Emptyknitster

As a kid the fourth was my favorite holiday. Going to my aunt's house on the beach, all the pop and potato chips we wanted, great food, a bonfire and fireworks in the evening - don't forget the marshmallows! But this year, Hubby worked on the forth, the grandkiddos are half Brit, Chloe is off sugar and dairy products, and there was a ban on fireworks, so I really didn't plan anything for the holiday. Yes, I did feel guilty. When Hubby called and said the boys at the station were planning a little barbecue in the afternoon I jumped right on it! Grandpa made it a little extra special for The Pirate by giving him a tour and letting him spray the fire hose.....   Well timed, the firemen were then called to put a grass fire out, impressing The Pirate with the lights and sirens as they left. With smoke in the air and fire retardant planes flying overhead the public got the message, it proved to be a very quiet holiday!

One thing, of many, I love about summer is being able to relax and look for the little joys in life. This morning when doing my morning check out the front picture window I spotted these two Northern Flickers (woodpeckers). They were at the birdbath about fifteen minutes doing a funny little bob and weave dance every two or three minutes.

While we were in North Dakota the fire season began with a vengeance. Without a doubt Colorado is the hotspot of the nation, but Montana's fire season is heating up. There are fires just outside the state capital, another 30 miles to the north of us, and to the southeast there is a large fire on the reservation. With smoke in the air comes beautiful sunsets:   I took a few shots and then decided to put the finishing touches on my Rainbow Brite socks (a project isn't done until it's photographed!) Pattern: LaLa's No sock, sock pattern, and Stashbuster Spirals (both free patterns on ravelry) Yarn: Dyer Straits, Lorna's Laces Amount: bits of three different sock yarns Needle size: US size 1 A bit of Christmas in hundred degree weather! After taking a few photos on the deck I looked up and saw a beautiful full moon. A brilliantly red sunset and to the east a clear moon rise.

The last two weeks have been filled with Grandchildren! The California Dreamin' crew came up two weekends ago and we've been having fun ever since...we tried out the new "swimmin' hole", The Oasis, in the Heights. stopped by the library and borrowed a whopping 50 books (more than half are now  read) and learned to play Ticket To Ride before heading out to North Dakota to meet up with The Tiger and Sadie Lou Who. Hubby decided to go along on this trip and shortly after starting I'm sure he wished he'd stayed home. He recently bought himself a new pickup and we weren't 20 miles down the road before we'd picked this up...   Less than 250 miles on the truck spedometer - the Montana roads are killers! The Pirate and Chloe-A-Little-Bit were great travelers - thanks to the library... and once they saw their cousins it was like they had never been apart! The NorDak cousins immediately began giggling and running through the house showing us eve...

The first of six Christmas sweaters is in the cupboard! I've finished Choe-A-Little-Bit's Vodka Lemonade cardigan and am on to the second sweater. I did make a few modifications, both intentional and unintentional. The pattern calls for a US size 5 but to get gauge I used size 4. Although I’m not sure of the final fit, I loved the decreases and increases at the side for a fitted sweater. I just hope it works for Chloe. I was a sloppy pattern reader and only put one lace repeat on each front side - a design feature I guess! I looks fine to me but doing two on each side would have added a little more interest for me when knitting it! Pattern: Vodka Lemonade Yarn: Jojoland Tonic Colorway: Shaded Spruce Amount: 4 skeins Needle Size: US 4 All in all this is a sweater worth doing again!

When visiting the California Dreamin’ family in May, Chloe-A-Little-Bit was very enamored with my Fiesta Wear Socks. I thought I was being very smart in finding her favorite colors blue, purple, and turquoise in fiesta ware colors. I was to find out later Chloe’s interest in the socks was for the yellow orange color NOT necessarily the socks! Pattern: Lala's "No Pattern" Afterthought Heel Socks Yarn: Dyer Straits Colorway: Needle Size: US 2 Hope she wears these!

For the last week we have been watching a trio of baby robins in their nest. I had noticed a mama robin hard at work building a nest under our deck but didn't think much of it until The Chick and I heard babies chirping a week ago. We followed the sounds.When we got on our hands and knees, we could peek through the crack in our deck and see three the babies just five inches away. All week we have kept close tabs on them. Today I attempted a quick photo....   About a week old and it's hard to believe that they will be on their own in a week!