The Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-thon

What a Swell Party This Is!

Finally - I have a brand new computer that is up and working, and am ready to tell you all about my fabulous 50th birthday party!

My friend Renay and my sister Susan really out-did themselves and planned a weekend long extravaganza, that was just wonderful fun from beginning to end.

I worked a bit on my birthday (Thursday, May 10); I had to attend a fundraising breakfast (which hardly counts as work) for my favorite charity, Gilda's Club Twin Cities, Inc., and then introduce a speaker at the Hennepin County Bar Association Real Property Section's continuing legal education meeting.  And then I had my hair cut and styled, so as to appear sufficiently birthday-girl like.  I stopped by on my friends at Steven Be in Minneapolis and got a wonderful birthday hug from Steven; they were very busy packing up lots of yarny goodness for the Shepherd's Harvest Festival to take place that weekend in Lake Elmo, MN.

I then picked my sister up from the airport via the light rail, and brought her downtown, so we could catch up with Renay, and my brother and his wife, Geoff and Mary, and my niece, Amanda, for a lovely dinner at The Grand Cafe (in Minneapolis on Grand- a HIGHLY recommended lovely local restaurant.  Susan, who is a San Francisco foodie of the first order, was suitably impressed and thought their food could easily stand up to the best meals she'd had in California.  

It was just so lovely to ease into a long weekend, and relax and smile with family.  I felt incredibly spoiled already.  Amanda gave me a beautiful little painted christmas ornament of a red-haired dachshund to remember Libby by, which was very touching.  And we all said goodnight, and Susan and I stayed up too late because we were just so excited!

I gave myself a BIG treat - I bought an iPad.  It turned out to be really good timing, because I was able to bring it along on the weekend and we could search Ravelry patterns, etc., while talking knitting. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself!  On Friday, after a leisurely morning,. Susan and I took off for Stillwater, where we were scheduled for spa treatments at Just For Me Spa.  My girlfriends had rented a little house right behind the spa called the "Retreat" house, and the owner welcomed us.  Susan and I went through my purse, as she had noted it was a bit large and bit full; she is the opposite of me, and leads a sleek and streamlined life, where I am sort of a packrat and have backups of my backups.  The total purse stash was a bit hilarious, actually -- who needs to carry around 19 pens, and 4 things of dental floss, and 3 mascaras (especially when I rarely wear any)...  Anyway, live and learn.

For my spa treatment, I chose a body wrap, because it sounded less revealing and embarrassing than a body massage.  But I was wrong; I still had to get completely naked.  But then I was wrapped in cozy sheets, and one by one the masseuse used raspy gloves to exfoliate my arms and legs.  Just when I was about to call uncle, she soothed my skin with wonderfully scented lotions, and then she wrapped me, sheets and blankets and all up in a sort of high-tech silver metallic tortilla.  And THEN, while I was sort of basking in the warmth, she gave me a foot massage and a head massage!  For an HOUR!  When it was over I felt as relaxed as an overcooked noodle, like you could just pour me down the stairs. If I could, I would go back at least once a month just to feel that way again!

When we got back to the house, some more of my knitting friends had arrived; we did a little knitting and a lot of laughing, and then we went to dinner at a lovely wine bar-restaurant called Domacin.  The food was JUST AMAZING, and even MORE friends were there to join the fun!

Pictured from left to right are my pals Pam, Eva, Kim, (and there's me still red and blissed out from the spa, and too much wine and laughing), Renay, my sister Susan, Ann, and Kristin!  They put us right in this little room where they kept all the wine, and the waiter was just lovely, explaining right off we had that room for the entire evening and could take our time.  And we did.  My sister chose some wonderful wines (wish I could tell you what they were; one was an Arneis, I think, but I don't know much about wine).  Everyone had brought me lovely presents, which included a gift certificate to a local Stillwater yarn store called Darn Knit Anyway, a spa certificate, a life journal, some beautiful beaded silk yarn, an exquisite handmade necklace, and just when I couldn't contain my gratitude for having the luck to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of friends... they presented me with this:

A handmade quilt!  Next week I'll show you close up pictures of each square and tell you their stories.  But for now, I will just confess that I was overwhelmed.  All of the women at the table had contributed a square, and Nicky sent four knitted squares from New York!  (She was so sad she couldn't join us, but her son's civil ceremony was that Friday in New York, so she was really busy!)  Renay somehow managed to take all of the squares and frame them beautifully, and then sewed them up into this lovely quilt.  I'm going to hang it at work in my office, since I spend the majority of my time (when not sleeping!) in there.  That way, every time I turn my chair around, I'll be reminded that I am truly blessed to have a wonderful circle of friends.  Who love me a lot.  Even though I'm 50!

The next day was spent at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival, where my sister treated me to some Briar Rose Sea Pearl yarn to make Anne Hanson's Blumchen cardigan.

(As if coming from California and helping to plan my birthday wasn't enough, Susan ALSO gave me separate presents for every day of her visit!  She knows me so well, all the things I never buy for myself, like lovely soaps and lotions, and beautiful makeup...) 

And I treated myself to some Sun Valley Fibers yarn in Mary colors of blues, grays, teals and purples, to make the striped stole from the new Wearwithall book by the owners and employees of The Yarnery yarn shop in St. Paul:

 

The slogan on the Sun Valley Fibers website says, "Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy yarn, which is kind of the same thing!"  That could pretty much be my motto!

We visited Steven Be's booth so I could introduce my sister to Steven, and he gave me a birthday waltz, which was a very lovely treat.  I appreciate it that he gives me a hug when I visit; it makes me feel like family.  Jessie, his beautiful red-headed store manager, has likely just given birth to her baby son!  I went on both the Steven Be and Yarn Garage websites to see if there is any scoop; I made him a little baby blankie and need to figure out how to get it mailed to her.

I also helped Eva pick out some yarn to make her a special gift; she has been such a very good friend to me, and I wanted to thank her for a special present she had given to me during our working together to close the deal to purchase the first Gilda's Club Clubhouse in Minnesota.  She chose this lovely suri alpaca yarn from Little Gidding Farm, in a color they call "Honeysuckle" but which I would call watermelon:

Because I have no self-control and a bad case of start-itis, I started making a Damask shawl from the pattern by Kitman Figueroa, and found it so addictive to knit the lace pattern from the graphs that I sort of forgot to go to bed at night for about a week and finished it!

I can't wait until I see Eva again so I can give it to her - I think she will really like it.  And now I am armed with the dangerous knowledge that knitting lace shawls out of fingering weight yarn is absolutely addictive!

The rest of the time my sister was in town, we relaxed and played with my iPad and my yarn collection.  She showed me how to download my entire knitting library of books and magazines onto Ravelry.  I have all of my books on there, and about 2/3rds of my magazines, and find I now have 12,269 patterns that are searchable online!  What a great system!  Now when I can't remember which Vogue magazine that great cardigan was in, I can just search on line!  Those ravelers - I LOVE those guys!

