The Children...Four-legged Ones...

My babies are jealous! They can see the computer screen...and they said that lately everyone has pictures of their babies on the computer...Miss Lulu even has a header. So, I promised them that I would post their pictures so everyone could see them...


This is Rupert - he is 9 years old...He and his brother don't get along and got into a fight and Rupert lost his eye. You can hardly tell - but, he stays in his playpen most of the time - if his brother is out. He has a cheerful disposition and is very sweet. He is a Shepeke.



Prozac (Zac - for short) is a Jack Russell/Dalmatian... and yes, he and Killian are about the same size. Killian was rescued when he was a tiny kitty and now weighs in at 23 pounds. Zac is around 28. Zac and Rupert do not get along...and up until recently Killian used to live in mortal fear because Zac thought his ears were detachable. Now they are together all the time. Go figure! Killian is 9 years old and Zac is three.

This would be Isis Dreamweaver and she is my baby girl. She is part Lab and Weimaraner. She is a lover...she will sit and lay as close to you as possible...just has this need to be attached at your hip if you are sitting. She is 7 years old this year. She, too, was a rescue. All of our animals with the exception of Rupert have been rescues.

Apollo is the gray and white cat and Flood would be the one laying in the flower bed playing with the air - her favorite thing to do. We do not know how old either of them are...they came to live with us in Tennessee and we brought them with us. Zeus chose not to have his photo taken at this time...

April Project Spectrum...

The colors for the month are yellow and orange! I joined the Post Card Swap also. Yesterday, my mail had this wonderful card from Jen.

It is a great card and I especially like the knitted heart she made for the card. She used crochet thread to knit it...now that thin tread!!!

This swap has been fun. Getting to know Jen through her blog has been interesting. Her world is all the way across the US as she lives in Seattle...

Once Jen gets her card, I will post what I made for her...

Jen...thanks again...it was a fun month!

Knitting...

I've been quite busy knitting these lovely socks for myself and just finished the first one while at Panera Bread on Sunday.

It suddenly dawned on me that Scarlett's mother is coming to visit on May 18th - and her birthday is May 3. Scarlett said I told her I was going to knit a pair of socks for her mother - but, I don't remember that...I said I was going to knit a shawl for her -

So on Monday I went searching for some soft comfy yarn in my totes - found this lovely Homespun which her mother will love. So, I have put aside my socks for the moment and am working on the shawl. It should go fast enough as it is on 10 needles. The other thing is that it will be easy for her mother to care for.

The newest yarn aquistion is for my daughter's socks. Isn't it lovely? I do enjoy knitting with Encore - and it once again is an easy yarn to knit something out of for Tara as if she is anything like me hates to hand wash anything. I especially love the color as it reminds me of bluejeans fabric...and since she likes to wear jeans - these will go perfectly.

Sunday...

Was pretty much rainy and yucky! Scarlett and I left early in the morning to head for the Manchester Airport (oops - the Manchester Boston Regional Airport - wait till somebody flies in there and finds out Boston is an hour away and there isn't a damn cab or shuttle bus to get you there!).

Ahh, but I digress - Scarlett flew to Minnapolis for four days...(lucky her)...After waving goodbye for a while and watching her settle in to wait for her flight to board - I left and headed for Nashua to meet up with the SnB NH group.

Stopped at a wonderful bookstore "The Toadstool Bookshops" in Milford. Great bookstore. While there I managed to pick up a 9-years-together gift (can't tell you what it is...yet...).

Well, can you believe it - there I was heading in on 101W when I saw a sign stating "Yarn Shop"... so I made this U-turn and head in...they didn't open until Noon so I sat in the car reading during the eight minute wait. But. lo and behold - next door to the yarn shop was a quilt store only they weren't open...:(

Covered Bridge Creations was the yarn shop and I ended up buying some really nice yarn for a pair of socks for my daughter.

From there it was time to hit Target (we don't have one close to where we live) so it is always a treat to go. They of course had Easter candy and stuff at 90% off - so, I got some Peeps and Bunnies and a few cards. Picked up my Methods French Lavender Floor Cleaner and some laundry soap. Manage to find Scarlett's birthday present (which is May 2) there...and she'll never guess what it is...nor will she ever believe I thought about this!

