I am alive, well and I still knit. Every person is given challenges at various times in their life that must take priority over their normal routine. I was just too exhausted to do anything more than go to work, take care of personal business and sleep. I accept my challenges and will overcome.

One small thing I did was break one of my fingers in two places. Yep, my ring finger on my right hand broke in two places and a little piece of the bone chipped off. It was painful for a while because I am right handed. You would be surprised just how much you use that finger. Typing definitely hurt, so no blogging or personal e-mails, only work e-mail got done with a broken finger! I twisted it in my bowling ball. Yep, pretty silly. Couldn’t knit much either. My finger is now almost healed so my knitting is picking up. Woohoo.

I recently went to Virginia for a week and had a wonderful time visiting my son, grandson and daughter-in-law. My grandson wanted to see where the “President” lives so I ended up in Washington DC for one day. Looks like he lives in a nice big jail.

Secret Service everywhere, bars all around…. I am not easily impressed but my little guy was and that is all that matters.

Above – Son and Grandon admiring the view from park next to the Washington Monument.

Saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, museums, theaters; the works. I was impressed by the history of DC. I went the weekend end after the Cherry Blossom Festival. I missed the festival but still got to see the Cherry blossoms.

I did end up with a $100.00 parking ticket for a souvenir. Funny story about that. Not ”ha ha” funny, just “funny.” We found the greatest parking spot right in front of the Washington Monument. We were thrilled. it was right in the middle of everything. I read the green sign, DH, DS, DD read the green sign, we all read the green sign. The green sign by the great parking spot read “3 Hour Parking from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.”  Great! To us hicks from Denver, that also means unlimited free parking after 4:00 pm. It was around 2:00 pm. So we went sight seeing, went to dinner and then did some more sight seeing, until 7:30 pm. We thought we were so smart to wait for the rush hour traffic to clear before leaving the area. The traffic was horrendous but not a problem for us. We had it all figured out. We were walking camly back to the car after dinner when we all got a strange eerie feeling when we spotted the area where the car was parked. There were only 3 cars parked on the entire long block. Ours and 2 other vehicles. The other 2 vehicles were just sitting there, with men inside, watching our vehicle. All of a sudden, with horror, we realized what had happened. We missed reading the red sign, down the street, the one that was not close to the green 3 hour parking sign. The one that said No Parking after 4:00 pm. How are we supposed to know that where we parked turns into a turn lane during rush hour. I think it should have said so on the same sign. At the very least the 2 signs should be together or at least near each other. In our city, you can park free downtown after hours so that is how we interpreted the green sign. I do apologize to the DC rush hour drivers that must have cursed at our car that day. On the other hand I am grateful that we did not get arrested and/or the car did not get towed away. I believe it was minutes from being towed.  Yes, I feel like a big goof ball. It was just too easy getting that prime parking spot. We should have known from the beginning that it was not a good sign. We had heard how hard it is to find parking in the city and here we are first timers scoring a great parking spot. Next time I guess we should try the Metro.

The good side is that we had a nice drive and saw much of the city. I am pretty sure the neighborhood I spotted that I would so live in, on”Princess” Street is a bit out of my price range this year so maybe I’ll check it out next year! I can see the Purple Princess living on Princess Street. 417 Princess Street to be exact.

I got to visit The Knitting Cottage in Fredericksburg, VA where I acquired this;

Apparently you can knit directly from this fabric to make some socks. Very interesting. 

I visited Knit Happens in Alexandria. What a cute store.

I bought some yarn dyed by local dyers. This first one is from the Neighborhood Fiber Co. and the colors of the yarn are named for different neighborhoods in the area. Of course I had to get the one with purple in it called Brookland.

This one is from Yarn Love in the color Red Delicious.

Life is good and I love yarn. 

If a man does his best, what else is there?
–General George S. Patton

I had to take Dina to see Santa, she just wouldn’t let it go. She begged and pleaded until I finally gave in. I believe she asked for a new winter coat so she can handle going out in this record setting below zero freezing weather we have been having. In Colorado we set a new record for the low temperature. Yesterday it was the coldest it has been in ten years. Try getting a dog who has no hair on her body to go outside even for a minute. You got the picture; now picture me putting on her coat then wrapping her up in a fleece blanket to carry her to a special shoveled out spot. Yep spoiled, and still she gives me the look like she thinks I am punishing her. Even so, she is the sweetest little girl ever, so of course I took her to see Santa and yes, I believe she asked for a new coat and maybe momma to make her some new knitted booties for Christmas.