I am also loading my entire stash onto Ravelry and re-organizing it, because I've decided NOT TO BUY ANY MORE BOOKS OR YARN FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!!! Yup, you heard right.  Ms. No-Self-Control is putting herself to the ultimate test.  I truly have enough yarn to last me for a lifetime and desperately need to start putting money by for college, and a new car, and painting the house, and a new furnace, and retirement... so really, no more yarn.  or books.

(OK, I know I did buy some yarn at Shepherd's Harvest, May 12, 2 days after my 50th birthday, but that just means I may not buy any yarn until May 13, 2013.  At the soonest.  If then.)

They say when you set a goal you should tell as many people as possible, so I'm telling you all now to lessen the chance I will go and buy more yarn.  Really.  (So far I'm doing just fine, but those New Year's Resolutions never seem so hard in January, either.  5 months from now, we'll have to see how we're doing...)

Of course, I've also been a bit swamped catching up at work, and have somehow contracted a summer cold, so I really ought to stop typing now and get some sleep!  At least we have a short work week this week (YAY!)

Now for the bad news; unfortunately, most of my other pictures from my 50th and my week with my sister are, in fact, gone for good.  My computer died JUST as I was downloading them, and all the king's techies and all the king's men weren't able to recover them.  So I'll have to schedule another photo shoot for someone to take photos of me wearing the last 7 or so projects.  But I promise, I will get this done in due time as well.

Have a great (short!) workweek,and I'll check in next weekend with some pictures of my wonderful new quilt!

XOXOXO, Mar.

Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

WELL, I was all set on Sunday to sit down and tell ALL ABOUT my fantabulous 50th birthday celebration, and downloaded all of my photos, and started to try to re-size them... and then it happened.

The dreaded BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!

Oi.

Well, I remembered that Staples commercial on TV, and just brought the whole darn CPU to my local Staples, bought a new computer, and asked Rob (the charming salesguy) and Derek (the tech wizard who never met a hard drive he couldn't crack) to help me. 

Derek thinks that he was able to retrieve all my gigabytes of data, including the photos downloaded just moments before the BSOD problem... but I won't know for sure until I get to pick the computer up either today or tomorrow...

I'm really hoping the birthday photos are all there, ESPECIALLY because my sweet sister spent an hour taking photos of me in all the KOTOTW stuff that I didn't have photos of (except on my dressmaker's dummy). 

We should know for sure pretty soon; I hope to have the new computer home, set up and functioning this weekend, so that I can show you all the completely wonderful stuff my sister and friends had cooked up to help me celebrate my half-century. 

All I can say is, if turning 50 is that much fun, I'm really looking forward to turning 100!'

XOXOXO Mar

Heading Toward a Big Day!

WOW, lots of stuff to share with you guys!  I also wanted you to know, that I will work on getting some photos of the sweaters with me actually wearing them -- I have some company coming soon that might be willing to help out with a little photo shoot!

Sorry for the radio silence; I had an unexpected computer glitch last week.  I went to type a blog entry, and found out that all my files and photos were... gone!  Wiped clean! 

My home computer has been sort of threatening to give up the ghost, but when it did, HOLY COW!  It shocked me a bit - just to think losing all those photos since I started the blog -- actually, all my photos back to 2007!  As well as all my documents, and my financial records, and my unbelievable yarn and knitting project spreadsheets!

LUCKILY, I saw this coming; my computer has been making funny noises, and has been running really badly.  So, a few months ago, I got this online backup dealie from Carbonite.  I had so much stuff on my hard drive it literally took almost a week to complete the initial backup.  So after hyperventilating a bit after I realized my docs were gone, I crossed my fingers, found my Carbonite account info, and requested a download.  Again, it took a few days, but my files are back!  Every last one of them!  What a wonderful, wonderful thing, off-site technology that really works when your own on-site technology doesn't.  Anyway, we are back in business around here.  (sorry for the unsolicited plug, but really.  Backing stuff up is really important, and I sleep better now knowing that when my computer dies for good, all my goodies won't die with it!)

As for the Big Day mentioned above - this upcoming Thursday, May 10, I'm turning 50!  Yes, that's right - a half-century, as my son has pointed out to me on numerous occasions (ahem...).  My beloved sister Susan is flying out to spend a week with me, and my knitting buddies Renay and Eva are planning a spectacular weekend knitting retreat, centered around the Lake Elmo Shepherd's Harvest festival, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  I'm even going to take a week off of work, so that I can relax, enjoy a long weekend knitting and laughing with my friends and my sis, and then will spend a few extra days at home just enjoying my sister's company. 

So, I've been trying my darndest to catch up at work to the point where I can actually take from May 10 - 16 off the clock and just relax, and take a deep breath, and step into my second century with a modicum of grace and composure.  And in addition to work, some sort of weird cleaning-out bug has hit me.  I have been trying to get my house ready for company --basically, since everything in life takes a back seat to knitting (as you may have noticed :D), just the cleaning part can take hours!  However, I got distracted on Friday night and decided to clean out a drawer in the bathroom.  Which led to all the drawers in my bedroom.  Which then led to every cupboard in the kitchen.  And then the fridge... and sorting the spices, and throwing away old medicine, and going to the laundromat to wash the big quilts... And what started Friday night is still going on, and I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface!  I haven't touched the linen closet, or the file cabinets, or the garage (YIKES!)  My entire recycling bin and garbage bin are filled to overflowing. 

And I haven't even started vaccuuming yet!  (Don't you find it amazing the lengths to which I will go to avoid turning on that vaccuum?  Maybe I was a spider that got inhaled into one of those contraptions in a past life or something...)

It is AMAZING how much unused stuff I've accumulated in this house in the past seven years since we moved in.  The point of storage spaces like drawers and cupboards is to put things away nice and neatly; but in my case, I have come to the realization that I barely open most of my cupboards and drawers because they are filled to bursting with stuff I basically never use. 

It is also amazing when you go through your cupboards in the kitchen and look at the dates on everything - time must move more quickly when you get older, because those bottles of salad dressing that I thought I bought just a month or two ago have expiration dates from 2010! 

It is very nice, I must admit, to have a fridge so clean that the glass shelves gleam as if they were brand new.  So for this brief and shining moment, I will enjoy this false sense of being a neat and tidy person.  But you and I know the truth -- life is short, and there is a lot of knitting to do!

I'm still plugging away on the motifs in the Lisbon Lace Pullover, but haven't been home much, and find I can't knit them on the bus (too fiddly).  So I've finished some more baby stuff!

This is a little boy's hoodie (called the Playdate Hoodie) from a pattern on the Lion Brand website, for my friend April, who is due in early July with a little brother to keep her daughter Hazel company:

It is made out of Lion Brand Recycled Cotton Yarn.  The photo doesn't show them very well, but the buttons have these tiny little blue trains on them.  They were left over in my sewing bin from when Nathan was a toddler, but at 15 he has sort of moved past the "choo-choo" phase.

And this is the Strawberry Sideways Cardigan, which is like a reverse-Einstein Jacket for babies - the sleeves are knit from one cuff to the other, and then the skirt is knit downwards.  I made this for our baby-blogger, Adeline, who will be 2 this fall and needs a fashionable sweater and hat to keep her cozy (or so I decided - never having had a baby girl for whom I can knit, I'm having a blast with my friend Kristin's!)

