Almost Wordless Wednesday

Turn up the volume for this one.....

Wordless Wednesday

A New One

Dear Mom,
Even Patsy never managed to do something like this......

Olive tangled herself in the cord and pulled the lamp off the table.

Good thing I took "Fix-it-Boutique" in Junior High.

Love,
Kim

50

Dear Bonnie Jo,
In honor of your Big Day, here is a list of 50 very random memories of things that we've shared over your 50 years...

1. corn blankets
2. Minturn Lane
3. Harmony Road
4. Loretta
5. Going to the circus with Grandma and Grandpa.
6. That time the circus clown kissed Mom. On the lips!
7. Bringing home the chameleon, Liz, from the circus.
8. That time Liz escaped.
9. Riding bikes.
10. Roller Skates.
11. Playing dolls.
12. Penny Bright, Chatty Cathy and Tracy.
13. That time The Twins flushed Tracy's doll dress down the toilet.
14. Betty Coulsin
15. Ann, Allison and Evelyn
16. Cindy and Jinks; Herbie
17. That time Herbie got too big for the tank and Mom and Grandma had to get him out and they both screamed.
18. Cuddles and Ruddles
19. Dwarf and Zeke
20. Car rides to Dairy Queen
21. Burger Chef ( but only when the power was out).
22. Girl Scouts
23. Your prize winning Reindeer Cake.
24. Climbing Harry.
25. The mouse nest under Harry.
26. When Laurie fell out of Harry and broke her arm.
27. Playing out in the fields and coming home when we heard the church bells chime 5:00.
28. Discussing, in front of her, whether Mom was capable of driving on 465. ( She was younger than we are now!)
29. Swimming at the Dodds.
30. Riding in the Corvair on benches so we could see out the window.
31. Cars without seat belts; hand cranks to roll down the windows.
32. The Twins
33. Rotary telephones
34. 846-9194
35. 251-6677
36. When you learned how to whistle. I still can't.
37. Making potholders.
38. LP's, 8-tracks and cassettes
39. transistor radios and walkmans.
40. TV before remote control
41. The 6Million $ Man and The Partridge Family
42. Captain Kangaroo, Cowboy Bob, and Popeye & Janie
43. The Moon Walk
44. Schoolhouse Rock and AfterSchool Specials; H.R. Puffinstuff
45. Being scared to tears by The Wizard of Oz
46. College Wood
47. Seeing The Million Dollar Duck at the drive in.
48. Monopoly games that Daddy always won
49. Amish Palmers, cranberry cordial and "Don't Tell Mom's"
50. YEARS OF HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

Happy Birthday, Bonnie Joke. I am thankful I have You.
Love,
Kim

A Post about Wool

Dear Mom,
It may be 105 degrees out, but wool is still my preferred knitting and spinning fiber. Heck, we are so closed up inside lately that it might as well be winter. You know its been HOT when 85 makes you think about putting on a sweater.

I finished a couple of small shawls. I love them both.
The first is Color Affection, designed by Veera Välimäki. I used Fiber Optics' Siren Song yarns (Vitamin C, Ellie and Willow Batik) I purchased at the Greencastle Fiber Event this spring. The yarn was wonderful, the pattern was simple but not mind numbing- the perfect project for the past month's roller coaster of activity and emotions. 

I was overcome with addiction to this shawl and in a weak moment purchased enough Madelinetosh yarn to make two more. I've learned that grief makes me susceptible to comfort purchases. 
I also finished another Sunderland, this one in Jojoland Melody, I think. I can't find the ball band. I either tossed it, or Olive ate it. This one may be the prettiest one yet, and reminded me of how much I enjoyed the knitting of it.

So now I want to make more of these, too. 
Instead, I cast on for this and a pair of socks.
I am enjoying Tour de Fleece. Having the "excuse" to spin a little everyday could become a nice habit. My spinning stash rivals my knitting stash, which is alarming when considering the fact that I've been spinning only a few years in comparison to my decades of knitting. 
I just made myself sound really old. 
Anyway, daily spinning is using up some of that stash. Which adds to the knitting stash.
It's an endless cycle. 
My focus needs to include an effort at using that handspun for weaving. my mind begins to wander.....
I couldn't wait, and spun the sparkly batts I blended a couple of weekends ago. The sparkly part didn't sparkle as much as I thought it would, but they do show themselves in the sunlight. I wonder if they will show up more when knitted? I, not being a sparkly sort of person, have surprised myself with this whole sparkle business. When did I ever think I would want MORE SPARKLE? And yet, here I am, wondering where I can buy more of that sparkle to drum card into batts for spinning! Who am I again? Can I use the word SPARKLE one more time?

This yarn is so much prettier in real life.
And speaking of real life, I need to get back to it.
Love,
Kim

Taking it from the Top

Dear Mom,
Sorry. I can't help myself.
One more video of Olive sliding down the stairs.

I am knitting, too. I promise.

Love,
Kim

p.s. Don't you just love the way her tail wags all the way down?

