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Yesterday was Cop on a Rooftop day. Cops sit atop Dunkin Donuts rooftops  around Illinois and raise funds for Special Olympics.   I gave my ten bucks for a great cause. I got a new coffee travel cup which I really needed.  Children with Down's Syndrome have a very special place in this nurse's heart.   They are angels on this Earth.  As for knitting, I'm still working on Trap. Anyone have an easy trick for keeping the two skeins from tangling?  I think I saw a shoebox device once….. Happy Summer Saturday. 

We all know I am not a baker.  I am however, good at desserts which do not require baking.  Is there a name for me?  Yesterday afternoon, on a whim, I went to the store for the ingredients for Chocolate Cream Pie.  Fireman gives it a 10.  I haven't tried it yet.  Well, I guess I tried the Batter, if we are being completely honest about this.  The batter was decadent.  Here's the recipe.  (oh and my second Trap is well underway) Chocolatechocolateanmore's Chocolate Cream Pie Ingredients 1 ready made graham cracker crust 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 1/2 cups sweetened dark chocolate, chopped (or you can use the baking chips) 1/3 cup heavy cream (milk can be substituted) 8 ounce container of Cool Whip Instructions Melt chocolate and cream in the microwave for about 45-60 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir until chocolate is completely melted, creating a chocolate ganache...

Thanks to you all I have a bigger better picture of where  YOU live.   We are all over the map -  I live north of the city of Chicago. It seems a very congested place when we travel to quieter locales.  Yesterday, Fireman took me to one of the prairies he helps to tend in the winter.   This little piece of quiet was so pretty.  The wildflowers were blooming.  See? I was a bit worried about poison ivy and ticks. I think we came home alone. :) I'm off to Spay Neuter this morning. It is puppy and kitten season. I get my pup fix this way.  Later I'll knit more of the second Trap scarf/stole. Yesterday I knitted with friends.  Nancy had cervical spine surgery a week ago, and needed to get out.  She ordered a chardonnay and drank it through a straw.  Gotta love determination!  Are you determined today?

I was reading some blogs this morning,  like I do every morning! Hemi's mom showed us a map and now I know where she lives. For all the swaps and contests over the years, you'd think I'd know where YOU live. For the most part, I don't.  I know where your blog lives and I try to comment frequently.  Wont you please leave me a comment,  with your first name and the city state you live in? I need to put a place with your name ;)  and your blogs name.  If you like to read Irisheyes but you don't have a blog, leave me a comment anyhow. I'd like to see where in the World you all are!

Someone I know, named Al, decided to take Summer school.  Al is taking the Knitting Guild Associations' Master Knitting Program.  I know she can get her certification.   Won't it be fun to hear about the process along the way?  One of the requirements is to write about the importance of blocking. Since we never block, we bring our knits to the cleaners for blocking, this ought to be interesting!  I'm in Love with Hampstead, Lorna's Laces new color way. The Trap pattern lends itself to crazy mixed color yarns that would normally pool and create havoc, yet when knit with an alternate plain color simply shine.   Trap has trapped me and I couldn't be happier about it.  Below, the rose, hosta, fern garden in a lovely light.  There was little light last Friday night when I stayed up to watch the meteor shower.  I was just home from work and as soon as I saw one and made a wish….POOF…I was off to bed.  ...

  Yes Pie you have to model some times. Thank you for not tearing any stitches with your nails as you tried to back out of the photo shoot. The icy green is Berocco Folio and the multi is Jawoll magic.   It is shorter than the intended wrap.  I had plenty of Jawoll left but I ran out of Folio. This Trap measures 32 inches long and that is a full 20 inches less than the pattern was intended.  Still, it is lovely and I'm casting on for another today. For once I used the suggested yarns and guess what,  I got the intended result. (Not by measure, but by looks))    I did not enjoy the yarn in my hands, however. It was easy to miss a dropped stitch and I had a few inches of frogging every so often.   The yarns liked to tangle together and they were difficult to separate without tearing the yarn itself.   This led to a few more ends to weave in on the sides.   I used both of my yarn bowls to keep the yarns i...

Karen, not Caren crocheted all these caps for Hats for Haiti.  The point is sun protection, obviously not for warmth.   Colorful: you bet Cotton: of course Committed to a Cause: Kathy c and Karen! In other C news: Campfire: we had one last night.  :) Cup of coffee: currently  Chicago: at its best in the summer.  C'mon over! Cubs:  catastrophic (no Crying in Baseball) Craft: all about the cool Trapp Care to Contribute???