This is also a free Lion Brand pattern.  I decided to knit it out of their Lion Brand's Martha Stewart yarn called Extra Soft Wool Blend.  It is a 35% wool/65% acrylic blend, and really springy, glowing and soft.  I LOVED knitting with it, and bought a bunch of it on sale at JoAnn, as it is perfect for making washable baby knits, and it comes in those classic Martha rich-lady pastel colors like this soft green.  That hat is from a free Classic Elite pattern called "Minnow Merino Daisy Chapeau."

I made the edging a bit spiffier on the garter stitch sweater, by purling the last stitch in every row, and slipping the first stitch knitwise.  This makes a nice chain-loop-looking edge.  And as an extra bonus, this edge is especially nice for seaming, as you can mattress-stitch it up into a nice flat-looking braid that lies really flat (nice not to have bulky seams, especially on a baby garment!)

I think I'm going to make quite a few of these sets for the latest baby boom among my friends - they make perfect mindless bus knitting projects, and are just beyond adorable, IMHO.

In other knitting-related jaunts, I went to The Yarnery, a wonderful/famous yarn store in St. Paul, and learned that the people who work there just collaborated on their first book, Wearwithall- Knits For Your Life, which you might have seen recently around the "knitblogosphere." 

I can picture making almost everything in this classy book, and have started on the sweet baby afghan already; I found a great deal on Berroco Comfort Chunky, the softest-ever acrylic, perfect for a baby afghan (Garter stitch triangles sewn into a square with a garter-stitch border - I seem to be on a major garter-stitch jag lately!)

I also fell madly in love with a shawl on display at the Yarnery which was designed by Theresa Gaffey, one of the book's designers, called The Seaweed Stole (the pattern is not in the book but it is on Ravelry), which takes four skeins of Louet KidLin Laceweight.  Just breathtaking, and really long and lush - something an extremely tall person I know (ahem, me actually) could pull off really well... So this is currently the project that is haunting my dreams.  Which means, as you know, that it is only a matter of time until four skeins of said yarn find their way into that self-indulgent madness that is my impossibly huge stash of yarny goodness.

I also felt myself drawn by an unseen force to the Yarnover event sponsored annually by the Minnesota Knitter's Guild, where I visited Lila and Claudine's booth, decorated by these wonderful sculptures of their store namesakes:

This store is in Mahtomedi, MN, not too far from Lake Elmo and Stillwater where we are staying next weekend, so I'm hoping we can fit in a trip to see it in person!

I visited my buddy Steven at the Steven Be/Yarn Garage booth and couldn't resist the following knitting bag:

(Tee hee!  It even cracked Nathan up...)

And of course, I had to fill it up with some yarn (this is Madelinetosh Merino Light, the stuff that the Mason Dixon Knitters used to make the Honey Cowl recently - doesn't it just glow from within?)

And then I met Lynae, the dyer of The Grinning Gargoyle, whose yarns were so lovely that they seemed to have layers and depths of color - like some freaky magical optical illusion.  She is a dyer based in Chicago, but if you aren't lucky enough to live near there or run across her at a yarnfest nearer to your home, you can find her splendid yarns at the Etsy shop (link above).

 

And here is what also found its way into my Zombie bag from her beautiful yarns:

The photos really don't do it justice.  This yarn may have to come to the office with me and live in a bowl to remind me on the hardest days that knitting is the sane center of my existence.

Other sources of joy - my son Nathan got his braces off this week (YAY!)  It is SO nice to see that smile again, metal-free.  And here he is with his Brave New Workshop Youth Performance Group - today was the final show of the season, and the graduation party for the 5 seniors who will be moving on from the group.  He is the smily extremely short-haired guy in the center back:

I think this class is what kept him sane through his freshman year of high school, which is done in just about a month.  He is going to take the summer session of the Improv class, and maybe do a week class as well and hang out with me in the office again, as we both enjoyed that last year.

Well, I'm very excited and happy to be nearly at my birthday, and SO looking forward to having a retreat with my friends.  I even was asked to pick a spa treatment for Friday !!!!  (ME!  at a spa?  I chose a body wrap, as it sounded cozy and less embarrassing than a full-body massage...)  I'm going to work a half-day on Thursday, and then go get a haircut, and then a pedicure, and then get my sister from the airport, and then we'll go to dinner in the city with family, and then WHEEE!!! we're off!  I promise to take lots of pictures and tell you all about it!

In the meantime, here is another springy photo I wanted to show you - a robin made a nest right beside our front door.  Unfortunately, she didn't stay to hatch the eggs, but I managed to get a photo of them after she had been gone for a whole day (I didn't want to disturb her). Such a pretty color combo, the gray-brown twigs and that unmistakeable blue.

Between this nest, and the new baby ducks and geese on the lake, and the blooming lilacs, and the trees full of tender baby green leaves, spring is all around me and filling me with hope.  May you find yourself smiling and happy with your life as well!

XOXOXO,

(older but better) Mary

 

Ottoman Empire Jacket - Finished!

One more KOTOTW project is finished!

This is the Ottoman Empire Jacket. I lengthened the body slightly, but I didn't need to lengthen the sleeves.  This was a truly enjoyable knit, with lots of my favorite things - a textured stitch body, Fair Isle sleeves, and a shawl collar.

The shawl collar was knitted in two pieces and joined in the back - to make a more generous curve along the bottom edge in the back, I knitted short rows along the final rows of each collar in the back.

The Julia yarn is very beautiful - 100% wool in beautiful colors, and it will wear really well.  So, of course, it is discontinued (waahh!) 

I also gathered the tops of the sleeves a bit to ease them in.  I used the same technique you use in sewing, putting a double row of basting thread near the top:

And then you gently gather the fabric along the basting threads, like a shower curtain on a rod; you can see the way it takes the curve of your shoulder.

If I make this again I will shorten the length of the shoulder seam, as my shoulders aren't quite as broad as the sweater is.  I think I might actually make a "tuck" along the shoulder seam under the collar, which is roomy enough to hide a little "edit;" this will make the sleeve cap hit my shoulder in the right place.

This is the back collar seam; you can see how I angled the pieces with short rows.  I'm stitching the ribbing up as if kitchener-ing two stockinette edges together instead of two 1 x 1 rib sections, with is the secret of making abutting ribbed pieces seam up nearly invisibly.

 

I ladder-stitched up the sleeve seams; I love how the seam virtually disappears.  I use the "ladder" of little bars that appears between the edge stitch and the first stitch, and sort of lace them together, first the left side and then the right,making sure not to pull too tightly.

 

I

I also took another picture of the El Matador jacket, this time with a belt.  I need to find a slightly wider belt, I think, but I like the way it looks belted.