July is gone, it just disappeared. I lost it. If anyone finds it would you please let me know as soon as possible. 

 It was a very busy month for me but I do have a couple of memories to share;

I rode the train through the Royal Gorge with DH, CatwithCats and Nachaele on the Fourth of July. We had so much fun. Who knew, a great road trip right could happen right in my own Colorado “backyard.” Actually I did; Colorado is beautiful and there is much to do here even if you just go for a mountain drive once in a while. The views are stunning.

No this isn’t Colorado its California! DH and I flew into Santa Barbara, shopped for a while then drove up the coast stayed in Ventura and then attended a really fun party in Carpinteria all in one very short but beautiful weekend. The weather was fabulous. The first day I arrived there it was in the 60′s which was close 40 degrees cooler than it was in Denver. It was a nice break and a really fun weekend escape. 

I went to Meg Swanson’s Knitting Camp in Wisconsin with a really good friend,

Kathy and I got to know her really good friend Robin (Ladiebugknit on Ravelry)  

who is now my really good friend. There were some travel glitches that we had to make the best of but we learned much from them. We have a new game plan for traveling to mid-Wisconsin, which I now affectionately call “middle earth” because it is so very green and you are really in the middle of the country in the middle of nowhere.  

I got to meet Amy Detjen.

She is awesome. If there is a real “Purple Princess” it is Amy. This girl really put me to shame, she wears purple every single day. She even drives a freakin’ purple car. I can’t compete with that. I tried to hide behind the only purple wearable item I brought with me to camp, my purple CROCS! I don’t often wear purple even though I like it. Not all purples are the best colors for me to wear with my skin tone; I just figure when I get older, I won’t care if it looks good on me or not! I had planned to just get me a wardrobe of purple polyester pantsuits and call it good. Well, think again. Ms. Amy changed all that. She said ”what did you do, just buy a purple starter kit and called it good.” Now it is on and I will start living up to my Purple Princess name some day soon … sigh… Some day soon you will see me in a lot more purple so when I see Ms. Amy again I can reclaim my Purple Princess name!

 Yes she is wearing purple and I am not. Embarrassing it is. What fun she was though and such a good knitter. When I posed for a picture with Amy, she actually asked me if we were the same species, I couldn’t be any shorter and she couldn’t be any taller!

I met Meg Swanson, she is a wonderful classy woman who is a fantastic knitter and teacher.

I spent some time talking with Joyce Williams. I enjoyed them both very much. Knitting Camp was such a blast, even though I was pretty overwhelmed most of the time and I do hope I get to go again. It quite a motivating place. 

The table of sweaters was phenomenal.

There were many good knitters there from all over the country and I enjoyed meeting all the knitters and getting to see what they were knitting and what they brought to show off. There are so many creative wonderful knitters. I had a memorable time.

We also got a little silly!

I saw Debbie Reynolds at the Arvada Center. She is 76 years old and still fabulous. Such a great woman with a great sense of humor. I loved seeing her, the show was so funny, she brought me to tears several times. I had no idea what a character she was. My mother bought me the tickets for my birthday in May and it was one of the best presents of all time.

I saw Buddy Holly at the Arvada Center. It was really good. He was a bit before my time but the show was wonderful. DH and I went with my Mom and her husband. My mother said she really liked the Big Bopper at the time and Buddy Holly was just up and coming. We have season tickets to the Arvada Center and they always put on a good show.

I am working on designing an Aran sweater. I have been taking lessons from Marilyn King. She is a wonderful, patient teacher and I enjoy her very much. The design thing keeps me very busy. With my personality, such as it is, my new design must be “perfect” so I end with lots of ripping and redo’s. Mmmmmm is that really a good personality trait. Will I ever get anything completed that I like and am happy with???? Your guess is as good as mine. We shall see, but let me warn you that at this rate it could be years. 

 August, September and October are missing also so I will try to catch up to November soon. TTFN and I will try to post more. Life is ever changing but one thing that never changes is my love of knitting and hanging out with my knitting friends.

REAL SILVER. Yes, real silver spun is into this lovely PURPLE yarn. The color is called Tanzanite. It is heavenly. Not only that it is 73% superwash merino, 20% silk, 15% nylon and yes 2% silver. Heavenly I tell you, beautiful and heavenly.