Then it was off to hook up with the Nashua SnB NH group. What fun it was to meet Folkcat and her husband, Patrice, Michelle, and four other people whose names just escaped my brain. The items being knitted were very diverse and included: socks, scarf, purse, cell phone case, shawl, and a kerchief. Folkcat and her husband were taking apart some wonderful sweaters that were made of cashmere and can't remember what else...they will be re-knit into some other wonderful creation.

Pulled out about 5 PM and headed for home...all in all, it was a pretty good day!

This and that...again...

Only four more boxes and the office/craft room upstairs will be finished...at least with opening and putting away the stuff in the boxes...I did find some photos and things that I wanted to hang on the walls - so will need to get that done.

Put the solar lights out today by the walkway that leads to the front door. Checked my flower beds and things are really popping up. Need to get a camera out there in the next day or two.

Sunday, Scarlett leaves for Minneapolis (think Mall of America...which I am sure is where she will be every free moment...) for a three day conference and will be home late Wednesday night. It was one of those cities that I sort of wanted to go to - and I could have if I would have been able to get respite for mother - but, it wasn't a city that just screamed "Come see me"! Now had it been Chicago, Boston, NYC, Savannah - then maybe I would have pushed myself a little to go.

We will only have a couple of weeks after Scarlett gets back to get ready for my sister's arrival - but, I am feeling much more confident that we will be ready...hey, last time she was here there were boxes stacked to the ceiling in every room but Mother's bedroom and our bedroom...at least now there is an occasional box - and those are mostly photos that need to be hung - but we haven't painted the stairway where we want them to go.

Well, I am off to finish a block for our previous quilt guild president and I am trying hard to match everything up...I'll post a photo in the next few days...

Bag of Fleece...

Well, the bag of fleece is staying with Cheryl for the time being. She has offered to wash, card, and spin the gorgeous brown fleece into yarn for me. Needless to say there aren't enough words to thank her for this very generous offer - and it is nice to find someone who understands how sentimental this yarn has become to me.

She has posted photos on her blog showing what she has already accomplished with the fleece. I will be posting photos when it comes home....

March Project Spectum

My creation
Originally uploaded by NHSara.

I am way late in posting my photos for Project Spectrum for March. The colors were red and pink.

I am enjoying seeing how much color I really have all around me each and every day.

Just stuff...

It is for sure that my time wasn't wasted when I spent it planting all those bulbs in the two flower beds at the front of the house and in the flower bed that runs the length of the house...as just in the last few days I am seeing sprouts of varying colors creeping up through the dirt. This is the second spring we have lived here and our first spring brought lots of irises and not much else. So, I got brave and planted tulips and more irises and who knows what else...it the what else that I wonder about.

We have a lovely yard area - the front has some nice space between the house and the road...but it was fairly empty and devoid of any plants except for a few bushes on one of the stairs that were right next to the house with a lot of blank space in between the bushes. On the other side of the stairs is a flower bed surrounded by rocks which had a tiny little plant in it and again right next to the house a bunch of irises.

The flower bed with the rocks is the one I chose to fill with who knows what, tulips and more irises. Then Scarlett and I got brave and built a flower bed around one of the trees in the front yard...this is also planted wtih tulips, irises and who knows what. Right by the driveway where I park my car is a big wooden barrel that I planted with tulips (I think).

Our side yard is devoid of plants except for those irises that are planted right next to the house. It is a lovely side yard and is shielded from the street by a very pretty hedge. I want to do something with the side yard and not sure what. Right now there is a lonely bird bath sitting there. I want some chairs and a small table there I think. Maybe this year we can get that.

The back yard is totally fenced in with privacy fencing (thank goodness - as our dogs do love to bark) . There are two small flower beds - both next to the garage building. We have a patio made of brick and we have our table and chairs on it as well as our grill. The rest of the yard does not have much in it - other than a small fire pit and a huge cast iron caldron. The back yard seems to be the dogs area - and they enjoy the freedom of running loose.

