It must be a sign

Dear Mom,

So I break down and buy more roving to get some more practice on the spinning wheel.

I was thinking that I should be really, really sure about my lack of spinning skills before class next week.

I am NOT IMPROVING. I may even be worse.

While picking up after myself, and in total disgust,  I took a closer look at the paper band that was around the roving. Which is when I see this, a clear message from the fiber universe.....

Love,

Kim

Spun Out

Dear Mom,

I have used up all the practice stuff they sent home with me.

I am still spinning bleeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp.

I don't know how to correct my mistakeS.

Do I go buy more roving and keep practicing, or do I stick that spinning wheel in the time-out corner and ignore it until I leave for class next Saturday?

I ask myself after my required two spool's worth of what is basically an insult to yarn everywhere.....Wasn't I perfectly happy buying yarn all these years?

Why, yes! Yes. I was.

Sending off my dirty bag o' wool to be processed is looking better and better.

Love,
Kim

Spinning Class

Dear Mom,
Does that post title fool you into thinking I took an exercise class? no? Well, I was pedalling both feet to keep a wheel moving. It was a spinning wheel, not a bicycle, though, and if my heart rate elevated it was from stress and frustration, not from any physical exertion.
Saturday afternoon was spent in my first spinning class, in hopes that I would learn how to turn all that raw fleece into yarn. Sending it off to be processed is sounding better and better.
Not that spinning wasn't fun. It was. I think. It was also harder than it looks, requiring a coordination of both hands AND both feet that I found challenging. Think the "rub your stomach/pat your head" trick. The effort had me questioning the fact that I had even been able to drive myself to class. Just like anything, it will take practice to get good. And loads of time to get that fleece spun into enough yarn to actually have enough to do something with.

Here you see the total of my efforts during the 2 hour class:

I can't even claim full credit for what you see because the instructor plied our yarn for us in hopes that we would be inspired by our efforts enough to continue. Two hours. TWO. HOURS. For something I can knit up in about 15 minutes.

We were sent home with borrowed spinning wheels and homework. We are to return to class next Saturday with two full spools.

With the Young Lady's help (she carefully prepped and staged the roving so I had fewer spinning stops and starts), I spent the greater part of my Saturday night spinning and filled up one spool.

Consistency is an issue.

As if I needed to point that out.

I have new respect for the beautiful hand spun yarns I have purchased.

Today, after a night of dreaming about spinning yarn, I plan on tending to my knitting. I need the confidence boost.
Love,
Kim

When Everything was Special

Dear Mom,
Back in the day, or I guess the 'day' for me being the 70's, when there were 4 or maybe 5 channels on the television depending on the reception and whether the PBS station was coming in or not, it seems that everything was SPECIAL. The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special, the Andy Williams Christmas Special, and of course, The ABC After School Special.

Nowadays there are hundreds of channels and nothing is special.

I've been looking on the internet for a particular episode of the After School Special, and I can find what I imagine is every After School Special ever made. Except for the one I want. I remember that After School Specials were events. But now when I skim through the list of episodes and read the synopses, I am wondering why. I was a bit shocked at the subject matter of some of the specials. It seems like they dealt with some real depressing topics, and I count my blessings because, fortunately for us, some of the topics were about as foreign as the antics and ugly behavior of The Housewives of Whatever County and The Kardashians. We didn't have best Friends who were Stoned, a Mom Who Hit Us, and a brother who thought it would be cool to be a Teen Dad.

Besides the one special with Lance Kerwin and Pa Ingalls where the boy turned into a gold medal marathon runner because he wet the bed and his cruel mother put his sheets out on the clothesline and he needed to run home faster than the bus to get the sheets off the line before the kids on the bus saw them and learned about his secret -and why are the Moms on those shows always so mean?- besides that special (which maybe it wasn't even an after school special now that I think about it) I can really remember only one After School Special. One line from that special that has stayed with our family for more than 30 years, and it is the one After School Special that I cannot find:
The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon.

Whenever I am on overload and need to give myself a little pep talk, the words etched 30+ years deep into my brain and the image of Duffy Moon with his eyes crossed and his cheeks puffed out come to me and I hear are the words Duffy said to himself. "You can do it, Duffy Moon!"

So, when this morning I gave you a brief rundown of the Christmas knitting and the exciting new magazine knitting deadline along with the selfish knitting I've been doing for me you said just the words I needed to hear.

