Leslie's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to My Daughter

Today is the anniversary of the day my daughter was born, a very special day in history. Happy Birthday Leslie. What do you think of the cake? I baked it just for you but forgot to take a photo. However, there are lots of cakes to look at on the cake wrecks website...click on "Happy Birthday to My Daughter" (above) for a laughing good time. Looking forward to your party tonight. Hope this is a banner year for you.

Autumn leaves

There's a chance of the wet stuff coming our way so I wanted to get as many leaves off the Hamann desert as possible. I also wanted to trim vines that grow on the south side of the house. I asked to borrow the neighbor's hedge trimmer last night and when he heard me blowing leaves this morning he came over and trimmed the vines for me! What a nice guy. But the neighbor on the north side was tired of the noise as I was blowing leaves on his side of the house and finally put an end to me and my yard work. I was trying to return the favor for Gina as it's because of her I have the blower and she blew my leaves last night but Mr. was done with my noise so that was the end of that.

Look at that sky.
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Zw_cYo7iMZo/Svyislc3xSI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/VZBpn-KYiok/s1600-h/IMG_6691.JPG">Jim and his hedge trimmer helping with the vines. What a great neighbor!

No leaves at the fence. Yay!

Minutes later the wind kicked up and new leaves moved in.

Here are some Grand Junction photos for Tom on the Ice...

Jim's Beret Finished

I finished making a new hat for Jim, my next door neighbor. He gave me his old hat which was knitted in 1969 to use as a guide. I added a wee bit of embellishment and now he has two green hats.

Kitty

Time to plant some catnip on my farm...

Jim's Beret

My next door neighbor, Jim, commissioned me to knit him a new hat. He handed me this beret over the fence and asked one like it in green or tweed. I'm part way through his new hat.

Happy Birthday Tom

I'm not in Antarctica this season but some of my favorite people are and Tom got the royal treatment from them on his birthday. I heart you all. I miss you Tom. Here's to a banner year ahead for your ??th year on Earth.

Samhain and Garlic

I planted garlic because Tom wanted it for Spring and since he's not on this continent at the moment, I was obliged to do it for him. In addition, I also planted 4 bulbs that came in my prize bag from the Samhain party last weekend. It's apparently, tradition from early pagan times to plant bulbs at Samhain (pronounced saw win). I'm not sure what the bulbs are but they look like tulips so we'll see what happens.

For Euchre

When Carrie said there would be a Euchre game, I knew she'd need one of these. A cheese ball is essential when playing Euchre in Antarctica. And I knew the galley had none.

YAAARRRRNNN

New Beginnings

Today I got a call from Aunt Sylvia. I haven't talked to her in years. I also got to chat with my cousin David. Lots of catching up. Yesterday I got a phone call from a friend I haven't seen in a decade. I wonder who I'll hear from tomorrow? So far this is a very interesting week. It snowed last night for the first time this season. I put contact lenses in my eyes this morning for the very first time in my life. It's a week of unusual events. And it seems like the right time for new beginnings. So I started knitting a new sock.

I seem to have lots of beginnings around the house. I like beginnings. What? There's nothing wrong with beginnings. So what's your point? There's more where these come from.

Laura Claire's Booties

I recently had a nice long chat on the phone with new mom, Deb, in Spokane and learned that their new baby girl, Laura (now almost 4 weeks old) has "big feet". I don't think the purple booties will fit as they are too small for an infant with big feet. I made some new booties from my stash, green, Otavalo yarn but they are too big. Sigh. Time to try again.

Remember When

Today I'm enjoying being at home and feeling exceptionally grateful. I'm looking forward to an evening of Halloween fun. But for now, I get to sip tea and blog at my own kitchen table while the cat sits in the window nearby and watches as Saturday morning ambles along. I am glad for the memories of last year around this time. There I am in "big red". BRRRR
Moving right along from that cold memory, here we are in the summer...ah yes...much better. Now THAT'S a great memory...Peru and Ecuador with Tom, Myrna and Liz.

Ice Friend and Pufferbelly

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting Casey who flew in from Baltimore and his buddy Tim who lives on the Front Range. I was last on the Ice with Casey during the Winter of 07. Casey looks a lot different now than he did most of his time on the Ice. We visited Saturday night and then in the morning, I was treated to breakfast at Pufferbelly (thanks guys) before they headed on to Moab.

Restaurant demolished

This morning the restaurant on the NE corner of North and 7th was minding its own biz, just standing there. And then it wasn't. Somebody demolished it with record speed! By afternoon, most of the demo had already been removed. But the sign still stands. So it's looking like we should get ready for a new Fiesta Guadalajara. Ya think?

Finished Blanket

Viola! I am happy to report the edging is finished and the blanket is gift wrapped and ready to mail manana. Finally. It measured 36 in. X 39 in. before crocheted edging was added. I chained 102 sts on US size G crochet hook and single crocheted the entire thing, changing colors when I felt like it. And that's my story.

Crocheted Baby Blanket

This blanket was scheduled to be finished yesterday. It's calling out to me from the corner. I took its photo to quiet it but it didn't work. The blanket is needy for attention so I'm off to crochet around the edges so I can send it off to a new baby girl who lives in Spokane. Rumor has it her name is Laura Claire and she was born on September 27th.

