New fun going on!

While I am still knitting on my sweater made with Molly, and my new knitting class of squares for an afghan there is more fun to be had!

We are having a yarn crawl this weekend, Sept 26-29th.  We have four days to visit all of the participating yarn shops/fiber stores in San Diego County!  My friend Tammy and I have been planning this weekend for weeks.  It is our Birthday weekend.

First we are dying our hair, hers will be purple and mine will be blue (of course).  Then we have mapped out all the stores by days so we will get to them all.  Except for Sunday when we will go to church, have a pot luck there and them Cake and Ice cream at her house after.  My birthday is the 28th and hers is the 30th.  (Sunday is in the middle so a great day to celebrate!

I have never done a yarn crawl before and am looking forward to it!  Pictures to follow for all to see.

Working on an Afghan for a hand knitting class

I signed up for a hand knitting class this semester.  I have wanted to do this for a long time.  I just kept putting it off, and now that I have someone who wants to take it with me, I am taking the plunge.

The project for the class is a pattern stitch Afghan.  Which means it is 42 squares in different pattern stitches put together to make an afghan.  I haven't even got to go to the class yet. But my friend Kelly did and brought me the directions and I have started knitting the squares.  We are 5 squares behind.  I missed the first week because I was still working and then my dr's appointment was last Wednesday.

The idea is to knit 2 squares a week to keep up with the class.  That is fine, except I am also going to spin all the yarn that it will take to make this thing.  I have so much wool and it is silly not to use it.  Besides, when I am done it will be very special indeed. 

I am spinning Isabella (Columbia Sheep) and plying it with "Cotton"  (Moreno).  It should be pretty cozy.  They are both white, really a cream color and it will show the stitch definition really well.

This is the first square.  Four more to finish by Wednesday.  I probably will not catch up the first week.  I will just plug away until I am caught up.

Knitting the Circumnavigated Cardigan!

     This has been such a fun summer.  First off I got to go back to work at the Races so that was fun.  Getting to see all the people I have worked with before and a few new ones.  It was a pretty uneventful season and went way too fast!

     Then we started knitting the Circumnavigated Cardigan as a knit-a-long with my spinning group so I was truly motivated to finish one I had started two years ago.  I did finish it and am moving right along on my new one started this summer.

     The first one was knitted out of Encore, an acrylic/wool blend that I truly love to knit with.  It is machine washable and always looks great.  I usually make the kids slipper socks out of it.  This one was a tweed in Navy Blue. 

 

The new one I am knitting is from Molly's Wool and I am spinning the yarn as I go.  I have part of it done and love the way it is turning out. 

 

The knitting went slowly because it is so much finer that the yarn I used in the first one, but then it will be a lighter weight sweater.  The thing is it is wool so it will be warm.  It does get cold enough to wear this at sometime during the winter so I will enjoy it when that happens. 

 

I did work on a third sweater this summer that I started sometime last year.  It is all kinds of yarn put together to make a stripped sweater that is knit sideways.  I am not sure it will fit me, but it will fit someone.

 

That was pretty much it for now.  I am taking a hand knitting class this semester so I can learn to do better.  We are knitting 42 different stitch patterns in squares and then putting them together in an afghan.  I am using My Isabella's wool plied with My little Moreno "Cotton"  Should be pretty. We have to knit two blocks a week so I will probably struggle to keep up.

 

BACK TO DEL MAR!

The racing season at Del Mar is in total swing!  Opening Day was the smoothest ever!  All were excited to get it going!  Now we have 37 days of racing.  The season ends Sept 4th.  Happy Racing to all.  Just a few pictures of the beauty that surrounds us every day!

INDEPENDANCE DAY 2013!

Had a great 4th of July this year!  The holidays are so hard here all by ourselves.  I know my Mom and Ginger are here, but they don't really interact with us.  Ron doesn't care as much as I do, but after people leave he always says that was fun, I miss having people here.

Amy's daughter and I became friends after Amy passed away and I don't know if you call it friends, since I have known her since she was a little girl.  What I didn't know of her personally I knew her from stories Amy (her mother)  would tell me about her and her family.  I felt like I already knew them all because of Amy's stories.

Now I have gotten to know them all better and they came for the weekend.  Rick Wendy's husband and three of the four kids came to camp out and have a relaxing time.  The oldest daughter is married (Daphne) and even her husband flew in after getting off work on Friday.

