Friday!

Hello All, another gloomy day in Eastern PA.  36 F when I left my house this a.m. and rain...and grey...heavy rains forecast with possible flooding.  BUT, it is Friday and the end of the work week is in sight.  I have my usual 10:00 conference call and the rest of the day should float by.  I plan to work on Mick Jagged some.  Here is what I got done yesterday at lunch.

The yarn is so pretty - Miss Babs Yummy 2 ply.  The skein on the left is Dark Orion (and is darker in person) and the right one is Daydream Believer.


I never did get to cake up the rhubarb yarn last night.  Col was over for dinner and then we had a break in the rain so we had a small fire in the pit.  After that we watched the Jungle episode of Planet Earth II.  Fascinating and beautiful (the birds!!).  Colin really liked the socks and, in fact, texted me this morning that he is wearing them!


No kitty pictures today, but Fletch told me that yesterday he watched Tyg crossing the yard with something in his mouth.  Fletch was sure it was a bird, but fortunately it was a vole.  The vole sprang out of Tyg's mouth and then Tyg batted it around a bit.  At one point Fletch said the vole turned around and looked directly at Tyg - almost like he was saying "please Mr. Cat, just put me out of my misery...get it over with."  Not sure what happened as Fletch was running out for errands.  No sign of a body in the yard....(and Tyg doesn't eat them - thank goodness).


And a funny cat story:  when I was growing up we had a cat named Kitsy.  He was huge -- 25 lbs and solid black.  My little brother used to cut pictures of birds out of National Geographic and other magazines and tape them to the wall near Kitsy's food and water bowls.  Phil said that he thought Kitsy needed some art to look at while he was dining!  LOL


Have a wonderful weekend!

A Finish, A Re-Start and a Beginning

Hello All,


The sun is out -- 2 days in a row!!  But, the temp this morning is 32 F.  If the forecast is to be believed, it should get into the upper 50's today, but rain is in the forecast through Saturday.  Sigh...


Thanks for your nice comments on yesterday's post.  It was a lot of fun for me to look through my Mom's scrapbook again - I hadn't pulled it out in several years.


Colin's socks are finished!!  The pattern is Petty Harbour (free on Ravelry) and the yarn is Regia.  I really like how they turned out and he is coming over for dinner tonight so I can hand them over.

They are the same size, even though this picture makes the one on the left look larger.


Last night I pulled out yarn for some socks for me and then decided it was too dark and wintry-like.  I want to wind the skein of "rhubarb" yarn I bought in Lancaster and knit some Spring socks with that.  Hopefully tonight I'll have the time to do that.  In the meantime, I ripped out what I had started on the Mick Jagged shawl and have brought that to work today to re-start.  Pictures later.  The yarn is pretty - two skeins of Miss Babs Yummy 2 ply in blues (Dark Orion and Daydream Believer).


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I did start Sigla over the weekend.  I haven't gotten any further, but here is the start.

Someone was trying to play with my yarn.  Here are the colors that I'll use for the "flags" on the sweater:

Starting from the top :  purple (which is done in the first shot).  Next up green, then a rusty color and finally blue.  Kat has made excellent notes on modifications for the neckline - making it looser.  I want mine pretty tight, so hopefully this will work out.  It's not quite at the point where I can test it, but fingers crossed.  I think it will stretch enough.  If I can keep at this, I should be ready for Fall and Winter when they next show up.


Nice to be almost at the weekend.  And, next week should be an easy one (or boring) for me - both of my bosses will be in Key West for a Division President's get-away (tough life, I know).

My Mom and Her Wheel

Hello Everyone!  Our sun is out today.  What a difference that makes.


Some of you had requested that I do another post on my Mom and her bike trips.  So, here goes.  Knitting, etc. to resume in another post.  I had to scan images from her scrapbook and I hope they will show up ok on the blog (speaking with no experience in this at all - lol).


Mom's first long trip was a solo one in 1939 when she was 20.  Here is the article that appeared locally:

I honestly can't imagine riding through the Green Mountains (or any) on a bicycle with only a second gear!  And, of course, the trip was a tad on the scandalous side...a single girl (daughter of a minister no less) taking off on her own on a bike!


