Emptyknitster

At the beginning of the summer I discovered a new knitting podcast to watch, Single Handed Knits . Mel is an inspiration! She thought up a KAL to coincide with this fall's election and called it Sock The Vote . We are to spend October knitting socks, either top down (the Cuffy Party), bottom up (the Toe'd Party), the Green Party (socks with green in them) or Undecided Party (Spiffy-Iffies). Unfortunately, there was an unexpected party formed: The Undelivered Party (yarn is still in transit).  Sadly, I became a reluctant member! I am amazed at how everyone in this podcast group have gathered around The Underlivered Party and aligned themselves with the unfortunate ones! I have been gifted a pattern (a lovely cardigan pattern named Waiting Cardi) as well as received many notes from group members living all over the world. For me the comradery is a wonderful and unexpected bonus! I believe I will receive a replacement package tomorrow and life will return to normal but I must ...

It has been a very busy beginning of the school year! So busy in fact I haven't even had time to post even a tiny blog, or finish one knitting project - until this weekend... I love my new school assignment, I'm a science and math specialist for 3rd - 5th graders but keeping ahead of 450 students is difficult.  When I returned to school at the end of August the classroom was filled with my boxes and items left behind by the former teacher. With a lot of hard work I was able to create a great science classroom. Each day is filled with math games and hands on science activities, the kids love coming and I love having them! The end of the month brought a birthday and I'm still celebrating. The day before my birthday my long time friend, Kendy, came to town and we had pedicures, shopped, ate out, went to a movie, played a board game and jumped into the hot tub. In the morning it was breakfast, more shopping and then home to spend the day with hubby.  This weekend the gals a...

Darlene, a long time and good friend, went to Gemany this summer to see her darling grandsons. Darlene hasn't been knitting a year but has heard me talk about Wollmeise and the fact it's worth its weight in gold to knitters everywhere.  After listening to my description of the beautiful colors and items made in this yarn she was bound and determined our community of knitters were going to be knitting on Wollmeise in the fall. Not only was she able to buy multiple skeins but she bought the yarn at the annual "Nobody's Perfect" sale and got a screaming deal on each of the skeins! Darlene said it is a TINY shop and the women there were sticky buns to sticky buns around the entire shop. If a skein dropped to the floor there was no way to wedge your way down to pick it up! When the German women bought their skeins the immediately went out the door to the picnic tables in front of the shop, ripped opened the packages, took photos and began to knit!   I immediate...

Monday started with a fire and Friday ended with one - just in another direction! It is a repeat of Monday. As I was driving home I looked into the horizon and there was a plume of smoke, just in another direction, north of Billings. It quickly exploded into 2,000 acres. The Chick is there now and it is Hubby's destination tomorrow. The skies have been smoky all week. The poor ranchers and farmers. PS. On a lighter note, I love my new assignment as science teacher - I have been dubbed "Professor" and the kiddos love my sidekick Morty McMasters!

Today was the first day of school for the teachers, students will be arriving on Wednesday. With a new superintendent in the district, there are many changes afoot.  Beginning with today's agenda, it was an interesting day at school and ended with me coming home to this: The fire was six miles away and with the wind blowing in the opposite direction from our home we are safe. Over two thousand acres of much needed feed for cattle is going up in smoke and with the drought this year this may prove disasterous for our nearby ranchers. "The Chick Who Flew the Coop" has taken two weeks of vacation from her office job at the state capitol to fight fires this summer - what got her through collage and she thought was out of her system apparently is still there. Like father like daughter, they are currently both fighting on this fire.

"Luwak Coffee, or Civat Coffee, is made out of coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet. After being collected, the coffee beans are higienically processed and perfectly roasted for the complex distinctive flavors." For years my BFF and I have said that the only person we know who would drink "Poo Coffee" would be my son-in-law, the California Dreamin' Boy. Well, we were given a big surprise this spring when that very young man went to Asia and brought back "Poo Coffee" not for him - but for US! We decided it had to be a special occasion when we drank the coffee. Perhaps the first morning of our summer. But it didn't work out and week after week we kept putting the event off. Finally, our coffee could no longer be delayed and today, the last morning of our summer, we indulged. With heirloom and handpainted china, a cutwork tablecloth from Germany, scones and lemon butter we had a...