Whatever Wednesday (on a Thursday)

Do you remember several months ago, when we had the Backyard view thing? Where everyone took a picture of their backyard? And it was still winter, so there weren't many people who had any plants blooming? No? You don't remember that??? Well, click here to see my entry. Anyway. This is an aerial view of one of the gardens in my backyard (I hung out the bathroom window to take the picture).

This year, this garden is the finch garden. The yellow finches love the cone flowers and the black-eyed susans. If you were to walk by the black-eyed susans, dozens of finches would fly out.

What initially made me want to take a picture of this garden is that there were three finches (males) sitting on the black-eyed susans. They flew away as soon as I put the screen up (to hang out & take pictures). I think there is at least one finch in this picture, but you can't really see him.

In the lower left, you can see part of the QP's pool. It's a round, above-ground pool (about 10 feet across). It's 18 inches deep. You can also see the shed, the bird feeder & two of the birdbaths. We have three in the yard, but one is in the way-back yard - by the vegetable gardens (that often feed the groundhogs).

This garden gets really wild in the summertime. There actually is a little walkway through it - it's just overgrown right now! Click here to see how it looks in the spring.

I was going through pictures that I took & I realized that I never showed you my sock pair. Way back when (last year, or the beginning of this year, sometime), I knit a sock. Well, the first sock I knit was my practice sock (meaning that the tension was off & it looked wider in some places than it did in others). The second sock was cool. I finally finished the third sock (which made a pair of socks). These are those socks.

See how the stripes match??? When I bought this yarn, the lady at the yarn shop said she was never able to get this yarn to match on the second sock. I was determined to have the socks match. I can't wait to be able to wear them!! Yay Fall!!

In other news, the QP started 2nd grade last week. This is her first full week of school. She loves it. There are two second grade teachers, and she got the teacher she wanted. Alot of her friends from 1st grade are in her class. Life is good for the QP.

That's all I have for today. MAKE it a great day!!

And the winners are...

Did you know that yesterday was Sunday, August 27th, and the end of my contest? I didn't. Until last night, when I realized what the date was (I lose track of dates - and time). That meant that I had to pick the winners of my yarn - naming contest. It was hard. I liked ALL of the names! And, before I go any farther, I want to thank everyone who entered the contest. I appreciate your help (I suck at coming up with names for things!).

Like I said, it was hard to pick the winning names. So I came up with a very sophisticated winner choosing system. As people left comments, I wrote down the yarn names (one list for each yarn). Then, tonight, I wrote all those names on little pieces of paper (a different color paper for each yarn). I put each group into the glass cube (shown above), shook it, and pulled out a yarn name. **it wasn't til I'd pulled out the three names that I put all the names into the cube - just in case one of the winners doesn't claim their winnings**

See! I told you it was a sophisticated system!

So, here we go! The first yarn (previously called Yarn #1), is this yarn:

It's new name is:

Nancy submitted that name. Congratulations, Nancy!

The next yarn (which used to be called Yarn #2), is this one:

It's new name is:

This name was submitted by Trek. Congratulations Trek!

And the last yarn (yes, it used to be called Yarn #3):

It's new name is:

libraryminion submitted that name. Congratulations libraryminion!

** To all the winners, please e-mail me your name & address, so that I can send your prizes to you. Nancy, I know I have your address, but please re-send it, so that I don't have to try to remember where I put your it. My e-mail: hlthyskincanbyrs(at)verizon(dot) net - you all know to replace the (at) and the (dot) with the appropriate symbols.

What did they win, you ask?? Well, this is a knitting blog. So they won .... YARN! I'll be sending them some local yarn. It's from Lancaster County Yarns & Wools. It is hand-dyed 100% merino superwash. I'll be sending each person approx. 400 yds of it. That 400 yds is enough to make a shawl - and I'll be sending the shawl pattern, too (not that anyone HAS to make a shawl with the yarn, but in case you do WANT to make the shawl). And, I'll probably add some other little goodies to the package.

