A Wonderful Thanksgiving and Adventure

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful, all of my family was here and some of our friends.  I was so glad that my brother, his fiancee and daughter were able to come.  Chip has cancer and every day is precious and a gift.  Every one enjoyed the great meal and then the Redskins win over the Dallas Cowboys. Go Skins!

We are now getting ready to head down south to visit more family.  I am anxious to  see what the weather will be like in Charleston and Aiken, SC.  We are leaving Saturday and the weather here will be cold, just like I like it.  SC will be in the high 50's to low 60's which is OK.

I finished my Mom's shawl for her Christmas present and I continue to work on my Camelot Coat.  I have started a beaded scarf, and a Mr. Greenjeans sweater.  The yarn I am using for the sweater has started out twice as different sweaters, that I have frogged.  This Mr. Greenjeans sweater is what it will finally be.  It is a top down sweater, with a long cabled edge on the bottom.  It should knit up quickly and will be nice and warm.

For anyone who reads this please keep my brother Chip in your prayers.  Prayer is what he really needs.

The picture is of Lake Merhl just up the street from our house.

I Love Fall

This has got to be my favorite time of the year.  Since I can't tolerate the heat, I welcome the cooler weather.  It can get a lot colder for me, but I am in the minority on this one.

We have been busy since my last entry, I didn't realize how busy until I saw the date of my last post.  We have redone our bedroom and bought new bedroom furniture.  We have redone the master bath and are just waiting on the painter so we can say it is completely done.  Our daughters house is an ongoing project for my husband.  He is finishing replacing the deck and wants a punch list from her as to what needs to be touched up or redone.  This makes him happy so I can't complain.

My friend Louise and I went on the Artisans open house tour yesterday, she had done it the day before, but wanted to return to one Artisan so we enjoyed the afternoon.  She bought some hand felted pillows for the new RV she is buying,  she had seen them the day before and wanted to sleep on it.  I have heard if you want something to sleep on it and when you return, if the something is still there, it is meant to be yours.  These pillows were meant to be hers.

We also went to an Alpaca Farm where I picked up some Alpaca/Angora blend roving to spin on my spinning wheel.  I learned a great deal about Alpaca's from the owner.  They have over 100 Alpaca's and process the fleece right there on the farm.  She had two shearings laid out on a table.  One was an older Alpaca with beautiful brown fleece, it was beautiful and so soft, or I thought. The next was the daughter who was 3 or  4 years old and her fleece was even softer. I also found out that Alpacas can breed anytime, so they have to keep the male and females separated.  It wouldn't take you long to build a nice size heard this way.

The owner also hand dyes her fleece and she explained how she did it and how you get various colors.  An interesting fact is that gray fleece will have gray, white and brown mixed together, so when you dye the fleece it heathers naturally and is beautiful

I will try and keep up with my blog a little better, but who knows what life will bring in the coming weeks.

Our Anniversary and Other Things

My wonderful husband and I went to Strasburg, PA yesterday to celebrate our Anniversary which is today July 14, Bastille Day.  We rode the Strasburg Railroad, one of the oldest short line trains still running.  The day was beautiful and the view were magnificent.

We traveled on the First Class Parlor Car that was air conditioned and we were served any drink we wanted and a nice cheese platter, and I had an authentic Whoopie Pie.  All of the cars are restored beautifully.  As you can see there is a lot of attention to detail.

After the train ride we went to the Railroad Museum across the street.  That was quite a treat.  The had many, many full size engines, box cars, passenger cars and even a mail car.  Mail was left on a tall pole and grabbed by a hook on the train, it was then opened and sorted right on the train.  They even had a Western Maryland rail car.  My husbands father worked as a mechanical engineer for the Western Maryland railroad in Cumberland, MD.

We saw beautiful farm land, and homesteads that were as neat as a pin. The Amish  travel by horseback or buggy, we saw many of them.  The Amish do not want their pictures taken, so I did not take any of the buggies.  The horses are beautiful and well cared for.

We ended our day at the Good and Plenty restaurant, where meals are served family style and you are encouraged to meet your table mates, by being introduced by the hostess and telling where you are from.  There was a couple from New Jersey and a family from Luray, Va at our table.  The food is all home made and plentiful. You are served the traditional relish plate and cottage cheese and apple butter.  There is also homemade bread.  Dinner consisted of roast beef (which melted in your mouth) a ham loaf and of course Fried Chicken.  This was accompanied by mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered noodles, home grown corn, and peas.  You want to save room for desert, there was cracker pudding ( it tastes like coconut cream pie filling), Shoo Fly Pie ( it is OK), cherry pie, individual cherry cheesecakes and homemade ice cream, chocolate and vanilla.  The serve ice tea, lemonade, water and coffee.  The food was great and so was the company. 

We are definitely going back in the fall.

