The Scottish Lamb

Selfish Thankful

Carole had a great idea to have "Thankful Thursdays".  I thought, "What a great way for me to at least post once a week during November."

It's really hard to be thankful right now with today's events at Ft. Hood, but I am for one very selfish reason. Dan, who would have been in the thick of it, was safe and sound at a class in Missouri.  I'm also thankful for all the friends and family that have called and emailed to make sure we were okay as they heard of this tragedy. We are about 8 miles from the front gate and thankfully the kids had a short day of school today.

Please keep the families in your prayers.

Just Kidding Around

Bwaahahaha.  I kill myself sometimes.   Just kidding around.... get it??  :-)))

Dan, Joe and I went to spend the day at Hudson Valley Fiber Farm with Susan, Patrick and Erin.  We helped out with moving the about-to-pop mamas up to the pen by the house.  It was fun to learn how to feel down around their bellies to see if they were "bagging out".  When their milk is ready to go they feel like they have a little water balloon hanging in their tummy.  Not to be gross but when you're walking behind one who's close to time... well... let's just say it's pretty obvious.  Anyone who's watched a baby crown knows what I mean.  I just feel bad for them that they have to be that way for another couple of weeks!

I also helped holding a few during their immunizations and drawing the meds into the syringes.
As we were driving home we were pretty tired but it's that fresh air, good kind of tired.  It was fun but I can see how much work it is.  Especially when it's just the three of them working in the middle of Winter.  So rewarding though.  It was a really good day.  I want to spend as much time up there as I can before we leave because I'd really like to have some goats one day and what better way to learn?!  Plus they're pretty fun people to hang out with.  Dan and Patrick get along really well, but then Dan gets along with everyone.  I have a feeling Patrick is a lot like that too.

Because I was on the job today, I only took a few pictures and then put the camera away so I could help.  This is Erin, Susan and Linda.  It was a pleasure getting to meet Linda after pm'ing back and forth on Rav.

Best Weekend. EVER!

I'm a little late on the report.  It's been a crazy week with the snow storm and all.  SPA was greater than I ever imagined.  I think women owe it to themselves to get away once in a while.  Even though I had a screaming sinus headache the first couple of days I had SUCH a good time.  I didn't realize how much I needed the break until I could take a nap and sleep in til 10:30, do what *I* wanted to do when I wanted to do it and the very best part, being able to share the love of wool with so many other women.  I had a great time hanging out with Kim, Kathy, Carole, Terry, Laurie, Martha, Lucia, Manise (who I finally got to meet!), Sharon, Di (and her GORGEOUS wheel) and I got to meet Dave from Merlin Tree who so kindly tried to help me with a wheel I wanted to sell.  Like so many others, I had my camera the whole weekend.  I have no idea why I didn't take one picture.  I guess I was just having too much fun.

Here's my loot:

A Forrester spindle.   She spins like a dream. I picked this one to remind me of New England when we move to Texas.  The roving is Kim's BFL in "Blues". 

Ann Hanson's Butternut Scarf pattern and Kim's Alpaca in Chocolate Chambord.  YUM!

And evidently I like Kim's Chocolate Chambord because I bought it in sock yarn the day before.  And I had to get something for Dan so I bought Burgandy Bean to make him some socks.  I know.  Thoughtful huh?  The colors are much darker than the photo shows.  It's much more Aggie Maroon than it looks.

  

Perfect Timing

You might have heard the Northeast is being hit with a little snow lately.  We were hammered on Friday which extended the boys' Winter Break from school.  And as I look out the window now, it's coming down again and is supposed to do so all day.

Yesterday, however, was a different story.  Susan and Patrick were having a Winter Solstice Party to christen the new farm and she stuck to her guns.  A surprising amount of people braved the roads and showed up.  It was great fun.  I can *not* believe I didn't get pictures of Patrick's bonfire.  There's always next time.  ;-) (Susan, that wink was for you!)  We all marveled at Susan's meteorology knowledge because she picked the one day this weekend that the Hudson Valley wasn't under a Winter Storm Watch.   So THANK YOU to Susan, Patrick, Erin, Harrison and Logan for having us in your home and showing us such a great time!

Meet Ernie and the Weight Watcher's Group.  Trust me when I tell you Ernie is HUGE! Susan said he's lost about 100lbs.  You go, Ernie!

Doesn't he remind you of one of the characters in the Hair Bear Bunch?

Patrick had no idea what I was talking about.  That was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid!  I'm not *that* old, am I?

                

   

Hippo for Sandy

I've been knitting more than hats...  I finished Helena but forgot to take a picture before giving it to my neighbor.  Gotta get that back so I can show you.

I just cast on Cleopatra for my mother for her wedding in May.