The following year, 1940, when my Mom was 21 she and her friend Jennie took off riding from Vermont to California.

I certainly would not have been planning on biking (averaging) 50 miles per day...and there were some days that they biked more.  And $1 per day for expenses!!  As the article states, they planned to stay in American Youth Hostels as much as possible...the further they went, the less this happened...


Here are some pictures of their bikes:

I'm not sure what/where that little place on the left is, but I like that it shows their bikes loaded...they really did not take much with them.  In the picture on the right, my Mom is on the left in the light colored shirt.


There were times they would catch a ride with a trucker...going across desert country or extremely hilly country (I always told my Mom that was cheating).  Here's a shot of their bikes on top of one of the trucks.

They did make it to California ok, and here's my Mom panning for gold!  (did not get any...or at least said she did not...).

They did get to the Fair in San Francisco and tooled around CA some.  They were just starting on their journey back East when there was an accident:

My Mom had some scrapes, but Jennie ended up with a fractured skull!  Once my Mom was healed, she actually worked a bit in the hospital for room and board while Jennie convalesced.  And then (finally) it was time to return to Vermont.  Did you know that planes used to have sleeper berths?  I had never heard of them.

One way Sacramento to NY was only $149.95!!  And an additional $5 for the sleeper berth!   Eventually they arrived back home.

My Mom is on the left in the picture above.  I love the paragraph with my Grandmother's comments about their dress!


Jennie and my Mom remained friends all their lives and we almost always spent at least a month every summer at Jennie's family's cottage/camp at Lake Dunmore (between Rutland and Middlebury). 


Quite the adventure, huh?

It Was a Dark and Stormy Day

It looks like night-time outside!  It’s almost 9 a.m. and it is dark, grey, rainy, etc.  Quite honestly, a perfect day to have stayed home…but I did not.  Our weather has not been the greatest lately.  Saturday was warm – 72 F, but too breezy for archery.  On Sunday the thermometer struggled to get to 40 F.  Yesterday we were back up to 68 or so, but very foggy and damp.  Dark and foggy on the way to work this morning and now raining heavily.  Sigh…I just want to curl up under a blanket.

 

I felt the “need” to start something new on Sunday and because it was so chilly and raw I cast on Sigla.  No picture yet, but I’ve gotten through the first color on the yoke and am ready to start the second.  It is a fun and easy knit so far.  I am using Léttlopi yarn which is a bit scratchy, but I will be wearing a shirt of some kind under this sweater, so am not concerned about that.  I love the colors.  Pictures next post (hopefully).

 

I managed to get some done on Colin’s second sock…almost there!

 

 

Hoping to finish this by Thursday when he will be stopping by for dinner.  Then I think it will be time for a new pair of socks for myself.

 

My friend Carol who is coming up from Maryland for the Steel City Fiber Festival wants to learn how to knit socks.  She is going to spend the night at our place that Saturday, so hopefully I can get her started on some.

 

I also dug out the copy I have of my Mom’s scrapbook from her “big adventure” in 1940…I will try to scan some pages for another post.

 

And last, but certainly not least, here is Tyg.

 

 

 

He was curled up on the bed in the guestroom Sunday when it was so chilly and raw.  I think he slept for hours!

 

 

TGIF

Hello Everyone,


TGIF.  This has seemed like a long week to me.  I've got my usual conference call at 10 and I'm hoping to get out early today.  We'll see.  Our CEO will be in today and wants me to do a few things for him...hopefully early - lol.


Colin stopped by for dinner last night and tried on the finished sock.  Success!!  He said it fit like a glove...or a sock!  Now I just need to finish the second one which has seen no action for the last 36-48 hours. 


Colin hung around for a little bit and we watched the first episode of Planet Earth II.  Highly recommend - gorgeous photography and David Attenborough narrating.  The first show is all about Islands.  The next one is Mountains.


No real plans for the weekend other than a scheduled appointment tomorrow late morning with the accountant...just have to zip up to her office and drop off all the tax stuff.  Will be glad to have that done!  If the weather holds (it's supposed to be warmer), I hope we can do some archery.