First day of Hamann's new life on/off the Ice

Yesterday marked the first day of a five month chunk of time in which my husband, Tom, will be 9,000 miles away at the bottom of the planet while I actually live in my own house in a great little Western Slope town in Colorado with a cat (my daughter's) and a car we own (not borrowed) and no packed bags...well, just one packed bag in case I am called to work. But that probably won't happen. I have clothes in drawers. I sleep in the same bed every night. I cook in my own kitchen. I grocery shop at Safeway. All the things about daily life that most people take for granted are mine to enjoy. I hear birds singing in the morning. I see a beautiful sunset every single day. I take walks on smooth ground without taking a parka with me. So much do I love this life even though I miss my husband terribly, that I took photos to document my first mundane morning, taking back library books, and other errands, etc. (Warning: snore fest of photos to be posted often.) The best day of this new life will be when Tom comes home to enjoy it with me. I can't wait. To see how the other half is spending his days away from home, click on the title of this post (see above).

Twenty Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago today my favorite twins were born, Erin and Sara. I remember going to Spokane to help their mom when they were born and now look at them. They are beautiful.

Baby Jacket with yarn from Otavalo Market

I sent this jacket to go with the cap I sent earlier for the new Morris baby. Click on title above to see Otavalo market and other Ecuador trip details.

Leslie Knits!

My daughter knitted her very first hat using new circular needle skills. Very impressive work with minimal instruction. Yay, Leslie. Now we're making some much needed dish rags as our others are old and tattered.

Morris-i Baby Hat from Otavalo yarn stash

When I first heard the good news about our Ice friends being pregnant I just HAD to knit something babyish and send it to them in Spokane where they dwell in a happy "life-after-Ice". I was in Otavalo, Ecuador at the market so I purchased the mom's fave color and got busy with my needles. Now I need to make it again and write down the pattern as I knit it. I hate it when I forget (or am too lazy as in this case) to write down the patterns for what I knit. grrrrr.

We speak the language "Woolish"

Although she didn't speak English and I didn't speak Quechua, only a tiny bit of Spanish, we communicated in "Woolish" and I learned to spin wool the Peruvian highland's way. She showed me how she does it while I waited for my husband and our friend, Liz to check out a nearby waterfall. She made it look so easy. I was intrigued by this woman's skills, her layers and layers of colorful skirts and her adorable lamb as well as her spinning method. When she saw I was excited about wool, she hopped up and scrambled to a nearby tree under which she had a blanket. She returned with a bag of her spun wool. Of course I bought 5 balls of yarn since it was 100% Peruvian wool (sheep), spun by her, and a great price. What else could I do? Peru was magical to me for the beauty of the Andes, the mystical Inca ruins, and especially for the people, like this woman.

Stay on Baby Booties

Favorite baby booties. I promise they won't get kicked off. This pattern is 100 years old and can be found in many places on the Internet.

Yarn in Old Town Quito

Ecuador folks prefer to knit and crochet with acrylic blends because wool is too itchy, I am told. They like bright colors too. We happened upon this excellent craft shop with thread, ribbon, fabric, beads and best of all, a wall of yarn.

Balancing the Egg

At the equator, about 45 minutes outside of Quito, Ecuador, at latitude 00'00'00, I balanced an egg faster than anyone else. It was beginner's luck, no doubt. It's one of the fun experiments they show people who come to see which way the water will flow and nerdy things like that.

There are two places that claim to be the middle of the world. The photo of Leza-the-lawyer and me is at "Mitad del Mundo" which is very touristy but still worth the trip up the tower. (Take the stairs down for the fun displays after going up in the elevator, but skip the rest of the park and go to the other place instead). The REAL equator is 240 meters away from Mitad del Mundo, the EXACT middle of the world (now that we have GPS). Those French dudes (the French Geodesic Mission) did a darn good job, with what they had to work with when they calculated the particular place of the equator way back in 1745.

Yarn in the Sacred Valley

A wall of yarn dries after it is dyed (natural dyes) in a village in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, Peru.

Machu Picchu

Liz and I experiencing the ancient ruins early in the morning.

Otavalo Market

A woman in Otavalo, Ecuador spins and knits in the afternoon Andes sun on the plaza.

Ashford Loom Factory

Tom and I visited Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand and stopped by the Ashford Loom Factory for lunch (they have a cafe and restaurant with seating inside and out). Afterward, we had a look around the the museum and shops. My fave was the loom shop where there was plenty of yarn for sale. I'm on a yarn diet so I didn't buy very much...only enough to make a sweater and a few other colors for making baby booties and such. : ) I need to open my own shop to get some of the stash out of every nook and cranny in my house. I mean, really. It's getting to be an obsession. I might need an intervention...

and then...

McMurdo, travel, USA, New Zealand, McMurdo, New Zealand. There was family stuff, sad stuff, and there was parting, death, hurt, and getting to know more family. And through it all there was always knitting. Sprialing on through the tick tock and the miles. But now it's all about being together on the same continent again and I'm so ready. Thank you for the good and thank you for getting me through the bad to the other side. Life goes on. Everything has a season. Everything Ends. There are always new beginnings.

Sir Ed (1919-2008)

Sir Edmund Hillary, a great adventurer, died today. From New Zealand, the Kiwi was the first known person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953 along with sherpa, Tenzing Norgay.

He will be missed.

Hat, sweater, Belinda and Joshua

Since I finished the sweater and had yarn leftover, I made a hat too. It will fit Joshua for about another minute. Yep, too small. But I'm really proud of the sweater. It was fun to deliver it in person and see Belinda and Josh one more time before heading back to the Ice.

Socks for Tom

Tom and I need more socks so I started a pair for him instead of finishing my own Polar Plunge second sock. Besides second sock syndrome, I am also put off by the mess left (my own fault) from one needle gone AWOL and several stitches unraveled at least four rows. But I'll think about that later.

Ni

Who is this man? This is the boss man. He has a t-shirt. The t-shirt has a picture of a knight on a horse saying "Ni". I like it.

Everybody Knit!

No subject

Lynn as she's walking by Tom on the Internet: "What are you looking at?"

Tom: "Donald Duck's Family Tree."

Lynn: ???


Go ahead. Google it.