When I saw this video of Sandy's, I cracked up.  What a hoot.  I immediately Googled "knit hippo" and found this pattern and cast on.  She's a quickie folks.

I named her "Joy" and stuck her in the mail to Sandy.   It was perfect timing as Sandy had just had to say goodbye to her sweet little Fig.  I'm so glad that I didn't hesitate and just got it done.  Sandy makes me smile lots with her blog.  It was nice to return the favor.

I thought Sandy flew the coop but she's having blog woes.   Her post about Joy can be found here.  Love the picture of her tail. lol.

Maahhtha

Two of my neighbors and I headed down to the city very early yesterday morning for a Martha Stewart Show taping.  There was some confusion because when I got the tickets they called me interested in getting a bunch of Army wives from West Point down for a show.  They asked me to look for a certain person when we got there to make arrangements for a future show.  So,  we're sitting there waiting for our number to be called and they say, "Can the Army wives please come through now."  We were surprised, looked at each other and got up.  At the same time a group of about 20 women in front of us stood up as well.  The other audience members were kind. They clapped and yelled stuff like, "Go Army!"  Come to find out these ladies were all from Ft Monmouth, NJ. 

The woman that had asked the Army wives to come forward was the same woman I'd talked to on the phone a few weeks back.   I told her who I was and reminded her about our conversation about the Army wives from West Point and she said, "Oh yeah..." then she asked my two friends and I to go back and sit down until they were ready for us.  It was very humiliating to walk back in the waiting room and be separated from the other Army wives like that.  We felt like all the other audience members thought we were phonies or something.

When Joey was working everyone up for the show, he introduced the NJ group (who were seated on the other side of the studio from us) but not us.  It was just weird and uncomfortable.  It's not like we were looking for any kind of attention or anything.   In fact, when they called "the Army wives" were were surprised.  What they don't get is that Army wives... really all military... are a great big family.  It doesn't matter where you're stationed.  We all got a kick out of all of us showing up for the same show and we would have had fun sitting together.  When she asked us to go sit back down, we thought it was just a big mix up and that the number on our tickets was our seat numbers and it was just too late to switch the seats this close to air time.  Not so.  The numbers on the tickets were simply how they called you into the studio.  They easily could have let us go in with the NJ group.  All I can say it was weird, embarrassing and it stung a little.

We still had a great time.  It was very interesting to see how it all worked.  It was great to get out with my friends, too.  One is moving next month and with us leaving in June, I want to do as much as I can before we move.  That's the hard part of being military. Saying goodbye so often. The good part is that you have friends pretty much anywhere you go.

All I had was my little pocket camera so the pics aren't that great.

These are the cookie cutters we got for these super cute cookies:

 

Afterward we headed back up to Times Square for lunch at my favorite pizza place and then over to Junior's for cheesecake.  Terrible picture but it's all I've got. 

 

Over the last few days tons of packages with hats have been landing on my doorstep.  Holy cow, you guys!  58 more hats (163 total)!  I'm sure there'll be more later today.  We're getting a couple of deliveries a day with the Holiday help at the Post Office.

 

Very Sad Day

I woke up with excitement this morning because I was going to Hudson Valley Fiber Farm to finally meet Susan and Erin.   Susan had hats for me to pick up for the hat drive.  I was heading to Poughkeepsie for a Weaving Guild meeting and Susan's is right on the way so it was perfect... or so I thought.

When I got to there it was obvious something terrible had happened.   A little before I arrived beautiful Biscotti, one of Susan's Maremma guard dogs, was hit by a car.  Having had that happen to our Blue Heeler, Dallas, eight years ago and then putting Bailey down suddenly two years ago... I know how much it hurts.   I offered to come back another time but Susan insisted that we go out and see the goats and new Cormos.   Despite the tragic morning, it was very nice to meet Susan and Erin.   I can only imagine how great they are on a good day. 

My heart goes out to everyone at Hudson Valley Fiber Farm.  I have to say, if anything can bring a smile, it's those little goats.     

The new Cormos were pretty darn cute, but those goats have my heart.

    

   

Eat, Drink and BEAT NAVY!!! Hooah!

Army Strong, Baby!  Kathy just e'd me and challenged me to a little Army/Navy wager.  Fact is, I grew up a Navy brat, but my heart belongs to the Black and Gold.  Go Black Knights! 

It's a big week here at West Point.  The post is full of excitement all leading up to this day.  I tried to get tickets way too late or we'd be in Philly right now.  But fear not.  Brewskys and snacks are ready!  Joe thinks he's part of the team since he was on the Junior Black Knights this year so he's ready to root for "his guys". The stats are against us:

Navy: 52 wins
Army: 49 wins
7 ties
Longest streak: 6 years (Navy; ongoing as of 2007)
108 total games played
10 years in which game was not played

but I think it's our turn.... GO ARMY! BEAT THE HELL OUTTA NAVY!!!  Crap.  Navy already scored while I was sitting here doing this.  Gotta go.  My team needs me.