"You can do it, Duffy Moon!"

Yes, I can. So just know that if you see me sitting with my knitting at hand, my eyes crossed and my cheeks puffed out, I am giving myself a little pep talk. And hopefully I will not be the subject matter of a future After School Special written by my kids: "My Mom Knit Herself a Straight Jacket"!   ( edited- I mean strait jacket..... back to the knitting- kim)

Love,
Kim

Nature Walk

Dear Mom,
We went on a nature walk this weekend.  Our neighborhood is quite loverly this time of year.  The promise of quiet.  And earthy smells.  And wildlife. . . . .

A favorite tree . . . .

A magical castle hidden among the trees . . .

The thrilling freedom of outdoors . . .

The thrill of the unknown . . . .and what is waiting on the other side . . . .

We walked until our legs were tired and our tongues were hanging out of our mouths!

Enjoy the beauty around you this day, too!
Love,
Wendy

Homeless Squirrel

Dear Mom,
Yesterday afternoon, I opened up the mini-barn to get out a rake.  I couldn't believe my eyes...there was an enormous cache of walnuts in the loft!  A squirrel tried to hide them inside a clay pigeon box, of all places.  I noticed when I was uploading the photo that the box says, "The ingestion of clay targets by livestock or pets may result in severe illness or death".  Alrighty then.

I carefully pulled the box down, all the while wondering if a squirrel would jump out at me.

 

The box was crammed full of walnuts.  No squirrel.  You know I am not fond of the red squirrels.  They are naughty and destructive.  They are fine if they stay away from my stuff.   The problem is, they are always getting into my stuff!  Look at what else the squirrel did.  He constructed a motel between the chain saw and the Havahart traps!

Needless to say, Mr. Squirrel has been evicted.   I baited the Havahart trap, but he has not returned.  (I could have relocated him to a park where he would have an endless supply of bird seed, compliments of the Hamilton County Parks Department.)  And so he remains homeless. And I don't feel one bit sorry for him.

Love,

Bonnie Jo

Proudly Presenting....

Dear Mom,
CarolWho'sHouseGotStruckbyLightning finished her parka and wore her work of  art today.

She appliqued wool flowers and really made this coat her own.

I am proud to show it off for her!

Love,

Kim

Toppled Socks

Dear Mom,
It looks like the January 2010 issue of Creative Knitting magazine is on the newsstands. If you click on that link and scroll down you will see that my Toppled Socks design is in this issue. You can click on the sock picture to get a better look. Toppled is an easy, good-for-a-beginner sock. The sock knits up fairly quickly and has become my basic, go-to sock pattern.
This is the issue that I got to watch a bit of the photo shoot, so it will be fun to see how the actual magazine shots look and to compare them wth the amateur photos I took.
Love,
Kim

Holiday

Dear Mom,
The children had a holiday yesterday due to Election Day.  Our schools are used for the voting polls so the district doesn't like to mix business with pleasure.
We put on boots and warm clothes and we went to one of my favorite places, Keehner Park.  Keehner Park is the most peaceful place.  We spent 2 1/2 hours walking the creek and saw only one other person.  I always feel like Keehner Park was made just for me.  A Wendy Treasure.  Keehner Park is magical.  My children talk [nicely!] with each other and the help each other!  They climb, explore, dig.  We have caught bull frogs, snakes and salamanders at Keehner Park.  We discovered a baby deer, still too new to leave her nest!!  We found a vine once and we all used it to swing across the creek!  We find fossils and tree branches that look like animals.  It is quite the holiday.

We also stopped at a farm on our way home and bought 10 pounds of Jonathan Apples.  Guess what we had for dinner?!  We all hunkered in and worked to bake my apple crisp (from Governor Orr--remember my yummy recipe?!)!!  We also baked an apple crisp for the neighbor and I suspect warm apple crisp may have been their dinner, too.
Happy beautiful fall holiday!!
Love,
Wendy

