Wow, It's been a long time since I last posted...

Here it is almost the end of my summer already. We've finished a lot of what we needed to do in the kitchen at Innisfree. The dry-wall is finished and painted and the floor is almost completely finished. Only one or two more coats of polyurethane to go. Here's our progress.


We found a pretty great mountain-man builder/plumber/finisher/manager/hunter/farmer/you get it, he does everything. Looks like a number of projects we can't finish will be done this fall. Yippee!!!
I finished 3 pairs of socks, two on the needles (two more started before June 21 so they don't count for Summer of Socks '08.) Then my friend Leigh Ann came up and got me started on string bags... Two down, one started.
I spent my birthday visiting my aunts in Malone and Plattsburgh with my family and cousins. It was a pretty nice day.

Went to Knitting night

My daughter and I just got back from knitting night. I've never seen so many people in there at once. Sharon pulled out every chair in the place. My daughter grabbed a seat on the floor and read for a while. We didn't stay an entire hour. I guess I could have had my daughter take a chair near me when one woman left. We went to grab a water and came home instead. It's warm out tonight.
The kids are playing Halo 3. They've got the lights out so I can't really knit. I could go upstairs, but I always fall asleep if I try to knit in bed. I guess tonight just isn't much of a knit night.
We started a knitting club at school yesterday. We had four girls come. I had a few of my previous students who said they wanted to come and a couple who have cheer leading practice at the same time. I bet more start coming once the word gets out. One of my sixth grade boys asked for a form to join the class today.
With grading and testing all week I almost forgot I have a photography class tomorrow. That should be fun.

OM Scarf finished

I have it pinned to the blocking board now. It wanted to be a long skinny scarf when I washed it. I don't think so. I decided against the fringe and just added a little more garter stitch to the bottom. I like it. It felt a little itchy before I washed it. Hope it feels better when it's dry. I'd like to try another one in the reverse colors. I need to see how the illusion comes out with the variegated as the background instead of the pattern.

Speaking of illlusions, I never finished my skull and crossbones scarf. Halloween is gaining on us...and isn't Talk Like a Pirate day coming up?

Ahhh...... the weekend.

These are in my backyard. It is really nice out there. There are clouds of butterflies and bumblebees flying around. Of course, they wouldn't come pose for me and all the pictures I took are pretty blurry. There would be 5 or more flying around together and I couldn't get a single shot of them.


It's been intense at work/school this week. Kids are feeling the pressure of having homework again and not liking it. I don't like it much either.

My goal for the weekend is to finish my OM scarf. I need to get help making an invisible seam joining the two sides together and then make some fringe.

Then I want to start a new project. The drop stitch tank from Fitted Knits. I have some soybean yarn I was going to make it from, but it's really a summer color and I'm not sure if soybean has a memory or stretches out and stays. I understand there is a lot of stretch in the drop stitch tank so it needs a yarn with some memory. I have a couple of cotton blends I was thinking of too, but have decided against. I do want something that won't felt.

Oh, and I'm still searching for my little camera's dock. I'll have to use the big one. It's really a much better camera, so I really shouldn't complain.

Still searching for my camera dock

I've been really bad at keeping my blog up. Teaching is really consuming. When I am not teaching, I am trying to organize my house. I haven't got my yarn in a reachable place yet. I did go to Yarn Deli last night and knit a while. I worked a little on my OM illusion scarf. I really should finish it. I designed it in January and started it then. When my yarn choices interfered with the first side illusion showing up very well, I put it aside. It's still a pretty scarf. I am hoping the OM will show on the other side.
Here are pictures of the second half of the scarf. I guess it's still difficult to see. I didn't really want it to be too overt, but I think I'd like it show a little more.

Memorial Day

Only 7 days left of school before summer vacation. Quiet day. We were invited to a barbeque. My son and husband should have gone. They were going to jam with some of the guys there. There really isn't anything for me to do there. I didn't really feel like going anywhere. I just don't care about much of anything these days. It would be nice if we'd prepared the back yard to have a little fun. Oh well, there's always next year...or not.
I hope it feels like summer soon. I need to start getting ready for vacation. I am just not motivated...
Did a little knitting today. It's Noro Iro with an extra strand to make the color stripes. It was a little thick to knit comfortably. Can't figure out how to attach the handles with the pattern directions. They are somehow crocheted around and attached to the live stitches.
Weekend cooking

Happy Easter!

It was a very quiet Easter. Paul barbequed the ham and some beef ribs and I made the rest of the food inside. My youngest daughter made cookies and dyed eggs. (I'm saving the dye in case I can finish a pair of socks tonight to dye in it. I thought it would be fun to dip dye some springtime color socks.) My younger son helped our friends move. He got home about 5 minutes before the food was ready. Great timing. My older daughter and son celebrated elsewhere. My oldest son is in New York still. He's saving his leave to get out of the army early. My oldesr daughter had plans with her boyfriend's family. Hopefully next year we'll be spending our holidays together.

These are the washclothes I've been making my sister-in-law. I adapted the dragonfly pattern with each cloth. The pink one was the last and I am happiest with the shape of the head. The original one seemed to have antennae.
This is a wrap I've been working on. I have used more than half of one of the yarns and can't find any more of it so it will be slightly less than twice this length. I think it will be acceptable. I wish I'd cast it on a little narrower so it would be longer. The mohair is too clingy to consider frogging it to start again. Perhaps blocking it will help. I really love the stitch pattern and color though. I can't wait to wear it.

Pizza Friday

Had a lovely afternoon. Went for lunch with hubby and kids. Hung out at Yarn Deli while Sharon helped me pick up the stitches on my cable fingerless gloves. I made holes while I added stitches and then pulled out those rows. I couldn't get them back on the needles right then, Thank goodness for Sharon. My friend Leigh Ann and I picked out yarn and started Toasty Toes socks too. Claire provided us with a wonderful homemade pizza for dinner. We never had it so good! Nice day.

Slow Day

I started the day really slowly today. Slept in. Did dream interpretation. Talked on the phone for hours. Straightened my room. Took a bath. Sorted papers. I wanted to go to an art show and never really got moving. Still have to find some papers to be in the mail this weekend...taking a break now from "my busy day."

I've been doing some illusion knitting designing lately. This one is my "The space between the OMs" scarf. The top picture is how it looks straight on, while the bottom is from an angle. It's only partly done. It is going alright. I may have to compress the rows a little to get a better image in the illusion. I have continued on from this stage. Unfortunately the Noro yarn I am using gets to be a color too close to the background color. Otherwise I may have been happy with this design. It's kind of hard to see the middle of it. I did want it to be somewhat etherial so maybe it is just fine. I'll finish this OM before I decide for sure.