What's going on Wednesday??

Well, I've been hookin' lately as it's that time of year again! 2011 Crochet Potholder Swap! I really wanted to try a new pattern this year and then worried I'd be too stressed about other stuff to pay attention to detail.. Been eyeing the African Flower pattern for a while, I could almost imagine a blanket of them...but until then African Flower Mandala Potholder will have to do ;) Here's the first one! I didn't quite do the flower according to the instructions..but it's pretty and useful! I like the backs, you just go on and on and match them to the fronts... Onward to the 2nd one...um..so colorful..yeah.. that'll make up for the WTH were you doing during the flower part?? Different, but hey, it's still pretty and still a useful potholder ;) Just love this blue...sigh..I had less than a yard left after this. 3rd time is the charm! Oh yes! This is how the flower should be! I didn't fully soak this one yet...thinking I will as it should fluff the back up more...you know fill it in. Various colors of Aslan Trends & Takhi Cotton yarns 3.5mm and 4.0mm hooks 2 more to go!

A Tale of 2 Fleece...

or is it fleeces...hmmm anyhow! I'm sure this will be a small series of posts on how I'm doing with this...yeah...this huge box of wool that arrived at my house Monday.



You see, a Dr. I taught to knit now lives on a farm, she sent me 2 out of the 3 fleeces she had.



The ram is a Southdown "Babydoll" and his name is Papa Fuzzbutton!

Here's a close up of some of his locks. Here is...

Fiona, she's a 1/2 Suffolk, 1/2 Babydoll (white fleece-- very soft).


and some of her locks! I separated them and now they are awaiting a bath & some picking (0r whatever you call it)

What the heck did I get myself into huh?? I'm only cleaning them, then sending them off for processing...should prove to be interesting.. stay tuned ;)

Newest Fellow on the Block!

Congratulations to my hubby!


Official Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives

He got his certificate this fall, but the ceremony made it really official! I had to find his amongst over 300 people! Let me tell you, caps and gowns at our age are not flattering at all ;)

I'm so proud of him, a long, hard road and here's hoping there is a light at the end of the tunnel...time will tell ;)

Whiz Bangs

Such a happy colorway!

And oh so very hard to photograph too!


Some colorful singles...

To a pretty awesome ply.... not as tight as I usually like...but still knittable :)


Enjoying the bed of clover..


So many colors....


Makes me smile just to look at it.

So very soft!!! Now what will it become...who knows...

Whiz Bangs
SW Merino by Two if By Hand
279 yds of fingering/light sport

Did I say so...very...soft ;)

"Enchanted"

When I first received my two braids for the All Spun Up Ravelry SAL for Feb/Mar I was more happy with the base than the colors. I didn't dislike the colors, they just didn't seem to be intense enough with the green,(not much for pastels) The purple was ok ....shame on me....

Shouldn't judge a book by it's cover huh! Also, one should not answer a plea for destashing to help someone for a sweater....yeah...shame on me again!

This fiber was awesome to spin! My singles were 24wpi, I kid you not!!

All too quickly the spin ended. Look up, um...don't those colors look intense to you, not washed out...yeah, shame on me again ;)

I knew while spinning the singles, it would be navajo plied. I would sacrifice yardage as my singles are not super thin, but to me it could be plied no other way.

A wee bit o'energized yarn here before it's bath!

Enjoying it's rest on a bamboo plate...

I'm so bummed I destashed the other braid!


Varying intensities of the purples and greens...love!!

I'm thinking this will stripe up when knitted too...not sure if a cowl or hat...it's so soft and squishy...might be a cowl, I can always knit a contrasting hat...or hey, if I move to the cold, they'll be mittens...or not...for now, I'll just pet it and call it George!

alpaca/merino/silk
130 yds of worsted weight, 12 wpi
navajo plied

From AllSpunUp

Ten on Tuesday

Hi! This weeks topic, favorite kinds of pie!! Oh...um..yum!!

1. Lemon Meringue - just yum!!

2. Strawberry, preferably mine ;)

3. Blueberry - even better if Maine blueberries ;)...seriously, I like almost any berry pie

4. Coconut Cream - I could eat one all by myself...probably why I never keep it in the house ;) Sonic has a good shake though...

5. Pumpkin - mainly in the fall

6. Apple - especially with Macintosh and other apples mixed in :)

7. Boston Cream - chocolate, sponge cake & custard...yum!

8. Touche Pie - French Canadian meat pie, sigh I miss my Me'mere's!

9. Chocolate Chip aka Tollhouse Cookie pie - now what's not to love about this...huh ;)

10. Key Lime - love the tartiness of this!

So, so many more! Leftover baked chicken pie....strawberry rhubarb...