Mrs. Tweedy

Dear Mom,
Last weekend I was reading Merrilymarylee's blog post about a past visit to the Children's Museum. I was flooded with memories.
The Indianapolis Children's Museum is a wonderful place. It is also one of those things that I am NOT SORRY that my kids have outgrown. I've done my time there and I am done.
My last trip there was as a second grade field trip chaperone. I learned long before this trip that if at all possible, MEET THE BUS at the destination. I drove myself to the museum. The parents all gathered, fresh faced, and received our group assignments and itineraries. Immediately things are not looking good. My group of three has the Young Lady, a quiet boy and The Class Trouble Maker. Honestly, the Trouble Maker could have been in a group of one and still given his chaperone a run for her money. I cannot tell you how many times he wandered off, how many times I enlisted the help of the Young Lady and Quiet Boy to look for him, how many times I just flat turned my back on the 2 good kids to go searching for Trouble Maker. And we hadn't even had our lunch break yet.
When we gathered for our sack lunches, I was wishing I packed more caffeine. Or a margarita. Not even pretending to be pleasant anymore, I bluntly told the teacher (who, by the way, had assigned no children to herself) that I had lost the Trouble Maker several times already and that perhaps I needed some back up. Teacher gives me one of those smiles that says "yeah well good luck with that" and tells me she will see what she can do. Mom, you should be proud that you raised a lady, because right about then a whole lot of bad words wanted to come out of my mouth and I didn't let them.
Obviously, all ended well and I got my group loaded back onto the bus at the end of the day. I got into the sweet haven of my car, looked into the rear view mirror and saw this looking back at me:

Mrs. Tweedy

Chicken Run

Mrs. Tweedy made another appearance on the 4th grade overnight trip. The Fourth grade trip to visit some of Indiana's historical sights in southern Indiana is a big deal and I was fortunate to have been selected as one of the chaperones. I do not regret having this memory to share with the Young Lady. My Hero got to go when the Young Man was a 4th grader, so we all had a chance to experience the trip.

This was a well organized, run like clock work, two very full days of activity. It was exhausting. At the end of our long first day, we were efficiently checked in to our hotel and given our room assignments. Bedtimes and lights out were part of the Chaperone Instruction Packet, along with our assigned breakfast times. I had to get 3 girls bathed and settled and sleeping. I NEEDED them to get to sleep. So that I could get some sleep.

I was very patient for the first 30 minutes of giggling. Then I gave a gentle reminder of the "big day we have ahead of us tomorrow!" Then a not so nice one where I said "You girls don't want me to be grumpy in the morning" to which the Young Lady pipes up- "YEAH, you guys really  don't want my Mom to be in a bad mood!"

The giggles continued until Mrs. Tweedy got out of bed and stood in the middle of the room for like 20 minutes. She knew that if the girls were only quiet for a little bit that they would soon be asleep. She was right.

Again, we all survived our trip, the kids far less exhausted than the parents.

Mrs. Tweedy and I haven't been on a field trip for 2 years. Can you blame us?

Love,

Kim

Are Crock Pots Collectible?

Dear Mom,
It wasn't until I borrowed your crock pot over the weekend and saw that crock pots nowadays have more than a Low-High-Off switch that I realized that my work horse of a crock pot is a tad out of  date. Maybe even vintage.
YOURS:

MINE:

Try to ignore those rust spots. She works just fine and I have no need to replace her. I just felt a bit stunned to have options when I plugged yours in and was ready to begin the slow cooker process. I had a brief moment of self doubt when I saw that yours says SMART POT right there on it. Would I be smart enough for this crock pot? Have no fear, dueling crock pots are plugged in and will be burbling away today, filling my kitchen with good smells.

I am making dinner for The Zucchini Queen and her family (and mine too, while I am at it). ZQ's Mom is having surgery today and dinner was one less thing she would have to think about. I prepared a mini knitting care package for The Zucchini Queen, too. I neglected to take a picture of it before I gave it to her, but I had another good idea. The yarn and pattern are for a scarf- one of Melissa's 12 Knits of Christmas. The scarf is a 2 row pattern. I went ahead and cast on and worked a few rows of the scarf to get it started. I don't normally knit with straight needles, (I prefer circular knitting needles), but in this case I got straights and here is why: As I said, it is a 2 row pattern. With a Sharpie marker, I wrote a #1 on the end of one needle and a #2 on the other. When needle #1 is the empty needle, ZQ is to knit row one of the pattern. And when needle #2 is empty.... well, you get it, right? Now ZQ won't need to be bothered trying to remember which row she is on when she gets distracted or interrupted. And she will have a pretty scarf when she is finished. And hopefully the knitting will ease a little bit of her waiting time today.

