Sock Frenzy

I've been going through a sock Frenzy for the last six months. It has nothing to do with the Sock Summit. It all started out with needing more socks, and having fun yarn. However, the true push was this little guy.
Johnny. I had a sock that needed a new heel. It looked a lot like this...

Johnny found it and now it looks like this ...

It's Johnny's new favorite toy. He drags that sock around with him everywhere. It's like he knew it was an old used sock so he might as well enjoy it. I should add that it IS the only sock he has ever bothered.

That got me looking at my sock collection and the condition the socks were in. Once inspected, I realized I needed to knit some more socks for the colder weather. Thus, the frenzy started.

So far I've finished four pairs, one sock of a pair, and working on two socks.

Pretty aren't they?

This pair is made with Universal's Bamboo Sock. I loved knitting with this yarn. It has a nice hand, and feels good on the feet. It didn't split or twist, and it was fun to watch the stripes appear. As you can see from the picture, there is a definite nap to the yarn. One sock was knit starting with the outside end, and one was knit starting with the inside end. I have gone ahead and purchase more Bamboo Sock because I do like the yarn.

These are fun. I knit these with the Regia yarn from Schachenmayr. This is a nice sock yarn, feels good in the hand, and fun stripes work up quickly.

I will keep you all posted on my current sock frenzy. I have so many lovely yarns I want to knit, but I still am having fun knitting for all of the upcoming babies.

The sun is out, and I have garlic to plant this weekend. Lovely fall day at Edgar's Acres.

TTFN

Sue

Operation Holiday Stockings 2009

It's time again. Time to start of Operation Holiday Stockings. This is our 5th year, the first year being 2005 when my LT was in Iraq. The promise is still in place. As long as we have soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will continue with Operation Holiday Stockings.

I'm not sure if you can see the expressions of wonderment and joy on these soldiers faces, but they were so thrilled to know that a group of people back home cared enough to send them a box of stockings. This unit decorated the hall with our stockings, together with tables full of stockings, and they celebrated the holiday with a bit of our love.

If you know a soldier who will be away from loved ones over the holidays, please email me at ramsddj at aol dot com so we can include him/her this year. It is so important they know we love and support them, and that they have our prayers.

Check out our Yahoo Group page for more information and pictures. You can also check out my postings during October - December 2008 for more pictures and information.

On behalf of our soldier, we thank you for your continued support and love.

TTFN

Sue

Saturday in Portland

Saturday was a wonderfully lazy day. We only had one obligation and that was in the evening. I needed to pick up a specific color of yarn for a project I am working on so got on the internet and searched for a yarn store in Portland that carried Encore yarn. Hence, we headed off to Oregon Worsted Company's Mill End Store. They have tons of fabrics, but a limited yarn department. However, they had the yarn I needed and that made me happy. I had not been to the Mill End store in 30 years so it was nice to visit again. Gail, the lovely lady that talked with me on the phone and held the yarn for me was a doll. Emily, the cashier was wishing she was anywhere but there.

After that I asked David what he wanted to do and he was open. I took advantage of the opportunity and announced we were going to go on a yarn store crawl. David is a good sport. We had already been to one (the Mill End Store), so I got the addresses to a couple of stores I had heard about and wanted to visit.

We went to Twisted on NE Broadway. What nice ladies, and what a fun store.
We enjoyed visiting with the sales staff. David, of course, found something besides yarn to talk about while I looked around at the store.

Friendly as true Portlanders can be. Love them. Also love the wall of sock yarn, and all of the legs.

Next we went to Yarn Garden on SE Hawthorne. Another store I had heard about.

Friendly staff again. I love Portland. I hate to say it, but there is only one yarn store in the Seattle area, Weaving Works, where I feel welcome and enjoy the staff. So far both of these stores are fun and have great staff. Friendly and very helpful. And ... humor, they all have humor, and love what they are doing.

They Yarn Garden is in a building with what appears to have been five stores, with five separate doors. They occupy all of the rooms, and its a blast to keep going from room to room to see what they have. Even David was interested (he had no clue I took this picture).

It wasn't long before David found the room with the comfy chairs.

I bought fun sock yarn at each store, and am anxious to finish up the pair I'm knitting now so I can get started on them.

