Ten Days ...

Since I last posted I've been to Madrona and back, did jury duty, got snowed in, ran errands, paid bills, wrote letters, and got Louie through his knee surgery. 

Madrona as always was wonderful.  It's so nice to take four days of my year and spend it doing what I love ... knitting.  I took three classes, spent a lot of time in the lobby bar drinking appropriate beverages (coffee in the a.m, sodas in the afternoon, wine in the evenings, etc.), catching up with old friends, and making new friends.  One of the fun things about Madrona is the plethora of Susans.  There are a lot of Susans.  In the first class I took, Emergency Measures with Sally Melville, there were 5 Susans in that class.  In our knitting guild, the Eastside Knitting Guild, there are 7 Susans.  I love Susans.  I understand Susans.  One of the things I love about Susans is their willingness to help, and while helping, their willingness to laugh about it.  Case in point ... how many Susans does it take to roll up a skein of yarn?

In this case, three.  The skein of yarn was tangled so Susan M held the skein, Susan B untangled, and Susan R (me) rolled the yarn on the ball.  By the way, please note the vest Susan B is wearing.

Susan knit her houndstooth vest with yarn from Toots LeBlanc & Co., a regular vendor at Madrona. 

The other Susan, Susan M, is our fearless leader for the Eastside Knitting Guild and when she came to Madrona, she was ready for anything and everything. 

Which was primarly knitting for Operation Holiday Stockings.  You will recall this Susan is the Susan that knit stockings for each day of 2010.  Here's what she's done so far for 2011.  Susan is awesome.

After four wonderful days at Madrona, I rested up on the holiday (President's Day), and then went to sign in for jury duty at the District Court in Bellevue.  For the first day, we sat around for about three hours to be sent home, and to report back in on Wednesday.  Checked in on Wednesday, to be excused due to snow.  The trial we were going to be polled for was continued due to an impending snow storm.  Thursday, I worked from home because we had that snow storm and getting off of my hill that day wasn't an option.  We ended up getting 7 inches of snow in about 5 hours. 

Now it's true the snow can stop us from driving anywhere, but it won't stop the two Grill Masters, David and John, from grilling steaks. 

You just position the grill in the right place on the deck ...

bundle up to light it ...

Then pour a stiff drink so you can stand outside in the frigid temperatures to watch the charcoal burn.  It was worth it, however, the steaks were marvelous.

Yesterday, I picked up Louie.  He had to have knee surgery this week because he sustained the same injury that Edgar had.  The vet told me no more basketball for my dogs. 

The surgery went well, and Louie is resting comfortably.  He also likes having special food and special treatment.  He deserves to be spoiled a bit. 

Well, it has been a challenge trying to get this posting done since the internet connection is on and off.  I love Comcast, and the way Comcast makes me feel so angry.  GRRRRRR. 

Take care everyone.

TTFN

Sue

What Dogs Do in Winter

In Winter dogs don't do much.  Actually, what they do best during winter is sleep.  If there's a couch, the dog will get comfortable and sleep.  If there is a lap, the dog will get comfy and sleep.  In fact, they are so in tuned to sleeping that it's a given that winter life revolves around sleep. 

Last weekend I was working on cleaning out, and organizing my yarn stash (still), and had a pile of leftover yarn. 

I wasn't sure what to do with it so I asked for ideas.  Since the dogs were the only living beings around at the time, the responses were something like this.

"What?  I'm sleeping here.  You want to discuss what?  Yarn?  Check with me in the Spring."

"What did you say?  Yarn?  Let me think."

"I'm thinking here."

"Thinking ..... thinking ..... thinking ....."

"ZZZZZZZ."

However, Louie was listening ...

"Duh ... I think it's quite evident what to do with the pile of yarn.  KNIT A DOGGIE BLANKET."  (Louie is so wise.)

That's what I did.  I used double strands of the worsted weight yarn and knit with size 13 needles.  This is the basic blanket that I found on the Lion Brand website many years ago. 

As you can see ...

it's been doggie tested ...

and doggie approved. 

In the meantime, Edgar is still sleeping through winter.

Off to Madrona and good times.

TTFN

Sue

It's Official.

It's been seven years in the making and in waiting, seven years to prepare for the move.  Our move to Edgar's Acres is now officially taking place.  It will be over several months' time, but it's has officially started.  The Stash has now been moved to it's new address in Sequim.

This past week I packed up my yarn stash.  For seven years I've had yarn in Bellevue, and yarn in Sequim.  For seven years I've had needles scattered between the two locations.  Moving the entire stash and accompanying tools and accessories to Edgar's Acres is a big step.  It denote the final decision to FINALLY make the move.  Knitters will agree that when a knitter moves their stash, then the knitter is serious about moving.

The "shelving" is temporary until we get the white shelving we want in this room.  The dogs are fine with sharing their room with my stash.  Yarn is a good insulator both for warmth and for noise.  My yarn is happy to be freed of all of the stuffy plastic bags.

My first thought when I got all of my stash put in place was I don't need anymore yarn.  David's response to that ... "Yeah, right!"  At least now I know what I have.  I also went through and pulled the yarn I'll never knit up and it will go to the charity knitting group in Bellevue. 

I also found the camo yarn for OHS.  Several weeks ago Susan presented me with an official Operation Holiday Stockings knitting bag. 

Pretty nice isn't it?  I think it is awesome, and what a nice thing to do.  This bag holds a lot of yarn so I can also carry along other knitting projects besides stockings (one does need a bit of variety you know).

Meanwhile, my cousin Laura,  and first contributor in 2005 Diana have been busy.

Laurie's stockings were the first batch for 2011.  The yarn is sparkly but doesn't really show up in this picture.  They are so pretty.

Then Diana sent in her first bunch of stockings.  Our total now for 2011 is 56.  I've been knitting as well but not sure how many.  The nice thing about these stockings is they are so portable and a quick knit. 

Well, now that I have unearthed all of my yarn, I need to get to knitting. 

TTFN

Sue