My sister

I was going through my linen closet the other day and found some treasures. Treasures that had been safely stowed away, without even an inaugural use. This is a clear Yarnkettle rule violation. I firmly believe that things should be used, not just saved for a special occasion that never seems to come. Normally on Thanksgiving and Christmas I pull out the fine china and serve dinner on it, even if it is just the two of us. 

Anyways back to my treasures that I need to use. My sister claims to not be crafty. Mom taught us to embroider, knit and sew. I did cross stitch for many years before I took up my knitting needles again. On one visit home I showed my sister how to knit again, since we had both forgotten what Mom taught us. The repetition drove my sister crazy and she now allows me to be the knitter sister. 

She on the other hand has taken up the sewing side of the needle arts. As witnessed by the following works.

Cross stitched kitties with milk and cookies on dish towels.

A fuzzy punch embroidered teapot on a tea towel.

Cross stitched poinsettia place mats and napkins.

Not pictured floral embroidered pillow cases, as they were in the wash.

Now seriously how can she say she is not crafty. The super impressive item that I did not get a picture of (pre-blog days) resides in her house. She embroidered the each of the 12 days of Christmas on a quilt block then actually made the quilt. Now that is dedication. I've seen it, it was beyond impressive! 

So the women in my family are indeed crafty. I can say that because it takes one to know one. My sister does the fine needle arts, I do the yarny needle arts and Mom sews, the machine needle arts. I think that makes us a trifecta. Plus we get and give really cool Christmas presents.

Delayed

So what do you do with an extra day in town? Find a yarn shop and go with your Mom of course. We found CR Yarn shop in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota. She dyes her own yarn (Castle Fibers) and sold some national brands too.

Mom was drawn to this one.

JaggerSpun DK weight Deep Purple #3682. It is 50% merino and 50% silk 50 grams of goodness. Mom was drawn to the color and feel of this yarn, and I am happy to try this one out "for her". The sacrifices we make for those we love.

We had a bit of an conundrum since I am not what I consider a hat knitter, and that is what she requested. The shop owner was very helpful and looked up Foliage on knitty. com for me, so we could get approximate yardage need. She was quite helpful. She epitomized my definition of good service.

Mom also picked out this one for socks.

I must admit that pink is the color that I think of when I think of her. More specially this shade of pink is my Mom's. Now, how do I describe how she should measure her feet to get a great fit.

This one is mine!

It is called Black Hills Hike. Which brings me to today's question. How much does the colorway name influence how much you like the yarn? I like this colorway but I like it so much more because of the name. It will remind me of home, when I finally knit and wear the socks that this yarn morphs into.

The colorway name for Mom's is not as fortunate, "fresh entrails". I must admit that I don't think of that particular name when I think of Mom's colorway.

Mom had her first yarn related sticker shock. Castle Fibers was not the most I've spent on sock yarn but it is on the upper end of my scale. Turns out Mom has expensive tastes, like Mother like daughter. I so excited to try out all the new yarns. I had heard of JaggerSpun but had never seen it, that I know of.

We had a discussion in the car afterwards about how important it is to support local businesses, even when I am not local anymore. I knit because I enjoy it, so I may as well enjoy it the most I can afford.

Oh and by the way turns out I can knit a heel flap and turn the heel in the time it takes to be delayed for a flight. I think it will be lovely when I finish them. I am a little worried that they are a bit too large. I've made a couple of pairs that are now too small. So I can live with larger rather than smaller.

I also work up the courage to go and talk to other airport knitters when I am delayed. I saw another knitter but was too shy to go and talk to her then after we were delayed I figured what the heck? I caught her off guard when I asked her about her yarn, I received a look. You know the why the heck are you bothering me, look. She did open up for a bit once I explained I am also a knitter. We really need to come up with a secret hand shake or something.

Dog Tired

We were off on a quick trip home to see my nephew graduate from high school. It was the same high school that I graduated from too. Wow isn't it amazing how nostalgia hits you below the belt sometimes? I was lucky enough to get a tour after not seeing the school for almost 20 years. Dang has it been that long? Yep sure has!

Apparently we needed to spend some more time with my family since God sent a severe thunderstorm to delay us long enough to miss our connecting flight. Our first plane did not even get to land, it got diverted before we even got a chance to get on. We rebooked to try it again the next day and the sun came out to light up the beautiful blue sky. Funny how things work out.

We got to surprise my nephew at work with our delay. The look of confusion on his face was priceless to me. He is a smart kid but 2 and 2 added up to 10 in his mind at that moment.

I think Big G here at home may have even forgiven us for leaving this time. No? I'm working on it any ways, he is a hard cat to please.

Christmas '09 Highlights

We spent ours back in South Dakota with family. Luckily we managed to get in before a huge snowstorm plopped itself on the state and decided to stay a while. So here are the highlights of Christmas 2009 more details will follow but I wanted to get these down while it was still fresh.

Huge snowstorm - we flew in a few hours before the airport was closed for 2-3 days.

Having a nephew tell us oh I thought you died - Yep I have nothing to say about that other than kids the darnest things.

Seeing new houses - D's grandparents moved into a condo and my parents had a new house after a fire took their old house about 2 years ago.

Meeting all the new dogs - My parents got a dog right before they got the new house, and my brother let the boys get a dog too.

Realizing we're the only cat family left in our family - My sister still has a cat but I think they are officially dog people now. I really missed my boys on this trip too.

Great Uncle passing - We received a call on Christmas eve that D's super cool Great Uncle passed away. So so sad and a bit surreal since the snow storm kept him home that day, we had just been talking about the possibility of seeing him the day after Christmas instead. I still can not believe that he is gone.

Yarn shopping with my family - I may not be a selfish knitter anymore. I also made a lady laugh in the yarn aisle because I was explaining that I would be happy to knit my sister something if she picked it out because I never want to see the "why did you make this for me" face. I think I have a feel for what my sister likes maybe she will get more things in the future.

Leaving knitting projects behind - I came to a sad realization while packing that I could only take one small knitting project with me because I would not have room for D's sweater. Yep that also means that it is still not done. Poor D at least I got him other Christmas presents.

driving across the state both times but the one being wicked cold

Seeing other knitters in the airports - D was seated next to a knitter on one of our flights and I saw another knitter in the airport. I'm still shy enough to just smile and walk on with out making first contact.

Sleeping 12 hours on arrival - I was felled by stress over load on arrival at the in laws house. They graciously allowed me to throw in the towel early and sleep off the exhaustion. Plus then we got to have hash the next morning to use up leftovers. Hash is some tasty stuff! Thanks Big H.

Seeing how the apple does not fall far from the tree - It is amazing to see family traits in action.

Enjoying a belated new years with hubby - We arrived back home on New Years Day and were having dinner at midnight.

Leaving new Christmas things behind - All our wonderful presents will be making the trip here shortly due to the above mentioned luggage space crunch. Good thing I have such a great Father in Law to take care of things. I thought we would be able to post them but we ran out of time and realized that the post office is closed on New Years day. Time flies.

D and my nephew connected over college - It is getting to be time for my oldest nephew to go off to college and he had lots of questions for my Hubby. D was happy to arrange for a tour of our old department at the college. Strange to see but happy.

There they are in no particular order, just how they jumped into my head. Well now you know what is coming in future blog posts. Hope you enjoy them. Happy New Year!