Daphne is a ballerina and her husband Eric is helping her with a dance step.  Pretty interesting.
There was plenty of time to rest in the hammock.

We cook on the Bar-B-Que, mostly hotdogs and sausages.  I made potato salad and some great beans.  We had smore's and something they call campfire donuts.  Very good by the way.  and lots of long lingering conversations and lots of looking forward the future. 

Rick is training in Oxnard to go over to Afghanistan in Sept.  He will be there for almost a year.  I sure hope all that war stuff cools down.  I think America need a break from war.  This was the perfect time for all the kids that could come to spend time with their Dad.  They really made the most of it.

They went to Julian and had pie           

 

 

Another day they all went to the beach.  Daphne and Eric live in Arizona so the beach was a big attraction.  They all got wet and sandy and had a great time.

 

 

Two beautiful Sister at the Beach in San Diego.

Bethany and Hanna

Bethany, Daphne, Caleb and Hanna at the beach.

There was plenty of time for tree climbing too!  Caleb climbed the Oak tree that hasn't had any one climbing it in a long, long time.  Fun to watch!

 

I just have to share my favorite family portrait of Amy's family.  I still miss her so much.  There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of something I need to tell her, or ask her advice on.  She was the kind of friend that you could talk to about anything and know you were loved and understood and never judged.

Most of the time My blog is for my family so they can see what we are doing and what is going on in our lives.  This one is for me.

MY ROOM IS SHAPING UP!

We have been working on my room for close to three years.  I finally feel like it is done.  (except for the shower in the bathroom, but I don't care about that.)  I have most things organized and all my yarn up on shelves.  We put up a lot of extra shelves in case of what ever.   I love being in there because I am surrounded by all the things I love. 

My friend Tammy and I spent the morning Friday in my room warping for new projects.  It was really fun and I got to use my new piece of equipment.  It's called a warping mill and it is so much faster than a warping board.  Anyway I am ready to weave for the summer.  I just have to finish getting the warp on my loom.  Ron will help with that, but it is so hot right now we have to do it in the early morning.  Maybe tomorrow.

This is my warping mill.  It is used to measure warp.  This is the first time I have used it and it is very cool.  Makes measuring warp very fast and very easy.

Ron got all my shelves up and I have my yarn out where I can see it and be inspired.  This is my rainbow of yarn. 

This is where all the black and brown live.  Also all the cotton dishcloth yarn.  The door to the left is the bathroom.  I also have a kitchen area for dyeing and washing wool.

My rug looms and some of my favorite flags.  Also the shelves for baskets and other treasures.

Better view of baskets and treasures. 

view from the ladder.  First half

Last half. So beautiful.  At the end of the room is my kitchen area.  You can see the washer there for washing wool and doing some felting. 

Then there are the tubs of wool and roving and some handspun yarn.  Lots of exciting fiberie things.
I have more than I will ever use, but I keep trying to get caught up.  For having so much stuff, I actually know where most of my stuff is.  The tubs are labeled with a number or letter and I have a notebook to tell me what is in that tub. It works for me.

 

 

 

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

     So glad you asked!  It grows great.  I only have a little garden this year.  Two half wine barrels infact

     Since I work all summer, I hate to sign Ron up to do one more thing for me so I didn't plant a real
garden this year. ( he doesn't eat veggies anyway so it's kinda not fair)  Sooooo I only planted stuff I really wanted.  Three plants to a barrel and it is doing really good.  I am enjoying this very much and have been planting flowers in my pots also.  But that is for another day.

      The first one is the cumber , zucchini , and Anaheim Chili.  They are doing good and already have stuff on them.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                          



This is the barrel with the tomatoes in it.  There are three, patio, little yellow pear shaped, and Mr Stripey, one I just wanted to try.  My favorite is the little yellow ones.  They never make it into the house, I usually eat them on the way.

This one has a cucumber, an Anaheim Chili, and a Zuccinni plant.  They are all doing really good.  The cucumber is flowering like crazy!

First cucumber.  Can't wait!

 

Future cucumber.  It is so fun to watch them grow.  I only have one plant, so probably no pickles this year, but I will have cucumbers  for my salad.  That makes me happy.