.5, even before the "sell" sheets from the realtor w/ all the pretty color photos were done. We have set a contract w/ a woman who wrote us a fan letter about the house. We rec'd $500.00 above the "intent" price that we had set. Wow.

We will be putting a bid on a house tomorrow AM - send us a good tho't please. SJ & I loved it from the get-go. I had the intent to place an offer on it before we saw it. The Realtor tho't me a tad brash. Pish tosh, I say to you. I am eager & I had/have a feeling about the house. Please send us a good tho't.

And to top all that off, a week ago, our Toyota car was hit upon by professional thieves: they absconded w/ power distribution system (the fuse box & relays if I understand our wonderful mechanic properly), plus the air filter & air flow system & our 6 month old battery. May they rot in hell! They forced open the hood by a pry bar or some such device & basically popped the hood. Then they cut the engine harness cables which house ALL the electric wires for the entire car. Bastards! The police came in full force & fingerprinted the hood of the car. Shitfire. What a pain in the arse. State Farm has totaled it so besides looking at houses & having people look at this house, we are looking for a car. No more Toyotas for me: the police said that someone had a shopping list for Toyota car parts & they picked ours 1st. Apparently Toyotas & Hondas are the cars most hit upon for this type of crime. What a predicament! Shit again.

Keep your fingers & thumbs crossed please!

Happy March to you.

Yep, we're into March already. Holy shit, friends. So, how in the hell are ya?

A recap for us:
~~ The house inspection went very well. Some things to do, some things to contemplate. Very good thing to do when you are thinking of selling a house: pay a good inspector to come in & examine your house - better to know up front what you will hear later from a prospective buyer's inspector.
~~ Cleaning up & out: SJ & I have spent time in review of my stuff - i.e. what to keep, what goes, what to pass on, etc. It's a beautiful thing to do.
~~ In touch w/ Dad as often as possible - Mom is not well & it's pretty rugged.
~~ Knitting - ah, knitting.
Am almost done w/ the Two Old Bags Double-Handled Project Bag (on end of last two handles & then I will felt it. It is my 1st felted project! Am working on a 2nd one, the Constant Companion Bag from KNITTER'S STASH, & am done w/ the body of it.). I am working on SJ's 2nd sock (on leg part) & her scarf (a few more inches & it's time to block).
Last week I reviewed all the bags of UFOs or WIPs, whatever you choose to call them, & decided to put more things on the back burner. They went into the basement totes. The totes are sorted by type of yarn or designated projects: projects for SJ, M & M; socks; lacey yarns; mohair; scarves, hats & mittens; possible felted projects; projects for me (as a long time quilter who made nada for myself, this is a biggie that I plan to knit for moi!); & one of skeins that will become scarves or mitts. My treasured pal, Purlewe, is skilled at many things - one of them is this: she made bee-ute-full scarves last year by combining individual skeins from her stash. I have lots of these skeins that would make lovely projects if they could be combined w/ a fellow yarn. And since I need assistance w/them (do you ever work on something for a while & feel that it's become too frustrating & endless?), I will ask Sweet Purlewe for some help. I also have some yarns ready to donate to the KR Retreat & some to donate to friends.
~~ And in the midst of all this, work gets busier, of course, & I have been felled by a flu-ish bug a couple of times.

So, how have you been? Whatcha doin'?

There's another new kid on the blog block & she is

MOMOGUS KNITS.

We love Diana - just be around her for a nano-second & see if you can resist! She is a talented designer, teacher, knitter. When I visit the Tangled Web, my fav LYS, she has the ability to help me w/ a knitting problem & somehow I feel smarter when I leave. Would love to have that ability!

Her patterns are well written, have great directions, are reasonably priced, are fun to knit & make me want to knit more. Check her out!

President Obama
Don't you just love the sound of that?

What a beautiful day Tuesday was. Part of the beauty involved watching a helicopter fly away, out of our sight - yes, this whirlybird carried W & Laura away.