I

Here is a progress photo on the Isis Tunic; it is getting a bit more time on the needles than the Lisbon Lace Jacket as it is more portable, and most of my knitting has occurred on the bus to and from work lately.  There are cabled side-panel inserts, and then an I-cord edging that goes around the loose edging on the front and back under the side panels; this one will be done soon, I think!  I've been trying to do the "commutable" bits of upcoming patterns, to make good use of my commuting time (there are some i-cord purse straps, and embellisments, for instance...)  I'm hoping things will get quieter soon so that I can get some of the more complicated knitting done at home.

 

Spring time always brings a new flock of babies, and I've been doing some "knitting snacks" as well, to give away as gifts; this little set is made out of Lion Brand Organic Cotton.  My assistant suggested I turn it into a "grandpa sweater," so I knitted little elbow patches and found some faux-leather looking buttons.

I've made a couple little girly hats - the basic pattern is from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson, and the rose and leaf are from Nicky's Embellishments and Crocheted Flowers books, naturally.  It is nice to have a little cotton hat in the spring, or even in the summer if your baby girl needs some coverage from the sunshine.

This is another pattern from Itty Bitty Hats, that always cracks me up - like a giant daisy just fell upside-down on the kid's head!   I made one of these for our guest-blogger-baby Adeline, who is quite the busy toddler these days.  I'm trying to butter her up into doing another post for us, but her mom is really busy at a new law firm and so I think that might have to wait a bit...

Well, my kind brother is coming tomorrow night to take Nathan to an appointment and make him dinner, and then will get him to work the next morning, as I have both late Monday and early Tuesday work functions (oy!), so I guess that means that instead of typing here, I need to go vaccuum up the awe-inspiring amount of dust that has gathered in the guest room and make it somewhat livable-looking.  Oh, and clean the bathroom...  MAN, I may be a good knitter, but the time spent knitting certainly does seem to detract from the time I spend (and SHOULD spend) on housework...

Here are some beautiful hyacinth for you, in my favorite color in the world.  May you  find some time to enjoy the world blooming around you this springtime as well.

Some Easter Sights and Sounds

I really enjoyed my visit recently to Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm in Harris, MN, an honest-to-goodness farm where they grow vegetables, fruit, and Easter-like creatures such as sheep and goats.  And they make maple syrup, and honey from their own hives, and goat cheese... AND you can join their vegetable CSA (community supported agriculture - for an annual fee you get wonderful boxes of over 50 different kinds of vegetables on a weekly basis for the entire growing season; AND you can also join their new fleece CSA, if you would like to have the fleece of a sheep to wash, card, spin and knit (skills which I would appear to lack...)!  I am tempted to buy a share, but I don't know how to spin so I would have to find someone who would like me to donate the fleece to them. 

Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm is one of several farms featured in this wonderful book:

... which I highly recommend - wonderful recipes for vegetables and fruits, and photographs, and a real sense of the beauty and richness of life on these small local farms across the country.  Such a treasure, just a bit over an hour from my home, and I never even knew it.

The farm is owned and operated by Robin Rodabaugh and Gigi Nauer, and they have interns who stay with them to learn how to do everything on the farm, from growing vegetables to birthing baby lambs to milking goats.  My brother's first wife, Nancy, lives just down the road and became friends with Robin and Gigi when she bought a used pump from them.  She was kind enough to invite me to one of their Sunday wool days, where they help teach people how to process clean fleece into yarn.

First, we had to go visit the new baby sheep!  Here is one with its mom - if that isn't a perfect Easter photo, I don't know what is!

These little ones were almost brand-new, and still a bit wobbly on their legs.  It was a rather cold and drafty morning, so they were snuggling near the wall to get out of the wind.

Two more, a bit older but still pretty tiny.

Some of them were also black.

There were also some turkeys- I can't even describe how colorful and strange their heads are; almost iridescent, like a fish, but with a funny red thing that hangs down between their eyes. 

This fella was Mr. Goat.  Apparently it only takes one goat to make a LOT of little goats.  This one had the kind of confidence and savoir faire usually reserved for a movie star.  He sauntered right up to the fence to meet us, as if to say, "Hey, Ladies.  I bet you find me irresistible, too!"

He gave our fingers a kiss..

And then I said, "Oh, c'mon, handsome - won't you strike a regal pose for us?"  And, just like that, he did!

 

Here is Nancy with one of the goat babies (there must be a word for baby goat - kid?  I don't know, I'm no farm girl and it has been too many years since I read my fairy tales).  The tiny goats were really skittish and jumpy, and this one must have jumped so high, he jumped right out of the pen.  Nancy, who is far more gifted with animals than just about anyone I've ever met, gently coaxed him to her, and captured him to return him to his pals.

Then, he made the most perfect little bleat -BAA-AAA-AAH! -- but tiny, like a high-pitched, sped-up version, that we both cracked up and Nancy had to give him a hug.

They were exceedingly adorable and hoppy.  Like bunnies with hooves.  And baby horns.

Then we went inside to meet Robin, who was making some really wonderful vegetable stew and chocolate crinkle cookies, and Gigi, who was helping one of the visitors use this strange, nail-bedded thingy, which I don't remember the name of, but which helps take the little bunched up braid-looking bits of washed sheep fleece and break it up into puffy clouds...

So it can then be fed into this, a drum carder, which combs all the fibers so that they lay in the same direction, eventually making a sort of batt of them which can be then be spun into a single ply of yarn.

This is Robin, showing Nancy how to spin.  You can see the puffy cloud of combed fleece on her lap, and her deft hands are sort of feeding it into the spool atop the spinning wheel, which is operated by pressing a foot pedal.  You need to be careful to keep the wheel going in a single direction, and you have to get the knack of feeding the yarn just right so that it doesn't get too thick or too thin, break, or twist up. 

I had NO skills at all - something I would need to sit down for about a solid week to master, I'm sure.  To me, it was like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy, while also keeping a gentle, even rhythm with your foot.   (Can I just say, I found this hilarious!  I must have knitted my way through enough yarn in my life to reach to the moon and back, but apparently I can't make the stuff!  I'm tempted to try a drop spindle - not so many moving parts, and maybe this would give me a better feel for it...)

Here, Robin is teaching the two interns, with a brown fleece, and they are making a thicker sort of yarn.  I didn't figure out if it was thicker because of the type of fleece, or they way they were spinning - LOTS to learn about this craft that is not immediately apparent to me.

Nancy sat down and had a go, and she just seemed to have a natural knack for it.  I was very envious. 

 

I noticed this beautiful quilt on the stairway railings.   Robin built the house herself, and it is just warm and cozy, and perfect.  I wanted to make a pot of tea and stay for hours.

Here is one of the visitors (AAARGH, why am I so bad with names?)  She came to learn how to process the fleece she had bought in the wool CSA, and is holding some of the finished product just off the drum carder.  The picture doesn't do it justice - it was soft as a breath, and had this gentle radiance. 

I have to say, I feel another craft coming on...

 

Nancy also took me to her own home and farm, and introduced me to some of her critters.  This is Lincoln, her handsome red horse.  Lincoln was kind of bashful; or maybe he could just smell my fear.  (After all, how often is it that I encounter a creature even taller than I am?)