Last night I bound off one of the current knitting project, and until I get it blocked and some elastic sewn into the waist,  I won't know if it will be a really great skirt or a tremendous failure. It better be great because I already have the perfect yarn for a cardigan to go with it. I 'll let you know.

Love,

Kim

Happy Halloween!

Dear Mom,
I'll get you my pretty!!!
And your little dog, too!!!

We had a frightfully fun Halloween night!!  I took off my mask and revealed my true character.  Pipsqueak dressed as my "familiar" (in the words of the Teenager!)  We walked around the neighborhood putting spells on the neighbors that didn't cough up the good candy and we cackled with favorite neighbor friends, too!!  One of our neighbors turns his garage into a haunted house, complete with black light AND strobe light!!  It is the "favorite" house and every year we laugh at all of the screams and giggles coming from their house!!

Part of my witch costume was a pair of knitted socks that I knit in 10 days.  Knee socks!!  I knit them cuff down and sort of came up with the pattern by myself.  [I googled knee socks and couldn't find a pattern that wasn't toe up so if anyone would like a fairly decent cuff down knee sock pattern, please leave a comment or contact me at the email address.]

After the trick-or-treating, we enjoyed time with our neighbors outside around our fire pit.  The kids ran around the cul-de-sac swinging glow sticks over their heads and eating too much candy.  I LOVE Halloween!!!!
Boo!
Love,
Wendy

Bugles!

Dear Mom,
I was grocery shopping this afternoon and I saw a bag of Bugles.  Every so often, I just can't resist purchasing a bag of Bugles.  I love Bugles!

The flavor takes my mind straight into the kitchen on Mintern Lane.  These were a rare treat for me and Kim, always enjoyed the day after an evening neighborhood card party hosted by you and Daddy.  I couldn't help placing a Bugle onto each finger! They make a good witch hand for Halloween....

...or beautifully manicured fingernails for two young sisters playing pretend at the table in the kitchen on Mintern Lane.

Love,

Bonnie Jo

Care Packages

Dear Mom,
A friend, who also happens to be a knitter, is facing some surgery and a few days in the hospital next week. Being the sort of person who could not even donate blood without knitting in my lap, I immediately set about preparing knitting care packages for her hospital stay.
The knitting needs to be the kind where she can pick it up and start knitting without having to clear a possibly foggy-from-medicine head. I want the knitting to help her heal, to boost her spirits, and to comfort her.

I found some clear paint cans at Michael's, and each can has yarn, needles and instructions for a simple scarf.  Each is completely self contained so she can take it with her or her husband can grab a paint can and know that everything she will need is in there for her. I've already cast on each scarf so they are ready when she picks them up. Nothing more than the soothing repetition of knit stitches (and a speedy recovery) required.
Love,
Kim

Hair Disaster!

Dear Mom,
Pipsqueak came down from her bath this morning with nothing but a towel wrapped around her.  Oh.  And this:

And just in case that isn't enough of a fright, take another view:

But.  She had the good graces to hold it together.  No fussing or crying--from her.  Her mother?!  That's an entirely different ball of wax!  I hiccuped my tears down.  I paced the floor trying to focus before I attempted the surgical removal of the comb.  I had to involve the Husband.  In an urgent, frantic phone call I explained the situation, "That beautiful hair is going to be chopped off right at the scalp!  It will take years to grow back!  We will have to cut off all of her hair so it looks 'normal' *hiccup* Everyone will tease her!  *hiccup-hiccup*"  In a calm, soothing voice from the Husband, I was told to find the wire cutters and "simply cut the comb from the hair"!!  Simply cut the comb from the hair?!?!  Is he high?!?!?!    But I did.  And I did.  And this is what it looked like:

We combed the hair!  Pipsqueak hopped her way up to her room, got herself dressed, tied the damn shoes and went on her merry way to school.  I'm still drinking coffee with the Bailey's.  Yep.  Just an average, normal day here . . .
Love,
Wendy

Grasshoppers

Dear Mom,
So, I showed this picture to Bonnie Jo along with a few others I took on my walk last week. Apparently, Bonnie Jo has some issues with grasshoppers dating back to our Mintern Lane days. I don't remember the incident she mentioned to me, and I am putting pressure on her to share the story. It has something to to with Cruelty to Insects. She is haunted by the memory.

