Emptyknitster

Only two pair of socks knit this month. I'm gearing up for Stash Dash 2020 and have an afghan, a scarf  and a sweater on the needles... Pattern: Ugly Duckling Socks by Karin Aida Yarn: Cascade Heritage, and Hawthorne fingering weight Colorway: autumn, 27410 Needle Size: US Size1

My rattlesnake encounter yesterday brought to mind a story Dad told us about his teen years in Casper, Wyoming. Dad moved from Salida, Colorado, to Casper with his mother and two sisters when he was twelve. His father had passed away and the four of them went to live with Aunt Emma and Uncle Herman. Both were his mother's siblings. Emma, was a school teacher in Casper, Wyoming and Herman was a widow working as a field clerk for an oil refinery at the time. (Dad always said Uncle Herman was his favorite relative. Uncle Herman tragically drowned in the Yellowstone River in 1942 where he owned a sheep ranch.) One summer Dad and several of his friends would hop on their bikes and head to some rocky hills outside of town. There they would dig into the rocks to find dens of rattlesnakes, and then put them in buckets. This is where the story ends for me. I thought they put them in buckets and sold them for fifty cents a snake to someone who used the venom.  My brother has a differe...

Greatly relieved the Governor lifted the "shelter in place" rule yesterday, Hubby and I hopped in the car this afternoon and drove to some BLM land on the Yellowstone River for a hike. The land was given to the BLM by a friend of ours as a conservation area years ago. Although this land is near our home we have never visited. The property contains an old cabin used by Will James in the 1920's. James is known for writing and illustrating several popular children's books on cowboy life.  Although breezy today the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Hubby mentioned at the beginning of the walk, like he always does, we should be on the lookout for rattlers because it was the time of year and perfectweather for them to be out sunning themselves. Just as we came in sight of the Will James cabin I heard the long chatter of what I thought was a locust, but as I looked toward the sound I spotted a rattler not 12 inches from my foot!! I quickly did a hop and began p...

This baby quilt was quite unplanned. After seeing a similiar quilt on you tube one afternoon, I set about making my own version. The bright little top is made of one of my favorite items - leftover fabric! The backing is a print fabric filled with dump trucks, diggers, and road signs, making it a very cute baby boy blanket.  I love this quilt and will be making others like this in the future.

We are settling into our Friday night ritual quite well. I start getting geared up for the evening  Wednesday night. Hubby's all about it and is the first one signed onto zoom each week. So for the two of us it is definitely the highlight of our week! This week SadieLou and Chloe joined in. We hope they become regulars to the group and the boys will jump on board soon. This weeks assignment was to take a photo everyday of something which sparked a bit of joy into their life. On Friday they were to submit only one photo for the entire week, ideally the photo which gave the greatest joy. (Family members were disqualified from being the subject of the photos.)  Our first time home owner fixing a kitchen sink link!  Our engineering student visualizing a diagrammed geometrical object.  A beloved pet.  An emerging baker with a perfect loaf of bread.  A man with a new machine.  Another man with a new machine.  A gal with her...

When we began our sheltering in place I ordered some professional hair cutting scissors, which were back ordered for a month. Hubby hadn't had a haircut since before our Hawaii trip in January, and I was sure I was going to be drafted into hair cutting! As poor college students I was Hubby's barber and to be honest always did a terrible job. Determined to do a better job this go around, and while waiting for the scissors to arrive, I began watching all the you tube tutorials I could find. So, armed with scissors and a tad bit of knowledge I attacked Hubby's hair this morning. I immediately went into a panic because his hair was much longer than I'd realized and the length of his hair was longer than any of the tutorials I'd viewed. Hubby was patient and let me talk myself through the process. There are a few nicks here and there but over all it was a pretty good haircut. He told the girls he had a good haircut and said I'd be cutting his hair until December....

Last week one of our two hospitals in town asked for donations of hand sewn face masks. These masks will be used by hospital visitors and will be washed over and over. I went to work and made forty-two masks. I used the pattern requested by the hospital and one which online says will only take fifteen minutes to sew. In reality, each mask took an average of an hour to complete. (Was it the lack of elastic requiring me to sew seventy two inches of ties for each mask, or my mother on my shoulder requiring a perfect seam? "It's not worth doing if it's not a job well done.") Not all forty two masks made it to the clinic. I kept three for us, five were sent to California, two went to my brother, and two to a neighbor. For now I'm taking a break but will probably make more in a week or so. When I delivered the masks I stopped by my brother's house and had my first face to face visit with humans other than Hubby in forty days. Seems noteworthy....

Although our conversation during this week's family happy hour revolved a little more around Covid-19 than in the past weeks, all of us were grateful we were able to get together. The art competition this week was to replicate this work of art: All participants were able to produce their creations quickly and a bit more critiquing was done before the vote. Possibly indicating we are becoming quite accomplished counterfeiters!  (Above is this weeks winner) (Someone's time was spent installing a new sink and faucet)

Pattern: Business Casual by Tanis Lavallee Yarn: Hawthorne Fingering Weight Colorway LovejoyNeedle Size: US Size 1 I've been entering all the socks knit this year in the Grocery Girls Sock Bash and just received word I've won the prize for the month of March! Can't wait to see what arrives in the mail!

Americans were assured masks weren't a necessary item for healthy individuals. Now, just a few weeks after the social distancing, then sheltering in place, the government suggested we all use masks. The Chick asked if I'd make a couple masks and I assured her I'd have them in the mail on Monday. There are many mask patterns online which are a quick to make and seem to fit well.  I decided to use elastic rather than ties but could easily make up a few more with ties for her to try.                          Who would have thought this would be the way I spent my Easter morning? I'm anxious to hear the reviews.

We had another great visit this week as well as another art competition.  Things are getting a bit heated and the "artists" are now becoming protective of their "artwork." However, I'm more than happy to share my masterpiece. We were asked to interpret The Scream by Edward Munch.  I was allowed only 15 minutes to complete the task,  having toiled over last week's artwork for over an hour...  Do I need to let you know this was NOT the winning entry? GALLERY UPDATE! Remaining prints just released by the artists! (above picture is this weeks winner)

I’ve found I just don’t have the bandwidth these days for anything but the simplest of patterns. These last two weeks I’ve done more ripping than in the last two years! So I let the yarn pattern do all the work!   Pattern: Vanilla with  Fishlip Kiss Heels Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia 4-fadig Colorway: Nebel Needle Size US Size 1

  After three and a half weeks of staying home and only walking in the hills, Hubby and I took a drive. He was hoping to find some sage grouse to photograph and I was just along for the ride. Although we didn't find any grouse, we enjoyed a small lunch in the wild and then headed home.

This week each family tried to recreate Neapolitan Song by Joseph Stella.  The recreations were judged at the family happy hour. I think we all drug our feet just a bit getting started but the results were hilarious and we enjoyed the judging and look forward to next weeks competition.    (above is this weeks winner)

I was able to make another quilt using scraps from the original fox quilt I made a couple of weeks ago. I was very happy with this second quilt until the last step - sewing on the binding. At that time I realized the white hadn't been sewn in all the places I had intended. However, two factors kept me from changing it: 1. I ran out of white material. 2. I like the maze effect.

Nature's LITTLE joke on us!