knittinggenes.blogspot.com

photo take from WGN TV website (For non Cub fans these kids are former  announcer Harry Carey ) *Tricks!  Many tricks last night at the Cubs World Series game.  Did you see the catcher Ross catch and drop a foul pop up only to have Rizzo catch it before it hit the ground? ( Of course I did.  Thanks for all the good karma, bloggy pals. Last night was just so crazy for Cub fans......We are still in this!) *Are you planning to have a Halloween Candy today?   (No but I'm stopping at the apple orchard and I may buy a cookie for my TREAT or a carmel apple)  * Would you knit an accessory for your pumpkin.  No judgement I promise! (Um No. But these are adorable)   Did you carve a pumpkin? (You see I did!  I cleaned up the vomit like a good nurse and my pumpkin just smiled thereafter.  Fireman and I will enjoy the pumpkins more tonight.  I love a lit jackolantern even if we dont get a single country trick or treater!)...

Minnie and Maxie Tank in his best pose.  Yesterday was just chock full of life lessons.  The ying and the yang, the good and the bad. Oh, but first, lest you think I'm going around with a chainsaw in the woods for snicks, I need to set the record straight. We only take down dead trees or hazard trees.  I'm not starting my own wooden needle factory or anything cuckoo like that.... There are other cuckoo things I spend my time doing.  ahem Yesterday a very handsome Fezzik was dragged from his early morning slumber, taken in a car ride for 1 and a half hours that had to seem an eternity to him and asked to be both stunningly beautiful and  happy about it on a photo shoot.  I don't think Hollywood is in the cards.  Suffice to say I was thrilled when he was chosen by a major pet food company to be photographed.  I can't tell you anything more specific. We may or may not see his face on a product.  We h...

This is the Ravine Hat.  I think I love it.  I'm looking for a cloche pattern that I can knit.  Hats hats hats ... they are all I want to knit.  I wore a hat I knit last year in millamia today. Toss up between millamia and zara for hat yarn favorites.  So soft,( merino)....does not feel like wool.  Fireman and I  took down 3 more 40ft pine trees.  Seriously.  We finished.  We have taken 11 trees down since September.  Who knew I'd move to Wisconsin and get all flannel,  work glove and Hat crazy. ? I LOVE IT. I'm exhausted afterwards.  We heard some strange baying as we started this morning. I think it was a deer in rut.  Whatever it was it was cool!    Mr. Halloween has his very own perch at this new house. He  is so smart!   We have nuthatches, bluejays, cardinals, chickadees, hawks, crows and an occasional woodpecker.  Something large k...

  Al sent this photo of her Oklahoma Fog this morning.  Rather spooky! Are you ready for Halloween? Have you eaten any CANDY yet? I've been good but I will have a baby ruth bite at some point... Here's your awe photo for today. Puppy at the shelter yesterday.  Look at that brindle! I think we had 6 puppies from two different litters . Generally the puppies go to home fast.  Don't let his worried eyes worry you.  Okay,   Looking at Hat patterns again yesterday, I realized: *I love Wooly Wormhead patterns. *If the pattern says short rows...I'm out *If the hat includes a seam...I'm usually not interested with the exception of the THAT EASY GANSEY HAT pattern *If Kitchener is involved. ...blech (see above) *If I can use Zara then it is a yes! *Zach is my hat guy.  By far and away he has worn the hats I've knitted him over and over again.   *I'd like to see more patterns with  sock yar...

I happen to LOVE this pattern. It is free.  It is fun to knit I have a new baby gift  in pink, and a big sister in purple so far. I'm working on a denim blue one....for ME! Gotta love zara yarn. Tried a date bread from scratch yesterday. Fireman is loving it.  Very moist.  If anyone wants the recipe just search for one with coffee in it.  Off to the shelter to assist the Vet.  More later.  Oh my CUbs......last night was difficult

Chicago Botanic Gardens had a pumpkin event last week. A friend sent me this photo from the event.  ****** I'm here to tell you I'm almost finished with my second Seventh hat.  Love the pattern, the Zara yarn and the negative ease. I really didn't understand the negative ease idea until this hat.  I'd explain it as a way to get a perfect fit on a warm hat that won't fall off. Negative ease is only a knit term,  or so I've read. You can't obtain negative ease with fabric and sewing. It is a way of assuring things will be hugging your body. Be it a sweater that shows your curves, or a hat that really really works.   So if the hat is knitted with a stretchy yarn, like Zara, it is created with fewer stitches in the pattern than you would normally cast on.  This is how the negative ease is achieved.  In other words, it won't work with cotton or a yarn that does not have any spring in it.  Don't even try it frien...