The only insect cruelty I can recall is pulling the legs off of the Daddy Long Legs spiders and watching the spiders try to make a crooked escape while the amputated legs continued to move where we dropped them.

I think that I turned out okay. I am not a serial killer or anything, unless we are talking about insect serial killing and then yes, I admit it. I will not hesitate to step on and squish beyond recognition any spider I see.

Love,
Kim

The Path

Dear Mom,
Autumn is my favorite season. I love the colors, the cool crisp air, and the sound of crunchy leaves underfoot. I don't like what comes next, and it makes no sense to say this, but I feel more rejuvenated in the fall than other seasons.

Earlier this week, before the kids were out of school and while the weather was perfect, (why is it that spring and fall breaks seem to trigger the worst sorts of weather, trapping us all inside?) I took Bumper Joseph to our favorite soon-to-be-a-park for a nice walk. I'll be sorry when this becomes an official park and it isn't so wild and solitary.

Conjuring up the memory of a smell is impossible to me, it is not like remembering an image, or even a touch, but an actual scent can quickly evoke a forgotten memory and transport me to another time or place. The autumn smell of the field wasn't something I expected to enjoy as much as the sights on our walk, but it hit me as soon as I opened my car door. There is just a different kind of clean, head clearing scent out there in the fields that isn't here in my backyard.
I took a bazillion pictures on the walk. The dog running ahead and then waiting patiently for me to catch up.

 Too bad I can't take a scratch and sniff photo.
Love,
Kim

Code (Bl)Ewe

Dear Mom,
CarolWHGSbL has taken my Parka design, made it her own, and is creating a work of art. I am thrilled.
Part of her design process has been the inclusion of Afterthought Pockets. I put them in the Young Lady's jacket and Carol wanted to put them in her parka to carry keys or gloves, maybe her phone and an ipod. As the name implies, Afterthought Pockets are placed in the knitting AFTER it is done. This way you can be sure that the pockets go exactly where you want them to be.
HOWEVER. Cutting into perfectly good knitting is definitely scary and sounds absolutely crazy. But once you have done it, you are liberated. The first time, though, requires a team of emotional and experienced support. I remember my first time. At Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp, in 1992. I cut a steek into a hat. It changed my knitting forever. I digress.

The surgical team gathered at my house yesterday.

Yes, it was an elective, cosmetic procedure. But surgery nonetheless. Scalpels, clamps and sutures were replaced by scissors, locking ring stitch markers and double pointed needles. Careful measurements were taken... and retaken...and pocket placement checked... and double checked... measurements triple checked. Pocket area carefully and clearly marked. A Clean Visual Field maintained.

We held our collective breath as CarolWHGSbL snipped the first stitch.

That deserves a close up shot.

The snipped stitch is made at the center of the soon-to-be-pocket-opening and the yarn is then carefully (didn't really need to say that) unraveled to the left and right to the desired pocket width. As scary as that first snip is, the unraveling part is probably the most unnerving part because now you are making a big gap in your beautiful knitting and exposing live stitches.

These live stitches are then placed on double pointed needles. Here you see the surgical nurse  DebbieWtPFHatPC passing off the required needle to the surgeon  CarolWHGSbL.

And here you see all the rescued stitches resting comfortably on their needles.

The stitches on the top needle are then worked to create the pocket lining and the stitches on the bottom needle are finished off for the outer pocket border. Pretty slick.

If you've been at all observant to the details in the previous photos, you will have noticed that CarolWHGSbL was wearing a lovely blue hand knit sweater in the first photos, and is wearing a lightweight bright pink shirt in the later pictures. I think she may have broken out into a sweat at some point during the procedure.

I am happy to report that the pockets were successfully completed and the Parka is home, blocked and resting comfortably. The Surgeon is justifiably pleased and proud.

Love,

Kim

Mmmmmmm

Dear Mom,
Okay, okay.  I confess.  These brownies were made from **gasp** a box.  And who can resist purple and green ghoulish M&Ms?!?!  Don't the M&Ms alone just make you want to giggle?  Or do a happy dance?!  I did make the buttercream frosting.  For a  birthday cake.  And it was just going to waste in my fridge.  It was begging to be eaten!  And I am not eating the entire pan of brownies by myself--I gave a few to the neighbors.
It's just one of those warm brownies with fun M&Ms kind of day!
Have a good one!
Love,
Wendy