Basic Training

Dear Mom,

Olive Goes Down Stairs......
a video montage.

Olive has rejected the Roll Down method and adopted the Belly Slide as her preferred method of descent.
I love how she looks back at her legs like she is trying to figure out why they aren't cooperating.
Love,
Kim

Dye Day

Dear Mom,
Last weekend MelissaWhoSpinsButDoesNotKnit and I spent Saturday in my garage dyeing wool and blending fibers.

We used thrift store crockpots and Greener Shades Dyes. We ended up with some beautiful results and colorful hands.

Melissa had some vintage wool to over-dye. In our excitement to get started, we neglected to take any before pictures.

While the crockpots were simmering, I blended some of my plain vanilla wool with two shades of the wool from my copper dye experiments. I added a little translucent nylon fiber for a subtle sparkle.

The photo does not do justice to the blended batts.  I cannot wait  to see how these spin up! (And let me digress here to say that the Tour de Fleece begins tomorrow. Much like the knitting Olympics, Tour de Fleece challenges spinners to complete a self imposed spinning goal on each day of the Tour de France. I haven't participated in a Tour de Fleece, but may, in a small way, join in the fun by taking a daily spin, even if it is for 10 minutes- nothing heroic or pressured- just pleasurable spinning. I learned my lesson from my first knitting Olympics. Making an adult sized, cable pullover in 16 days was challenging and exciting, but I don't think it is a coincidence that I had carpal tunnel surgery about a year later. Not making THAT mistake again! )

After blending all of the copper fibers, I took some of that same plain vanilla, blended it with some wool I had dyed a fuchsia color, mohair locks and a bit of nylon that were all in that same fuchsia family.
Melissa and I did a good thing, teaming up to purchase Fig, our drum carder. And our strengths in color sense, color understanding and dye math compliment each other. It was a good, productive, fun, educational day for both of us!

Love,
Kim

Wordless Wednesday

TrAction!

Dear Mom,

Bumper has gone above and beyond the Call of Duty for a Senior Dog by patiently dealing with a second youngster. His wobbly Senior legs and arthritic joints were in need of some help if he were to have any chance in keeping a young Spot of Trouble in line.

Aunt Cheri to the rescue. After witnessing his struggles and his undignified Bambi mishaps, Aunt Cheri sent me this link. I never knew something like this existed.
Bumper is now sporting a pair of Ultra Paw TrAction Boots, for Senior Dogs struggling to live with hardwood floors. He is a new Mighty Dog. He sounds like an old man shuffling around in his slippers, and the kids are a bit embarrassed for him, but it is all worth it to see how much easier it is for him to move around and get up.

And his first steps in those new boots?
Just watch.

He can figure anything out if food is involved.

Love,

Kim

Wordless Wednesday

Smitten

Dear Mom,

Olive is the best thing I have done for myself and my family in a long time....
This house needed some Happy.

And Olive is just what we needed.

All is well.

Love,
Kim

Around My Backyard

Dear Mom,

( The End )

Love,

Bonnie Jo

Introducing

Dear Mom,
Olive Patsy Wagner.
Olive for peace. For mending our heartache.
Love,
Kim

KnitKickers

Dear Mom,
A new design flew off my needles last spring and I had hopes of it being accepted by Knitty, but it didn't make the cut. Ah well. I can debut them here, instead.

I'd been wanting a little boot topper, but something lacy. Something that could be worn as a dressy accessory and something that would make a dressed down work boot look pretty, too.

I called on Bonnie Jo and my Young Lady to do some modeling for me, and Bonnie Jo gets credit for the clever name.

More details about KnitKickers can be found HERE.

Love,
Kim

Wordless Wednesday

Before

Dear Mom,
Emotional events have a way of marking time as Before and After, or at least the sad ones seem to do. And when in the midst of a sad valley, the Before seems to have happened a long time ago. Maybe because life really was different, Before.
But Before I lost Patsy, there were some happy things I hadn't had a chance to share here. Lots of little happy's can help conquer a great big hurt.

I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a "yarn bombing" at The Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville. Yarn bombing is the fiber world's equivalent of graffiti, but ours is not permanent and does not deface public property. Many many many knit and crocheted swatches were donated by customers. One evening, after the shop closed, several of us gathered together to stitch those swatches together and then to  a variety of landmarks outside the shop.

Some of the swatches seemed to have been created exactly for the items they were stitched to.

Like this Stop Sign cozy....

And the pretty addition to the shop's mailbox.....

That mailbox deserves a close-up.

Even the historic fountain got in on the action!

It was interesting to note that while we were stitching the items to trees, posts, and bike stands, the passersby made no comments, and seemed to take no notice of what we were doing. As soon as we finished our "work", families stopped and took pictures next to the tree, shoppers and diners made comments as the passed and complimented the new art.

Love,
Kim

Wordless Wednesday

In The End

Dear Mom,
In the end, our love wasn't enough to save Patsy from herself.
To say we are shattered doesn't begin to touch the pain of the past 36 hours.

I love her.

Kim

Wordless Wednesday