Silly String, Serenades, Salamanders and Snakes???

Sorry no pictures this post. I have been having too much fun caught up in the utter silliness of the day!

I was awakened this morning by a rampage of my husband and two children screaming "Happy Birthday!" and spraying me with Silly String! Pink, blue and yellow strings covered me, my pj's, my bed, etc. better than any Black Widow spider could even dream of! Haha.

After escaping the confines of Silly String, I followed them downstairs only to see a Happy Birthday Banner and tons of balloons being weighted down by my children's stuffed animals. Simba, our 80 lb Collie, caught up in the commotion was parading around with a balloon tied onto his collar and bringing me his toys. Mr. J., my son, was serenading me with a helium induced munchkin voice and then decided to play "The Chipmunks" CD. Only to have my hubby and Miss A., my daughter, tie ribbons onto two of the cats tails as they whirled and twirled in time to the music. Yes it was pandamonium; however, it was the best birthday morning I've ever had! We took a moment in the celebration to each grab a helium balloon or two and step outside into the morning. We each made silent wishes and watched them float away into the sunshine.

We proceeded to go to the Potawatomi Inn for breakfast where the chatty omelet man flippantly said "Happy Birthday" as he dished my omelet on a plate. I laughed and said, "Thank you. It actually is my birthday!" We both laughed at the coincidence. A waitress overheard us and next thing I know I am being serenaded with a candle in a blueberry muffin with ice cream by a flabbergasted waitress. The reason why she was flabbergasted is as she did her "presentation", the next table said, "You have the wrong table. The birthday is over here." And then she looked at the table to the other side of us and said, "So I suppose you are going to tell me you have a birthday too." The funny part is, they did too. What are the chances of 3 tables in a row having a birthday on the same day?? J's comment was, "That's Random!" Haha. Too funny.

We finished a great brunch and then went down to the beach and walked out onto the ice of Lake James. It was about 27 degrees and nippy but sunny. Miss A. and I continued walking thru the forest path to the Nature Center while hubby and J. got the car to meet us there. At the Nature Center, we serendipitously happened to arrive when they were feeding the critters. So we saw, frogs, toads, turtles, salamanders, and snakes being fed. The kids loved it; especially A., who LOVES all things froggy and toadish and was able to help feed them. And hey, how often is it that you can see a rattlesnake fed on your birthday?

Thanks, family for the fun and the smiles! I love you all very much!

Twirl A Whorl

Sometimes loads of enjoyment comes from the simplest of things. I haven't felt like spinning on the wheel lately or knitting much. So I started to just twirl my whorl for awhile. I have a bunch of little leftovers of dyed fibers that I've acquired throughout the years. Some are Cherry Hill Tree's Powder Puffs purchased here. You can get an assortment of 65 little "puffs" that total 6 oz. They are used for needle felting but are fun to dink around with on a spindle. I'd like to eventually spin and ply a whole bunch of little skeins of different colors/fibers/hand dyes/solids...you name it. Put them all into a basket (just like the cover of Spin Off Magazine Spring 2003) and then just play by knitting them into something scrappy. I've always had a fondness for playing with bits of color and textures in my rughooking and quilting. Now I would like to play more with them in my knitting.



Here is the spindle I am using. Don't you just love the little rabbits chasing each other? I picked this one and some bright roving to brighten the days a bit until spring is finally here. I purchased this spindle 6 years ago from here. When I saw Lynne Vogel's hummingbird spindle in "The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook", I wanted to try one too. By the way, that one book originally gave me the inspiration to learn to spin and knit again. The color combinations of her hand dyed rovings and knitted pieces are wonderful! I automatically knew what I wanted to do with my own dyeing experience from rughooking!

In the meantime, I'll keep twirling my whorl for awhile. I had forgotten how much fun it was and how little increments of time here and there can really add up. So sing along with me...

"Here comes Peter Woolly Tail. Hopping down the spinning trail. Hippity Hoppity, yarn is on it's way!"

Great Things Come In Small Packages and a FO

Great things come in small packages. Look what came in the mail for me yesterday! It was like receiving little flowers from the mailman. I recently joined BlankieMania group on Ravelry where we are doing Shelly Kang's Sock Blankie from leftover sock yarn. On this site, Ann agreed to swap some sock yarn leftovers with me. This is the wonderful box I received from her. The amazing thing is, they are all new yarns for me and mine were new to her also. Thanks, Ann!

So...I need to pull out this and get working on it again....

Thanks to Shelly Kang's wonderful idea, I started using up some of my leftover sock yarn and scraps from friends. I started this blanket before I moved and it has been hibernating for most of the past year. It is a LONG term project for me. Iwant to wait until I get a variety of sock scraps...so if you have any, send them my way! I'll probably finish it when I am 193 but it is fun to pull it out once in awhile and add onto it. It waits patiently and enjoys seeing the light of day once in a while! It will be seeing more sunshine soon as I work on the new colors.

For years, I used to quilt. I loved to handpiece and handquilt. When my husband saw this blanket in a basket one day he said, "Hey! You're quilting again!". It does remind me of a crazy quilt. I think that's the fun of it. I get to play with colors, each striping yarn looks different knitted into different squares and I also get the instant satisfaction of finishing something...a square!

Speaking of finished objects and great things come in small packages. I will be mailing the Peaks and Valleys Scarf to my SIL, Penny, this week. It is from Socks That Rocks Lightweight yarn, color Chapman Springs. I asked her to pick her favorite colorway. The pattern I adapted from the "Peaks and Valleys" sock pattern from Mountain Colors.

I have a previous post on it. I laughingly call it my "Scarf of Perserverance" since it started as a shawl. Then I thought she would get more use from a scarf. Then I swatched several different patterns; had one I loved and the yarn pooled so I went back to the drawing board to try a new pattern. Then I had the scarf more than halfway finished only to realize the next time I took it out that about 8 inches of borders were knitted wrong while I was knitting by feel on a dark car trip. SO...it was easier to rip back than repair... with all this and much time hibernating in between, I am glad it is finally finished. I absolutely love it. I think this pattern really enhances the yarn and vice versa. Hope she likes it too!