Golda's Bath

Dear Mom,

Golda has been having some serious hen-hygiene issues.  She desperately needed a bath.   Did you know that there is shampoo made especially for chickens?  

 Wash...

and rinse.

She was quite sweet through it all...and I believe she felt better after her bath. 

Golda spent a few hours by herself in the hospital cage, perching quietly while her feathers dried.   Marge and Gloria rushed to her side when she rejoined them.  I'm sure Golda bragged to them about her spa treatment and is now dreaming of becoming a "show chicken"!

Love, Bonnie Jo

A Wool Gathering! and . . . . I Know You're Out There Watching Me!

Dear Mom,

This past weekend was my favorite weekend of the year, A Wool Gathering at Young's Dairy in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  It is a weekend filled with all things fiber!!  My BFF Brooke, the Diva and Pipsqueak loaded into Doris and off we went for a Sunday afternoon "spin" . . . . 

Baby Alpacas . . .

Baby Bunnies. . .

Weavers of dreams . . . . 

Storytelling Musicians . . . 

A true Scottish Gentleman . . . 

Even Pirates . . .  Arrrrggg!

We spotted another vintage spy car  . . . 

We met up with stalkers friends who stalk follow us (I know you're out there watching me!) on our blog!!   Sandy and Paula are very proud of you, Kim, for your pattern publishing ventures and they LOVE reading about Bonnie Jo's suburban country life . . .

I bought some beautiful fair isle gloves that have texting fingers and thumbs!  I said to my BFF, "But I can knit these myself!" and my BFF wisely pointed out to me, "But think of how much faster you will get them done if you just buy them now!"  Ya gotta love a BFF that points out the obvious . . . .

This was overheard during the afternoon:

Lovely Woman:  **sigh** I would really love to learn how to spin . . . . **sigh**

Typical American Man:  You mean you have to learn to do that?

So we giggled, rolled our eyes at the Typical American Man and decided it was time to finish our day with Cow Patty ice cream . . .

. . . . Later that night . . . . . 

I was being my barista self at Starbucks and on our wall of adventure, this had been posted:

(crummy iPhone photo)

Before ya'll get too excited, it's NOT  five hours of spinning wheels for the cure . . . it's five hours of spinning bikes for the cure. . . . .

Love,

Wendy

Cowl Catcher #2

Dear Mom,
I knit this Cowl Catcher as a way to check my design notes and I made a few improvements along the way. I also wanted to see how it would work up with a less bulky yarn. I've had this hand spun yarn in my stash for over a year- since our trip to Shipshewana in 2009- and using it for this purpose worked out perfectly. The yarn is a very soft blend of Shetland Wool and Silk. I held the yarn doubled to get a heavy worsted weight. This slightly lighter weight resulted in a narrower scarf and the wool/silk blend definitely has more drape ( and a better feel) than the wool/acrylic yarn I used in Cowl Catcher #1. Some of the stitch pattern is lost in the yarn's marled colorway, which is to be expected. I like the scarf better in the solid color.

 Once I have the instructions written and formatted, I'll knit another one as a way to proofread the pattern. I have a volunteer test knitter on this one, (Thanks Carol!) and having another knitter's eyes to confirm that I have actually written what I mean to say is an enormous reassurance.

Love,
Kim

I love it when a plan works out

Dear Mom,

I suppose it was the hint of cool weather that got me to thinking about knitting scarves and cowls, and it doesn't take much more than that to spark an idea. I love the look of cowls and their status as a relatively quick knit, but I do not like the hair-messing-face-smudging difficulty in putting one on and taking it off, and especially not the neglected, exposed-to-the-cold lack of chest coverage.

What I decided to come up with was a cowl with button closures across chest to keep it snug and easy to wear. But with shaping. And not a scarf.

I spent some quiet time reflecting on my idea, (I happened to be at the dog park. Imagine that. Seems I am either walking dogs or at the dog park these days. Seriously, I am making dogparkfriends.....and learning that some dogs and their people should be avoided, just like in real life. Remind me to tell you one of these days about the mean girl, Foxy.) and had one of those Eureka moments when I knew how it had to be. And once those moments are born, they don't wait patiently in line while other knitting projects get finished. Nope. They want to be born right now.