While I worked all day, I did tape as much of the day as a VCR tape would hold. There are many blog posts about this great day - The Tangled Web & Bossy Little Dog are two of my faves. (Please see the sidebar for the links.) We hold respect, good wishes & much hope in our hearts & heads as we watch our courageous, smart & ambitious new President & Vice President take their offices, sleeves rolled up & ready to get down to it.

On a personal note, I took a tumble yesterday on a patch of ice on an icy street. Our chiropractor, Dr. Ted, was the 1st one I called as I wanted to see him ASAP. (Drove there straight away & he took great care of me - as he always does. If you live in my area & want a recommendation of a great chiropractor to see, let me know - we love Ted!) Then I called SJ - got to have some empathy from my sweetheart. I was chauffeured to the ER today by SJ for wrist xrays. My left wrist is sprained badly & I have a very swollen hand & fingers. It's wrapped & I will be doing ice packs, elevation of the arm & hand & as much rest as I can. And I hope I will be able to knit soon - I have been in a groove w/ my projects & besides that, damn it, I want to knit!!

My sweater is done!!

I realize that finishing a project is not a cause for celebration - for most of you all, it's not a BFD (Big Furry Deal?). For me, I am celebrating - this is my 2nd sweater ever & I am over the moon. It is the Knitting Pure & Simple V-neck pull over.

This was begun as part of a Knit Along at the bestest LYS, the Tangled Web. While I tho't it was 2005, the Divine One, Diana, tho't it was begun in 2004. Why argue w/ the best? It must have been 2004. Anywhoo, it's done! I am thrilled.

Diana is the genius of Momogus Knits. Her patterns are well written, sweet, are packed w/ great energy that carry over to your finished items & are designed by a fabulous knitter. We love her!

Break out the champagne - bring me another sweater to start!

My 2008 knitting dreams: What is a dream & what becomes of it?

Throughout the year I have reviewed & pondered my 2008 goals. I had posted them on the sidebar w/ the idea that I could see them as my fiber intent for the year. The periodic review of them helped to bolster me when I needed a nudge, reminded me of things I could do to further myself & gave me a solid set of values (yes, I know - that word has taken a crushing hit via the Republicans over the last few years - they turned it into a negative vs. a positive.) from which I could direct myself.