We also have an other area of yard that is on the other side of the driveway that leads to the garage...it is just a small area with a flower bed that runs the length of the fence and another one of those wooden barrels. I may plant my lettuce and tomatoes in that area this year.

Soon I will post some photos of our yard and plants - until then I will wait and see what blooms.

My yarn is...

Today I went over to Hodgepodge Yarn Shop - I am so excited to know what goodies Mike gifted me with...

The large 10" across cake that is on a cone and the beige tall cone is yarn that one uses as warp on a loom. I asked if I could use it to knit with - and she said that I could but it would be better if I double stranded it.

The small cakes are used with a shuttle on a loom to create the design I guess - but she said that they are also considered lace weight as they are double stranded even though they are very thin...

But, the best - the fiber I have in the bag - (after she felt it and smelled it) is from a sheep...directly from a sheep - does not appear to be washed - although she said there were some pieces of a lighter gray that appeared to be washed. So, it will need to be washed and then spun into yarn. She also said that it was very beautiful fiber.

I really want to do that - it would be wonderful to have that as yarn that I could knit something out of.

Once things settle down around here and I finish unpacking the office and get the house the way I want it - I am going to get the big floor model loom he left me and take a photo of it. I know the store in Asheville where he bought the loom and I am thinking that I could send a photo of it to them and they could maybe give me information about it. I also have some accessories that I have no idea what to do with. He also gifted me with a triangle loom that he made himself. His partner, Carl, had no idea if there was a book or anything that came with the big loom.

Yarn and more yarn...

Mercy, I just opened another tote in the Craft room/Office that I am unpacking the last few boxes in and guess what I found...if you say "yarn" you are right!

Several skeins each of wonderful yarns along with a half-knit afghan in a checkerboard pattern in grey and purple. Really need to finish that one - it is very pretty.

But, I found some yarn that is strange to me...it came from my friend, Mike - who gave me two looms when he passed away. It looks like lace yarn - very thin like what I saw in the quilt store in Concord that the lady said was lace yarn. There are four small cakes (for the lack of a better word) - one each of a green, navy, lavander, and black. Then there is the huge cake - 10 inches across on a cone in gray and a smaller more upright cone in beige.

Also, found a big plastic bag full of what looks like fleece that comes off a sheep. It is brown and I don't know if anything has been done to it or not...

So, tomorrow, I am going up to the local yarn shop (in the next town over - that is the closest) as I think she can tell me what it is I have...and help me figure out a way to use it. She raises sheep and alpacas and spins her own wool. If the fleece stuff can be turned into yarn I really want to do that for sentimental reasons.

Anyway, that was my adventure today...

New Socks for Scarlett...

Here is the second pair of socks I have knit for Scarlett. They are done in an acrylic yarn as she has problems with wool. I am pleased because this was the pair that I actually did a stitch gauge on and ended up knitting them on a size 3 needle as opposed to a 5 which I knit both her first pair and my first pair of socks.

Boston...

Boston just has to be one of my very favorite cities...NYC and Vancouver, British Columbia would rank right up there with Boston...

But, we live close enough to be able to drive to Boston on a regular basis and I am just thrilled.

Here are Scarlett and I at the Museum of Fine Art. (That's me in the red coat) The MFA is just overwhelming and we had a wonderful time wandering around for several hours...not to mention that we ate lunch there and the food was truly good! We ate downstairs in the cafeteria section and had some of the best chicken strips with a pesto. Really, really good!

This is a piece of public art at one of the T-stops - It was a huge T-stop and was close to the MFA - on the Orange line I think. Just thought that this was an awesome piece of artwork.

We were in Boston to see Eve Ensler's play The Good Body which was just wonderful!

Always enjoy my trips to Boston...

Graduation...

Big day around our house! Scarlett just received her Bachelor's degree!! It is a really exciting time for her as well as the rest of the household. She has been taking classes since 2003 while working full-time...and I know it has been a struggle for her. So, just wanted to say: Really proud of you! You did good!!!!