This little fella, Chester, was more my size.  I didn't even know they made horses this size!  He was twice as big as the little pygmy horses I've seen at the zoo, but not much bigger than Nancy's wonderful Newfoundland, Sammie.  (When Sammie ran up to my car, my immediate thought was, "OH NO!  I didn't know they had a pet bear!"   Then he put his huge block of a head right into my car window and gave me a nuzzle.  At least Newfoundlands are friendly bears.)

Chester is a rescue; Nancy has been helping to heal him from an illness to his hooves suffered because his last owner, who bought him as a sort of pet, didn't feed him properly.  When she got him, he couldn't walk, but now he is on the mend.  Unlike skittish Lincoln, Chester came right up to me and sort of leaned against my legs, like a big old dog does when it wants you to scratch its hips.  I obliged, and Chester gave me moon-eyes, and I was in love.  I asked Nancy if we could bring him into the house so he could sit on the couch next to me and get cuddled while I watched TV, but evidently horses don't do that sort of thing.

Here is the fancy rooster - my camera doesn't do justice to his beautiful plumage.  They were just walking about, right under the horses' hooves, but the horses didn't seem to mind them, and they had no fear at all.

Nancy was having a busy day; their water had been out for four days, and she had to get ready for her birthday celebrations that night, so I didn't stay long.  But I think I'm going to go back to the next wool day at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm and have another go at that spinning wheel.

I hope you are having a lovely Easter; I'm home nursing a possibly-broken toe (fell down at a Panera restaurant on the stairway leading to the upstairs seating, and covered myself head-to-toe in tomato basil soup.  Which is really too bad, because I adore that soup, and now I'll be too embarrassed to ever go back there again...) 

Which means there is only one thing to do this quiet Easter evening -- have some cocoa and watch an old movie, while getting some knitting done!

Have a great week, you guys.  Here's hoping you live near enough to the country to see some baby animals yourselves.  It just made me so happy, to watch those baby lambs and goats.  Sort of restores your hope, somehow.

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Lots of Catching Up To Do!

SO sorry for the long silence – Nathan and I spent a weekend in LaCrosse, Wisconsin at the model train show, and then I came back and found myself stuck in a number of really large real estate deals, one to help someone purchase a luxury condominium overlooking the Sculpture Gardens  by the Walker Art Center (the centerpiece of which is the landmark iconic cherry on a spoon sculpure by Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje Van Bruggen - did you know that the stem of the cherry is a water fountain?)  and another to help analyse five Minnesota properties making up part of a huge multi-state real estate portfolio purchase.  So, I’m sort of catching my breath this weekend.  I went to a flower show and concert Friday night, and to a wonderful CSA vegetable and sheep farm called Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm on Saturday, and today I am trying to write a blog post, work 4 hours, do all of the laundry and get my son to smile (the last day of spring break - back to the salt mines, but on June 8 he'll be free, FREE from school for a long-awaited summer vacation). 

In looking over all of the photos I’ve taken lately, however, I also realize that there is WAY too much going on to put it all into a single post, so I think I’ll just have to do several different posts to make it up to you for my long silence.

Book Winners!

ISo far, in response to the latest contest to give away copies of Knitting On Top of the World by Nicky Esptein, I’ve heard from winner Ann, but not Jennifer or Linda S.W.!  Please send me an email to maryp55124 “at” yahoo “dot” com with your address so I can send you your books! 

It would really help me out (I'm desperate to clean out my office-guest room, as I’m having company soon, and I have this vain hope that once these books get mailed out I will be inspired to get the other 439 things off of my desk…)

On the KOTOTW Journey…

First of all, I have still been knitting in the midst of the travel and too-much-work phase; after all, I there are those lovely 40-minute bus rides most days, during which I can knit peacefully while listening to the Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin (Kings and knights!  Epic battles!  Magic and curses!  Dragons!  Giant wolves!  Mysterious goings on in the North, beyond the Wall!  Irresistible stuff!)  Thanks to the great generosity of several goddess-like Ravelers, I was able to find the yarn I need to finish the Ottoman Empire Jacket, but in the meantime I skipped ahead so as not to waste time, and finished the…

El Matador Jacket!

I resisted my usual temptation to greatly lengthen it.  Even though we seem to be in a fashion trend lately where the waistbands on our pants and jeans sit a great deal lower than the natural waistline (having jeans  waistbands stop at this point sort of defines the “mom jeans” look nowadays), a real matador’s jacket is actually a cropped, bolero-length garment.   The one Nicky designed is actually meant to synch inwards at the natural waistline.

I loved the fabric that the stitch pattern created – sort of alternating columns of 6 stockinette stitches separated by 3 reverse-stockinette stitches.  It looks really cool on the back, too, forming these sinuous lines sliding towards and away from each other in long columns.  I think it would make a good pattern stitch for a man’s scarf, although you’d need to do some edging to keep it from rolling like flat stockinette does.

It was also fun to make the epaulettes, formed by making a long i-cord and then sewing it together in a spiral (this is the view from the bottom, where I sewed it together). 

Then, you make these sort of hanging corkscrews by increasing 30 stitches to 90, and then casting off. 

I have a knitting night coming up this week, and am hoping to bring a lot of my recent KOTOTW projects so that I can get some photos of them being worn by me, as opposed to my dressmaker's dummy!

I've also been working on the fronts of the Ottoman Empire Jacket, which have ribbed plackets that are knitted separately and then sewn on.  They widen at the bustline gradually to form a shawl collar, and are joined by a seam at the back.  I added a stitch for selvedge, so that I could stitch the column of stockinette stitches , one stitch in from the selvedge stitch on the placket, to the corresponding column of stockinette stitches one stitch in from the edge of each front.  I also made my v-neck decreases on the inside of this stockinette stitch column, and the increases to broaden the placket out into a shawl collar, on the inside of this stockinette stitch column, so I'd have a neat edging on each piece to sew right up to the top of each shoulder:

I just used ladder stitch, alternating from side to side, right along the "ladder" that forms on each side of the stockinette stitch column (which is actually a column of purl bumps on the wrong side, if that makes sense.)  Sigh - these geeky knitting details can make finishing a sweater deeply satisfying to my warped little knitter's soul.

The Train Show

I’ve shown some you photos of the incredible Greater Midwest Lego Train Club model train layout on this blog from time to time; but it is a room-size work of art that is in constant flux, being re-designed, reconfigured and modified.  I thought you might get a kick out of seeing some of the newer additions (or at least, new to me; I can walk around the room-size model a hundred times and still see something new that hasn’t caught my eye before).

This is the end scene from the original Planet of the Apes - that's Charlton Heston in front of the nearly-buried Statue of Liberty, likely screaming, "You Damn Dirty Apes!!!"

This is a nice little park.  There are flickering lights in the fountain to simulate moving water; a bicyclist; people lined up to buy ice cream; a woman painting, and kids playing on a swingset.

Lego has a new line of toys for girls, that competes quite nicely with the Polly Pockets of old.  And they also enabled the GMLTC-ers to re-envision the water tower as part of the opening credits of Petticoat Junction! (For you young people, you will just have to check out this YouTube link.)