Anyone wanting to purchase Blue Lagoon, Periwinkle Ocean, or Mosaic Mayhem, e-mail me at the address listed above. All three yarns are:

100% merino wool, approx. 400 yds., 7-8 sts/1" on #1-3 needles (2.5mm-3.25mm). I'm selling each skein for $9.00.

Again, thank you to everyone who submitted names. MAKE it a great day!

Some updates in blogland.

Well. Now I know that I'm not the only one who likes reading the KnitPicks catalog. I mean, if enough people do something, then it's considered normal, right???

I'm still only looking at that needle set and that bag set. Someday. Someday I'll own them. *sigh*

Let me tell you about some things that are going on in blogland. First, Norma has posted information about the Red Scarf Project 2007. If you're not familiar with the project, read about it here. Last year (well, it was actually the beginning of this year) Norma (on short notice) was responsible for getting people to send in quite a few scarves (read through her archives to find out the details). She was also mentioned in some knitting publications (again, look through the archives because my detail memory is shot). So get out any left over red yarn you have around your house and knit some scarves!

What? That's not incentive enough for you? Well, how's this? Scout is going to be giving away some of her awesome hand-painted yarn to someone who makes at least one scarf for the Red Scarf Project (I think you have to post a picture of it on your blog - check out her blog for the details)! If you've never seen her yarn, take a look through her archives (and visit her shop!) - you'll be drooling! She also made a cool button that you can add to your blog. Click here for details.

Karen, from my Stitch. And. Bitch. group (haha! I said the words!) started a blog. Please pay her a visit to welcome her to blogland - you know how we all like to encourage others to join in our little obsessions (like blogging, knitting, dyeing, etc,).

I leave you with a picture of the QP. We went here on Monday (we have season passes), so that she could play in Duke's Lagoon for a few hours. I thought that most of the tourists would be gone by now, but NO! I guess their kids' schools don't start any time soon. It wasn't too bad, though. By 5 PM, about two thirds of the people had left the Duke's Lagoon, so it wasn't quite so crowded (and loud). **ok - I'm leaving you with two of the same picture, because I cannot figure out how to delete one of them!

Thank you to everyone who's entered my contest! There are so many great names that I'm not sure how I'm going to choose the winners. If you haven't entered, you still have time. :-)

That's all I have for today. MAKE it a great day!!

Stitching, bitching, and is it just me??

Yep! I said it! Stitch. Bitch. Haha So Fast So Sleazy! I said those two words! Nanny-nanny-boo-boo!

Yeah, I'm still a little upset about that whole copyrighted term thing.

Anyway. Last night I went to a meeting of the Lancaster SnB group. There were (I think) 9 of us there. It was so much fun! The group is great - very welcoming and friendly. There's a nice age range of the group members. Very fun. I'll be there next week. Maybe I'll get some pictures of the group to share with you all.

Now for the "Is it just me?" part.

Is it just me - or does anyone else read the KnitPicks catalog? I got mine in the mail a few days ago and it looks worn already (from me constantly going through it). I look at the yarns, the new, expanded line of dye-your-own yarns, the patterns, the books, the bags, the notions, the needles, oh my! I love KnitPicks.

I've been drooling over their interchangable needle kit since I first saw it. Now I'm also drooling over the KIP bags and purse. The purse attaches to the knitting bag - so you only have to carry one item! I love that!! I love bags anyway (I'm a bag-lady!) - and those look so awesome!

I wonder if KnitPicks has an online wish list thing like Amazon? I need to check that out. There are soooo many things that I would add to a KnitPicks wish list.

But really. Do any of you look through the catalog over and over?? Is it some weird illness that only I have??

MAKE it a great day!

Some long overdue updates

A while back, Nancy had a contest. The prize was three skeins of Lopi yarn, and the book, Knit One, Felt Too. Well, I won that contest. I made this bag from my winnings.