You notice no nut pies...yeah..pecan is ok, not a favorite

Links not necessarily recipes I've tried, but hey, gets you started should you now be hungry for some PIE!

And on it goes....

I know things could be sooo much worse right ;) So, that being said I am pretty glad so far the only "extra" project other than painting and some polyurethaning, is going to be taking care of this...


Yup, because I had a nice edge put on the front, it made the back of the countertop shorter...a lot of the wall got damaged by the removal of the old one...

So the little bit of time I had in between installers, off to the home improvement store I went.

Came up with these black rope tiles. First time tiling....and using grout, should be interesting. Let's hope I don't have too much to cut!


You can see a potential cut here, but since I don't plan on putting the tile in front of the black backsplash any longer, I should be ok here...fingers crossed.


Oh, and now I've got to paint the ends :( And of course on this side, you can see where it's even taller than the tiles (from a previous attempt at caulking strip by me...grr) Hopefully it'll come off well. Cripes, why does your wall look dirtier in pictures then IRL??


Here's one side done! The other side wasn't too tidy so this is all you see until the tiling is done. Love my new sink, it's huge and doesn't drain all the water out until you are ready to! ;)

My faux granite aka formica :D

If anyone has any trim solutions other than tiling, please let me know!! I can still take the tiles back ;)

Wip it Wednesday--The House Version

So what's new?? With us, it's another version of getting your 20 year old house updated and ready for a future sale....

I call this stove on a tiger ;) (one of DD's old blankets I made)

Hubby and I saved like $400 removing the old countertops, stove and sink. At first I was skeered...hubby + me + DIY isn't normally a good thing ;) Probably because I'm a perfectionist :P, he's more easy going, lets get it done!

Anyhow, it was really easy! Well for me, I wasn't the one on the floor with my head in the cupboards unscrewing the stuff. But hey, I had to remove it all..(and I'll be putting it back too!) I did break the caulking seal on the tops of them, that wasn't too bad. Cupboards have been washed and I'm so getting rid of some crap before I put the stuff back...

You can see the boring beige the wall used to be...then you can see my dry brushed gray paint. But, since we have to get house friendly colors, I'm sure it'll be a form of boring beige one day soon again. I almost painted it a few weekends ago...then thought better of it. Good thing too, as um..well, there were a few dings from my caulk releasing job.


eek! No sink! Cannot WAIT for my new one!! Poor cupboards need some TLC too. I think a sanding and coat of polyurethane will spruce them up. That's a job for another day....

As you can see, my kitchen area is very small! One day, it would be nice to have more cupboard space, but for now, I'm actually glad I don't!

We're moving....in June....just not sure if it's 2011 or 2012 ;) Stay tuned and see what's next in the house sale prep adventures of Z & J!

Ten on Tuesday

Hi!

This week's edition is favorite smells! Here are mine in no particular order!

1. Cinnamon- candles, food, ahhhhh just a great scent!

2. Fresh cut grass-even the candle I had once wasn't too bad.

3. Balsam fir- trees or even the faux scent in candles...love my balsam fir!

4. Vanilla- especially the vanilla cupcake candle smell! I have been known to sniff the bottle of vanilla just before I add it to my baking ;)

5. Caramels - mmmmmm

6. Chocolate - double mmmmmm

7. A freshly bathed baby - well, what I remember, it's been 16 years, I think it's the baby lotion smell ;)

8. Pumpkin bread baking - reminds me of fall

9. Snow - no I'm not weird, but I can smell it in the air ...well I used to, I'm a bit out of practice ;) here's hoping I get more practice soon!

10. Lilacs - I'm not too much of a flowery scent liking person except for this one. One day I hope to have a few bushes again

There you have it, I know there are more, but these are all I could think of right now. Pretty funny most of them are food related ;)

Take me back Thursday....Belle Edition

Hard to believe almost 11 years ago she was this little!



Now she's this big!! A "healthy" girl!


Random quotes when people see her...
"are Bloodhounds supposed to be that fat?"
"does she bite?"
"she doesn't like food does she ;)"


You can see how big her head grew too!


She's a pretty good girl with bad hips, eyes, and hearing and lumps all over her! She's prone to fatty tumors and we've had one large one removed under her neck. Her ear operation went well, still a small infection, but nothing like before. Now she tells her daddy when it's time for bed ;)