There is also a grand new round house, with a turntable under construction, to provide some authentic storage for the lego steam engines.

In upcoming posts -

 - creations from my knitter-pals (including some spectacular shawls and a critter from Renay!);

 - a visit to the spectacular "Brasil" annual Macy's flower show; and

 - my visit to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm, which is both a vegetable AND a wool CSA!  Where you can contribute to the upbringing of a lovely little lamb, and have its coat to wash and spin into your very own yarn!  (Oh-oh, spinning?  I feel another craft coming on...)

XOXOXOXO,

Mar

The Kindness of Strangers (and Book Winners!)

 

Book Winners!

First of all, congratulations to our 3 book winners!  (Note - one of the books is used, a donation from a fellow-Raveler who felt that the patterns were a bit beyond her capabilities at present, but it is in good condition):

 - Ann Agrimson;

 - Linda. S. W.; and

 - Jennifer!

Just drop me an email to maryp55124 "at" yahoo.com and I will get your book on its merry way to your door!  I have lots to mail out this week; my dad wants to borrow my set of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones books.  He says all the bookstores near them in New Jersey have closed :(

And thank you all for your movie lists - I loved the descriptions, and am really fond of some of those movies.  I think my favorites are probably Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and The Bishop's Wife.  But I could probably list 100 movies without too much trouble.  Movies, books, yarn, food, and cups of tea; all that is required to make me completely content!

And I love all your comments.  Having this blog has made me feel like I have friends all over the place, and people with whom I can share my favorite topic (as well as lots of other random stuff).  It is like having pen pals; I feel like I've gotten to know some of you by now.

I am indeed planning on continuing to blog after this project; the only tricky part is whether I should keep this one going or start a new one, as the knitathon will be concluded at some point (I think maybe before Xmas!) 

Do you think I should start a new blog with a different name, or just keep going on this one?  Let me know if you have an opinion about that one way or the other; your advice would be much appreciated.

Ottoman Empire Jacket

YEEEE-HAHHHH!!!!   A VERY thankful shout-out to Raveler micstr, who happened to have the EXACT right dye lot of the Julia yarn I need, and who put it in the mail to me on Friday !!!  And she won't even let me send her money or any yarn, she said she bought it on sale and is just glad it will go to a good home!

SO, I went ahead and finished the back, and the fronts, of the Ottoman Empire Jacket, and blocked them this AM:

(I LOVE this kind of knitting - twisty stitches just are addictive to me somehow.  And this color.)  And tonight, I got started on one of the sleeves:

Although traditional Fair Isle has only 2 colors per row, some of the rows in this pattern have 3 colors (similar to the Princess Bride Mittens), so trying to keep the floats a reasonable length and not end up with a tangly mess is a bit of a challenge, but I love watching the patterns develop, row by row.

Hmmmm, what else is new in the Knitathon realm?

OH, since I'm on the colorful sleeves of the Ottoman Empire Jacket now, and Fair Isle just doesn't work well for travel-knitting, I decided to get going on the El Matador Jacket:

This is one of those layered knits, like the wonderful lace jacket on the cover of KOTOTW, pictured at the top of this post.  You make two separate starting pieces, which are made of k1, p1 rib with a neat little scallop effect, created by slipping a stitch every 6 stitches for the first 6 rows.  One is 2" high, and the other is 4".  Then you hold the two knitting needles holding each piece together and knit (well, rib-stitch) the two pieces together by alternately knitting and purling 2 stitches at a time, one from each needle.  It was  bit tricky to get the rib to work out, but I figured out finally how to get it to line up correctly.   Then you do another 2" in k1, p1 rib, and start the pattern stitch for the body, a 12-row repeat that will be easy as pie to knit on the bus. 

I also made some of the motifs for the next project, the Lisbon Lace Jacket:

The flower shapes are knitted from the outside, in.  I learned that I'm going to need to cast on more loosely to get them to lie flat! 

A First Sock!

I've been helping my friend Matthew figure out how to knit socks; we both work in downtown Minneapolis, so as he got to each new step (casting onto 4 needles; the heel; the instep; closing the toe), we met for lunch so I could show him how to do it.  And this week, TA-DAAAHHH!!! He finished sock No. 1!  These are for his daughter Olivia; he is going to knit the second one as fast as he can so her feet don't outgrow them before they are done!

My Favorite Scones:

Although it is really warm here - 60 degrees!  In March, yet!  I was in the mood to bake this morning, and made my favorite breakfast scones.  They freeze really well and are great to have on the way to work in the AM.  (I actually like them frozen, but a normal person would likely prefer to warm them up.  My mom used to bake batches of cookies and "hide" them in the freezer when we were little, so we just got used to snitching them and eating them when they were still frozen :D)

 

One batch makes 16, which is also kinda nice, if you are a lazy baker like me.

Mary's Favorite Scones:

Stir together:

 - 4 cups flour

 - 1 cup sugar

 - 1/2 tsp salt

 - 4 tsp baking powder.

Cut in 1 stick of butter like you are making pie crust until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  I do this with a pastry cutter, and then with my fingers.

Mix together:

 - 2 eggs;

 - 1 cup buttermilk; and

 - 1 Tablespoon vanilla.

Add to flour mixture; don't over-mix.  Add 1 cup of raisins (or chopped up apricots, or whatever you like).

Drop by half-cup-fuls onto cookie sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 until lightly browned at the edges. 

A Little Comedy!

Last night was a big treat; I took my brother Geoff, his wife Mary, and my son Nathan to see Louie Anderson, the stand-up comedian.   He got his start in the 1970's right here in Minnesota, at Dudley Riggs's Brave New Workshop.  When I was a freshman at the University of Minnesota in 1981-1982, I went to see him perform a number of times.  He was a friend of a man I was dating for awhile, Tom Pederson; during a cold winter's weekend we all realized that we hadn't made it home for Thanksgiving, and were regretting having missed out on turkey dinner, so we decided to have Thanksgiving in February!  I remember making the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie at Tom's apartment, with nothing but a old knife, a wine corkscrew, a tin pie plate and a cookie sheet!  Anyway, I haven't seen Tom, or Louie, in 20 years now.  But since Nathan is in the Youth Performance Group at Brave New Workshop, I thought he might get a kick out of seeing Louie, who got his start on the very same stage where Nathan and his group practice improv. And, since I've gotten to know the owners of Brave New Workshop through working on the Gilda's Club project, I want to support their brand-new theater whenever I can.

Louie's show was just lovely, and very sweet and nostalgic, too.  (He does a "clean" act, which is rare; most stand-up clubs only allow people 21 years or older, because the material is usually sort of R-rated stuff.  Nathan was the only minor there, however.)  Dudley Riggs was there last night, too., and you could tell Louie was very fond of him.  He told a lot of jokes that only true Minnesotans would understand, and just sort of riffed on things the audience would tell him, and we literally laughed until we cried.  (He also did some jokes about how you start falling apart at 50; since that is less than 2 months away for me, I cringed a bit at those...) 