After a nice lunch at Broadway Grill, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed before heading off to the reunion. We met up with Debbie and Bob and then headed into the Mt. Adams room. So many old friends actually showed up this time and we had a good time.

Bonnie, Debbie, Gordon and I grew up together. In fact, I've known Debbie since I was three. It was so good to see them. Considering our age, we actually still look the same.

Then there was the treat that all of my girlfriends from high school (and college) came. It's been a long time since we had a snapshot of all of us together. Here is Debbie, Debbie, Becky, Me, Lily and Nancy. What a beautiful group of women.

Debbie, thanks for "making" me go to the reunion. I had a wonderful time, and left feeling good about the friendships that seem to continue through the year.

Well, I'm off to go work on a knitting project.

TTFN

Sue

Fun Friday!

David and I drove down to Portland yesterday, and last night we joined up with John, Frank and Rachel to go to a Portland Timbers game. We had a blast. The Timbers play in the PGE Park, which used to be called Multnomah Stadium when I was growing up in Portland, and used to go see the Portland Beavers play in the Pacific Coast League (a long, long time ago).

Unfortunately the Timbers lost but the crowd support is an outright winner. The Timbers Army was in full force. We had fun. It was loud, warm, and a beautiful summer night. In other words, near perfect.

After the game we headed over to Lomboc for a pint and some food. Portland has so many micro breweries, which if you know Portland, makes perfect sense.

Last night I gave Rachel a blankie I knit for her to take to her new niece. It was so fun to knit for a baby girl. Rachel was pleased, and said she thought little Junebug would be too.

The yarn is Universal's Classic Worsted long print in "Baby." When I started knitting on it I decided it was more appropriate for a baby girl. There is a lot of pink. Then Rachel's sister had a baby girl. How lovely, I got to knit for a baby girl.

Well, I've started on another baby blankie, and will have two more to do after that. They are so fun to do, because all babies need blankies.

Well, off to see if I can make myself look 18 again (scarey thought).

TTFN

Sue

In Remembrance

Today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11. I can still vividly recall how I felt when I heard the first news of the airliner hitting the twin towers. Let's not forget. Let's say a prayer for the victims of the attacks eight years ago.

This is also the fifth year we will be doing Operation Holiday Stockings. It is a small way to remember our soldiers and to thank them. Let's not forget them.

This weekend I will be with my sons and family, and old friends. I thank God for all of them each day, and pray for their health and happiness. I pray for Frank, whose unit has been put on alert, and cherish each time I get to put my arms around him. I pray for all of the soldiers, and the loved ones waiting for their safe return home. Let's not forget the families at home making their own sacrifices while their soldier is on deployment.

Let's also remember the many blessings we have in the freedoms we have to live as we choose in the United States.

The weather is going to be warm this weekend. I'll be getting a lot of good knitting time in while we travel to the City of Roses, fortunately in an air conditioned vehicle. Baby knitting, what fun, and how encouraging.

Take care my dear friends, and thank God we have the right to send out emails, add comments to Facebook, and have our blogs. Love to you all, and thanks again for supporting our soldiers through Operation Holiday Stockings.

TTFN

Sue

Greetings from Edgar's Acres

We arrived at Edgar's Acres yesterday morning. The sky was blue and clear, and it was a lovely 70 degrees. Before we started out on lawn mowing and gardening, we ran some errands. I love Sequim, it has the nicest stores with the nicest people working in them. The only thing wrong with Sequim is it's too far for Frank and John to come visit for a weekend. It's a long trip. Who knows, however, now that John has a new car that gets good gas mileage, we may see them make a trip.

We went and had breakfast at the Oak Table. They serve you wonderful food, more than ample portions. The staff is wonderful, and the restaurant, and the settings are really, really well done. The prices are affordable as well. Next we off to A Dropped Stitch so I could pick up a couple of skeins of yarn I need for a project I'm working on (and to say hi).

Then it was off for groceries at Sunny Farm. I love this store. It's small, but the meat and produce is the very best. We don't have to worry about the meat having hormones added, nor a bunch of chemicals dumped on the veggies. The deli is wonderful. The store is small, but so charming. It is also very busy. Yesterday I decided to take some pictures. People were looking at me like I had lost my mind. Afterall, who takes pictures of a grocery store? Well, I had to. The colors of the veggies were truly amazing.