I'm moving along on the Trap Scarf/Shawl.  Things I like: It is so easy to knit and relax and just watch it grow.   I am not crazy for the yarns although they are the suggested ones. I would go a bit less lacey and a bit less alpaca next time.   I think the pattern is wonderful and I could do it in Lorna's Laces new Hampsted colorway with an aqua main color.   We'll see about that after I finish this one.  I also think that while I like the Knit Stockinette better than the garter, the edges are rolling and we all know that isn't good. I can get it blocked at the cleaners however.   This would make an excellent gift.  I'm so happy Grace introduced the pattern to me.  So many ways to vary this pattern and yarn and have a great result. 

  I fell for it.   It works!  It made old Honda Rhonda smell like new.  I also fell for Lush's soap called: Honey I Washed the Kids.  Have I told you how much I love my cordless vacuum?  How I'll never buy another kind of vacuum.  I think I've already told you that..sorry Churchmouse Yarns and Teas is a wonderful Knit site if you are in the mood to search and linger and be inspired.  Definite Thumbs Up.  My Toms canvas summer shoes are another Thumbs Up.  I tripped three times today in my old Birkenstocks…what's up with that?  The man at the butcher almost caught me as I tripped. He was young and very kind.  I felt like an idiot.  Both trips involved steps I didn't see.  Perhaps I need those new glasses sooner than later.  Perhaps I'm not used to gripping my Birkies with my toes yet - Finally,  the MY Pillow Pillows are pricey but they are very nice. They are ...

  1. The Beast in the Garden by David Baron. This non-fiction book takes us to Boulder, Colorado.  If you love Colorado, this is a good book for you.  The story revolves around the unlikely but very real cougar encounters and attacks in the late 1980s.  David Baron worked for National Public Radio and is an award winning journalist.  I finished this book in 3 days.   2. How Animals Grieve, by Barbara J. King.  I'm halfway through it but I can recommend it to animal lovers.  Scientific without being dull, she groups chapters by animal.  There is a vast difference between the reactions of some animals when they deal with the death of another in their species.   Rabbits grieve?  You'll think so after you read that chapter.  Monkeys carry their dead babies around for a week, or one for 46 days until it mummified.   Not all animals seem to grieve….. this is a fascinating look at an emotion we know too little...

The weekend was full of gatherings. We had a wonderful time last night at an old friends' home. Mark and Mary Ellen met at McDonald's and were married.  Fireman and I met at the same McDonald's at the same time and we married.  There are 3 other couples we know from that time in our lives that met under the arches, all working there, and have married.   Clearly love is in the french fries… I didn't get to knit nearly the amount I wanted. I did get to see Mary Ellen's whimsical garden creatures.  My friend Diane, from work who is a great knitter also, has an incredible garden with little fairies in and  around it.  Mary Ellen has a smattering of fun flags, butterflies, cats and dragonflies in her yard.  It doesn't look overdone at all. I'd like to do more of this in my yard too. When I don't have the needles in my hands for a certain part of the day and then the next... I develop this crazy ...

  I started the Garter Trap and decided I'd rather do it in stockinette.   I wasn't feeling the bumpy love.  For this simple pattern,  you need to Make one in any manner you choose on each 3rd row. I tried knit in front and back but it was an obvious ick…. So I googled Make One options and settled for Make One Away courtesy of Knittinghelp.com. The Make One Away is a simple loop twist onto the right needle.  It is not nearly as noticeable.  I learned another knit trick for blogging this week, courtesy of Zach.  Seems on Mac keyboards, if you hit shift, command and the number 4 you can take a picture of the screen.   You can then put it on your desktop.   One more little trick I'd like to pass on to you: I took my shawl to the cleaners in town yesterday and indeed she will block it.   Word on the streets was it would cost ten dollars.  Nope.  She said it would cost five.   Cra...

Miss Pie loves to climb into my knitting bag.   She is still quite petite.   She is just 5 pounds at one year of age.   She knows two tricks.  She can beg for a treat, or Sit Pretty as I say. She can jump through a hoop.  She exhausted herself on the porch last week when the weather was warm.  The squirrels that hang out in the tree just outside the screen captivated her.   Zach and I laughed as she tried to fight off sleep later in the day.  She is still a baby... Also in my knitting bag are my new yarns.  The icy green is Berocco Folio and the multi is Jawoll magic.   These are the makings of the Garter Trap Shawl.  I've been disappointed with Jawoll before as I knit up a hat with it. However, I've seen how it behaves in this pattern and it promises to be a different story. There is a movement to eradicate plastic shopping bags altogether in Chicago. They do seem to litter the streets and highway...

  Al picked the yarn for me , at Busy Hands, yarn shop in Ann Arbor.  Now a week later, I have a new pair of socks.  Karen kitchenered one socks' toe, I three needle bound off  the other toe.  s  Socks soar on biggy size 5 needles and biggy malabrigo yarn. (yarn details in the previous post)  5 hours of car knitting coming from Detroit to Chicago helped too.  I'll call them my Huckleberry socks.  

