Being missed

My G man is back and I don't know who is happier. Gus boarded with the vet while we were away visiting family. Now usually when we return from a trip he goes trough a couple of phases. Phase 1 is happy fun time, he loves us and missed us. Phase 2 is punishment, how dare we leave him! Phase 3 is a gradual change between Phase 2 anger and normalcy.

This time Phase 1 is lasting much longer. He is rubbing on legs and purring up a storm. Last night however it was too much. He kept waking us up by yowling and bringing us yarn. What can I say I really, really missed you guys!


Oddly enough Jack was the chatterbox the night before since he was home alone with us and kept asking us if we forgot someone and where is Gus? Poor lonely Jack. Jack was delighted to get treats from Auntie B while we were away, but still where was Gus? It was the first time Jack was separated for more than a couple of hours.

Gus looks great for having spent a considerable amount of time away from home for the first time. I have no doubt that the Vet's office did all they could for him but really don't we all just want to be home in our own beds? No wait, he had his own bed I took it in with him, and his favorite ball of yarn, toy mouse named yellow, and the fuzzy blanket that Grandma made for me but Gus claims. So really it was more of a spa treatment for him.


Spa treatment? Are you kidding me woman? Spa treatment my fuzzy grey butt! 


Phase 2 begins shortly! Nope I still missed them too much maybe tomorrow I will launch Phase 2.

South Dakota Sky

Sometimes I wonder why I still call South Dakota "home." It has been over ten years since I've lived there. Maybe it is because our families still live there. Or maybe it simply is because it feels like home.

It is hard not to love some place that can create skies like these.

These were all taken during the same time frame, the first two facing North and the last one facing South. Nothing I've ever seen can compare to a prairie sunset. When I was a kid I tried to draw a sunset. There were never enough crayons in the box to faithfully represent the sky. It does make me wonder how big God's crayon box is.

A bit more library love

If you've been here before you know of my love of the library system. Books that I can have for free? Yes please sign me up.

Part of the reason I love it so much is pictured below. I can look through many, many knitting books without having to buy them. While I love buying knitting books I do not need to own them all. 

I think we have a knitter on the purchasing committee because we have a lot of very nice new knitting books to peruse. A few I have fallen in love with and had to get my own copy to keep.

I've not had much time with these but I have managed to look through some of the patterns which are quite lovely. I do love the look of cables.

A Cat and His Man

I thought it was high time that we had a picture of A Cat and His Man. 

I love how tough Gus looks here. I'm taking my insulin but none of your crap, woman!


I can report that I had the yarn delivered to my side of the bed the other night but I did not get up to feed him quick enough and the yarn was removed. Love is fickle when food is involved.

Mockery sock

Wow look at my burned out lawn again! It sure does show off my green socks nicely though. 

These socks make me thankful for Ravelry yet again. I usually knit my socks with more stitches than anyone I've ever met. This means I am constantly adjusting patterns, which while not hard sometimes requires note taking. I now do most of my note taking on Ravelry. I tried to do the heel on these while I was away from the computer and quickly realized that I had done something unique with the first sock that I no longer remembered. Da da da

Luckily I had a different sock in the purse to work on, just one of the benefits of buying a bigger purse, more knitting. 

Lucky for me too this time I actually entered the adjustment notes that I had meant to take. I can now tell you that my instep stitches should equal 38 and I had to decrease two stitches to reach my perfect heel number. 

Well now I'm not so sure about my note taking I did not need to decrease for the heel. Ah such is life, I think the sock will survive.

Crocus sock

My knitting has picked up a bit even in this hot weather. As usual I am knitting on a few pairs of socks. I'll show you one of them. This yarn was the last installment of my Sweet Georgia club. 

I am quickly falling in love with Sweet Georgia's yarn. I love the way it pools without making a mockery of the colors. It just seems to flow and blend.

I think the heat is finally beating us all down. Seems like most of the country is being toasted. Our poor front lawn is brown as you can see. Well the patches not shaded by the trees are all brown. On the up side Hubby is happy he does not need to mow every three days.

Being a farmer's daughter though I know how devastating this weather can be. If grass does not grow without water crops can not grow without water. And we all know that animals need to eat all the time. If there is no grass to eat they must eat hay which makes the winter supply go down too.

Seems like tough times are ahead for may people. Pray for some rain!

Moving in

Maggie (the new washer) arrived today! I set her off to a quick pace, we're working on our third load now. Who knew cleaning clothes could be so enjoyable?