At the end of the show, we had a chance to say hello, and I had my picture taken with him.  He asked me if I still knew Tom, but I told him we'd lost touch years and years ago.  It was nice to be able to tell him I've followed his career all these years and have been so happy for his success.

Next weekend, I'm taking Nathan to LaCrosse, Wisconsin again for the model train show; I will take pictures of some of the newest additions to the Greater Midwest Lego Train Club's ginormous model train layout, which Nathan is going to help set up on Friday!

Feeling happy, excited that spring is in the air, and glad to be zipping along again on my KOTOTW journey! 

XOXOXO, Mar

One Step Forward...

Well, the good news is, I FINALLY finished the Senorita's Floral Pullover, which means I have just 15 more projects to go in the KOTOTW Marathon!

I made it a bit longer (I could wear it as a tunic with leggings, as it covers my butt!)  Other than that, the only modifications I made were to put the scalloped trim on both sides of the red godets on each side:

I really like the flowers.  It took me a long time to get to them somehow - the prospect of sewing little beads onto each flower just seemed like a tough task, but once I got it going it was quite enjoyable.  The flowers are so ruffly you can hardly see the beading, but I know they are there :D

I'm looking forward to wearing this one; I have to introduce people on a legal panel on Thursday, so I think I'll get dressed up! 

That was the step forward... as for the step backward:

 

I got almost the whole back of the Ottoman Empire Jacket knitted this week:

I love how the zig zags are symmetrical on either side of the central rib.  I needed to lengthen it a couple inches, but I won't have enough yarn to finish it.  I am near the end of ball 5, I have 2 inches to go, and only 5 more balls!  Even though the fronts have a v-neck and will take a bit less yarn, the collar more than compensates for the difference in stitch count, and the cuffs and part of the sleeve Fair Isle is in the same color, too.

Sigh; I did a search on Ravelry to see if anyone had the right dye lot in their stash.  Only one person did, and she won't part with her 2 balls as the yarn is discontinued and she is saving them for a multi-colored Kristin Nicholas sweater.  I have messages in to about 6 other people begging for them to check the dye lot, but not everyone responds.

However, the oddly comforting news is, that the yarn that I used to make the Australian Alps Zip Jacket, Knit Picks Merino Style in Storm, is nearly identical, AND I have plenty left to make the entire Ottoman Empire Jacket:

Freaky, huh?  I'm tempted to just keep going, but the match isn't exact and I know it will bug me if the fronts are a different color than the back.  So I'm going to start again.  Luckily, I love cably things, and these are two-stitch cables that pass a single purl stitch behind each time, which are easy to do without a cable needle, so it won't take me too long to re-create the back and go on from there.

It was blissful to have a weekend without having to work; I cleaned my house (not so blissful) and then organized all the yarn I bought last year and put a bunch of yarn and projects up on Ravelry (totally blissful!)  Now I feel all set to tackle the last 15 KOTOTW projects, and know just where everything is to get them finished. 

Here's hoping your own spring cleaning is going well, and that you are finding time to knit in between the vaccuuming and scrubbing, too!

Book Giveaway:

One more week, folks!  (I forgot to set a deadline last time)... The deadline for winning a copy of KOTOTW is next Saturday, March 10, at midnight central standard time!  Just comment on this blog and tell me your 3 favorite movies, or if you would rather email me directly, email to maryp55124 "at" yahoo "dot" com!

 

XOXOXO, Mar.

And the Envelope, Please!

This will be a quick post (I know, Me??? a quick post?)  But the Oscars are on and I want to watch! 

I finally finished an onerous work task this weekend, so I'm hoping to catch up on my KOTOTW projects.  I had time today to block a shawl I've been knitting during bus trips to work and back for more than a year; it is a Monet Shawl from Morehouse Farms Yarn, in their amazing laceweight merino, one ply and yet strong and sturdy, in color Van Gogh's Haystacks:

I'm hoping to have a quiet workweek so that I can finish the flowers for the Senorita's Floral Pullover; we are having a knitting night on Thursday, so I will have friends to take photos of me!  And then onwards, to see if I really can finish the rest of the projects before the end of this year.

My son Nathan and I spend an awful lot of time at Target.  There is a massive Target store less than 2 miles from our house, and I do most of my grocery shopping there.  Since grocery shopping reminds me of my mom and childhood, I end up spending a lot of time there when I'm feeling anxious (which is mostly always).  I can tell I've been overly anxious lately because I have enough food in the house to live through a month-long snowstorm. 

Anyway, some things I noticed there yesterday sort of wierded me out.  First, walking past the toys, I saw this:

That's right - it is a Darth Vader plush toy.  Oh, and it talks.  So, this is what you give your toddler, so he can cuddle it and it can whisper things in his ear and lure him to the dark side????  Really?? They tried to make him cute by giving him a huge head and a tiny body, but still.  Darth Vader.  For a small child.  Words fail me.

And then, walking past the baby aisle, this caught my eye:

 

I just looked at this little activity center, and felt really sorry for the modern baby.  Look at all that stuff!  How confusing, overwhelming, and intimidating!  It is like the visual and tactile equivalent of a radio tuned to statuc!   Is this what you give your baby when you don't think she is multi-tasking fast enough?  Poor baby must feel like it is having hallucinations or something.  I think the one Nathan had, had just 3 little spinny wheels.  Red, Blue and Yellow.  That was it.  He was perfectly content. 

In other news....

We are expecting an honest-to-goodness snowstorm this week - they are predicting snows from Tuesday into Wednesday of up to 10 inches, heavy winds for drifting, the whole shebang!  Bring it on - I'm due for some serious knitting time!

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oh yeah - we are WAY overdue for a book giveaway.  I have 3 more copies of Nicky Epstein's Knitting On Top of the World.  If you would like one, send me a comment and let me know what your 3 favorite movies of all time are!

XOXOXO,

Mary

 

Many (Completely Random) Things I've Been MeaningTo Show You!

I have been swamped at work (MAN can that job get in the way of my knitting sometimes :D)  But I think about you every day, and have sort of gathered up this assortment of things.  As I go through my workaday life, I'll take pictures on my cell phone and think, "Oh, that would be fun to share on the blog!"  So what follows is an (almost entirely random) set of photos and stories about what has been going on in and around my life for the past two weeks.

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind notes about our Libby; Nathan and I were both very touched that you reached out.  We miss her every day and are doing our best to appreciate Madeline more, and to help her adjust to single-dog life.  She seems less sad, but is still a lot more clingy than usual.  She very much likes her new doggie bed, with her new silly monster blanket.

I also bought her a long purple stuffed dachshund toy with sqeakers in it; I gave it to her and went to cook dinner, and by the time I got back to the living room this was all that was left of it (you can see the little squeaker bubble - tee hee!):

As my work overload continues unabated, I don't have much progress to show you on KOTOTW stuff.  I finished the Senorita's Floral Pullover except for the floral embellishments.  I am waiting until after my big deadline next weekend to finish the flowers and attach them to the pullover, along with the decorative red scallop edgings for the godet inserts:

I also looked through the rest of KOTOTW to see if there was some relatively straight, uncomplicated knitting projects I could skip ahead to, and get started while commuting; I started the Egyptian Isis Tunic, and the Great Bear Zip Tunic, both of which have lots of straight rows of stockinette.  I'm really enjoying this one.  I decided to stitch on the V's on the bottom and upper stripes via duplicate stitch, but I did the motif in the middle with intarsia. 