Can you see the fine silver threads? Of course the pictures do not do this yarn justice. It is so awesome. Don’t you just wish you could see it and fondle it right now. I do and I am.

My friend Kathy rocks. She presented me with the yarn along with this cool little project bag.  

I also got a hug along with it; on a day when I really needed a hug. She is always there for me when I need a friend and I have no idea how she does it. She has a rough job right now, two young boys, a husband, knits fabulously, teaches knitting classes and most of all always has time for her friends. Thank you Kathy, you are awesome. I love the yarn but most of all I appreciate your good thoughts for me and DS and of course, the Hug; you made my day.

Welcome June!

Finally we have some warm weather, longer days that I can look forward to enjoying. We have a new pergula and some nice new furniture on our patio. It’s like a new beautiful outdoor room where I can sit comfortably in the shade, enjoy the weather, look at the flowers and knit, knit, knit. I am looking forward to knitting lots and finishing everything. Starting June 1st and every month thereafter I have been challenged by Nachaele to name the 2 or 3 projects of the month that I am been itching to get finished and make it my goal to finish those projects within the month. What’s the consequences you ask, well I am thinking I just won’t allow myself to buy any yarn for a new project without getting an old one off the needles. As with all yarn promises, SOCK YARN DOES NOT COUNT!

1st I must show my wonderful new outdoor room:

It is most delightful and I must have some friends over to knit with me before it gets too hot to enjoy the outdoors!

1st June project tagged for finishing:

My Vickie Cardigan of course. I love it and just need to assemble the pieces, knit the button band and the collar. I love the way this sweater knitted up; the flow of the cables is really wonderful. I give Marilyn King with Blackwater Abbey a real thumbs up on this great design.

2nd June project tagged for finishing:

My Log Cabin blanket made with Tahki Cotton Classic. I really only have 2 or 3 more rounds to go on it but they are the LONG ones! This project is hard to photo while I am still working on it so don’t mind the bumpy picture just trust me the finished blocked project will turn out wonderful.

3rd June project tagged for finishing is:

My Sea Lettuce Scarf!

 All 3 of my projects are near completion so with this little push to get them complete, I should be able to finish them and have time to start and-or finish other items of my choosing. I have already started 2 other projects but that is a story for another day!

HAPPY JUNE! Let me know what you plan to work on this month.

Nachaele tagged me for the Peeps I Want To Know More About meme and I am a bit slow to respond but right now I got nothing else.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

I lived in Westminster, my son was graduating from High School in June of 1998 so we were getting ready for a huge graduation party. I realized that I was already more than 1/2 way through menopause and had no clue; I thought the office just normally got a little warm every single afternoon and the temperature fluctuations were normal. No one ever told me it could happen early. I know this sounds silly now but I didn’t even question not having a period for over 6 months. I was just busy with work, family and living my life. Who knew! I had not yet discovered knitting but would by the end of 1998. (You know the story only Son grows up, only Son leaves home and after almost 19 years of being a devoted mom there is now an empty nest so with lonely panic starting to set in, all I can say is thank God I found Knitting!) I was still working in the Oil and Gas Industry doing Division Orders. In the summer of 1998 I spent a lot of time with my son just having fun. At the time I did not know it was to be his last summer at home. It was going to be his last summer in Colorado. I am so glad that we did have so much fun together that summer. He got a job as a receptionist during the day and we stayed up late playing board games and video games on the weekends. I was also teaching the Christian equivalent of Girl Scouts at my church to 5th & 6th grade girls which kept me quite busy.

2. What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

Organize more in my yarn room

A load of laundry

Do some swatching to prepare for a class on Sunday

Take Dina for a walk

Take care of some medical paperwork

(WOW I am so exciting today I can hardly stand it)

 3. Snacks I enjoy:

Potato chips, Cheez-its, plain milk chocolate, latte’s and iced tea. 