I liked making the bag so much (and I had more than half of the yarn left over), that I made a second bag. It's finished, too, but somehow I deleted the pictures of it. It looks just like the first bag (but with different stripe sequences). :-)

I love these bags! They are so cute. They were very quick to knit. The pattern calls for several solid colored yarns, and then you add some beads across the top - and one of these days I want to make the bag just the way the pattern is written - it looks really cool. But since I had this Lopi, and the Lopi does this cool stripey/pooling thing, I figured that was interesting enough.

Both of these bags are going to be presents. Did you notice in the top picture, how well this yarn felts? It feels so solid. It's great! I did "trim" the hairs a little (on the bottom of the bag and around the edges).


This is how much yarn I have left over after knitting the two bags.

This is a baby blanket that I'm working on. A friend of mine had the yarn. She knows how to crochet but never got around to making the blanket. She asked me if I would like to knit a blanket. I've never knit a baby blanket, and that's one thing I wanted to try, so I agreed. The yarn is Lion Brand Baby Soft. I'm using the pattern from the label. I'm knitting with a strand of white yarn and a strand of yellow yarn. I like it. I like the pattern (how it looks), and it's easy for me to remember. The yarn's ok - I'd like to knit this blanket with some awesome yarn sometime. The label also has patterns for matching booties, hat and sweater. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to knit the other items.

**Special thanks to Ann for telling me about "lifelines". I did have to frog some of this blanket. But since I am using lifelines, I only had to frog a few rows.

This is a close up of the blanket. The colors look pretty washed out in this picture.

That's all I have for you today. I need to fill out some paperwork for the QP's school. She starts this coming Wednesday. Since she goes to a private school, parents are encouraged to volunteer at the various activites the school has throughout the year. Which means alot of paperwork at the beginning of the year. :-)

Remember to enter my Yarn Naming contest (see the previous post for the details) !!

MAKE it a great day!

Thanks SP8!

Thursday (I think) I got this wonderful package from my Secret Pal. I couldn't believe all the stuff she had in that box! There are 6 skeins of yarn, some Forbidden rice (I've never tried it, but rice is a good thing, in my book!), mulling spices (yum!), lime Tic Tacs (they're gone - the QP and I finished them the same day they were opened!), a Clover yarn cutter (I've been wanting to try one of these), a magnet, some cinnamon Listerine strips, and a scarf and a hat that my SP made! WOW!

As if that isn't enough, look what the QP got:

She loves this purse! And inside were several crafty kits and a key chain that hold s a photo.

Thanks SP!!!

In other news, I'm going to be selling the following 3 skeins of yarn. Anybody want to help with the naming of the yarn?? How about a contest?? A yarn naming contest.

Leave me a comment with names for the yarn (one name, for each yarn). I'll pick the three names I like the best and those people will get a prize. I don't know what the prize will be yet (I'll let you know). I'll give you 2 weeks from today. The contest will end at midnight (my time) Sunday, August 27th.

YARN #1

YARN #2

YARN #3

*if you have any questions about the yarn (like colors in the yarn), e-mail me at hlthyskincanbyrs(at)verizon(dot)net

Oh yeah. You may have noticed that I didn't blog for over a month? Well, there's been all kinds of drama in my family & life. Added to that, it was hellishly hot here (I mean, at 9PM, it was still 90 degrees most nights). In PA, we don't just have heat, we have heat with humidity (so if it's 90 degrees, it feels like 110). With humidity, you can sit (not moving) in shade and still sweat! We do not have central air in the house. We don't even have window units. Just fans...to blow the hot air around. I just couldn't bring myself to sit in front of the computer (I'm convinced the computer throws out heat). That's my reason. Those of you who were caught in that heat wave understand what I'm talking about. Those of you who live someplace where you have nice weather, I don't wanna hear about it! :-)

MAKE it a great day!