I did have to read the instructions to figure out how to work her, maybe get along with her is a better turn of phrase. I read just enough to get going and will read more later. I do know that my socks survived a journey. Which as we all know is very important when dealing with hand knit socks that take a couple of weeks to make.

I think I will go down to check up on her.

Moving on

My washing machine no longer loves me, if it ever did. Two out of the last three loads refused to drain out the dirty water with the load still in there. So I have given up on sweet talk and decided out with the old. Well first I emailed a friend of ours and said Is it worth fixing? With ten years of slinging out our dirty water under its belt, the answer came back, no not really. Which is a load off my mind since I hate waste, but I hate spending a couple of hundred dollars on something that only has another year in it at most.

I can now tell you that washing machines have made advances in the last ten years. The most obvious one being price. I don't remember what we paid for one ten years ago but I am pretty sure I bought a washer and a dryer for a smaller amount then.

I did a poll of my friends and the overwhelming choice was a top loading machine. I was leaning that way but had no good reason why. Let me tell you the horror stories of front loaders would not end, with the exception of two people. So top loader it is.

The center agitator is gone, they took the front loader design and flipped it on its back, which means less water sitting in the tank. This also means I never have to decide what size load I have, the machine just chooses the right amount of water for the load. And the best thing is the maximum load size is larger. I can wash a California King size comforter in it, now if I only had a California King size bed.

I did ask if I can wash wool sweaters in it, but can you believe he did not know? Clearly no other wool loving knitters have been to this store. Don't worry I have an old wool sweater (store bought) the kids have stolen for their bed that can be a sacrificial lamb, so to speak.

Delivery is not for a couple of days and I am sweating it out here. Actually I'm trying my darnest not to dirty any of my clothes. We don't want to run her wheels off on the first day. Although with a new magnetic induction motor, I may run out of go before she does.

I was so excited I ran to the store to get high efficiency soap and fabric softener. I don't need to make a soap mistake and take her out of commission before we even start our relationship.

Now am I the sort of person that needs to name her washers? I've never done it in the past but for some reason I want to call her Maggie. Yeah, I am weird like that.

Well since it is too hot to go outside and take pictures I will show you one that I forgot to post. This is Fiber Optic Kashmir in the Blackbird colorway. I finished these in May but you know how hard it is to get a picture. When I finish them I can not wait to wear them, then they're dirty so no picture, then they get worn on a Monday and I'm too tired to go out an take a picture, then the cycle starts over. Such is the life of my socks.

Finally they're done and photographed. I like the little variances in color, tinges of turquoise, green, black and blue. I can tell you that the color is more subtle in real life but hey life is more subtle in real life.

I have a toe waiting to be knit on one of my first of the pair socks that is on the needles so enjoy your hobby time, I know I will.

Bit of this

Yesterday I met one of my friends for lunch. We had a lovely three hour tea time together. Yep, you heard me right three hours. You know when I get home and Hubby asks me what we talked about I've got nothing to tell him. It is not that I feel I should keep my girl time secret but that as soon as anyone asks me a question the answer goes right out of my head. So slowly over the course of a day or two I remember snippets of things to tell him. I am a strange bird.

As we left we agreed that "we should do this more often." The last time we met she had just finished reading The Hunger Games, and that was before it became the mega hit it is now. We really do need to do it more often. So if I don't tell you all that I had tea with my friend by September you all need to start yelling at me! Life overwhelms at times and I don't want to be that person that lets it, you know.

Speaking of change, I also gave up my old purse today. My racing red friend with abused handles was traded in for a larger more knitting friendly black model. Rarely could I zip up my red purse because all the stuff I carried would not fit. It would fit between the two handles but not underneath the zipper and it got worse when I started carrying my kindle. My knitting sort of rode on top of my purse enjoying the sites. Now it is into the recesses of my bag where it can lie in wait to stab me with a knitting needle. Not that my knitting would ever do something like that.

Oh and my knitting is going fine. I printed off the chart for my Holden shawl and placed a life line, now I just need to get more stitch markers. I am feeling another shawl coming on so I really should get one done first. I started another sock and currently have three first socks on the needles. It is getting a wee bit ridiculous here. 

I have managed to stick with one book for a while and am hoping to finish Lisey's Story soon. Stephen King just sucks you into a parallel universe. I always thought of him as a horror author and stayed away  because of it for many years. Then The Green Mile came out and I loved it. I also realized that Shawshank Redemption is another of his stories. D loves Lisey's Story and urged me to read it too. It is an odd combination of touching and crazy rolled into one. I feel like I should send Tabitha King a thank you card for encouraging her husband to keep on writing. 

Well that is all from my place on the Earth today. Happy Knitting!!