My friend Brandon sent some incredibly cute pictures of his baby girl, Finley, including this one where she is making a very droll expression:

I was lucky enough to meet her in person yesterday, and she is tiny, calm and smiley -- everything you could wish for in a baby girl, indeed. 

I had a big closing at work; in addition to her full-time job, my friend Eva is also the Vice President of Gilda's Club Twin Cities, Inc., our local chapter of the Gilda's Club organization.  When GCTC was hunting for the right space to open their first Gilda's Clubhouse, I asked her if I could please-oh-please be their lawyer and help with the purchase (and my very generous law firm, Lindquist & Vennum, P.L.L.P., agreed to donate my time on a pro bono basis!)  After a very looooooonng due diligence process, we finally reached the finish line this Wednesday and closed the on the purchase of a sweet little 7,300 sf building to turn into a Clubhouse.  Between sellers, lenders, GCTC members, brokers and closers, about 14 people attended the closing at my office, many of us wearing the signature Gilda's Club colors of red and black.  It was far more emotional than your average real estate closing; before getting down to the nitty-gritty of signing documents, we went around the table and shared some stories about how cancer has affected us or the people we love.  think the sellers were very moved to realize that their beloved building would be used by and appreciated so much in future and would serve the considerable psychological and social support needs of people dealing with the challenge of cancer. 

GCTC also had a volunteer appreciation event last week, and I received an unexpected new comer volunteer award, which I didn't expect (I didn't even have the chance to write my, "I'd like to thank the members of the Academy" speech!)   But now I have a beautiful reminder on my desk of one of the most satisfying transactions of my career.  After all, it isn't every day a real estate lawyer gets to use her powers for good.

Nathan and I received a special care package from Russia!  Our exchange-student friend Anastasia sent us some Italian and Russian sweets in a box labelled "Noyta Pocchi" which maybe means express post or something.  We went to Target to pick up some more Oreos, Jelly Bellies, M&Ms and chocolate treats to send right back!  (I wish I had thought of sending some of those written candy hearts in time for Valentine's Day; but then I don't know if Russians celebrate Valentine's day - hmmm....)

This Thursday I attended a meeting for ULI (Urban Land Institute) and heard Ted Mondale speak about the state's plans to do a better job marketing the Twin Cities as a great place to work and live.  Minnesotans are really terrible at tooting their own horns, and as a result most people picture the Twin Cities as a sort of unlivable frozen tundra/swamp with lots of snow and mosquitoes.  It is actually a beautiful place to live, and we need todo a much better job at getting the word out.  So I will henceforth try to be less mocking about my adopted home.  After all, we have some killer yarn stores, and perfect sweater weather for most of the year!

Anyway, instead of concentrating on what Mr. Mondale had to say, I was mesmerized by this woman sitting in front of me who had lovely red hair swept up into a bun, held together by two sticks topped with giraffe heads (I love giraffes - they are sort of my totem animal, being so tall and all).  I introduced myself after the meeting and told her how I admired both lovely hair and ornaments, and asked if I might take a picture.  The lovely Ms. Alison Bell, who works for the Metropolitan Council, was happy to oblige.  She told me that she used to work with the Peace Corps in Africa and had multiple sets of giraffe sticks, and would be happy to give me a set (!)  Now I just need lots more long hair.  Oh, and some Irish heritage to make it red...

The Mondale event was at the McKnight Foundation's offices, which are located in the ruins of an old flour mill on the banks of the Mississippi River.  The Foundation had a beautiful art display by an artist named Cynthia Binger Boynton, a member of the board who was about to retire.  There was a little plaque relating the story of the pieces, which were all inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel, and started with a picture she had drawn at the age of 5.  I just thought they were both beautiful and fascinating:

My wonderful friend and fellow dachshund owner Kassia (for whom I made the tiny Audrey Hepburn) surprised me on Valentine's days with candy and this adorable luggage tag:

Simply adorable.  Kassia manages to find dachshund-related gifts of every sort.  I think that she would be amazing at one of those Hollywood jobs where you have to find objects to create movie sets, as she seems to have an unending ability to find obscure and perfect things like this.

I bought my friend Renay that new book of knitted cats for Valentine's Day and walked down the street to deliver it after my big closing.  Renay was wearing this lovely hand-knitted vest, which I immediately coveted fiercely, until I remembered that Renay weighs maybe 67 pounds and can thus wear a bulky knit like this and still appear lithe and thin:

Speaking of knitting by others, my sister finished her Catkin!  (Mine is on hold until my work project is over with, sigh - so much for a January knitalong!)  Here it is being blocked last weekend.  I asked my sister for a shot of her modelling it, but she is in San Diego this weekend teaching at a real estate law boot camp, which sounded like fun until she told me that it ran from 9 AM until 10 PM.  Not much time to enjoy San Diego, apparently...  I love the colors she chose, and can't wait to see her wearing it!  My goal is to get mine done by May so that we can wear them when we go to the Lake Elmo Shepherd's Harvest festival together!

 

I read an article in a knitting magazine about a man in Texas who lost his family and was living on his grandfather's abandoned farm, and making a living selling hand-knitted bears on Etsy.  I thought that I would buy a bear to lend him some support, and also because I thought our guest-blogger baby Adeline might appreciate a new friend:

And finally, some Legos.  My son Nathan has a Lego city on the credenza in the kitchen/dining room, of this row of buildings.  Lego recently issued a kit for the same row of buildings in miniature, which is pretty cute.  I'm thinking I would like one for my office, being a real estate lawyer and all:

Anyway, in the full-size version of the city, he sets up these little vignettes with various figures, doubtless for his own amusement.  But I check them out now and again and they really crack me up. 

Here, for instance, is SpongeBob's friend Patrick.  Judging from the guy coming up behind him with a sword and a wand, I think he is in trouble:

The mini-figure of me looks to be in quite a predicament; I'm apparently facing off with Voldemort, who has the ghost of Davy Jones from Sponge Bob swirling about his head:

This guy sort of cracked me up; evidently he is on sentry duty, but decided to enjoy a Popsicle while on the job (you'll note the teeth marks on his helmet; unfortunately Libby thought Lego mini-figs made great chew-toys):

This is my current favorite.  Nathan and I are listening to Harry Potter in the car during rides to school and on errands, so we talk about the books a lot. Evidently the valiant Dobby is defending Harry (with his owl Hedwig cowering behind him) from Lucius Malfoy, while standing atop the train to Hogwarts!

You just never know what might be going on in the little town that lives in my dining room.

I hope everything is going very well in your little towns!  Before you know it spring will be here, too, which for Minnesotans means shedding the extra layers of coats and hats and mittens.  Somehow I always feel like I've lost all this weight by May, when in fact it is mostly just a lot of extra woolens.

XOXOXO, Mar