And I'm back

I'm back with a brand new computer - thanks to my wonderful son and equally wonderful parents. It is sooo nice and easy to load and edit pictures on this computer. Everything goes so much smoother, so much easier, so nicely....

Some exciting things have been happening. I consigned several knitting items to my friend's store - Green Soul in Manitou Springs - and sold most of them before Christmas. That was awesome! And in a few weeks I'll be teaching two beginning knitting classes. One is through a PTA enrichment program at a local elementary school. The other is through District 11's adult education program - http://www.d11.org/communityed/Pages/default.aspx and I am so excited! I hope I get enough students for me to actually get to teach! Getting paid to teach knitting - that is the best!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays as much as we did. More to come!

Colorful Carbondale

We went to Carbondale, Colorado a few weekends ago. It was absolutely beautiful, both the landscape and the weather. We had such a relaxing time. L caught 5 fish and he was so thrilled, he caught more than Grandpa. And K and I went to the park a couple of times and enjoyed seeing the geese and playing. And knitting, I did lots of knitting. Below is the Roaring Fork River, which was just full of wonderful color.


I came back and got busy - doing laundry! And a few more things. I made my first home made salsa, with my own tomatoes. And I canned it! It is very good, although not very spicy. Next time I would add spicier peppers, less green pepper and more spice. But it is tasty. And I actually, really, really canned it. And I told the Husband, we'll be eating alot of more salsa than we normally eat. And it will be all mine! Yummy!

Fair Time!

Last year I entered some knitting and spinning in the El Paso County Fair. It is only $5 to enter up to 10 things, so I figured why not? And last year I won a few ribbons, second and third place. This year though - tada - I won first place in spinning with this entry of handspun merino, a soft and beautiful thick/thin yarn - FIRST PLACE - whoo hoo! That comes with prize money - FOUR WHOLE DOLLARS! More importantly, bragging rights of being the best spinner in El Paso County. And while I do know more talented, experienced and just plain better spinners, they didn't enter, so that makes me the best spinner for the whole next year.


And I won second place in the Miscellaneous category for my knitted wristers. I handspun the alpaca and knit these up and they are so pretty and soft and fuzzy. I really like them, they will soon be up for sale in my Etsy shop. Even though I like them a lot, I do have some all ready.

And lastly, a dishcloth. Yes, I did enter a dishcloth in household. Why not? I saw a winning dishcloth last year and thought, hey, who would have thought it? And look at that, 3rd place (and 2 whole dollars) for that dishcloth which I entered as almost an afterthought. The judge did say my edges were a little tight, and I agree, but I didn't do perfect, since I was going to wipe counters with it. It isn't even a "design" dishcloth, just a regular old dishcloth.

Not only did I win in my knitting and spinning. But L won second place in the junior cookie category with his Snickerdoodles - sorry, no pics of the yummy Snickerdoodles as they were consumed over a month ago - giggle. And the Husband won second place for his Irish shortbread cookies (known in most families as Scottish shortbread, but the Husband is a proud Irish guy).

So, overall I have to say we did pretty well at the fair and had a wonderful time. And again I encourage folks to enter their local fair with whatever their talent may be. It is such a kick! And as time goes on, less and less people enter and participate in fairs and so forth, and we really need to preserve this type of entertainment for our children and their children. The fair is such great fun.

Harvest Time at the Home

Harvest Time! Also known as How I Got My Kids to Love Different Veggies!


We did a garden this year, and for once it has really turned out well. This day we got 2 squash, some green beans and a cherry pepper. Our tomato plants started very slowly, now they finally have beautiful, large tomatoes but we are waiting for them to turn red. K loves the fresh green beans, squash and peppers. Although, I have to say, K is all ready my healthiest eating, easiest to feed, loves fruit and veggies child, but she loves these things from the garden even more.

The green peppers are doing the best. One plant has given us 7 green peppers. Wonderful, they are so good when they are fresh from the garden.
L is very proud of our pumpkin. Yes, it is a pumpkin. Yes, really, it is starting to turn orange. I don't know if it will be our Halloween pumpkin, it may be done too early. But hey, we grew a pumpkin.

And one recent night we made a dinner where 50% of it was grown in our own garden. Squash, green pepper, red pepper, sweet basil and green beans sauteed with some soy sauce and on rice, only the rice, garlic and soy sauce weren't mine. And I have discovered lots of ways to prepare squash, since we got 5 squash in about 5 days - lol! Yep, I am pretty proud of our garden. And so is L. And most important, even L is eating his veggies!

For the First Time In a Long Time

For the first time in a very long time, I am alone in my house. No kids. I have not been here by myself since K was born over 4 years ago. The children are at vacation bible school this week, and quite honestly, it is very nice and extremely quiet - although the washing machine and several fans are whirrling away. Here is what I've been up to:

Above is a pair of handspun Alpaca fingerless gloves, very soft and pretty.

Below is some spun beautiful merino

And a beautiful 3ply merino in some gorgeous colors.

And another beautiful 3 ply, this one is targhee, I love these colors too.

And that is what I've been up to fiberwise....

Graduation

My oldest son, C, graduated from college this past week. And we are so proud of him. I could go on and on about how wonderful we think he is, but I won't. Ok, maybe just a little. It is such an amazing time when you realize he is out there in his own apartment, own job, own life, even moreso than when he was in college. He has been pretty independent for awhile, but now it is all official. Time really does fly .... just yesterday he was a little person on the swingset and now he is a great big person with all sorts of responsibilities and it is a little sad that we can't just shrink our children back to being children just for a moment or a day.

When C was little we lived downtown next to a park. We went and played their every single day, even cold days. And I would like just one more of those days with him. I am so lucky to still have little people to play with, but ..... you never have enough time (which is why my house is the way it is, so I can play). As a parent, you must take advantage of every moment you have with your child. Soon they won't hold your hand to cross the street, or want you to go on the slide with them, they will go off to play with others, won't ask you what to wear that day, won't want you to make breakfast cause they are having Mountain Dew for breakfast, so do it all while you can. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

And congratulations to C and to all of those people who accomplished something amazing and wonderful this year.

Knit to Quit

I have quit smoking. Again. A horrible habit that I started so many years ago...... and now I am breaking that habit. I have quit many times, but this time I feel different. I don't feel like I am missing something. So I think this is THE TIME. And maybe if I get brave enough to write it, I'll keep the quit going. At first, I didn't want to tell anyone, cause I might fail again, but now it has been a month and I am feeling pretty confident. And I am doing it by myself. The Husband is still smoking. I think that is the hardest part, that I could go get a cigarette from him anytime but don't - actually I have to avoid him at times.

I am knitting to quit. It is working. Well, that and nicorette gum, medication and cleaning house. Really, I have been cleaning out the basement. And the kid's closets. The kitchen cabinets. Drawers. Not deep cleaning, just getting rid of stuff. Let's face it, my house will never be that clean. Even if I hired a housekeeper once a week, I still wouldn't eat off my floor - lol! But I am slowly becoming less cluttered.

And to reward myself, I started the TKGA's (Knitting Guild of America) Master Knitter program. That is right, I am keeping with my yarn diet and not buying yarn with my extra cig money. Instead I signed up for this program and am excited to do it. Basically they give you instructions and questions, and you send in your knit samples and answers and they either pass you or give you suggestions and you resubmit. And you can take as long as you like.

So that is what is up with me.