didya miss me?

Ah - it's good to be back and sleeping in my nice soft bed instead of the cold hard lumpy ground. I may need to invest in a softer mattress for next year. My body can't take it anymore.

Except for the first day of thundershowers, the rest of our trip was pretty perfect. The nieces had a blast in the water. We had to keep a close eye on the youngest one because she has no fear and would float out into the middle of the lake if we let her.


The adults certainly had fun on (and in) the water. My sister is rescuing my BIL - the dumpee:


Hubby had his usual stick-straight-up-in-the-air hairdo:


Because he was doing a lot of this:


My water experience was a little more sedate:


We spent a lot of quality time with the nieces and we know who their favourite is (hint - it's not me):


Poor Uncle was constantly being harassed by them - "Can you take us to the potty?", "Can you show me where you shower?", "I want to go with Uncle!" (even if it's only across the road to get water).

That's ok - Uncle got his revenge:


The campsite was pretty buggy. I was armed with DEET & an ultra sonic emitter and I still got skeeter bites on my ass. And both of us came home with a little extra souvenir of our trip:


Yep, that's swimmer's itch. Please pass the calamine...

bike widow

The hubbies are off on another bike adventure this weekend - the annual Seattle to Portland (STP) bike ride. So I've got the house (and the whole bed) to myself!!!

I finally blocked my Annis shawl yesterday.


It is soooo pretty! I am definitely going to knit another one when I can convince myself to do another 300-something stitch cast on.

Phoebe's a little mad at me. Last week, she was denied breakfast because it was her turn to have her teeth cleaned. I dragged her to the vet and signed the appropriate paperwork and as I was handing her over, the vet popped her head out and asked if that was Phoebe. Turns out there was no tech so she couldn't do any dental procedures that day. I took Phoebe home and she gobbled up the food I put down and glared at me when she was done.

Ricky is back to his normal food. No more grinding up his soy kibble and wetting it with water. He's still looking a little patchy:


The shaved bits feel like velvet but he gets nippy when I try to touch his neck or leg. We had to take his collar off because it was bugging his shaved neck. This is kinda annoying because we can't tell where he is by listening for his bell - like when he's going to tackle Phoebe.

too hot to knit

We're experiencing a heat wave. At 9am this morning, the outdoor thermometer said it was 25C (80F). Yikes! It was really hot yesterday. Thank goodness we have a ceiling fan in the bedroom. I still slept on the family room couch downstairs. So my hands have been too sticky to do much knitting. I did complete a few projects before the heat wave hit.


Pattern: top down, short row heel, rolled cuff
Yarn: Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering; 2 skeins (50g; 185 yds each) in an Odd Duck colour (using leftover dyes)
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Notes: My second time using this yarn and I like the base. It was shedding little black bits all over while I was knitting. The dyer uses natural materials (plants, bugs, etc.) so I think it's just dye stuff that will hopefully come out in the first wash. I cast on 64 sts for the leg & decreased down to 60 sts for the foot. It's too loose in the leg. I should stick to 60 sts for the whole sock which is my usual number. These are my 49th pair of finished socks. Which pair will be 50? One of my many sock wips or will I cast on & finish something new? Hmmm....

I bought a cute dress to wear to my bday party and I thought it might be nice to have a little shawl in case it was cool (and it was). I did finish one before the party but did not have enough time to block it. And it's still sitting there unblocked because it's too hot to hunch over it and pin it out on the bed upstairs.


Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash; col Arlene
Needles: 7mm for casting on & 5mm for the body
Notes: Should've cast on more loosely. Don't think the edge is stretchy enough to block well. I used approx. 90g (or 324 yds) of yarn. I like WM for non-sock projects. I don't like it for socks because it doesn't have stretch & bounce. It really reminds me of cotton when I'm knitting with it.

I'm off to sit in front of a fan & maybe have a little nap to catch up on some beauty sleep.

the first (and not the last) anniversary of my 39th birthday

It's been a crazy week and a half. My family came into town and promptly wore out Uncle:


There were presents to unwrap:


I have enough Coach to open my own store. I spent the entire week trying to bribe my youngest niece into telling me what was in the boxes. I almost got her to spill the beans when I up'd the bribe to 5 Tic Tacs but I got caught by my sister.

I threw a big party and the nieces helped by making me a fancy poster:


There was a ton of people and even more food. My quilting friends all bought me polka dot fabric. I got two new Xbox games - 80s Lips & Lego Harry Potter. Hubby bought me tickets to see Harry Connick Jr. in Sept (woo woo - whatta hunk!). I was spoiled rotten.

I think this picture sums up the entire experience:


It's not too bad being 39 again.