Good Morning!   1 ?What is your favorite fabric to wear? (mine: cotton, flannel is a favorite)  2 Who woke you up this morning? (Miss Pie.  She got through the gate . It has taken her 8 weeks to figure this out.  She jumped triumphantly on the bed and began meowing and rollling and celebrating)  3 Last time you had to turn off the announcers and turn on the radio for a sports event? (I know many of you don't do the sports thing.  Joe Buck drives me crazy if you know baseball.  I turn him off and listen to Chicago Cubs radio announcers. Plus the feed is ahead, so Im not as nervous)  4 Last fast food item you ate? (Starbucks frappacino light)  5 Last item you had knit regrets about? (I have never worn my Skydive Stole.  It is so pretty, but, it itches me.  What should I do with it? ) 6 Last time  a family member said to you, "When are  you going to finish that thing?" (r...

Thank you everyone for the texts, the emails and the fun support.  WE ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES. #waitedmywholelifeforthis

*Someday I'll knit this.  I love the top down construction. It uses Rasta in bulky though. This pattern is on Ravelry: The Road to Gimmerton by Melissa Schaschwary *Someday We will have all the dead trees down, but for now we go at it one tree at a time. Yesterday was a 7 hour day of chainsaws and cutting and a fire to burn the branches.  It was our 7th day since September of full day woods/tree work.  I like doing it.  However, it is pure hard labor.  And it makes me HUNGRY *Someday I will get to a bee meeting around here. For now, I'm too busy on the Shelter Board and Im gearing up for our big GALA.    *Someday the CUBS are going to go to the World Series and win it ALL. Beyond excited......

First up knitting because....it is going great.  I'm in the groove knit pals.   I'm working on hats.   I need a baby hat and a big sister hat to match.  Negative ease is my new best friend. It means the hat is designed to stay on your head. Amazing, right?  Nothing worse than a hat that is a fit failure. LOVE this pattern.  Pekapeka Seventh and wait for it... it is free on Ravelry!  Using Zara yarn which has some bounce to it.  That's the CUBBIES in the backround of the photo. I'm beyond excited.  Katherine and I are holding our collective breaths even though we are a thousand miles apart. This is our Year!  Some pitches are sheer torture for me.  The games have been long and with the west coast starts, very late.  Bring on Saturday's game! Finally, this is one of the decorations the former owners left in the crawl space.   There was more.  Some were beyond broken....

I promise I will have knit content tomorrow! I have a new plan a new pattern and some tried and true yarn. We were back by the old house yesterday for many appointments.  One street always decorates really well for Halloween.  See?   Went to my old LYS Three Bags Full and enjoyed seeing everyone and getting a little headstart on Al's Christmas yarn gifts. Between appointments,    I was emailing back and forth with the Tree Authority Don Wells.  He has located many Trail Trees, as we call the Native American Marker trees.  Thank you for the suggestion.  He's uncertain at this point about the tree. The only way to know for certain he says is to have it dowsed. Yup, that means the person with the fork like stick will see if there is water or a stream under the tree.  Rather halloweenish.... A nursery told us it is a cherry tree most likely.  Anyone know a dowser?  Fireman and I now know a few more dis...

Can anyone tell me what kind of tree this is?  I'd love to know.  It is so oddly shaped Thanks all for the suggestions. It does not seem to bear fruit or nuts.  I have sent photos to the Mountain Stewards email as one of you suggested!  Will keep you all posted.  I suppose it is possible this is a Native American Marker tree....but that would be tooooooo cool.  We are near those sacred Mounds.  I promise to keep you all posted.  THANKS!

Answers to Monday's Questions are now in italics on that post.  Thanks for playing, and no more mouse killings to report.  but they are never alone.... Moon, weather, glorious here.  Fireman and I went golfing yesterday.  I Haven't played in years.  I love the beauty of the golf course especially when colors are  peak on the Ridge.  I love to see Fireman golf because he thinks each shot and he gets the whole game.  When he talks to me to help me,  I don't understand 98% of what he is saying.  It is a secret language and I don't even know the handshake.  So I'm here to say, unabashadly, that I quit.  I've been trying on and off for our whole relationship. I swing at that little ball and often nothing happens.  I get tense the moment I'm at address.  (I learned that code word long ago, it means address the ball....or surrender to it in my case...) I can love the game and...

*  Some superfun friends visited Saturday.  I made them sit on a limb for this photo. 3 of them were terrified.   Q: Guess which one is the flight attendant...(Left to right: Dayna, Matt, Nick and James) The answer is JAMES!  and I want to fly with him someday *  The fall is really here.  I needed to change up my knitting this weekend. I was all unsettled and wonky until I found some flame orange in my stash... Q: Guess what I'm knitting.... the answer is a shawl in complete garter stitch.... I know...what?  In orange flame yarn from the Smoky Mountain trip * Someone killed a mouse that dared come in the house this weekend.  When I saw the scene of the murder I shrieked and had Fireman come take the body away.  Mice unnerve me. Perhaps thats why I have four cats :)  Q: Which one of my cats got the mouse? Fezzik's first kill!  The big cat It always amazes me that cats just know how to get mice.  Tale as old a...

