I didn't believe it would happen...but...

...Sapporo is FINISHED! (Yes, I'm shouting!)Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Here are some photos...This next one was taken outside of the coffee room which is now part of Lakeside Fibers. Have I taken you there since they added their big room in the back? Nice place to knit, do homework, have a steamer and cherry/almond cookie, and visit with friends....AND, they open really early, so I can go there right after I drop off my five year old at preschool... Photo taken by Caryn, who is in my chemistry class, and who is also a "cool" (okay, I'm dating myself) knitter! Yes, the finishing is finished. It is just the thing to wear tonight, when we go to a Lutefisk dinner. Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Oops!

I am sorry for the mix-up, but I mentioned in my last post that the Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill open house is tomorrow, and that is INCORRECT! It is next weekend! Details can be found here. (You may have to scroll down the page just a bit.....)

Laura

Catching up

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

All of my morning activities (Moms' Club, then meeting my dh for lunch) were canceled for today, so I have an unexpected entire morning in which my five year old and I may putter around the house catching up on things.

I cannot keep track of all of the babies going on by you! Somebody needs to check the water... Very Exciting!!!

The last time I posted was before Halloween, so here is a recap of that:Yes, that is a dinosaur, and a knight, and a pumpkin which dh carved like a cat, which is actually much less complicated than the original request/drawing we were given for that pumpkin... I suppose it is good that our children think we can handle such complicated things, though I hope they're not too disappointed as they realize more and more every day that parents are so very human.....
My five year old and I go grocery shopping every Tuesday, and when we got our groceries home this past Tuesday, he asked me, "What can I do for you, Mom?" It's a question he's been asking me a lot lately, and I'm not sure why (it might have something to do with things he may be learning in Sunday School??), but it's very endearing. And so, I asked him to put the toilet paper away in the cabinet under the sink in the master bathroom. I now share with you that I have a phobia about running out of toilet paper, so I always have a toilet paper stash... And so, my son commented that there was already one full pack plus one roll already in there. And, here is what I found later in the day, after he'd put the new pack away, too:Now I chuckle every time I open up that cabinet...

I had my midterm exam in chemistry yesterday, and my mistakes on the test revealed themselves to me in my head as I was driving home from the test, so I decided it best to not think about it too much more until I get the whole thing back this afternoon to assess if there was any real damage. It's amazing how much knitting I was able to accomplish prior to the test, when I was supposed to be studying for it...

So, in the category of "How close can a sweater be to finished without being actually finished," I give you Sapporo, with the zipper completely sewn in, half of the neckband sewn down, and only one sleeve hem to sew down in order to call this a wrap:Apparently, even a looming test is not enough to motivate me to actually finish the "finishing" work, even though it will probably only take me an hour more...

...and so, I also share the alpaca vee with you, miles and miles of stockinette. One hank of yarn made a "tube" for the body which was 48 inches around and 15 inches long, so I'm confident I'll have plenty of yarn to finish this. (I started with two pounds; it will probably take me about 1.5 pounds to make this sweater.) The first sleeve and body are now "attached" to each other; the second sleeve has about five more rounds to go before it can then can be "attached" to the rest of the assembly, too, and then the pattern will actually involve **decreases** and **vee neck shaping**. Yes, I'll have to think just a little bit on this one, though I have to say, I do enjoy the not thinking part very much, because it makes for great portable knitting, and I don't get messed up when I'm having a conversation with somebody at Knit Night at the Sow's Ear (I'll take you there the next time you're in town).

Speaking of Knit Night at the Sow's Ear, though they have much more temptation after the expansion of their yarn area, I managed to leave with only a magazine......which I really like, because, you know, I like the more traditional patterns, and there are 22 "timeless styles" to choose from in here.

One more note -- Open house at Blackberry Ridge Wool Mill this Saturday, just sayin'....

Well, time to catch up on some other things now... I hope you are having a great day!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Blue Tea and Seven things....

Greetings & Dear Laura:

Ok, I'm going to catch up a couple of tags from RPW. First is the Blue Tea meme. It was started by a lady who has a blog called Blue Tea. (Thus the name!) According to the original poster, the rules for this meme are: “Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It’s more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you’d also like to take. Tag five.”


1. HTML - This class sounds like something I'd like to know, since I had to have Lauren explain to me that I wasn't trying to figure out "bracket language" for my blog but HTML! This will be the class I take with Lora, who tagged me.
2. Cutting - You know, I watch lots of shows on the Food Network, and they all just whoosh away and have beautifully chopped food and NOT chopped fingers....I'd like to learn how to do that! Chop, mince, julienne, slice, dice....all of it.
3. Drawing - I'd love to be able to draw and I'm really bad at it. I don't know if a class would help, but it would be worth a shot.
4. Film making - my digital camera takes 15-minute video clips. I took some video of a project my dad and brothers worked on and then used my mac to put it together with music and stills to do a short movie - that was so fun and I'd love to do more and know what I was doing!
5. Photography - I did take a class years ago, but I'd like to go beyond that. I see such beautiful photography on blogs and wish mine was as nice.

Hmm, I notice that all of my classes are for skills that I would like to have, nothing about THINKING type courses. Also a big emphasis on creativity. I don't think my list would have looked anything like this even 5 years ago, so I'm bemused by the change. And while I'm sure I could benefit from courses in things like housekeeping and personal finance....it just doesn't appeal to me. Now if one of those organizational tv shows wants to come and toss out my stuff and organize what's left, I'm up for that, as long as I don't have to do all the work! Oh - and I didn't list any knitting classes because it's a given that I'll sign up for most any knitting class, even if I think I know how to do it! (Looking back at the instructions, I see I was supposed to choose classes to "fix my life" while I chose classes I'd like to take. Someone can analyze that slip for me....) ;)

Also a while back I was tagged for this...7 Things About Me.

1. I can drive a stick-shift. My dad wouldn't let me drive an automatic transmission until I could shift to his satisfaction. In fact, my primary car was a stick shift for almost 20 years. I can also drive and shift a semi truck or farm tractor. Shifting bicycles or motorcycles baffles me.
2. Also thanks to my father, I can diagram and explain the difference between a gasoline engine and a diesel engine.
3. 20 years ago (when I had turned 28 for the FIRST time) I took a trip to visit a friend in Finland and a friend in Austria. I've always felt that the boldest thing I've ever done was climbing on a train in Stockholm with a plan to meet Ingrid in Innsbruck, Austria on New Years Eve at around 8:00 pm. And I didn't speak a word of Swedish or German. (Well, I knew church words in German. However, the need to mention the Trinity never actually came up....) Heady stuff for a farm-girl from Indiana.
4. I don't like peanuts or peanut butter, but I do like Reeces Peanutbutter Cups. (It's not as strange as my brother, who likes peanuts, but not peanut butter!)
5. I plan to go parasailing on my 50th birthday.
6. I sang in at least one choir from the time I was in 3rd grade until about 5 years ago (a span of about 35 years.) I loved it and couldn't imagine ever not doing it. Until I found that I just didn't want to anymore. Now I can't imagine wanting to again. It's weird.
7. According to my grandmother, she and Loretta Lynn's grandmother were cousins and used to play together as children. And my dad has a coal mine, so I'm a coal miner's daughter too.

There. If you haven't done these yet, consider yourself tagged!!!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)