So, I cast on Thursday night, finished it Friday night, sewed on the buttons and blocked it so it could dry while I slept and here it is:

And here is what it looks like under a coat  (Elle and I had fun playing dress up this afternoon):

See? All nice and tucked in and warm.

I've decided to name the design "Cowl Catcher". A play on the cow catchers on the front of old steam engines, because the stitch pattern is reminiscent of train tracks.

The buttons can be closed at any point on the length of the scarf- snugging it up or keeping it loose.  And the length is just right, I think, to wear under a coat without having to deal with too much bulk.

After I've test knit my own pattern and tried it out with different yarns (I have some handspun that I am thinking about doubling and trying out), I'll write up the pattern and publish.

I just love it when an idea turns into a plan and it all works out!

Love,
Kim

The good, the bad and the ugly

Dear Mom,

Good: I took everything off the bookshelves in the family room, wiped off books and dusted shelves and put it all back. I put as much effort into the rest of the room and it was really clean.
Bad: Clean just doesn't last long enough.
Ugly: While I was concentrating on all this cleaning, Patsy ate 2 sticks of butter that were softening on the kitchen counter in anticipation of chocolate chip cookies.

Good: When Patsy threw up the first time, it was in the parking lot of the dog park.
Bad: The second time she threw up was on the kitchen floor, not on the carpeting.
Ugly: What I had to scoop out of the neighbor's yard on our walk this morning.

Love,
Kim

A little shameless self promotion

Dear Mom,

I've done something I've been thinking about doing for awhile now. It is a little scary, but me being me, it is a safe sort of scary- a mostly "stepping out of my comfort zone" sort of scary....

 I've started a separate blog site for my knitting patterns.

What is there now are patterns that have already been self-published, but I needed to get the blogsite up and started with something or I would always have a reason to put the whole thing off a little longer.
I wanted a place for knitting designs that haven't fit the needs of other publications, but mostly I wanted a place for the designs that I am not willing to let go of my copyright to have published. Self publishing will require more work on my part to have things tested and tech edited before they can be published, but since I am my own boss, I can (hopefully) live with the self-imposed deadlines. Or lack thereof.

This doesn't mean I am giving up on seeing my name in print and maybe even another design on another magazine cover someday- because that is a pretty good jolt of excitement!- I'm just giving myself another outlet for creativity and control. And God knows, I love having the illusion of control.

Go here to take a look at what I have going so far. I have lots of ideas.......

Love,
Kim

Dog Park Days

Dear Mom,
Well, it happened again and another week flew by. I hope this doesn't become a habit. This week I did keep the house clean, though....or as clean as 2 dogs will let it be.
Now that the weather is behaving like it should (Except for the rain part. We need the rain. Even my crabgrass is struggling.)  our visits to the dog park have lasted longer and more dogs have been there to play. Patsy has a special friend. His name is Ace and he is a 2 year old chocolate lab.He and Patsy....well, they love each other in a dog sort of way.

Ace's mom and I have exchanged email addresses so we can easily arrange play dates and coordinate our dog park visits.

Patys now knows the word "Ace" and the phrase "Dog park". "Dog Park" may be a better motivater than "cookie".

And while Ace and Patsy race around and burn off loads of energy, good ole Bumper sniffs around and marks all the territory as his, finds some shade, barks when the wild ones get too close, and generally avoids the action.

In June, the water level was where Ace and Patsy are standing.

Plus, Ace's mom usually has a few treats in her pocket which are smuggled to Bumper when the others aren't looking, and it didn't take him too long decide that she just might be his new best friend.

My knitting needles are clicking away, too, and I am making really good progress on Baby Cables and Big Ones, too. I think I am gonna really, really like wearing this sweater.

Last night I reached the point in the pattern where the designer suggests trying the sweater on to check for fit, which I have, and so far, so good. I'll divide the sleeves and the body next and what you see above will start looking more like a sweater and less like a poncho. The weather isn't just good for the dog park. It's been perfect knitting weather, too.

Love,
Kim

p.s. I made Jayme's Psalm Blessed Apple Crisp, and it may be....no IT IS... the best apple crisp recipe EVER. I had everything I needed on hand and the really good part was that I could walk out into the back yard and pick the apples I needed right off the tree!

The Traveling Salvation Show

Dear Mom,
We have been singing this Neil Diamond song around here a lot lately...