  Thought the camper for sale sign was amusing. I love when my fellow bloggers tell their camping adventures.  So, I was going to respond to every comment this week with another comment back and that just didnt' work.  So sorry.  Some of you are set up in blogland where you can follow a comment with a comment.   I can't do that for some reason that may be entirely related to my lack of computer knowledge.  I'm at a standstill in my computer skills.  Well, that's not completely true.  Thanks to you I have started using Duckduckgo as my search engine  this week, as opposed to Google.   Perhaps I'll take a free class to keep learning on this amazing machine.   So sorry, I truly love your comments.  But I have to cluster my responses in a later comment at this point.  Most of you who comment have your own blogs that I go over to and respond anyhew.  (GO CUBS just sayin! and by the way all ...

  So here's my plan: Finish the cute green granny slippers in adult size. Knit some fingerless on 1's.  My arms are  bit achy from the size 10s after nearly two pair of slippers.  I LOVE these slippers though, and will trade off knitting more of them and knitting fingerless.  2 pair does not a pile make.  Yesterday was cold and beautiful here.  Fireman and I went to see the burial sites at the Effigy Mounds Preserve nearby in Whitewater.  I bit ashamed to say that Wickepedia is my go to ... These Mounds are much much older than I thought.  It was difficult to see the shapes of the mounds from standing level.   I did feel like I was walking very Sacred Steps from long ago, that we dont' find much of in the USA.   I tried to be mindful of the Spirits and people who came long before me and long before Colombus that's for sure.  The oddities were that these Mounds are basically in a subdivision w...

  Boo!  I purged most of my old Halloween stuff before we moved. Okay, most of it was picked from others' garbage piles over the years.  (ie: the plastic stacked pumpkins that lit up with a one foot cord that was very hard to place without an ugly extension cord)  This week I shopped at my new favorite shop: The Queen Bee Artisan Market.  Had to get the Bottle of Boos ! I spent last night purging photos that I should have deleted the day I downloaded them.  If I don't do that,  it totally gets away from me.  I think I deleted over 400 bad blurry not quite right photos.  The photo above has no yellow leaves in it. The yellow is sunlight coming from behind the bench.    I didn't plan it that way.  Moving meant we donated a lot of books and cleaned the book shelves... This week ,  I attempted to read an adult book about heading west in the USA.  No way.  Too sad.   So I found Al's jun...

Al calls this her shawl that only a mother could love.  I think it will look lovely on her.  I'm not a fan of asymmetry.  I think she actually liked the knitting part of  it . Isnt it interesting that you can like it while you knit it and then not like it after ?  She's ready for a new knit up.  Can i just say the Cubs are K I L L I N G me? I expect us to win it all at once. Sigh I love Buster Posey.  I can't love him this week though. (for the non baseball knitters: Buster is on the other team the Cubs are trying to beat)  gocubsgo..... UPDATE!! I WENT TO BED I COULDN"T TAKE IT.... IT was too much to have that awful feeling yet again.. AND THEY CAME B ACK AND WON!!! GO CUBBIES!!!!! Happy NEW DAY

  The Colors in lower Wisconsin are just beginning their dance.  Judy is potato chip knitting cowls and I jumped on the wagon and am making Grandmas Boot Slippers.  It is an ingenious simple pattern. Last year I knitted those sleek fancy slippers Coco Knit knotted slippers.  While they are adorable, they don't keep my toes warm and they kind of fall off.   Grandma must have been a smart lady.  This first pair pulls on like a dream and they stay on.  Free Ravelry pattern.  I'm not doubling the yarn as instructed, I'm using  a bulky weight Berroco Vintage Chunky.  I'm very practical.  Can't stand waste. Oh, and I played Yarn chicken last night and won with this gray yarn.  I won by a strand folks!  A strand mind you. Les than a two foot strand was left.  I'm feeling kind of smug today... Let me ?  OK?  

  * Name a book or movie that your mom Loved: My mom loved the movie: Guess Whose Coming to Dinner.  I love it too. *Who was the last nice stranger you met? Met a lovely woman last week while we both waited in our pink gowns for our mammograms.  Can't put my finger on it, but she was an angel.  A delight.  Felt like I knew her for years.  She started it. I swear.  I know my kids and Fireman laugh that I talk to anyone, but she did start it.  I'm glad she did.  We were talking about weight because she was reading PEOPLE magazine.  She had great perspective and compassion for weight issues.   *How many inches did you knit up this weekend? I knit up at least six inches, then I ripped back at least 2 inches twice and restarted twice.  Worsted friends, I'm not that fast :) In short I'm in the red ! * What shape are your knit/crochet hands, in ? These are our tools!   Mine are all mes...