Emptyknitster

Our family has a competition every year called "The First Fawn Of The Season." It must be a documented sighting (photo) and if you have an U nconfirmed F awn O bservation - or UFO - it is NOT a win. For Hubby, ever a competitor, this is one of the best contests ever! Today he had a UFO, about two weeks earlier than usual but the weather has been mild. Immediately he put his good camera in his truck so he'll be prepared to be a winner! Photo coming soon, I'm sure!

The Tiger was all about this yarn dyeing thing!! At Easter, after we'd dyed our eggs with Koolaid, we went right into sock blanks using the same ingredients. This sock blank secretly has The Tiger's name painted on it but as any mom knows, a 9 year old thinks “If a little is good then MORE MUST be better” and they ended up a blob of color - I knit a sock from each end and finished with some fairly matched socks. Pattern: Basic Ribbed Socks Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Stroll Single Strand Socks Colorway: Secret Agent Man Needle Size: US Size 1

I've been waiting for three weeks to knit the ribbed cuff and cast off the second sock on Kate's Easter socks. (NO cheating for me in my pursuit of the 5k finish line!) "My Cup Of Tea" is a free sock pattern. Although it is a top down pattern I knit it from the toe up so the design is upside down yet still pleasing. The other modification I made was to only knit the front of the sock in pattern and not up the back heel as the designer intended - just laziness on my part. All in all, it is a beautiful pattern and not difficult to knit.  I will definitely knit more socks using this pattern. The Chick decided to dye her sock blank in a diagonal pattern.   In my opinion, this yarn ended up the prettiest of our Easter Yarn. By the time the Chick began dyeing we had thought through the knitting process and so tried to divide the yarn in half and duplicate the two sides. The Chick and I decided next time we will use more koolaid in the dye hoping to make a strong...

Although I've been knitting as usual, I've also been in training for the 5K Stash Dash! This means no finished projects until NOW! Training involved all the knitting you could do but the last row could not be knit or bound off until after the starting gun had been sounded...and that was 12:01am, May 22nd. So far the finished items are: Pattern:Stashbuster Spirals, with Fish Lip Kiss Heels Yarn: Heritage sock yarn, Patons Kroy 4ply Colorway: Red, Eclipse Stripe, and Gentry Grey Needle Size: US Size 1   Pattern: Vanilla Socks, with Fish Lips Kiss Heel Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tweed Colorway: Farmhouse heather Needle Size: US Size 1 BTW, I'm already a winner, I won a free pattern just for entering the Dash, yeah!!

Hubby and I, with a reluctant Denali, drove to Helena for the weekend. Hubby had some business there on Friday and somehow The Chick and I were able to get him to throw caution to the wind and  spend two nights there instead of the one he had planned on! The Chick made an outstanding pasta dish in no time at all... Italian Wonderpot Ingredients: 4 cups vegetable broth  2 Tbsp olive oil  12 oz. fettuccine  8 oz. spinach 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes 1 medium onion  4 cloves garlic ½ Tbsp dried basil ½ Tbsp dried oregano  ¼ tsp red pepper flakes freshly cracked pepper to taste 2 oz. feta cheese  Add four cups of vegetable broth to a large pot. Break the fettuccine in half and add it to the pot. Also add the canned tomatoes (undrained), olive oil, spinach, onion (thinly sliced), garlic (thinly sliced), basil, oregano, red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Submerge ingredi...

Sunday afternoon there was a knock on the door and we were surprised to see our longtime friend, Jana, standing on the front porch. I would have recognized her anywhere! Our two families lived across the street from each other "in the old days" at the "old neighborhood." Our girls continually ebbed and flowed from one house to the other for years. Mandy was smack dab in the middle between the NorDakPurl Gurl and the California Dreamin'Gal in age and on any given day they may have been best friends or bickering but always they were "sisters". Jana and I mentioned how safe we felt, knowing our girls were safe at either house. We were truly lucky to have had our families find each other. I hadn't seen Jana for about fifteen years, when The NorDakPurlGurl and I went to California for Mandy's wedding,  Much to long. We had a wonderful afternoon catching up and hope to have another quick visit in August.