Summer Is Here

Summer is here in full blown heat and humidity, I don't like this.  I would say hate, but that is such a strong word.  It is predicted to be 100 degrees today and only a few degree's cooler the next couple of days.

I can't believe that July is just around the corner, what happened to June.  I always look forward to July; there is the 4th to celebrate with fireworks, my wedding anniversary is the 14th (33 years to the most wonderful man on earth), and then my birthday on the 22nd.  I only hope that July will be like June and have some wonderful cool days.  One can only hope.

My Camelot coat is coming along, but slowly.  I am going to start either a Saroyan or the Color Affection shawl. Knowing me, it will be both.

My knitting group, the Mt Airy Knitters, is the most wonderful group of ladies anyone could ever know.  We are a diverse group which is what makes us work so well together. The best thing I ever did was find and join this group.

I am sewing and knitting to keep my mind off my asthma, which is kicking my but.  I have never had a cough like this before, it is keeping me from sleeping and I am afraid I may break a rib from coughing.  I am not a candidate for Predinose and so I just have to put up with it.  Our local hospital is so busy it takes hours to see a doctor, my doctors office is also booked.  This has been quite a summer for all of us.

Until there is more news, stay cool and keep knitting.

I can't believe it has been since February that I have posted.  I guess my life has been busier then I thought.  I just finished watching Alice in Wonderland (The Johnny Depp version) and the Cheshire Cat has always been my favorite character.  This version in a little more sinister than the Disney version.  Perhaps closer to the original story, Alice is a women of independence and adventure.

My knitting has been going along great and I have completed quite a few shawls. I am now knitting on my "epic" Camelot Coat a work in progress.  It may be done by the winter.  I love the Shalimar Yarn I am using, the  color is rich and since it is bulky knitting up fast. The picture doesn't do justice to the colors, they are deep blues, purples, and navies.

The Pipers Journey I just finished is beautiful, but the Wolles Color Changing Yarn is not for me.  This shawl is easy and the knitted on edging is beautiful.

Now that summer is here, I will spend more time indoors. Heat I can take, humidity I can't.  Hopefully the summer will have some nice days.

My sewing and crafting room is done and I love it.  Keeping it organized I hope will be easy, I just have to keep my husband from putting everything he finds and thinks is mine in that room.

My spinning wheel is calling and I am saving up for a Woolee Winder.  I have some beautiful lavender alpaca that I want to spin.

The Cheshire Cat always had a that knowing look, an adventure around every corner, if you just let yourself follow your heart.  I want to be more like the Cheshire Cat.

Simplicity

Winter landscapes are unique and beautiful in their own way.  They show things that are only seen in the winter. The rocks which are covered in the summer standout in contrast to the ground. The skeletons of the bushes have a beauty all their own; there is simplicity to the landscape that is not there in the warmer months.

The same can be said about knitting.  There is the simplicity in a plain knit stitch that  becomes a blanket to warm a loved one.  There is beauty in a simple shawl that is knit with a variegated hand dyed yarn. The yarn brings the shawl to life, just as the spring will bring life to the skeletons of the bushes.  Appreciate the yarn in the hank, it is beautiful by itself, just like the winter landscape.  It will bloom as you knit it into a beautiful object.

Knitting centers you, it can be done any where and at almost any time. Some may look at you funny when you are knitting, but they don't know the peace and joy that comes with this simple act.

Knitting can only bring joy to the person it is done for.  We may wish we had never started a project, but it is funny how we keep on and complete it, finding that in the end it was worth it.  This is not to say there are not some things that need to be tinked, and this may in it self bring joy, knowing that the yarn will go to another project.

Knitting helps us get through not only the winter months, but those times of stress or hardship in our lives.

I simply ask that anyone who reads this will pray for my brother, Chip, the Leukemia has come back and he is back on Chemo.  Thank you

The Sun

The sun is farthest away from us in the winter time, which is why it is suppose to be so cold.  Global warming I hate you. I like the sun in the winter time. it lights our bare landscape with a brightness you don't find in Summer.  The sun coming through the  bay window is cheerful and begs me to come sit for a while and read.

The reflections and shadows of winter are lacy because of the bareness of the branches.  They remind me of so many of the shawls I knit and make me want to knit another lace shawl or finish one I have started.

This same sun is a Summer sun in the Southern Hemisphere which is enjoying the flowers and leaves, and balmy breezes of summer.  It 's reflections are different and call for a laziness rather than a warm comfort.

The sun's partner, the moon, also shines on a different landscape in the winter.  When it snows and we are lucky enough to have a full moon the reflection off the snow is breathtaking.  With the morning, the ice and snow covered branches reflect a startling and beautiful brilliance, not found at any other time of the year.  Summer may have its' rainbows, but I will take a sun filled winter day any time of the year.