All of these veggies are so fresh, and they will store much longer than veggies purchased at the major grocery stores.

How can you resist? I've learned to hold back and purchase just what we can eat in two weeks.

No wonder we eat so well over here. Between the veggies we grow ourselves, and what we can buy at Sunny Farm, we are lacking for nothing.

Yesterday I harvested the first of the sunflowers. I grew the sunflowers that have seeds for eating, both for humans and for birds. Some of these flowers measure 16" across.
They are now in the garage drying out. I plan is to roast them for eating.

I've left several for the birds, and hopefully, for some volunteer plants next year.

The first thing I spotted in the garden were the tomatoes.

We'll be having BLT sandwiches today for lunch. The green tomatoes broke off the bush when I was picking a red one. Not a problem. I'll put them in a brown paper bag for a few days to ripen. As I was telling David yesterday, it's safe to say that tomatoes are a fall crop here in our area. These tomatoes are Big Beef, and I purchased the plants from Territorial Seed in Oregon.

My plan for this weekend is to plant green manure in the garden to get it ready for winter. I'll be planting crimson red clover this year. It helps to keep the weeds down, shelters the soil from the hard winter rains, and nourishes the soil for next spring.

Well, there's blue sky outside so I'm off to see what I can get done today.

TTFN

Sue

Catching Up

September starts next Tuesday and I have no clue where August went. I know I've been busy, and having a wonderful time being busy, but man, August has sped by. Last night and last Thursday I went to Safeco Field to see the Mariner's play. Last night David and I went with Frank and John and had a great time. Our seats were about 20 rows up from the field looking straight down the first base line. Mariners WON!. Thursday night I went to Stitch n' Pitch with Bob and Kelley Petkun of Knit Picks. What lovely people, and I loved visiting with Kelley while we knit during the game. Mariner's lost.

The garden at Edgar's Acres is really prolific. We've harvested all of the onions now, and where we had the onions planted, David built three more raised beds. We've added compost, dirt and covered it with straw and they will be ready for next spring.

The brussel sprouts are being picked, and growing. I have one that is full of those damned aphids, but the other plant is beautiful. Once we have a hard frost the damned aphids will be gone, and the brussel sprouts will be ours. We lost one plant to a wind storm so Susan harvested the sprouts off the plant before to dug up the roots.

The yellow plum tree was FULL so we picked them. What a luscious color, and so good!

Susan and I have dried some for use later on.

While we were in Sequim, we celebrated Leslie's birthday with dinner. Look at the colors in the shishkobobs. The red onion was SWEET, and the flavor of the baby squash was amazing.

We now have enough onions until next year. Fortunately we have old refrigerators for cold storage.

There has to be something special about the soil at Edgar's Acres, because the produce is so sweet, especially the carrots and beets.

The other night I cooked up some brussel sprouts, leeks, yellow squash and tomatoes for dinner. I added a touch of curry, and WOW. The squash really soaks up the curry flavor.

So, as you can see, I've been busy gardening. I love gardening. It is hard work, but relaxing at the same time. I love reaping the harvest from the sweat equity we put into the garden. God is good to us by providing us such sweet soil (which is rock free and FLAT), good weather, and good friends to work with and to share with.

I've also been knitting. Baby blankets. There is a baby boom going on. I really can't post any pictures until the blankies are delivered because I don't want surprises spoiled. We had a baby shower for Jenn and I gave her this blankie.
It's just the log cabin pattern. I used Encore Multis worsted weight in "Baby Boy."


It's knit in a garter stitch on size 9 needles. While I was knitting the blankie, Jenn sent out an email with the colors for the baby's nursery. The colors in the blankie are the exact colors she is using for her nursery. While I was finishing up, a horrible heat wave hit our area. In order to finish the knitting, we went to shopping malls (where there was air conditioning), I knit in the car while David had the air conditioning on full blast, and got up to knit in the early morning, where the temperature was in the 70s. It got to be pretty funny, but the blankie got done in time.

Jenn was thrilled. Jenn is a knitter, and she knows a lot of love and prayer went into the blankie for her baby. I had so much fun knitting it.

I got two more done, and am working on two, and will be starting another here soon. Like I said, there is a definite baby boom going on.

Well, off to work on another blankie, and harvest some lettuce and tomatoes for tonight's dinner.

TTFN

Sue