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy an apartment in New York City. (I have always wanted to live in a high rise in NYC and not have to drive everywhere), take long walks in the park, Buy a loft in Downtown Denver and buy a Vespa to get around in Denver. Buy a home in Arizona, its nice and dry and better for my allergies. Knit as much as I can. I would travel to see my son and grandson in Florida every month. (I can’t and don’t want to live there with my allergies but I will visit A LOT!) Buy my mother a nice home with no maintenance so she can retire in luxury.  Buy my Grandparents their own assisted living facility in Salida. Buy land in Salida and build a house to retire in and also use it for knitting retreats with the Peeps! buy a nursing home/assisted living facility for my retired Division Order Analysts friends and knitting friends. We always talk about buying our own place so we can hire whomever we want to take care of us as we are all afraid of getting old and not having good care. Set up a non-profit foundation designed to assist underprivileged kids to get a good education and go to college so they can choose to have access to a better life for themselves.

5. Places I have lived:

Salida, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; San Diego, California; Alameda, California; Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

6. Jobs I have had:

Burger King, Hospital Kitchen worker, Accounting Clerk, Division Order Analyst, Division Order System Administrator, Division Order Supervisor. 

7. Peeps I want to know more about:

All of you and everyone who cares to respond.   Please leave me a comment that you posted on your blog so I can read everything.

I did finish some socks last weekend.

I used some Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000 print sport-weight yarn in pink, purple and orange from my stash, the wavy rib pattern from More Sensational Socks, a Turkish Toe Cast On, the heel from WendyKnits generic toe up pattern and a stretchy bind off to create these quick and easy socks.

Socks are one of those little take along items that are soothing to the soul to knit. I really needed some good soul soothing this week. Do you know what else is good for the soul???

New sock yarn, of course.

I got this really great yarn by Enchanted Knoll Farm color EFK Vardo from The Loopy Ewe.

Is that all?? I think not, my soul needed a bit more soothing so ..

I really had to pick up some ShibuiKnits from Knit Knack. The color is called Man Blue. You really can’t go wrong with the Shibui. I love working with it. Well, enough reflecting and soul soothing for this week.  

I have acquired a few things this week.

First off …

Thank you Marly, I love them! You are so sweet to think of me. As if I have to point this out.. they are PURPLE!

Thank you Claudia, I Love them. These are the alphabet stitch markers that I will use to make the socks in Cat Bordhi’s book. Claudia is making these for several of the shops that she supplies to.

Thank you Nachaele. I love this. How did you know I would like the purple one!!

I received some new artisan sock yarn from Hazel Knits. It is very nice yarn and I only got two colors a couple of weeks ago, so I of course had to order more.  One color is called Denim Blue and the other color is Fireberry. Bet ya can guess which is which!

I love getting the personal note from Wendee along with a cute stitch marker.

I received some new Vesper Sock yarn from Knitterly Things. This one is called Monet’s Garden and is 100% superwash merino self striping yarn. The colors are just beautiful. I am a fan of Monet’s work so of course I had to get it. (remember I like to get culture along with my yarn!)

This one is brand new and is a 100% superwash merino variegated yarn in the color “Might as Well go for a Soda.”  Don’t you just love the name. I pretty much bought it because of the name. The bonus is I like the color! Julie only recently began doing the variegated yarns so I am interested in how this yarn will knit up.

Last but not least this week, I also received my Noro Kureyon from the Yarniverse Kureyon club. I am collecting skeins of Noro for the Lizard Ridge Blanket. This one is color 209 Lot A. Unexciting name; exciting color. When you are NORO you don’t have to be creative in naming the colors. They just are. 

All the way around I had a great week. I love to get new yarn and yarn related items; is it a sickness. a psychosis or just a passion. I can’t really answer that. I only know that it is great fun and lifts my mood. This weekend I will be on a mission to finish adding my stash to Ravely and possibly finish a sweater or two! Okay you know me, maybe start the finishing on one…

To describe how I feel after this weekend. Saturday I had lunch with some friends at Bliss Cafe in Arvada and spent a most wonderful afternoon knitting at Knit Knack with friends. I really had no idea that it was going to be such a wonderful birthday celebration. Nachaele, who has not been out of surgery 2 weeks (she still has her stitches in) and whom I should have driven to Highland’s Ranch to see, drove all the way to Arvada and invited everyone who could come to have lunch, hang out and knit for my birthday. I have been telling people that I quit having birthdays last year but what a wonderful surprise for me . I am so touched. I had a blast. In my grownup years, I have not had even one birthday party until now. I do not like to draw much attention to myself (despite what you have heard!) Instead I love to to things for other people and give other people little gifts throughout the year because it makes me happy to give. Saturday, friends turned the tables did some very nice things for me and I am so touched that I really do not have the words to fully describe how I feel. Gerri pretty much had to kick me out of the shop so she could close up and go home if that tells you anything.