My local knit pals are knitting   sun hats to protect little ones from the sun in Haiti.  Aren't they cute?  Oh , I mean they are crocheting them.  The boys get a brim, the girls get a ruffle.  Last year my friend Kathy C made over fifty on her own to send with a pal to Haiti.   I hope to knit a few for the cause by June.   Such lovely colors, such a lovely cause.  I'm hoping for a Triple Crown winner this year.  I Love horses.  On Mother's day I asked Zach to go with me to the stables nearby just so I could pet the horses. Here's Mr Ed.  Nah, not really.  He just talks like Mr. Ed.  I am reading the Storm King book I mentioned before. I am wondering, Do people with horses let them out for storms or keep them in the barns?   Nancy?  Farm folk, anyone??  Which is worse, out in the field or taking a chance the barn will get struck by lightening with them stuck inside it? ...

When in Norfolk, I found this pattern called the Speck Butterfly Shrug.  Friend Kathy C. has knitted this type of sweater/wrap.  Her's have come out just lovely.   I thought it was up NEXT for me,  but I suddenly have many patterns I'm interested in all at once.   Al has finished the baby blanket in true Knit time.  (before the baby arrived)  I have an image she sent me of the white border around it, but I can't load it onto this page.  Sorry.  I know you!  You have wonderful imaginations…you know it is so pretty.  Pretty pretty pretty! My Mixed Berry socks (in Malabrigo Arroyo which is 100% washable merino wool), are moving right along.   Color: 120 Lotus if you want to know.   Then came a Tweet by Grace….. Grace's finish : Striped Trap by Asars (a free Pattern on Ravelry),   The ease of this pattern is calling me….calling me …..calling me.   I cannot use...

Pleased to meetcha Odie.  My nephew's family adopted Odie from Midwest Boston Rescue.  Odie came to visit us Saturday.   Approved! Mother's Day included chocolate covered strawberries, knitting, Blackhawks hockey and  photography.    This is the only way to eat fruit if you ask me.  I am already several chapters into this book.   What with the storms we are having,  Zach gave me the perfect book for Mom's day.      I'm back to the comfort of sock knitting. ( Pictures tomorrow. ) I'm all about comfort.  I indulged in the MY PILLOW product.  Under the guise of Fireman's birthday I ordered two.  (they only come in pairs)  So far so good.   When we were in Ann Arbor last week we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast.   It was in the heart of a very nice neighborhood.  There was a resident cat, Shula, who was nearly 20 hanging around our door.   The place was very quiet but...

A nurse at work brought this Salsa for Nurses week dinner. It is amazing. Pineapple Mango Salsa Cubed pineapple cubed Mango tons of cilantro Red or green peppers 2 jalapeño peppers salt to tast  Lemon juice lime juice  Eat it with your favorite corn chips.   I'm happy to report that Rozzy is having a great day. She wanted to go outside and eat grass so she could vomit later.  Whatever she wants…. Grateful for some good days! 

So the realization is: I can   Knit lace; I cannot knit it with lace weight.  We took a quick overnight trip to Ann Arbor / Detroit to meet Al for a Tiger's ballgame.   I was having troubles knitting a lace scarf, the photo above shows you its gorgeous color but that's as far as I got.  Yup, just a couple of inches and I bailed.  When I took out the spare skein of COSABI yarn and knit the same pattern I was hugely successful.  I was giddy with joy.  So it's all about yarn weight when it comes to lace for me.  Thanks Fireman for a nice knitting shot at Comerica Park.  What a beautiful ball park.  You get the sense it is the Fans' team and the park is for the Fans. I liked it almost as much as Miller Park in Milwaukee where the Brewer's play.     We celebrated Fireman's birthday, again…with Al.  We also did an early Mother's day.  Al and I went to a yarn shop named BUSY HANDS in A...

Just for snicks: 1*  You can only knit to one TV show, what is it? 2* You can only get one type of yarn for the rest of the year, what is it? 3* You can only knit one pattern for the rest of the year,  what is it? 4* You can pick one season for the rest of the year to knit in? What is it?  5* You can grow needles in your garden, what are you growing? Answer any or all.  Happy Hump Day

  Playing with Periwinkles   Pretty as a Paper Flower   Underneath Umbrella Flowers Lies:  The Hidden Beauty of Moths!   There is no such beauty!! That, my pals, was an abbreviated tour of the Chicago Botanic Gardens in bloom today.   I viewed the flowers mostly through my right eye. Squinting, yes, As Donna Boucher says: we northerners are blinded by the sun . Couple this with my allergies to pollen and trees causing my left eye to tear unstoppably during our entire walk. I still had fun.  Time for Allegra.  I need my eyes for lace knitting tonight.