Saw a beautiful fox run across our backyard the other evening.  A gorgeous russet color with a black-tipped tail.  Sometimes I worry about Tyg going out, but he's holding his own (he was out all last night...came in to eat this morning and wanted to go right back out).  Here he is in a more sleepy moment.

Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hump Day

Hello All,


First of all, thanks so much for all your wonderful comments on my Monday post about my Mom.  She was a fun person for sure.  Fletch reminded me that there are some interesting "things" in her scrapbook, so I will try to show some of them in future posts.  The trip to CA was pretty scandalous for the time...both my Mom and Jennie were from a very small town in Vermont and my Grandfather was the Baptist minister in town...my Grandmother was worried about what people would think of girls in jeans - lol.  More on that in another post.


I'm about half-way done the leg on Colin's second sock.

(picture just taken at my desk moments ago).  I'll do some more at lunch and hopefully be at the heel flap by tonight.


So, what to knit next?  I have the yarn to knit Sigla but that is a Winter sweater (of course I couldn't have started it back in January, right?), though I'd really like to knit it.  I also started Mick Jagged some time ago, didn't like my joins and ripped it out...I could do that.  Or, I could start some Spring socks for myself (I'd love to knit up that rhubarb yarn I bought out in Lancaster not too long ago).  And let's not forget that I'm going to the Steel City Fiber Festival in 2.5 weeks.  I've already put together a list of yarn I need for certain projects (Tales From the Isle of Purbeck or Yoga Shawl or Squad Mitts - another wintery pattern).


Decisions, decisions.  I'll just have to think for some time.


What else?  My little brother and his wife are vacationing (from Colorado) somewhere in the Florida Keys.  He texted me a picture last night from their fishing day where they landed a 5' shark!  He even had a picture of its mouth (gross).  They did release it after they took pictures.  Then he texted a picture of them getting ready to go out in kayaks.  No thank you!!  Dee - I know you do this, but I could not...at least not where there are animals that could "get" me!!


A lot of our snow in the backyard has melted (still some piles) and we may be able to shoot some archery tonight or tomorrow (thanks to longer daylight into the evening), but our temps are dropping again with a forecast only around 39 or 40F today.  But, it's not snowing (or raining), so Fletch is grilling chicken sausage with bacon and pineapple for dinner!  I need to figure out a veggie -- maybe grilled eggplant.


Work is slow today (obviously).  Hoping your Wednesday is going well.  Halfway to the weekend!

First Day of Spring

Happy Spring!!  It is finally here (even if we do still have snow on the ground…it is melting quickly).

 

I am wearing my new shawl (really more of a scarf in my opinion) today and I do love it.  The colors are wonderful.  A craptastic selfie, but the best I can do at work:

 

 

 

And today, in addition to being the first day of Spring, is my Mom’s birthday.  If she were alive, she would be 98!  She was a pretty amazing woman…very independent and adventurous.  When she was 19, she rode her bike from Vermont to Canada, camping out along the way.  The following year she and her girlfriend, Jennie, rode their bikes from Vermont to California!  They camped in fields…or in bad weather spent the night in barns.  Keep in mind these were bikes from back in the 30’s – balloon air tires, etc.  What an adventure.  I have a copy of the scrapbook she put together after that trip (the original one was disintegrating).

 

She was equally adventurous when she was raising me and my three brothers…always up for a trip somewhere.  She loved to hike, play tennis, swim, etc.  My Dad always said that one of the things he loved about my Mom was that she wasn’t afraid to try anything.

 

Here are two pictures of my Mom taken way before I was born.  We found these in a box of photos after my Mom passed away.  I love them.  (Excuse the flash spots --  I took these pictures quickly with my phone at 5:30 this morning.)  These are hanging in our stairway along with other family shots.  Look how skinny my Mom was!

 

 

 

The first one we kids have named “The Gunslinger” – lol.  One of her brothers was an avid trapper and hunter (though usually with a bow) and I’m pretty sure the gun was his.  The second one is a shot of her all suited up and ready to ski.

 

Sadly my Mom’s health deteriorated when she was in her late 70’s, and she passed away in 2004.  I miss her laughter and spontaneity and how she and I would be so silly together.  Happy Birthday Mom!!