After being treated to lunch there was a Purple Princess Yarn cake.  It was a very delicious Carrot cake that was gluten free and sugar free. It was wonderful and so very thoughtful as you see I have to watch my sugar and I am gluten intolerant.

Of course there was a Purple Princess crown. How on earth did Nachaele ever find such a cool Purple Princess Crown?

Thank you Christie and Cheryl.

Thank you Cathy and Nachaele.

Thank you Nicole. You look beautiful in your Purple wig!

Thank you Maddie and Claudia even though they did the MS Walk in the morning they still showed up.

It was a very Vera Bradley Birthday. Nachaele coordinated with everyone so I ended up with some very cool matching Vera Bradly stuff. I love the pattern and I love the project bags. No more ziplocs for me!

Thank you Cathy.

Thank you Claudia and Maddie.

Thank you Nicole.

Thank you Christie and Cheryl.

One would think that all the other stuff was enough but then Nachaele gave me this wonderful large duffel/satchel to put everything in. I love it so much and again I do not have the words to describe how I feel. It is beautiful and I Love it.

Claudia made me some Purple Princess Stitch Markers.

Marly also gave me some of her great stitch markers. Sorry I forgot to get a picture but I will post it tomorrow. They are really nice weighty markers with purple beads. I love them. Thank you Marly.

Yes I feel like a special Purple Princess!

Thank you everyone for making me feel so special as I am now over the hill having fully crossed to the other side and making my way down the hill un-birthday. I love you all.

I was not familiar with the painter Winslow Homer before last week. This is his painting called Rowing Home and I find it quite extraordinaire. Beautiful watercolors that depict the soft glow of the evening sunset with dusk shadows thown in as a small fishing boat heads for home. Which brings me to the fact that I love the new Scout Sock Yarn I received as a member of her sock yarn club! Feast your eyes on this little treat in the color Rowing Home based on the painting by Winslow Homer.

Scout randomly picked one of the sock yarn club members to assist in the design of a new and unique colorway for the club.  I think this is lovely and can’t wait to see it wound and knit  up. Who knew that when I joined Scout’s sock club I would not just get yarn but I would also get some culture! 

May I suggest that you Google this painter and view his other paintings, they are worth looking at. 

I decided to go hang out at Knit Knack for the evening with the Arvada Knitters. There were only a few people so it was a bit more intimate. It was nice, then DH and Dina showed up a bit early so I had to run but it was nice while I was there. I got to knit a bit with Cat, Betsy and Christie. I finally got to meet Keriberi, she is a real sweetie. Marly, Ms. Yarn Thing herself, flew in like a breath of fresh air, for a class.

I was up to no good again as my radar went up shortly after I walked in the store then like a miracle, a beacon light shone brightly on some yarn hiding underneath all the other yarn, in the bottom of the bin. Not just any yarn mind you but some purple yarn. Not just any purple yarn but the color of purple that exactly matches my one color card of purple. Wowee that is like finding some hidden treasure.

I of course have to get every last one of the Berroco Cotton Twist in purple. All 16 of them. I have one project in mind with some of them and who knows about the rest and who cares it is purple and it is my purple and no one else can have them I locked them up and am keeping them for myself.

Little purple Shearsly is saving them for me.

Yes I do knit not just buy yarn. I have been making some progress on my Montego Bay scarf.

Surprise, surprise I started a new project ….

I purchased some really great yarn from my friend Kathy a while back. She bought it several years ago in California. The tag just says Bonnie Chase Merino. A beautiful hand dyed wonderfully soft yarn with muted purples, grays and blues. It is so beautiful and I have been searching for the perfect pattern to use it with ever since. I thought I found the perfect pattern for the yarn out of one of the new Debbie Bliss books but after swatching the pattern, it did nothing for the yarn. It looked Bleah. I really like the new DB book Luxury Collection so I started swatching several of the patterns in it. Ureka……. persistence pays off,  I found it! A great pattern that I think shows off the yarn very nicely. It is the Jacket on the back cover. Sometimes you just can’t tell by looking at the pattern and the yarn seperately, or else I would have never chosen this pattern for the yarn, you have to swatch.

What do you think?