  I was asked about the hat on the lower left corner of the photo in my last post.  It's the Picot Hem Stranded Snowflake Hat by Kathleen Taylor.  The one on the bottom right is the Salsa Hat by Nanette Blanchard.

I Hung Out With Girls and I Liked It....

I know you're all probably tired of hearing about Rhinebeck but it's the only fibery thing I've done in a while so .....  It was amazing.  I didn't even shop.  Not really.   I bought one skein of white alpaca yarn (to dye later) from Times Remembered and two patterns from Green Mountain Spinnery.  It just wasn't about the shopping.   It was about the people.  And dear Lord.... there were a LOT of people.  There were a few buildings that I got to that I looked inside and knew I'd be smushed alive if I went in so I'd turn around and walked back out. 

Knitters are a rare and wonderful breed.  We laughed that Rhinebeck is about the only place you can go and feel someone's clothes admiringly and not get smacked.  Carol and I were standing in the beer line (yes... beer... that was the only short line... really.... it was....) laughing because we were all talking about who's yarn we were wearing in our knitwear, "I'm wearing Kim."  Like we were on the Red Carpet at the Oscars.

This was a much needed break for me.  Girl time is important. In a house full of men, I forget that sometimes.  I got to meet old friends and new friends and friends that I knew for years on the net but never met in person.  That is SO much fun.

After many attempts foiled by weather, I finally got to meet my good Elann buddy, Theresa.  She lives an hour and a half from me and this was the first time we could get together.   The last minute suprise meeting of Daryl (another Elann pal) made my day.  Here's the only picture on my camera from Rhinebeck.  T's son, Timothy (tuckered out), T, me and Daryl.  The picture was taken by Daryl's friend Eleanor who came up on the LYS bus from Philly with her.  Our time together was way too short:

For fear of forgetting someone's name (I'm horrible with names) so I'll keep it to those that I spent the most time with.  If you only knew how bad I am at remembering names...  Kim and hubby were supposed to come stay at our house for the weekend but she ended up coming alone and we made a "girl" thing out of it.  There was dinner at the Eveready with Laurie, Leigh, Margene, Sandy, Terry, and then off  to see a special movie.  I also got to meet Laurie and Mishaele.  The cherry on top was getting to meet Kathy and others at the hotel later. I *really* needed that girl time. 

And all that woolly goodness got my fingers itching.   The thing that did me in was Monica's handspun in a gorgeous blue.  I can't wait to see her finished project.  I can't even remember what she was knitting because I was so in love with the yarn.  She could have just worn the skein around her neck and have been done with it.  Kathy showed me Cheryl's February Lady.  Gorgeous.  When I first saw it I thought, "I KNOW that sweater.... what is it?"  Pfft.  That's how out of the loop I've been in blogging and Ravelry.  I've knit that sweater more times than I can count in the baby version.

Lots of personal stuff is happening and I'll fill you in next post.   It's all good.

Have you all seen this video?  I'm so behind the times, it's probably been all over blogland since July. It's awesome. My heart stopped when the lamb is being born:

I Hobby Like I Need a Hole in the Head

When we moved here we had to go out and rent a 10x10 climate controlled storage room.  I'm ashamed to admit that a good half of that room (as well as the 4th bedroom here in the house) is taken up by my craft supplies.  And yet I felt the need this Summer to try out things I'd wanted to for a long time.

For Mother's Day I asked for this (minus the reciprocating saw):

I'd been wanting to do woodworking for years.  Dan was rewarded on Father's Day with a Red Cedar Adirondack Chair that I built with my own two little hands using this woodworking plan.

I built this little bench for the endless footwear that ends up by our door (my own design):

And this simple oak spice rank for all my Penzey's spices (now I need more... darn it):

Another craft I've wanted to try my hand at is Stained Glass.   Here are a couple of my first projects:

a hummingbird for an Elann friend

a chickadee for me.

My friend, Bets, passed this torch on to me.  Go check out the cardi she just finished!  Awesome, Bets.  Now I'm supposed to nominate at least seven other blogs.  Ugh.  I hate doing this for fear of hurting someone's feelings so I'm going to pick the last seven people that left comments on my blog:

Ghislaine, Gayle, Jennifer, Tracy, Amy, Anna and Kim .

Please take accept this award from me and ...
1. Please put the logo on your blog.
2. Link the person from whom you received your award.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put the links of those blogs on to your blog.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them!