How did I do?
~~~ I did shop from my stash - I have projects I began from the stash (my KR Retreat New Beginnings project is from a purchase from years ago at the Tangled Web, my beloved LYS) & most of the projects I will start in 2009 that are from stash treasures. There was a bit of shopping from three of the best yarn & fiber sources on the planet - Spirit Trail Fiberworks, the Tangled Web & Carolina Homespun.
~~~ I did not finish my 2007 KR Retreat NB project ^ .. ^ Like another fiber friend, I have yet to complete a New Beginnings project. My fingers & thumbs are crossed that I will do one over the next year. Think I have found a way to make that happen. Stay tuned to see if it does.
~~~ I did attend more Fiber Nites at the welcoming, creative homes of the sweet newly-weds, Anj & Sue, & for Spinning Nites at Heather's abode. They feed me literally & creatively, make me & the other knitters/spinners feel welcome & help me navigate through the rapids of a new technique or pattern.
~~~ While I did not finish much, I have a few things that are this close - or this this close.
~~~ The stash quantity was lowered: I gave yarns to good friends here at home & took three big bags of yarn, books & patterns for the Swap Lounge at the KR Retreat. Yes, I also brought some yarns & needles home w/me - all the yarns have a specific person &/or gift in mind (items for SJ, M & M, a scarf for our beloved work colleague, Miz T, a couple of neckwarmers, some Cascade that will be used for a future felted bag, some circs to add to my medium size collection).
~~ "Knitting often" was a big intent for me. You know, that's a hard one to judge - while I did knit more often, it almost never seemed like enuf ^ .. ^ That's the case for just about every knitter I know.

May 2009 bring you good health, a speedy recovery from anything that befell you in 2008, creativity, new beginnings & lotsa love. Hope to see & talk w/ you in the new year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL!!!

Craziness at the holidays? What craziness? Re said nuttiness, at least I am not working 60 hour work weeks this year ^ .. ^ Am closer to 50 to 55 & am OK w/ that. That's a beautiful thing.

To those of you who will be flying & driving over the holidays, let's be careful out there. Re the road emergencies & weather, the weather folks seem to hype what we might get here in Philly & it is so bogus. Yes, we will have a worse winter than last year - how could we not when we had only 6" of snow last winter?!

Re packages, cards & presents, have done only 1 card & that was to the folks. (Will be doing a January trip to see them - keep your good tho'ts working toward that one - a visit to the parental units is not something I look forward to at all!) Am doing almost no present buying or giving. There's just a bit that SJ & I are doing w/ each other & we'll do smallish stuff for M & M. We have bought modest things for SJ's brother, sister & their families. Those boxes have not been mailed yet. Oh well, they will get there, just late ^ .. ^ Perhaps next year things will be on time or, gasp, early.

Re the house, I had decided to take some time away from working to ready it for sale. It's been a wise move as I have worked some long days & been on my feet far longer than I usually am. Oh, a good foot massage would be so fine right about now! I will get back to the house projects soon: putting the spare bedroom back together & rearranging it - it is really just a "study" as I have it - & finishing off cleaning out & straightening up of the basement. Then I will have a house inspector here to do a pre-inspection, meet w/ the Realtor & clean the house as well as it can be cleaned. Then it's up for sale!

For my job, it feels good to be in the last period of extreme work effort for 2008. Sales are modest, for this time of year, in the areas that are usually pretty strong. Folks are not spending lots & luckily I had counted on that. Since the late summer/early fall, I had been conservative w/ what I have purchased & had made my purchasing decisions after a process that included lots of tho't about the store w/ a mind toward a plan to have practical items, fairly priced items & some one of a kind items (jewelry which we have on consignment & only pay for what we sell plus some clothing that we either have on consignment or have from a company that allows us to return what we don't sell). We had an early-mid November sale w/ many items that we picked from our housewares that, over the last few months, had turned into slow sellers. We had pretty candles, a wide array of calenders, cool toys & puzzles, pretty holiday cards, the ever popular Baggallini line, neat cooking & baking items. We'll just see what happens when the holiday season is over. This is my 3rd holiday for this job & I learned a lot about more about the holidays which is a beautiful thing. There's always more to learn in any job, I think. My colleagues in my department have worked hard & done beautiful displays. I am pleased w/ what they have done & am appreciative for their fine work.

To you all who are near & far, I wish you a joyful holiday - may folks treat each other w/ tenderness, generosity & good humor - may your travels be safe - may 2009 be kind & loving for you. Thanks for dropping by, good to have you here.

Don't you love the autumn?

Fall is my favorite season - for one thing, it means that our usually ucky Philly summer is over. We had a modest, pretty good summer. The cool weather means breezier days, wearing woolen items, hot cocoa & cups of my fav hot teas, snuggling w/ SJ, my g'ma's quilts back on the bed.

There has been some excellent progress on some projects:
~~ The top down V-neck is close to the end!! I am 1/2 way or so to the end of the bottom ribbing & due to the ab fab assistance from Mary & the Divine One, Diana, at The Tangled Web, started on the stitches around the V-neck. (Love that store - they are the best!)
~~ Have finished the top of one of the three baby quilts on my to-do list. Have the blocks for the "across" rows sewn together & will be sewing the balance of the "up & down" rows completed soon. Have the blocks for the 3rd one cut out & 1/2 way sewn together.
~~ Have the quilt top for SJ's daughter done! Have the blocks cut out & picked out for her son's quilt & have started sewing them together.
~~ Will work w/ a review lesson w/ the fabulous Purlewe for my socks on 2 circs after her wonderful wedding.

The fall also holds two of my very best week-ends: the New York Sheep & Wool Festival where I will work in Jen's Spirit Trail booth along w/ the glorious Lanea. Shelia is not able to be there w/ us & we know Amy will be a glorious Booth Babe.

And the 7th Annual Knitter's Review Retreat! Shall I say again how I love these people?!