...because this "popped up" off the country road north of our house.

For the last 5 nights, we have been serenaded with gospel music and lots of revivalist preachin'!
Love, Bonnie Jo

Loved

Dear Mom,

Grammie and Grampie have found one another again.  They are at peace.  They have an eternity of grace together.  I loved them so much-ly.
Love,
Wendy

A little knitting

Dear Mom,
Gosh, blink and a week has passed by with almost nothing to show for it. If you could peek through the computer screen at the house behind me, you would know that my time wasn't exactly spent cleaning. (Although I did have to de-clog mr. dyson- he was choking on a chunk of wood chips, thanks to you-know-who.)

The Young Man's tennis coach became the father of a baby girl last weekend, so a knitting project was put on hold so I could make this gift.

This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket, and I used about 1and 1/2 skeins of Claudia Hand Painted fingering weight yarn. The colorway for this yarn is called "Strawberry Latte", but I think it looks like Neapolitan ice cream.
I covered a button with a bright pink gingham check,

and used Lizzie's freezerpaperandfabricintotheprinter trick to make a HandKnit by/Care tag for the sweater.

After the fabric came out of the printer, I trimmed it to size and ironed it to some fusible interfacing to give it a little backbone and to stop the edges from fraying. (I hope.) I loosely tacked the tag to the sweater allowing for some stretch when the sweater is worn. All done and ready to give.

No excitement planned here for the long holiday weekend. I'll be cleaning what I didn't get to all last week. But mostly I hope to enjoy the screened porch. After a scorching hot and tropically humid summer that gave me only a handful of comfortable days/evenings to enjoy the porch, we are to be blessed with mild weather this holiday weekend and I plan on spending as much time out there as I can.

Love,
Kim

Ishbel

Dear Mom,
Before this turns into Patsy's blog, I am gonna hurry up and show you some knitting. I finished Ishbel last night during Project Runway, blocked her during Austin and Santino, and she is ready for her debut.

I used about 1 1/2 balls of Panda Silk, a beautiful blend of bamboo, merino wool and silk. This was a well written, easy to follow pattern and I feel like it was finished pretty quickly. I can't remember when I started, but I think it was all done within a week. I will definitely make more of these.

Love,
Kim

p.s. I know you don't watch Project Runway, but I really wanted Gretchen to go home.

This is getting to be a habit

Dear Mom,

I need  Mr. Dyson to invent a wood chipper attachment for my vacuum cleaner.

Love,
Kim

Dish cloths and tennis meets and other stuff

Dear Mom,
I've been watching a fair amount of high school tennis these past couple of weeks, and I take knitting along with me to alleviate some of my nerves. It helps my stomach not to churn itself up too much if I have knitting in my hands. Unfortunately, the knitting I would like to be working on is at the point that I really need to pay attention which means it has not been tennis friendly. So it shames me to admit that I have been knitting dish cloths in public. Not that there is anything wrong with knitting dish cloths. Nothing AT ALL. Because actually my favorites are the hand knit ones. It's just that this sort of public knitting is not going to do anything to promote the art of knitting.

But, they (the dish cloths) are mindless knitting and heaven knows I need some new ones. Why is it that the hand knit ones are always the ones to get chewed up in the garbage disposer? The store bought ones never sneak down there. Except I am pretty sure that this one has Patsy's name all over it.....


And speaking of Patsy....
She keeps trying and trying,

and trying to sneak this through the dog door and into the house.

Let's just take a step back and take another look at that last photo. Just promise you'll pretend not to notice the clutter on that kitchen desk.

Because even Bumper knows that this isn't right.

Ishbel is moving along rapidimento. I have a scant 15 rows to go to finish!

I'll show you once it is blocked. This could easily be the start of Ishbelitis.

Love,

Kim

Pickin' Time

Dear Mom,

We have a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes this season. The Captain picks tomatoes every day.

Uh-oh...here come the scavengers helpers. 

It didn't take the girls long to figure out how to pick their own tomatoes.

Golda can pick and eat a tomato in two bites!

She loves tomatoes so much, she will "fetch" when I toss them into the yard.

Captain is preserving the tomatoes by drying them and then layering them with garlic, oregano and basil in mason jars topped off with olive oil.  

Love, Bonnie Jo