Favorite Photos From this Summer

(1) Regal Moth, (2) Frazier kayaking at Madison County Lake (he doesn't have his roll yet, so he's still on flatwater), (3) Fawn bedded down, pretending we're not there, (4) a Chuck-will's-widow sitting on his eggs (males incubate in these birds), (5) Puppies all sitting AT THE SAME TIME!, (5) Ruby-throated hummingbird at the feeder, we had at least 6 hummingbirds fighting over the feeder this summer - it was very entertaining!

A trip to the past and one to home

Summer is here... it's miserably hot and humid, all day, every day. I really don't know how people survived before air conditioning. I think about the women in the 18oo's wearing those big dresses with all the layers - no wonder they fainted all the time. And all those people picking cotton in the fields - I really don't know how they do it. Ten minutes in full sunlight in weather like this is enough to send me into a grumpy mood its hard to get me out of.

I've been super busy lately and really haven't had time to knit at all. I'm still plugging away at the same old projects.

Jamie - it was great to see you pictures & your skirt looks great! I'm glad you got to make it through Wisconsin and some parts of the midwest. That part of WI is really beautiful - all the rock formations and bluffs along the Mississippi River are amazing. That is all part of the driftless area of WI, meaning that no glaciers went over that land, so it is very different from the rest of the state. The topography, and a lot of the plants and animals found there are unique to that part of the state. Aren't the Badlands amazingly interesting? When I went there I thought it was so crazy how you drive for miles, and miles, and miles, and miles of flat nothingness (but no shortage of Wall Drug billboards) and then these incredibly strange formations pop out of the land, almost like aliens put them there or something. They are very beautiful in a very weird way! And the grasslands have a very subtle beauty. But if you get out and explore them, there is so much to see and explore... Its just not big and bold like mountains or the ocean. Did you see any prairie dogs? They are so cute!

I hope that you are settling into things in Carson City and are having fun exploring your new home. Bill & I are super excited to come visit in September!

What I've been up to...

Can you tell I like pictures??? The top one is of part of our group from Relay for Life, which we did a few weeks ago with a friend of mine that is a cancer survivor (unfortunately, he's not in the photo). We made those shirts, though... we cut out stencils from cereal box cardboard and then spray painted them. Pretty nice, huh? My big project right now is the boxer shorts you can see in the picture - I'm making mine green... almost done with the first panel. The socks are for Sockapalooza4 - I'm not sure about them... What do you think? My sock pal said she doesn't want anything too girly or lacy. I guess they're pretty girly, although not too lacy. Should I try a different pattern? The yarn in the next picture is dyed with hibisucs flowers I got at the natural food store (for tea) and turned out a kind of purply color. I like it! And the bottom ... summer food - I love it! Veggie pasta salad and rice pudding. I don't know if rice pudding is really a summer food, but I always seem to make it in the summer. Its sooo YUMMY!

A day in the life of me...

1. Yarn dyeing paraphanalia 2. Ivy dye bath with yarn 3. Yarn dyed with ivy, virginia creeper, virginia creeper with iron added, and red clover 4. Frazier! 5. Afternoon tea and knitting 6. Ivy & Virgina Creeper dyebaths 7. Bankhead crew 8. Albinistic hooded warbler we caught a couple days ago

Another Thing To Be Jealous Of...

SPRING IS HERE!!! Well, in Alabama, at least... Its been blue skies, shining sun, birds singing, sweet breezes blowing, and flowers growing!

And since the weather's, been nice, Ive been able to spend lots of time outdoors with the pups... Frazier's current favorite toy is a frisbee that he chewed the center out of. He loves it so much, he remembers where he leaves it everytime he has to come inside. As soon as he is out the door, he goes straight for it (And we all know that he can't see...)

He loves it so much he shakes it so hard that he has to spin in circles to accomodate for the force at which he shakes.

And when he's tired, he likes to wear it around his head, as a sort of frisbee crown.

And now you're probably wondering what Porter has been up to, right? Well, let me tell you. Remember that lovely quilt I made for Bill. Take a looky at it since Porter got to spend some time with it:

I will admit, I cried. I guess I can patch it up, but it will be really noticable & icky looking. I guess thats what you have to deal with when you have dogs, but couldn't he have chewed something less valuable?

Not to leave on a sour note, here is one last picture. The start of my sock. This yarn is incredible! I love it, thank you so much, Jamie. It is going to make the neatest socks around!

Bird Nerd

Ovenbird. My favorite. Have you ever seen a bird with more personality?

Northern Flicker. It is absolutely beautiful, don't you think? The yellow coloration on its wings comes from what it eats. Birds from the west have redish/pink wings & birds from the east have yellow wings. Interesting, huh?

These pictures were taken last fall at a bird banding station that was run by one of the other grad students in my department. They caught a ton of birds migrating south for the winter. A friend and I went one day to help out, and these were pictures he took.

And I present to you the entrlac scarf:

Check this out!

Snow! I woke up to snow in the yard this morning, and its almost 11am, and there is still snow on the ground... I was so so so excited, and so was Frazier (he LOVES snow), but it is really wet and slushy, so no snow angels or snowmen. :( I wish I would have been up when it was actually snowing, because that is my favorite part, but it was in the middle of the night and I was asleep.


So, I got some yarn for the Venus sweater. It looks really purple in this picture, but its more pinky-purply. I was kind of hoping for a steel grey color, but I had a hard time finding yarn, so I couldn't be too picky. It was either this or bright pink. It is actually a really similar to the color of the one on the model. Its 100% wool, which I didn't want, but it is really light and soft, so I hope it makes for a good sweater. I worked on it quite a bit last night, I think it will be fast - I'm using size 15s.

P.S. Love your scarf. Very retroesque. Can't wait to see the finished product.