SALE AT ELEGANZA

At 6 a.m. there was a 40% off sale at Eleganza Yarns, my own little LYS. Of course, I want crazy. It was my anniversary yesterday after all. Many WIMs for socks and shawls and bags. Already cast on the black Baby Ull for a lacy shawl.

Christmas bouquet

Matt and Marian sent flowers; they are gorgeous. Of course, the picture doesn't do justice.

More December projects

The two dishcloths are completed - comfort projects - busy hands, happy heart.
The thrummed mittens are an adventure into new territory. I'd never done anything "thrummed" before. I'm done with the first and have the wrist done on the second. I'm hoping to have it done shortly after Christmas to send to a friend up north. They are way too warm to wear down here. In case, gentle reader, you're not familiar with thrummed garments, the little pink spots are the visible part of chunks of wool roving that line the inside and are very fuzzy warm. Each little chunk is pulled from the roving, smoothed into a yarn-like strand and knit into the mitten as it progresses. It has an afterthought thumb which I think is very cool.

December knitting

I've finished up the Christmas socks - 17 pairs. I'm currently making a pair for me.
I'm now in the dreaded "second sock" phase. For you non-sock makers, the first sock is fun and exciting to see what this pattern will look like with this yarn. The second sock is just a chore. I'm trying to start a campaign for the style to change to wearing two different socks. Another approach is to find another sock knitter and trade to do the second sock. Any takers out there?

ELENA IS 4

Today is Elena's 4th birthday. Dad and sister Jillian help open gifts.

Aunt Laura watches Elena catching butterflies with Elefun

Jillie developing a new way of eating cake - no utensils needed.

My new knitting passion

I love these little garden gnomes created by Alan Dart. I'm sure I'll be making more of them.

Thanksgiving Feast

And a good time was had by all at the Rector Family Thanksgiving Feast held at Matt and Marian's home this year.
Great food and delightful company.

Newest Knitting

Lots of projects finished and on the needles

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. It's hard to believe that the big glob of knitting at the top will fold into the sweater at the bottom. It's all done but putting on the buttons and sewing up the shoulder seams which are the only seams there are in it.
A cap for a 4 year old pirate friend of mine
Wrist warmers made of a yarn called Marble. I'll be making a Fake Isle cap with the same color yarn.

The beginning of my Swallowtail Shawl with Stan the Alpaca yarn.

My Fake Isle Hat

I just finished my first Fake Fair Isle hat. It's made with Noro Silk Garden yarn that has very long stretches of one color before changing to another. The fair isle technique is genuine; it's just not changing the background color multiple times that makes it "fake". With two layers of yarn from stranding, it should be really warm for Pop's head this winter.

A Great Day for SEX (Stash Enhancement eXpedition) at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival

Yahooooo

I just found out about Family Search Indexing and got signed up and into it. I've done 1000 entries so far in 6 days. Lynn's doing it too. Mostly I've done 1900 census records for Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

One of the most interesting things was on the North Carolina page. The person's state/country of birth is in a column with his/her parents' places of birth in the next two columns. In the other 19 sheets I did, the places of birth especially for parents were all over the place - a great many in England, Germany, Sweden and lots of different states than the state I was working on. HOWEVER on the page for NC, every single person was born in NC and so were both parents. Does this say something?

A sad thing. When making a record for a woman, the question is asked # of births and # of living children. In 1900 of the 20 sheets I did more than half had lost at least one child and many of them had lost several. But they made up for it in total #. The highest I saw was 20. But lots had 10-12 births.

Contact me if you want to get involved in this and I'll tell you how.

Reunion 2007

Sunday, Aug 12 was the annual reunion for our gang. Cousins enjoyed the food and fun. We decided we'll do it again next year.
Evelyn, Renee, Edra, Sharon, and Katie at the reunion. (Jonthan cleaning up)


Grandma Edie and the twins.

Renee and Greg relaxing.

Jonthan and Alyssa at the auction.

Nanny and me enjoying the kids. See, I told you my hair was grayer.
Mr. Kool dons shades from his kiddy bag.

Tom brought a game of beanbag skill.













Fun on the swings for Anna and Eliza.


















Stars of the show this year were Heidi and Brooke, twin daughters of Debbie, Edra's daughter. Cousin Hannah above caught a ride in their little green wagon.

Pop and the Kit Car

Pop is going be be building a car soon. We don't know what kind yet - he's still looking.
These are pix from one of the shows he went to recently.

I'm SOOOO excited.

Fourth of July at the Olson's 2007

Great Fourth this year.
Breakfast for about 475.
Speeches, music, fireworks, yahoo.

We had our own bagpiper and the Catoctones, a barbershop chorus who were GREAT!!!Nathan was part of the Sheriff's Department honor guard that raised the flag.



Jillian enjoying herself. And big sister Elena all decked out with a crown of stars.

A frontiersman explained about being a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

We heard from the director of a local museum how the flag had changed over the years and what all the symbolism was about.
Roscoe Bartlet, our congressman, gave a few ideas of how we need to guard the Constitution in this our own time.
Veterans were acknowledged and honored for their devotion and service.

Pop "Paul Bunyan" Rector

Pop decided that 2 of the trees in our back yard needed to go. One had a lot of dead branches and the other was in the way of where he wants to put a utility shed so.....
He cut it all up and hauled it away to the tree "recycling center". Then he chewed up the stumps with a rented stump eater. Then burned the roots down to a couple inches below the soil. So now they are well and truly gone.

Yard and garden this year

Lots of green this year but we could use more rain.


The daylilies are really popping


We're growing lots of veggies this year. Corn, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, squash, chard, lettuce, melons, and onions. Of course the blackberries are going all out.

From my Stash

These are socks I made for Lynn from the Blue Face Leicester wool I got at the Sheep and Wool Festival. They should keep his toes toasty.
The little pink ones are for one of the granddaughters.
They are made of Simply Soft by Caron.


These are some bibs I made from Cottontots. They just need
buttons that I will probably make from polymer clay.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2007 and Stash Enhancement Xpedition (SEX)

Saturday, Lynn and I went to the Howard County Fairgrounds to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. There were exhibits and vendors from all over North America.


Sheep herding by border collies was demonstrated.

There were a few aliens also available to pet.




Lots to see and buy.

Including lace weight alpaca yarn and some lace weight shetland.
Lots of other wools and other yarns.
A nice woman showed me how to spin yarn with 2 CDs and a dowel. The little swatch in the picture is made from yarn I spun myself. The plastic bag is full of roving to be made into yarn. It's the natural color of the sheep (her name is Maya). The pink cotton candy looking stuff has
been dyed but is also roving. Zoom in and you can see my "spinning wheel".

I've already got a pretty good start on a Seraphina shawl made from the lace weight alpaca. It's SOOO soft.